Satisfaction

2 Chronicles 8:16 All Solomon’s work was carried out, from the day the foundation of the temple of the LORD was laid until its completion. So the temple of the LORD was finished.

There is a great feeling that can happen when we complete a project. My experience has been that the larger the project, the greater the satisfaction. When you have to work at something for months or years, the project can become your life. Everything can get focused on that one thing.

The problem with a large project like this, is that it consumes you. It takes all your energy and seems to drive you forward. So when the project is over, there is often not just the joy of completion, but also the letdown of having lost the reason to go on.

All the energy that was consumed with the project doesn’t just stop when the project is completed. It continues and must be used. And this is where many people get into trouble. They don’t choose where the energy is going to go. They just slip into another activity, and often that activity isn’t good.

Our text sits at one of these points in Israel’s history, and of the kingship in particular. Solomon, David’s son, has become king. He has completed the unprecedented project of building the Temple of the LORD in Jerusalem.

And when the Temple was complete, as the climax to the event, the LORD takes over the Temple space with His own presence. The cloud, so often associated with the LORD showing up in person, is present in the Temple. Just as had happened on the Mountain when the Law was given to Israel through Moses, so now the LORD shows up for all to see.

The next story in our text deals with the result of Solomon’s fame. A powerful queen shows up for a tour of Solomon’s kingdom. She has heard about all the the LORD had done, and she wanted to see it for herself. She is not disappointed.

As is true for Chronicles, there is much left out of the story in this summary book. Those details are included in Samuel and Kings. And those details tell of Solomon’s fall from faithfulness to the LORD. He married multiple foreign women and allowed idolatry right under his nose. He turned out, in many respects, to be an example of what not to do.

Even great people like Solomon have the ability to fall. The problem with Solomon is that we don’t know that he rose again. We don’t know if there was repentance for his personal failings.

I think Solomon was such a driven man that he did fine when he was on his mission. He didn’t want to disappoint his father, King David, so he was able to hold it together while he finished the grand project set out for him by his father. But once the project was complete, he didn’t know how to stay focused for the LORD.

Many of us loose focus over time. We start strong in our reading of Scripture, our prayer, our participation with others in worship. But then other things become the focus and we fade in our spiritual life. We get disconnected from the source and wither on the vine.

Wo where are you in your project cycle? Are you just starting, full of energy and excitement? Half way through, wondering if it will ever get done? Or have you just completed it and are now wondering what is next?

No matter where you are in the project cycle, the LORD wants to be glorified in and through the process. He wants us to shine as examples of what He would do in our shoes. Walk worthy of Him today.