How to receive blessings?

2 Chronicles 1

This chapter opens up with Solomon being king after the death of his father David over Israel. And more over God was with him and made him exceedingly great.

Such an amazing thing for God himself you be with and blessing him exceedingly. Who wouldn't want such a life.

Well it’s not out of reach from us either, we too can experience it just the way king Solomon did.

Let’s take a look at 2Chronicles 1:6, “And Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the Lord, which was at the tent of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.”

This verse speaks out a ton of life applications to us.

Solomon was king over all of Israel, therefore he had thous of people under him. Infact, the entire country was under him, he could have asked anyone to go up to the Tent of Meeting to offer up the burnt sacrifice.

But, Solomon took out his time and went up to the Tent of Meeting and offered 1000 scarifies.

He offered to God his resources too. Not just 1 or 2 but he offered a 1000 burnt offerings at the altar of the Lord. Solomon left his power, possession, honour and status outside and simply went to stand before the Lord. Imagine a king of a nation stooping down and leaving everything behind him just to a honour a person, can a king really do such a thing? The actual answer is a literal NO. But Solomon did it, all for the glory of the Lord.

Let us start digging deep into the word and know what God is trying to tell us. We can learn a lot from this passage. The main key factors which trigger God’s favour and blessings on us are :-

• Setting aside our status - Solomon left his power, authority and status behind him and came as a mere man to worship God in His Tabernacle. In the same way, we too should leave behind all our status and position and come before God as JUST A MAN. Humble and lowly to worship the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

• Sacrificing our time - Solomon took out time to go to the Tent of Meeting to offer sacrifices to the Lord. In the same manner, we need to sacrifice our time to spend with the Lord. We need to be willing to set everything aside and prioritise God first.

• Dedication towards the work - Solomon sacrificed a 1000 burnt offerings. He did not ask someone else to do it nor did he sacrifice a few and got it done by others. He himself was present at the altar and sacrificed all the 1000 burnt offerings no matter how much time it took. He was so dedicated and focused to finish offering. Just like Solomon, we need to be dedicated and focused on doing the work of the Lord. We need to finish what we have started for the Lord.

• Sacrificing our resources - Solomon gave his resources to offer to the Lord. We needn’t offer a 1000 burnt sacrifices but offering our time, money, energy and whatever God desires is of utmost importance. Moreover offering our lives as a living sacrifice is important. Paying our respect and homage to God is offering and showing Obedience to God is better than sacrifices. Obeying God is equivalent to offering sacrifices and this is what God desires (obedience) from us.

• Having a cheerful and a giving heart - Solomon offered up a 1000 burnt offerings. Not just 1 or 2 but a 1000. In today’s world, we don’t want to give anything to anyone and especially to God. If at all we ever give anything to start to crib and cry but imagine Solomon giving 1000 burnt offerings. And he didn’t crib or cry. He gave with a delightful heart. The Bible says, “ The Lord loves a cheerful giver.” When we give with a cheerful and a giving heart to the Lord, He’s most delighted. We need to practice to give cheerfully.

These are a few things that we learn from 2 Chronicles 1:6, in a single verse we got to learn 5 things. God’s word has so many hidden treasures for us know in even the simplest of words. Therefore, get going by reading the Bible and knowing more from God and implying them in our lives.

God bless.