Yesterday we read about the administrators, governors, managers and leaders that Solomon appointed to ensure the kingdom of Israel was running smoothly.

Today, we read about another group of people whose skill was highly valued – skilled craftsmen and labourers. The immense task of obtaining the timber and stone that would be needed to build the temple took an army of skilled workers. The trees would need to be selected and felled; the logs would need to be trimmed and made into huge floating rafts, even before the skilled craftsmen would use them for building.

Similarly, the stone had to be skilfully hewed from the ground, cut, dressed and transported before it could be assembled to create a strong foundation for the temple of the Lord. Every one of these tasks was essential.

The word that the NIV version of the Bible translates as ‘craftsmen’ is actually ‘banaw’, meaning ‘builder’ or ‘establisher’. These hundreds of men were not just using their skills, they were establishing something that would be a fulfilment of something that had been promised many years before and would last many years after they were gone.

When we turn our hand to work in the Kingdom of God, we are joining a vast multitude of faithful believers playing a part in establishing something that is much bigger than ourselves. We may feel that our role is insignificant or unimportant but each one of us plays our own part in the establishment of something that is far bigger and more enduring that we can see.

The final glory of the temple must have seemed a long way away from the men that were cutting trees and hewing stones but without their labour, it would never have been built. Building is tiring, hard work. If your head is down, focused on your little part of the work, it is easy to become discouraged, so lift up your head and look to the Lord and his purposes and allow him to show you the full glorious scope of what we are invited to be involved in.

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NEWBOLD COMMUNITY CHURCH