PASTORS' DAILY DEVOTIONAL
Jun
24

Rebuilding the Temple

Richard Waialeale

Scripture
2 Chronicles 24:4-5 (NIV) 4 Some time later Joash decided to restore the temple of the Lord. 5 He called together the priests and Levites and said to them, "Go to the towns of Judah and collect the money due annually from all Israel, to repair the temple of your God. Do it now." But the Levites did not act at once.
Observation
God’s house was in shambles and some of the people looted the temple and made it a place of worship to Baal. Joash was motivated to restoring the temple and gave strict instructions to begin a building fund by instituting a collection of taxes. Joash gave up on the levites and rebuked Jehoiada for not following up on the task to completion. I don’t know why I started thinking about this but my observation is how at NHO we’re in a season where the Ministry Center is our main sanctuary and we need to make this accessible to the people for worship on the weekends. It’s no longer office first and a place of worship, but worship first and if we have room for office - the office space should be secondary. The vision to repair the temple was the right thing to do but the Levites hesitated when asked to collect the tax money from the people. The Levites were the main thrust of this whole program, but became the stumbling block to get it started.
Application
I was thinking and its just a thought: Maybe if we think through first how we can make the Ministry Center an ideal place of worship with just enough space for people to sit, adequate children’s ark rooms are critical, and enough space for fellowship. Then build out office space as the secondary need, in other words reverse it to where worship is our primary goal - not saying it will, but maybe this may work. There are a lot of ideas going around during this new season and today’s devotion simply stirred up another one in my heart.
Prayer
Father thank you for your Word and how it starts my motor running in the morning. I meditate and delight in Your Scriptures each morning - Amen.

Devotions for June 24

2 Kings 11,12
2 Chronicles 24
1 Timothy 6

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