Welcome to this Daily PBJ devotional. Read 1 Kings 6, Hosea 9, and Titus 3. This devotional is about 1 Kings 6. In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord. The house that Solomon built for the Lord was 60 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple was 20 cubits long, extending across the width of the temple and projecting out 10 cubits in front of the temple. He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple. Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple in which he constructed the side rooms. The bottom floor was five cubits wide, the middle floor six cubits, and the third floor seven cubits. He also placed offset ledges around the outside of the temple so that nothing would be inserted into its walls. The temple was constructed using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built. The entrance to the bottom floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the middle level, and from there to the third floor. So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar. He built chambers all along the temple, each five cubits high, and attached to the temple with beams of cedar. Then the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying, As for this temple you are building, if you walk in my statutes, carry out my ordinances, and keep all my commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David, and I will dwell among the Israelites, and will not abandon my people Israel. So Solomon built the temple and finished it. He lined the interior walls with cedar paneling from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and he covered the floor with cypress boards. He partitioned off the 20 cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the most holy place. and the main hall in front of this room was 40 cubits long. The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar. Not a stone could be seen. Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord there. The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar. So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. So he overlaid with gold the whole interior of the temple, until everything was completely finished. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary. In the inner sanctuary, he made two cherubim, each 10 cubits high, out of olive wood. One wing of the first cherub was 5 cubits long, and the other wing was 5 cubits long as well. So the full wingspan was 10 cubits. The second cherub also measured 10 cubits. Both cherubim had the same size and shape, and the height of each cherub was 10 cubits. and he placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple. Since their wings were spread out, the wing of the first cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the second cherub touched the other wall, and in the middle of the room their wingtips touched. He also overlaid the cherubim with gold. Then he carved the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. And he overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries. For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood, with five-sided doorposts. The double doors were made of olive wood, and he carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold. In the same way, he made four-sided door-posts of olive wood for the sanctuary entrance. The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels. He carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold hammered evenly over the carvings. Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone, and one row of trimmed cedar beams. The foundation of the house of the Lord was laid in the fourth year of Solomon's reign, in the month of Ziv. In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple was finished in every detail and according to every specification. So he built the temple in seven years. This is God's Word. Solomon's father David was a mighty and successful, and mighty successful, warrior. He was also an accomplished musician and a top-notch songwriter. But what was Solomon really good at? He never fought a day in his life. Though he wrote some Psalms, they are not as numerous or well-known as David's Psalms. If he played an instrument, we don't know anything about his skill level or what he played. So, where in life did Solomon excel? Wisdom, yes, but that was supernaturally given to him by God. He was gifted at writing Proverbs and other wisdom literature, but his true gifting seemed to be in administration. The description of his kingdom suggests a man who was skillful in getting things done by coordinating the efforts of other people. There is one way of describing what wisdom is about. It is skill in living. A wise man is a more skillful decision-maker than a fool. This includes moral decisions, of course. The fool decides based on his sinful passions, rather than on what is right and wrong. But a wise man applies good decision-making to everyday life. That is where Solomon excelled, and where we see his excellence described here in 1 Kings 6, as he began to build the temple. What he planned for God's temple was magnificent. But he didn't just plan it. He thought about every detail, and he made all the decisions. Verse 7 always amazes me. It says this in the NIV, In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel, or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built. Nothing was built at the temple site. It was designed and manufactured elsewhere, brought to the temple, and then put into place like a child would snap Legos into place. That takes an immense amount of detailed thinking and planning. Church ministry has a lot of administration involved in it, more than you might realize. Church administration gets very little attention, but it is incredibly important for making sure that God's work is done with skill. I am thankful for volunteers in our church who are good at administration. As they use their gifts for his work, God is served, worshiped, every bit as much as when we are skillfully led in worship or hear a well-crafted message. But in the middle of describing Solomon's important work, God said this to him, As for this temple you are building, if you follow my decrees, observe my laws, and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave to David your father. And I will live among the Israelites, and will not abandon my people Israel. That's verses 11 through 13 in the NIV. While God was honored by David's desire to build a temple and Solomon's skill in making it happen, what God really wanted was obedience to his word. It was the devotion of the Israelites to the Lord and to his word that would cause him to live among the Israelites, as that verse says, not the magnificent temple that Solomon built. It is another reminder of what God really cares about. Great architecture and skillful craftsmanship can be powerful acts of worship. But they are nothing compared to a life that is focused on hearing and obeying the Word of God. And that's something we all can do. That's something we all should do by the power of the Holy Spirit within us. We should be living sacrifices, as Romans 12 says. We should be living our lives for God's glory by being obedient to his word. So think about your life and your obedience to his word, and think about any areas where maybe that obedience needs to improve. And I'll see you next time. May God bless you. Hope you have a great day today.