110920 - 2 Chronicles 06-10 - elevated but humbled

S: Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the court, and he stood on it. Then he knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven (2 Chronicles 6:13)

O: Another simple thought today. The king of Israel, to whom all nations was looking for wisdom and display of wealth and power, raises a platform so everyone can see him (no surprise), then kneels before God. (Big surprise!)

A: What must the people have been thinking when he ascended the platform? Some were probably excited at the thought that he would raise himself up and act important. Others may have thought, "oh, brother!" (Rehoboam found that the people had distaste for the heavy yoke placed upon them to finance Solomon's grandeur.)

But when he humbled himself by kneeling before the far greater King, what did that say? Even the great Solomon, in all his glory, (Matthew 6:29), recognized that he was nothing but a supplicant before God.

What does it say about us, when we DON'T adopt that attitude before the people in front of whom God may have temporarily elevated us?

P: Father, what worse way could I offend than by the pattern of my life, if not the words, receiving the glory due you by trying to act as if anything is by my own skill or wisdom? Protect me from such an attitude. Far better for me to continue to be an obscure servant to those who would publicly kneel before you than to do such a thing.

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