TODAYS BIBLE READING:
 

Corrie Ten Boom grew up in a deeply Christian household in Harlem, Holland. Her home also housed a watch repair shop. On November 9-10, 1938, a day called "Kristallnacht" or "The Night of Broken Glass", everything changed. Though there had been growing unrest, on this night the Nazis took to the streets and openly attacked Jewish persons and property. Though not Jewish, their store was destroyed in the chaos. Overnight, their calm life was changed. Rather than a watch shop, their home became a hiding place. Over the next six years, active in the Dutch Underground, they housed and hid, risked their lives, and helped send hundreds of Jewish people to safety. This lasted until 1944, when their hiding place was discovered. Corrie Ten Boom was sent to the Ravensbruck Concentration camp. Most of her family was killed during this time. At this point, she literally lost everything she had of her earthly blessings. She said concerning this time, "Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open." She also said, "You can never learn that Christ is all you need until Christ is all you have." As we go through our own trials, it easy to think that we are experiencing something unique. But we have many beautiful examples of those who went before us, who experienced what we are going through and in many cases even worse, and did so with deepening faith in the only One with the power to save.

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As we go through the very detailed building of the temple in 1 Kings 6-7, it was truly a sight to behold. No expense was spared. In fact, it was estimated that 75,000 pounds of gold were used to build this temple. Every detail was precisely planned and carried out. We shouldn't miss what God said to Solomon in the midst of this seven-year building project in 1 Kings 6:12-13, "Concerning this temple which you are building, if you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, and walk in them, then I will perform My word in you, which I spoke to your father David. And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake My people Israel." God in effect was telling Solomon and in so doing, the people, that He was less concerned about the building and more concerned about them and their walk. After Solomon, we will embark on a 400-year journey detailing the compromised walk of the people of Israel and Judah and their kings. We will read how they largely abandoned God. We will read the conclusion of this piece of history in the prophet Jeremiah, who was there as they were carried into Babylonian captivity. Concerning this amazing structure we read in Jeremiah 52:13, referring to the captain of the Babylonian army, "He burned the house of the Lord and the king's house;...". We read of the careful craftsmanship of the bronze pillars in 1 Kings 7, only to read how they were carried away in Jeremiah 52:17-23.

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The people of Israel were chosen by God to be His people. They lost their way, forgot their God, and many lost their lives, and all lost their possessions. Corrie Ten Boom's world was turned upside down after Kristallnacht, ours is being turned upside down. Just like Corrie Ten Boom was a godly woman, many of God's people now will be adversely affected. When this happened in Israel, they destroyed the temple and carried much of it away. But like Corrie Ten Boom, we no longer go to a temple, we are the temple, and this temple cannot be carried away. We read in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." Also concerning us, who are the temple of God, we read in Ephesians 2:19-21, "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,". Our temple is not dependent on things which are temporary, and which can fade or be destroyed. We are built on the solid foundation of the Word of God which will never change, and upon the completed work of Jesus Christ of whom we read in Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." So, fellow living stones, we might find ourselves in a situation we could never have predicted. Just like the actual stones used to erect the temple in Solomon's time had to be chiseled and carved to fit together, we, His living stones are being grinded and shaped through the trials of life into the image that He desires for us as we are being fit together into His glorious temple.