~Alex Wu

Does God really want us to build a temple for Him? He showed great favor to Solomon after he finished the temple (2 Chronicles 7:1,16). But God also made it clear that He does not dwell in houses made by hands (Acts 7:48). This question did not come out by an intellectual quest, but through a recent struggle in my work. My research project has been my “temple” to be dedicated to God upon completion one day. This project was given to me 15 years ago after I made a simple prayer to God for a research subject that would interest and motivate me. God delivered exactly what I asked for through many “coincidences” and unusual decisions in my company. The potential reward of this project is great, but greater is its risk of failure. Therefore, it was granted to me on a short-term basis. Through God’s intervention and blessing, this project grew successfully exceeding everyone’s expectation. It outlives almost all other projects and now becomes one of the major research projects in my company. However, a great technical challenge emerged recently that could’ve spelled the end of my 15 year endeavor. 

After several days of earnest prayer and struggle, I finally decided to dedicate the unfinished work to God. After this point, it is entirely up to God to complete or abandon this “temple”. While I was dedicating the incomplete project, the Holy Spirit suddenly gave me understanding about God’s temple. The reason that Solomon’s temple was well received by God is because David offered God an incomplete temple with raw materials only. The Spirit even gave me the Bible verses for this offering. In 1 Chronicles 22:7-11, it seems that David was instructing “a son of David”, Solomon, to complete the temple. But through prophetic words in 1 Chronicles 22:10, he was speaking to “the son of David”, Jesus, who is also the son of God and will have His royal throne in Israel forever. Indeed, it was God who completed the so-called Solomon’s temple!