Today’s Reading:

Read I Kings 5 –6; II Chronicles 2-3

If you were in charge of building a temple, what would it look like?  Draw a picture of what the temple you design would look like. 

King Solomon was committed to building the temple exactly the way God wanted it to be built.  Solomon also had the designs that his father, King David, had created.  (I Chronicles 28). King Solomon would only use the finest materials. Like his father, King Solomon knew that God deserved only the best.  Remember King David would not accept the land for the temple without paying for it. In II Samuel 24:24 David said, “I will not offer to God that which costs me nothing.”   

The temple was built with the finest materials and with a lot of attention to detail.  It also took a large team of people to complete the construction of the temple.  King Solomon knew that it would be the place where God’s presence would dwell and so he took his responsibility very seriously.  He paid very close attention to the details in his father’s plan but also in the details that God gave Moses in building the tabernacle.  (Exodus 25). The temple that Solomon built had the same basic design as the tabernacle, but it was twice the size of the tabernacle that traveled with the Israelites through the Wilderness. 

I Kings 6:1 lets us know that the Israelites had been in the Promised Land for more than 400 years without a temple.  (That’s a lot of years, isn’t it???  It’s actually the same number of years that the Israelites had been slaves in Egypt.). Solomon was faithful and seven years from when he started, the “temple was completed in every detail according to every specification.” (I Kings 6:38) 

Application/Prayer:

Using the verses in our reading today, draw a picture of the temple Solomon built.  Compare his temple with the picture you drew at the beginning of today.  How are they alike?  How are they different?  Thank God for the knowledge we have that His presence is ALWAYS with us! 

June Memory Verse:

“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”