Listening for God in the Night - 2 Chronicles 1-5

 2 Chronicles 1:6-7 (ESV)

And Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the LORD, which was at the tent of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it. In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, “Ask what I shall give you.”

Solomon, upon coming king, starts his reign with a worship service.   He brings all the nation together to worship God and sets the tone for his service to God and the people.  That, by itself, is a lesson all leaders should learn.   Setting the stage and focus of your leadership is seldom done with the intentionality it deserves.   

However, the main take-a-way of these two verses might be what we read about God’s response to Solomon’s worship.    The passage states that “that night” God appeared to Solomon.   Solomon spends the entire day offering and worshipping with a thousand burnt offerings.  But, it is that night that he hears from God.   How often do we worship God in a formal manner and then leave the “worship service” to simply do our thing(s).   Do we have an ear for God “after” our formal worship services?   God approached Solomon in the stillness of the night, not during the time of his worship to God.   This might remind us of another leader for God:

1 Samuel 3:1-4 (ESV)

The LORD Calls Samuel

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD in the presence of Eli. And the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision.

At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was.

Then the LORD called Samuel, and he said, “Here I am!”

God can talk to us in the noise of the worship (Exodus 19 & 20), in the midst of the storms of life (Jonah 2), in the midst of sin (Psalms 51).   But, God can also simply speak to us well after our formal worship, in the stillness of night.   Solomon was in tune with God.  He was able to hear God because He was open to God’s speaking.   If we listen we will hear Him speak to us, even in the night.  

Psalms 16:7-8 (ESV)

I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;

in the night also my heart instructs me.

I have set the LORD always before me;

because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.