2 Chronicles 5 Devotional

The Refrain of His Goodness

“The trumpeters and singers joined together to praise and thank the LORD with one voice. They lifted up their voices, accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, in praise to the LORD: “For He is good; His loving devotion endures forever.” And the temple, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud”2 Chronicles 5:13 (BSB)

After years of work the temple is finished, and the ark of the covenant is carried into the Most Holy Place beneath the wings of the cherubim (5:7). Inside the ark there is nothing but the two stone tablets Moses placed there at Horeb (5:10).

Then the priests come out, and the Levite singers and the trumpeters lift their voices together as one. Their song is simple. The LORD is good, and his steadfast love lasts forever (5:13). At that moment the house is filled with a cloud, and the glory of the LORD is so present that the priests cannot stand to minister (5:14). The song did not earn the glory or summon it. God came because he had chosen to dwell among his people. But the words they sang are the right words for meeting him. They are about who God is, and the same refrain echoes through the psalms (Psalm 136:1). His goodness and his lasting love are still the truest things anyone can say when he draws near.

To think about: When you come to God, how much of what you say is about who he is, rather than about what you need?