Doers Of the Word

I was recently reading I Kings chapter 8. Solomon has just finished building the Temple and they ceremoniously brought the crowning piece of furniture into it, the Ark of the Covenant. God’s glory descended upon the Holy of Holies, to which Solomon offered a sermon and a lengthy prayer.

In his prayer, he asks for God to have a ready ear toward His people’s prayers and that forgiveness be extended when divine punishment came due to their sin. Such punishments might include being defeated in battle, withholding of rain, famine, pestilence, etc. Sin truly brings ugly consequences — and all of them unnecessary — into our lives. It’s always right and best to do what God says is right!

In this prayer, Solomon repeatedly asks for God to hear their prayers when they pray “toward this place” This is mentioned in verses 29, 30, 35, 38, 42, 44, and 48. Solomon is emphasizing this point.

Skip forward 300+ years when the time of the kings and Israel’s independence has vanished. The leading world superpower, Babylon, has taken over the nation of Judah and Medo-Persia has taken over Babylon. Daniel has been in a foreign land for over 60 years, employed by various rulers. We are all very familiar with the story of Daniel in the Lions’ Den. He was sentenced to death by lions because he prayed out of habit thrice each day, “his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem” (Dan. 6:10). (Little-known fact: Daniel was approaching or beyond 80 years of age when he entered the lions’ den.)

Notice that Daniel was very much aware of Scripture. We assume that he possessed a copy of the sacred writings in Babylon. He had read when Solomon asked God to hear the Israelite captives’ “prayer and their supplication” and maintain their cause” when they “pray unto Thee toward their land” and the house which I have built for Thy name” (I Kings 8:49, 48).

Daniel read his Bible, studied it, and knew it very well. And most importantly, he acted upon it. We rejoice in his miraculous rescue from the danger of the famished lions and how the instigators of that evil law were devoured before they even hit the bottom of the den. God has great blessings for those who obey His Word. But to obey it, you must read it and meditate on it so you know what He says to do. Let’s dare to be a Daniel!

“Be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only” for “a doer of the work” shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:22, 25)!

I Kings 8:29, 30, 35...
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I Kin. 8:29 That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.
I Kin. 8:30 And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: and hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place: and when thou hearest, forgive.
I Kin. 8:35 ¶ When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou afflictest them:
I Kin. 8:38 What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:
I Kin. 8:42 (For they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy strong hand, and of thy stretched out arm;) when he shall come and pray toward this house;
I Kin. 8:44 ¶ If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name:
I Kin. 8:48 And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:
Dan. 6:10
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Dan. 6:10 ¶ Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.
I Kings 8:49, 48
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I Kin. 8:49 Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause,
I Kin. 8:48 And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:
James 1:22-25
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Jam. 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.