IT was the most exquisite temple ever built in the history of the world. The foundation of the Temple was ninety feet long and thirty feet wide, and the inner walls of the foyer and ceiling were overlaid with pure gold. And, the book of Chronicles, goes on to say, the ceiling was thirty feet high.
The main room of the temple was paneled with cypress wood, overlaid with pure gold. The walls of the temple were decorated with beautiful jewels and with pure gold from the land of Parviam. They even used gold nails that weighed about twenty ounces each.
The book goes on to mention other extravagantly rich fittings and embellishments and it was indeed a Temple like no other! And it was a temple to house Yahweh, the God of heaven and earth! But after building the temple, and housing God inside, King Solomon, the builder, strayed away from God. It was like Solomon saying, “God you stay in there while I go about leading my life, my way!”
We are all temple constructors too! Sometimes our temples are the Sunday church mass or service we attend. We visit God in church, and leave Him there as we step out in an hour. Sometimes, it’s an altar we build in our homes. We sing hymns, chant sacred verses and leave God stuck in our living rooms.
I’m sure God, even though He must have loved the temple built for Him in Jerusalem, as much as he loves the churches and altars built for Him, still sighs and says, “Where I’d like to dwell is in your hearts!” “Don’t jail me in a temple and wander away!” Wander away, do all the ungodlike things, and break His heart! Don’t we do that?
If we go back to the story of King Solomon, we realize that God, was not fooled. He was not fooled by the gold, expensive cypress wood and beautiful jewels. He saw the sins of Solomon and punished him, and his descendants forever! No, God isn’t fooled by our namesake temples, our huge donations, our service as deacons or elders or serving on temple or church boards. These are temples we build to house Him.
Our temples also might be yoga mats! Yoga mats? We talk of yoga bringing peace of mind and harmony in our thoughts and actions, but if this peace and harmony doesn’t travel with us, as we interact with others from other communities then it is like God jailed in a temple.
Build your churches, your altars, practice your yoga, but let the spirit of God be installed inside you and not left in those man made mats, or exquisite holy places, or, finally like Solomon, face the wrath, the anger of God..!
