1 Kings 8:27 But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?

Why build a house for the Lord if your thoughts are that He cannot occupy that house? This was the ultimate shortsightedness of all Israel. It is the shortsightedness of all religions, less one.

Matthew 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

They believed Jeremiah when he wrote that the heart is desperately wicked so it never entered into their vision that God Himself should ever take up residence within the heart of man. Even now, today, learned men deny God’s ability to live with man, much less take up residence in the hearts of the corrupt.

God had always been an external force to them, a hovering spirit at best. They saw Him in the cloud by day and fire at night as they followed Him for forty years in the wilderness.

Exodus 34:30 And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.

Even this was seen as an external or outward sign and not an indwelling. Israel and the rest of the world always looked to the outward signs, those things which God could and would do for them as met their needs and desires, to be fed, sheltered, and given possessions.

Know me and try me sure, but do it from heaven, not from within my heart. The words of Isaiah rang too true for them.

Isaiah 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

They knew nothing about restoration.

1 Kings 7:1 But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house.

I have never built my own home. I have ideas, desires, even plans, but I doubt I will ever get to build that dream house. I do love looking at what designers have come up with to satisfy the needs of the market and there are many spec houses out there.

As I read 1 Kings chapter 7 and 8 I was struck with the opulence of Solomon’s design. I was more than a little overwhelmed by the master bath.

1 Kings 7:26 And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.

I guess if you are going to have that many wives and mothers to your children, you would need a big bathroom.

1 Kings 11:3 He had seven hundred wives who were from royal families and three hundred slave women who gave birth to his children.

I was more than a little overwhelmed by the descriptions of that house. I had a hard time picturing it in my mind. Nothing I have seen here in Texas compare to it, and there are some over the top houses here, because of so many millionaires. I am not rich but my humble home would be considered a mansion when compared to homes in poverty stricken areas.

Then in chapter eight we see that while it was on David’s heart to build a temple to house the Ark of the Covenant, he would not. That would fall to Solomon. Yet in the middle of all this opulence and grand schemes, I found a gem more precious than anything Solomon could dream of in all his wealth.

1 Kings 8:18  And the Lord said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart.

“It was in thine heart” really spoke to me.