May 22

1 Kings 7:1-51; 2 Chronicles 3:15-4:22

There are moments in our lives when a huge shift happens. This change may come when we move, take a new job, get married, have kids, retire, etc. The construction of the temple and its furnishings is one of the most dramatic pivots in the history of Israel. Prior to the Exodus, people could worship God without a priest anywhere and at any time. With the construction of the tabernacle and throughout the priesthood, people made offerings wherever the tabernacle was located. Now Israel's worship would be centered at the temple in Jerusalem. People would need to travel to this place to make sacrifices multiple times a year, and these sacrifices would be offered through the Levitical priests.

These shifts in the way God interacts with his people are often called dispensations. They speak to the fact that God relates to his people in different ways at different times. Our current dispensation calls for us to worship God all the time, in all places, as a response to the already completed sacrifice of Jesus. We are worshipping like Solomon and Israel, but we are doing it in a different way because we are under a different covenant. So, let us be people who are marked by a radical, continual, all-encompassing worship of God.

Father God, help me to delight in worshipping you. May your beauty, glory, and grandeur capture my attention, and may I exalt you in everything I do. Amen. 

What are some things that do not change from the beginning of the Bible to the end? What do you see changing through different times/covenants/dispensations?

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