Learning From Solomon's Prayer
I was reading 1 Kings 8 last night. It is one of the longer chapters in the Bible, although not as long as Psalm 119. Solomon is praying to God at the dedication of the temple. I think there is a lot of wisdom in his prayer, and we can learn much from it.
Many of you have probably heard about the prayer acrostic: A.C.T.S.
- A – Adoration – praising God
- C – Confession – confessing our sins
- T – Thanksgiving – thanking God for all things
- S – Supplication – Sharing our needs with God
I’ll admit that I easily and naturally pray with thanks and for needs. Thanksgiving and supplication come easily to me. Confession is harder, but I do some confession regularly (admittedly I definitely have room for improvement). Although I have a very high view of God and can comfortably praise Him to others, for some reason I feel very awkward praising God directly. I don’t know why that is. Maybe that is why the beginning of Solomon’s dedication prayer really spoke to me.
Adoration
He said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart, who have kept with Your servant, my father David, that which You have promised him; indeed, You have spoken with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand as it is this day. (1 Kings 8:23-24) {emphasis mine}
What wonderful praise to God! We can all pray, “There is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants.”
We can praise God for His creation, for His uniqueness, for his promise keeping, and for His love. In particular, when we read and know the Bible, we can see how God makes promises and keeps promises. Because of this, and what we experience in our own lives when we trust God’s promises, we can know that all of His promises are as certain as if they had been completed, because they are as guaranteed as things that have already happened. Praise God for His integrity, His faithfulness, and His ability to fulfill completely all that He has promised!
Now therefore, O God of Israel, let Your word, I pray, be confirmed which You have spoken to Your servant, my father David. (1 Kings 8:26) {emphasis mine}
One wonderful prayer that will always be answered is to “Let Your word … be confirmed which You have spoken to Your servant.” Praying God’s promises is a sign of complete trust in God. It helps us have faith in God’s goodness and His great plan, even when we are going through hardship. God is always faithful and always has our well-being in mind.
“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built! Yet have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today; that Your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which You have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place. Listen to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear in heaven Your dwelling place; hear and forgive. (1 Kings 8:27-30) {emphasis mine}
This part of Solomon’s prayer acknowledges the majesty of God and how we don’t deserve all He has given us and promised us. It is an acknowledgment that God is sovereign and beyond comprehension. Do you pray as if God is your buddy, or do you pray understanding that God is above all and greater than all? Do you pray as if you deserve whatever you request, or do you pray understanding that God’s plan is best, and every answered prayer is a mercy to an unworthy servant of God?
Confession
Although Solomon’s prayer is not a personal confession, as we would normally pray, it does rightfully acknowledge God’s sovereignty, including accepting judgment for sin, but requesting forgiveness after confession and repentance.
“If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, and he comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this house, then hear in heaven and act and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked by bringing his way on his own head and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.
When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against You, if they turn to You again and confess Your name and pray and make supplication to You in this house, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers.
When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain, because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name and turn from their sin when You afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and of Your people Israel, indeed, teach them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain on Your land, which You have given Your people for an inheritance.
If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper, if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart, and spreading his hands toward this house; then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know, for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men, that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land which You have given to our fathers. (1 Kings 8:27-30) {emphasis mine}
Once again, in addition to prayers for forgiveness, Solomon is referencing earlier promises of God.
When he prays, “then hear in heaven and act and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked by bringing his way on his own head and justifying the righteous,” he is referencing verses like this one in Leviticus:
If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land. I shall also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble. I shall also eliminate harmful beasts from the land, and no sword will pass through your land. … ‘But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments, if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up. I will set My face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies; and those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you. (Leviticus 26:3-6, 14-17)) {emphasis mine}
When he prays these three prayers, “if they turn to You again and confess Your name and pray and make supplication to You in this house, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people,” “they pray … and confess Your name and turn from their sin when You afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants,” or “whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Your people Israel … forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways” he is referencing verses such as this one in Leviticus:
‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me—I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies—or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land. (Leviticus 26:40-42) {emphasis mine}
Keep in mind that in the Old Covenant, some judgment was based on the national sin of Israel in addition to the personal sin of individuals. The third repentance referenced above focuses on personal sin, which affects us today more than national sin, although we can readily see that if we live in an evil and unrepentant nation, we will experience hardship due to the sins of others.
Gentiles
“Also concerning the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for Your name’s sake (for they will hear of Your great name and Your mighty hand, and of Your outstretched arm); when he comes and prays toward this house, hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, to fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Your name. (1 Kings 8:41-43) {emphasis mine}
Many think that sharing the Gospel with non-Jews is solely a New Testament phenomenon. In reality there are many mentions of God’s plan for gentiles/foreigners and how God knows and wants to be known by them. Isn’t it a blessing to know that we are not just an afterthought, but that everything God has done from the beginning was also for our good?
Supplication
“When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way You shall send them, and they pray to the Lord toward the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name, then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. (1 Kings 8:44-45) {emphasis mine}
We go through many battles. Some are battles between armies, but most are of a different kind. We battle against hardships, such as finances, physical needs, health problems, family problems, discouragement, addiction, persecution, etc. Many battles are more spiritual than physical. Whatever you are battling right now, you can go directly to the Creator for help.
Most of usually go to God with the solution we desire. We get frustrated when God doesn’t answer in the way and in the timing we desire. We would be better off laying our needs before God and trusting our omniscient and omnipotent God for the best solution. He knows better than we what we truly need. Sometimes we would be worse off if we got what we asked for. Sometimes God has to prepare us to be able to receive the blessing we requested. Sometimes God has a much better plan for us than we have for ourselves. Sometimes what we think would make us happy would destroy us, but what we are afraid of will give us peace. God is good and can be trusted with every hardship and every battle. We just need to give our burdens to Him.
Praying as One
There is something special about praying with other believers. There is something inspiring about praying for the needs of others, and not just our own needs.
When Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and supplication to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread toward heaven. And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying: (1 Kings 8:54-55) {emphasis mine}
Praying as the body of Christ binds us together and to God. Praying for others helps us understand others and helps us see our own needs in the context of what is normal. Praising God helps us have a right view of God, so we take sin seriously as we should.
Thanksgiving
When we dwell on our problems, it is easy to get frustrated with God or to forget Him entirely. When we remember what good things He has done for us and thank Him for our many blessings, the weight of hardship is lifted, and we can feel peace and joy even in horrible circumstances.
When we search for and find God’s fulfilled promises, we can have faith that God will fulfill all His promises and do what is in our long-term best interest. Worry disappears.
“Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant. (1 Kings 8:56)
May this prayer of Solomon be fulfilled in your life.
May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us, that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers. And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no one else. Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day.” (1 Kings 8:57-61) {emphasis mine}
Amen.
Trust Jesus
If you do not yet know Jesus, I beg you to trust in Him. Below are some verses that will tell you what you need to know to be saved. If you have any questions, I’d love to answer them. Just message me on Substack.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23)
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For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
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But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
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that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; (Romans 10:9)
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If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. (1 John 1:9-10)
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For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
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He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
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But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)
All verses are NASB unless otherwise noted.