Daily Devotions

During the Lenten season, members of Faith Lutheran Church have written our daily devotions.  Today’s writer is Jimmy Zunker.

¹⁰When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments were stationed to praise the Lord with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, according to the directions of King David of Israel; ¹¹and they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.” And all the people responded with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. ¹²But many of the priests and Levites and heads of families, old people who had seen the first house on its foundations, wept with a loud voice when they saw this house, though many shouted aloud for joy, ¹³so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted so loudly that the sound was heard far away. Ezra 3:10-13

The Jewish people have returned home after 70 years in captivity and are rebuilding the temple. These verses describe the celebration after laying the foundation of the temple.  They anticipate having a place to come together and worship God as a community of believers.  The temple was not finished but the basic structure enabled them to hold a worship service. Worship was an important part of their heritage and they looked forward to being able to worship God in the temple as their ancestors had done. The people sang, shouted praises and gave thanks to God proclaiming His goodness and mercy. We also sing, praise and give thanks to God when we come together to worship each Sunday.

Some people wept because the new temple was not as splendid as Solomon’s temple but the joyful shouts covered the weeping so it could not be distinguished.  This reminds us that it is not the building that is important but rather the worship that takes place in the building.  Worship of God was important to the Jewish people and worship is also an important part of our heritage.  Worship of God is one of our core strategies in accomplishing our mission of following Jesus in blessing the world with faith, hope and love.

Let us pray:  Lord, we praise you and thank you for our place of worship and the freedom we have to gather together as a community of believers.  We thank you for your everlasting love.  In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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