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Today’s Bible Reading: 2 Chronicles 1-5 When Solomon became king he asked God for wisdom and knowledge to lead God’s people. God gave him his request and so much more. Solomon immediately applied his newfound heart of wisdom. Solomon made a wise choice and focused on the life of devotion to God for his people before anything else, even before building a palace for himself. Good decision. Great decision. And your focus on a life of devotion to God should also be a priority. For your body and specifically your heart is the temple of God according to Paul in 1 Cor. 6:19 and 2 Cor. 4:6. And just as God came and dwelt in Solomon’s temple, so He comes and lives in you through the power of the Holy Spirit. His glory now resides in you. You are a walking, living, breathing temple filled with the glory of God. Do you give the care and attention to your heart that Solomon gave to the building of the temple? Do you share Solomon’s perspective? “The temple I am going to build will be great, because our God is greater than all other gods” (2 Chronicles 2:5). Determine today that you will join that company of men and women who gave time and attention to God, wholly devoted to Him, and communing with Him on a daily basis. Then you will be a “great heart” with a temple filled with God’s glory and a life that shines for Him.

Have you ever been faced with a circumstance you’d rather avoid? Do you feel God is leading you down a road seemingly going nowhere? Does He seem to be taking you where you humanly do not want to go? If you don’t understand what God is up to in your life today, then be encouraged with a long look at Jesus and how He handled His dark hour of suffering.

Jesus had just prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). Here we see Jesus’ pain of facing the cross, knowing all that was before Him. And now His hour had come. Judas, the chief priests, captains of the temple, and the opposing elders arrived to arrest Him. Peter, the courageous one, would have none of this strange fiery trial. He drew his sword, ready to fight, and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant.

Now, look at Jesus. What was His response? Did He call on His Father to bring an army of angels to instantly end the opposition? After all, as King of kings and Lord of lords, He could command their death with one word. But, no. Instead, with a strange surrender, a heart fully abandoned to the will of His Father, He said, “Permit even this” (Luke 22:51). And then He restored and healed the servant’s ear.

Today, when the Lord takes you in an unusual direction, don’t resist, wrestle, or rebel. Instead, lean into His embrace, and whisper, “Permit even this.”

Help me Lord, to have a willing heart today. Help me to say, “Yes Lord, permit even this.”