Today's Daily Lesson come from 1 Kings chapter 6 verse 1:
In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites came 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.
Four hundred and eighty years. That's a long time. How much struggle, heartache, progress, regress, blood, sweat, tears, and turmoil!
But here they are at a moment.
We are at a moment too. Its been four centuries since the first African slaves were brought to America in the 17th century. They and their descendants have never been treated as full equals in this Promised Land we call America.
Yet here we are at a moment. I hope more than a moment; here we are in a movement. This is a movement of God's Spirit and our consciousness that we might lay another cornerstone on the Temple of Freedom.
And I think of James Weldon Johnson's words:
"Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the Chast'ning rod,
Felt in the day that hope
Unborn had died;
Yet with a steady Beat,
Have not our weary feet,
Come to the Place on which our fathers sighed?"
We are not "there" yet. The Temple is not finished. It has hardly been started. But a mighty long way has been walked. And we've covered a great distance in past two weeks. And another cornerstone has been laid. And it is up to us now to dedicate ourselves to building upon it -- stone by stone, person by person, and policy by policy.
"And the stone the builder's rejected has become the cornerstone;
This is the LORD's doing; and it is amazing in our eyes."
NOTE: We are reading the Bible all the way through this year. Tomorrow's Lesson will come from 1 Kings chapter 7 and 2 Chronicles chapter 4.
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