1 kings 8-9
What an awesome thing it must have been to see the presence of the LORD, our God, fill the house that Solomon had built for Him. This was no simple fog that filled the Temple. The priests could not even stand to minister because of it! This “cloud” was very tangible evidence of the LIVING God and His deliberate choice to be present among His people. Though maybe not as dramatically obvious as the Temple filling to saturation with a cloud, I believe that we, too, can find tangible evidence that our God lives and chooses to dwell with us. We need only to look for it.
Acts 8:1-25
In Acts chapter 8, Philip preached the “good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 8:12b) to the Samaritans. Simon the Magician was one of many who “believed” Phillip’s message. But did Simon really know what he professed to believe? Or was he just in awe of the signs and wonders performed by Philip? When Peter and John came to bring the Holy Spirit to these Samaritan believers, they impressed Simon so much that he offered to buy the gift of this power to give the Holy Spirit from them. What a misunderstanding of the message! The fact that he did not get angry at the apostles for pointing out the error of his heart but instead pleaded for their prayer on his behalf, makes me think that his desire was in the right place. He simply lacked understanding.
Simon knew that he had impressed others with his magic tricks. He likely believed himself to be of great importance among the people. And he no doubt brought in a fair amount of money with his skills,. He must have viewed the apostles much like he had viewed himself. So it seems he simply reverted back to what he knew when he saw them. He did not understand that this message he had received dealt not with his external actions but with his internal motives.
Believing God’s message is not enough. We must internalize that message so it can change us from the inside out. Again, Simon’s response to the apostles indicates to me their message had indeed planted a seed of change in him. His story just highlights to me the necessity of seeking understanding and wisdom with regard to what we profess to believe. If we say we believe but do not alter the way we think and act, then we lack understanding.
One other interesting note – I was questioning why Peter said “if possible” when telling Simon to pray for forgiveness. “And pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you” Acts 8:22b). I stumbled on an interesting website (brownbible.com) that gave me some insight. The website pointed out that the Greek word translated as “forgiven” in this verse has the basic meaning of “to leave” or “send away”. It is only translated as “forgiven” in contexts where what is leaving or being sent away is one’s guilt or debt. It is otherwise translated as “leave”. Looking at it this way, I can see that Peter was not questioning the possibility of God’s forgiveness. Instead, he was questioning Simon’s desire to let God change his heart. Interesting.