“Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, dedicating it to Him, to burn fragrant incense before Him and to set out the showbread continually, and to offer burnt offerings morning and evening, on sabbaths and on new moons and on the appointed feasts of the LORD our God, this being required forever in Israel.” (2 Chronicles 2:4)

Solomon sent word to Hiram, king of Tyre, to contract for cedar lumber for building the temple, the house of the Lord. He carries on in the belief of Yahweh (LORD). But we observe an emphasis on “my.” Solomon had embraced faith in Yahweh for himself. Every combination of God’s name or epithet we might examine brings out a new or different aspect of God’s infinite nature or character.

We could focus on Solomon’s journey of faith, where he quickly came to personal belief in God, or how this faith eroded over his lifetime to the point where his many wives turned his heart away from God. In fact, so much of our study of God often falls to the pragmatic, or human focus. Our testimonies too often become more about us than about God. Our study of Scripture becomes more about how we should live than about discovering God, His character and what He is doing in the world. Our worship, therefore, becomes human- centered on our feelings rather than God-centered on His worth.

So in our passage we see God recording this little word “my” in Solomon’s declaration as significant in understanding God on a more personal level. The human author, according to Jewish tradition, was Ezra, and the human perspective might see the inclusion of this small word as being somewhat incidental to Ezra’s narrative on the life of Solomon. But every word is inspired by God (2 Tim 3:16), so the word may carry more significance in terms of God’s character. It is not an unreasonable stretch to say we can see in this word God’s desire to be known personally.

God delights in telling us about Solomon, who, like David (see Ps 13:3), worshipped the “LORD my God.” Yahweh is the God of the legendary Moses. He is the same God who personally revealed Himself to the great patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, giving them the hereditary promise of blessings that would extend to the entire human race. He is the God who created billions of image bearers, beginning with Adam and Eve, to populate this small planet in a universe filled with billions of stars. This omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient God, without whom nothing would exist, Solomon says is “my God.” God desires that each of His image bearers also would know Him as “my God.”

Lord, my God – I worship You not because others before have done so, but because You are my God.