Post from July 7, 2023

“👟 RSD 1165 ✅ Today’s Verse: “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.” — 1 Kings 6:7

So, there’s this meme I have saved (it’s attached below in this post). In case your FB isn’t loading well, I’ll do my best to describe it. The top has “When studying for finals,” and the image depicts a scene from “The Avengers” when Maria Hill is talking to Tony Stark (Iron Man). She says to him, “When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?,” and, of course, Tony Stark replies, “Last night.” Studying for finals: that time where you’re not sure what you’re doing but you’re hoping that changes very soon…like before the test. Are you ever just not sure of things? Like, you’re really hoping you know enough on that test, or you have a big project at work? Maybe it’s something good like you’re starting a new job or you’re embarking on a new era in life (e.g. marriage, parenthood). Maybe it’s something not so good, like finances are tight and you have an important expense coming up, or things aren’t great in your personal life and you’re wondering how it’ll work out. You’re just…not sure. You’re nervous/excited or nervous/afraid…or even nervous/ambivalent, and there are all these possibilities as to how things are going to go, so you’re not sure of the when/where/how. And, all the while, you’re waiting on the results. You’re doing all the things, doing your best, but things are proceeding at a glacial pace, and you’re just waiting. If you’re starting a new job, nervous/excited turns into a touch of anxiety. For the nervous/afraid kinds of things, time without any real developments amplify the afraid part. In these times, we hear clichés like, “Take it one day at a time,” or “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Well, guess what? Neither was Solomon’s temple (from today’s verse), and neither were you. In fact, you’re still not finished being built.

When I read today’s verse, I thought about our discussion on RSD 1145 (the one about rebuilding a city). There’s building a city, and there’s building up people. God is doing both. Today’s verse features the construction of the Temple that God had promised to the Israelites (remember David? His son, Solomon, is the king here). The construction at the actual temple site was supposed to be quiet, reverent—that’s the vibe God wanted. See, this Temple was a huge deal—generations and generations of people had been waiting for it, and this Temple was to honor God, so Solomon wanted everything to be perfect (or at least as close to it as possible). I found a great explanation for the importance of the quiet on EnduringWord (dot com), “God did not and would not send a team of angels to build the temple. Yet Solomon did not want the sound of man’s work to dominate the site of the temple. He wanted to communicate, as much as possible, that the temple was of God and not of man.”

Solomon didn’t want the clanking and banging of tools to be the sound that echoed at the site. Construction takes a lot, and it’s noisy, and doing some work off-site minimizes this. For the people of Solomon’s day, this was a tangible practice that helped to cement the importance of this site and the reverence that should be regarded toward it. But, just as God talked about rebuilding Jerusalem “with stones of turquoise…foundations with lapis lazuli” in Isaiah 54:11 as a promise to the people that He would renew them as well, God uses this (work loudly elsewhere) aspect of building of the Temple to show how He builds much greater things. In the same commentary on EnduringWord (dot com), this parallel shows “the way God works in His people. Often the greatest work in the Kingdom of God happens quietly. Yet the building site of the temple was only quiet because there was a lot of noise and diligent work at the quarry.” When I read explanations of how the stones came together, it made me think of Legos (although I’m sure placing stones required a bit more than that). Hey, Legos are manufactured off-site too—all you need is to put together the stuff in the kit…each piece is made for a purpose, and they fit together perfectly.

So, let’s think about it like this. You’re somebody bee-bopping around Solomon’s kingdom (not quite 1000 years before the birth of Jesus), and you’re seeing the Temple being built. You’re stoked—your ancestors knew this was going to happen, and it’s finally happening. You’re not on the crew (like, you’re not a stonemason…let’s say you’re a baker or something), but you’ve seen houses being built before, so you have a pretty good idea about how that goes down. You pass by the site almost daily, but you never really hear any work and don’t see much either. I mean—they have to get the supplies, but shouldn’t something be happening by now? Then, one day you notice that a lot more has been accomplished than you would think. The stonework was done exceptionally well, so the stones could just be put into place. It would be like, seemingly no progress, then suddenly, “Hey, this is going really well.” The work you see is exceptionally well-prepped, so it’s like the hardest part is already done by the time it’s time to lay the stones—no wonder it’s not all noisy. Seven years pass, and the Temple is finished; it’s beautiful; it’s absolutely perfect. You thank God, and your heart swells.

This is where the “God works in His people” part comes in. God does work in us all the time. Those times when we’re just not sure of things? You don’t know how/when/if it’s going to work out. It’s during these times that nothing seems to be happening that God is working both for us and within us. God has a plan and a purpose for everyone, and He wants us to be prepared for whatever comes next. God wants us to be ready to be put into place. You are the one living your life daily, so it seems like you pass by the site, and it’s just quiet, but, before you know it: things seem to have been exceptionally worked out, “well-prepped, so it’s like the hardest part is already done,” and everything begins to look more completed. “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10) advises us in this way. Being still happens in a variety of ways. It doesn’t always mean “stop everything;” sometimes it means “keep doing your best to find and do ‘the next right thing’ (Frozen 2), and still your mind from worrying about the future—trust.” God is doing a lot; things just seems quiet to us.

Sometimes God wants us to work quietly too. Just because you’re talking about work doesn’t mean you’re doing the work. I mean, we all went to school—the loudest person in a group project is usually the same person talking in class while the rest of the group is working. It doesn’t always yield the best results. Hey, the class Valedictorian will do good job picking up someone else’s slack for the good of the group (and everyone’s grade), but he or she is overextended and can only do so much. The group squeaks out a 91 instead of the 98 they were headed for, and maybe someone in that group REALLY needed that extra seven points to raise their grade, and they worked hard to do it. Or, think of it like this: when God calls us to do His work, it’s like we’re Legos, each of us uniquely crafted to be part of the building (castle, Sidney Opera House, Millennium Falcon, you get the idea), and Legos don’t really make much noise: they just fit together, shoulder to shoulder, to assemble something awesome. If one piece isn’t there, yeah you can turn the display around or something, but you can’t show it from every angle—still looks good, but not awesome. Somebody in that group really needed that extra seven points to make the grade they needed for the term. Pastor Tony Powers noted in a blogpost (Sermon Central—dot com) that this verse of the Temple built in silence advises, “Don’t bang your hammer…this…illustrate[s] to us that there is no place in the House of our God for God’s people to boast in themselves.” There’s nothing wrong with sharing what you do as to encourage others to do it too, but I think today’s verse reminds us that we need to be mindful of how loud we’re being while we’re doing it, as to not take away from the project (or even hinder our own ability to give it our best). There’s a difference between sharing and bragging, and we all know which is which: all we need to do is take a step back and be still for a minute.

This same “be still” sentiment helps for when God calls us to do something and we get a little nervous that we aren’t the right person for the job. Like, your friend needs help with Physics, and it’s been awhile since you’ve done Physics: you get nervous thinking you won’t be a good enough tutor to them, even though deep down you know you still remember it—it’s just that it’s important and you don’t want to let them down. Sometimes we become “not sure” of our abilities when we are called, but God makes us exactly right to fit into every calling He has for us. You wouldn’t have the calling if you weren’t the perfect person for it. The old saying, “God doesn’t call the equipped; He equips the called” is good to keep in mind here. And, those trolls from “Frozen 2” have that good advice: “do the next right thing.” Be still, and seek that next right thing: God will lead you there—“‘This is the way: walk in it’” (Isaiah 30:21). It always amazes me the new things we find in the Bible every time we dive in. For me lately, it’s how many times these writings, thousands of years old, remind us not to stress too much or become too busy. You know what good de-stressors are (besides prayer, which is always a good way to go)? Puzzles. They help to re-circuit things in your brain when all the signals are going haywire. Puzzles help us to be still for a minute, to quiet our minds so it’ll be easier hear God’s voice (which we hear in a variety of ways) over our anxiety and emotion. Puzzles involve taking pieces and making them into something whole (e.g. a picture of a doggie 🐶). Hey, Tetris works for this too. You know what else works fabulously? Building with Legos. 😉”