Good Morning Friends,
“In the four hundred and eightieth year after
the Israelites had come out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign
over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple
of the LORD.” (1 Kings 6:1)
I began reading 1 Kings chapter 6 as I was
beginning to prepare this morning thought. I didn’t get past the first verse
before one phrase captured my attention. It’s that first phrase … “In the four
hundred and eightieth year …”
480 years from the time Moses led the people of
Israel out of Egypt to the time when Solomon initiated the building of the
Temple. The first 40 of those years were spent in the wanderings between Egypt
and the Promised Land as discipline for the lack of faith among the people. The
other 440 years were spent living in the Promised Land.
It took the people of Israel 480 years to build
the first permanent place of worship to the Lord … the first Temple. What
struck me by that thought was what that says about God’s patience. The people
built cities and houses, planted vineyards and fields, made themselves
comfortable. The kings built palaces and stables. God waited patiently for His
Temple.
The United States has been around only 239
years or so – that’s just half the time that it took the people of Israel
before they started building the Temple. I can’t even comprehend the kind of patience
that 480 years represents.
God waited 480 years for His Temple. He waited
thousands of years before all was right for the sending of His Son. He’s waited
2,000 years now since Jesus and still hasn’t sent the Second Coming. Those are
all evidences of God’s great patience.
So, if you don’t think God will show patience
to you and to those you love, you just haven’t grasped, yet, what the Bible
says about that characteristic of God!
His, by Grace,
Steve
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