Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Today's reading had a lot of overlap in the story of dedicating the first temple,

but there are still new things to notice and learn about God. So let's get to it.

There was one thing in chapter 6 that we've seen a few times before, and it always catches my attention. It's when David tells God that he wants to build the temple, and God says no, but he also

affirms David by saying, you did well that it was in your heart. God says David has a good desire, but the answer is no.

Sometimes even good desires get a no. But when that no comes, it's at least comforting to know

that our hearts aren't completely off track. Good desires and God's no can coexist. David is

proof. And we can rest assured that when God does say no, it's his

kindest possible answer. Today we also saw more reminders that God isn't confined to the temple.

In chapter 6 verses 26 through 27, Solomon says, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge

your name and turn from their sin,

then hear in heaven and forgive. Solomon says the people will pray to God toward the temple,

and God will hear from heaven. This also reinforces the fact that he's a different kind of

God from all the other gods. Those gods can only occupy one space, but God occupies

all space. He invented space. He's omnipresent, always present everywhere. After Solomon wraps up

the blessing on the house and the people, he makes the giant offering we read about yesterday,

but then we see something today in 7-1 that wasn't

mentioned in yesterday's text. It says, as soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down

from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices. I have a weird confession. I love it

when God throws lightning around. Somehow we ended up with the image of God striking

somebody down with lightning as the cliche, and we use that when we're trying to say God's mad

about something. But that only happens a few times in scripture. The vast majority of his fire

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