I learned early on as a communicator to analyze my audience. A good speaker tells different jokes to a pile of middle-school boys than to a roomful of their mothers (of course, the same jokes go big with their fathers). But if mom’s in the audience, a wise communicator tempers the lingo about gases and smells.

Solomon dedicated his new temple in grand fashion, partying for 14 straight days and sacrificing thousands and thousands of sheep and cattle. The sheer scale of it all boggles my mind.

Although Solomon created a magnificent house for the Lord, he knew the Lord wouldn’t live there. All the pomp and circumstance and magnificence and ceremony wouldn’t insure the Lord stuck around. So Solomon asked this of the Lord:

May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day. Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

I so appreciate this prayer of humility. Solomon knew the Lord cannot be manipulated with a fancy building. He asked for two things the Lord grants the humble—to hear and to forgive.

It makes me think of a prayer I learned long ago, and Christians have prayed for ages:

Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me, a sinner.

If like me you’re sometimes not sure what to pray, and like Solomon you understand your audience, then this is a good place to start.

1 Kings 8:29-30 in reading the Bible cover to cover in 2022

Photo by Biel Morro