Something Worth Saving
Sometimes I wonder what the world would be like if Solomon had not built the temple.
In the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD. The house was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron was heard in the temple while it was being built.- 1 Kings 6:1,7
Solomon's father, David, had wanted to build a house for God, but God said He didn't need a house. So David didn't build it.
Solomon believed that God wanted him to build it, so when peace reigned and there was no fear of invasion, that is what he did.
But what if he hadn't?
I know that "what if" exercises are non productive. We can't change what was and even if we could, who knows if the circumstances would come around again and spring us back to the same situation at a later time or in another place?
If the Temple had not been built and the Romans had not destroyed it, something else might have taken its place, something to create that sacred space that one faith can claim over another, that leads to war and bloodshed.
We are a possessive people, we humans. We claim ownership and then fight to hold on, and the dirt beneath our feet becomes more valuable because of the blood she upon it.
We began as a nomadic people, traveling from place to place without staking claim, but now, so many lifetimes later, we are possessors.
Yesterday, I heard of nearly fifty refugees who were found dead in a refrigerated truck in Austria. They were fleeing the hatred and turmoil to try to stay alive.
They were willing to give up everything to live.
Why doesn't that shock up into action? Why don't we look at all we have and say, "Enough!"
If we need to fight for a reason, why not let that reason be to save the lives of the innocent, like these refugees?
All that we have is not ours, but is only held in trust for the next generation.
Property doesn't last. Lives do not last either. Is not every life worth saving?
Let us stop fighting over buildings and monuments and walls of stone, and fight for the life of every persecuted individual. Or soon we will be dust and nothing will be worth fighting for.
More to come...