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Hey everyone, Easter is right around the corner.

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It's pretty early this year. And

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you might not realize this, but traditionally,

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Christians prepare themselves for Easter through what's

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called Holy Week. We want

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to help prepare you for Easter by putting

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together an email devotional. Every day of Holy

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Week, you're going to get an email that's

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getting you ready to celebrate the death and

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resurrection of Jesus. Make sure to click

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the link in our show notes and we'll do that together. Welcome

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to 10 Minute Bible Talks. Where we connect the

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Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get

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to work. I'm Patrick Miller. When

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I was a kid, several movies came

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out around the same time, exploring how

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humans love to mask over pain with

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the happiest of times. The most famous

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movie was called The Truman Show. Some

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of you may remember it. It starred

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Jim Carrey. And it follows

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the almost picture perfect life of

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one man who is living in

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a picture perfect community. Perfect

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houses, manicured beaches, perfect people who

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are nicer than Minnesotans. The best

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part is that he's lived his

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whole life there. He knows everyone

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and always feels happy. But there's

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a dark secret. The entire town

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is fake. All the people in

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it are actors. Cameras

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are secretly situated throughout the entire

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city to capture everything that happens.

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Only Jim Carrey's character is real.

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He has no idea that everybody

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around him, from his parents to

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his friends, are actors. And that

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he's the subject of a reality

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TV show. Sometimes there's a

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darkness in the best of times. Sometimes

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a house looks perfect. But in

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truth, there's a rot growing in the walls. How's

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your life going? Do you put on a good

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face for the people around you? What's

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actually happening in your heart? Do

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you find you actually desire the best

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things? Want God? Want

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to walk in his ways? Or in your

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heart, are you distracted from God? Half-hearted

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in your devotion in

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first Chronicles 2 to 4 we

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read a story that sounds incredibly happy on

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the surface Solomon is finally

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building a temple for God and these

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are the best of times Israel will

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have a permanent place to worship and

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offer sacrifices and center

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their lives upon Yahweh But

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if you read the story carefully the

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author puts in subtle signs that

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there's a rot beneath this building

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a rot that will one Day

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lead to Solomon's own unfaithfulness a

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rot that will one day culminate

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in Israel's downfall in Israel's decline

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into Idolatry, but in

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the best of times it's often hard

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to see the darkness Let me give

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you some examples of what's wrong with

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Solomon's building project these tiny little hints

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of a darkness of a rot Beneath

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the happy veneer first thing Solomon doesn't

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build the temple himself. He asks a

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foreign Idolatrous king to make the materials.

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Maybe you're thinking that's not too bad.

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Let's keep going second He asks that

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king to send him a master craftsman

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who turns out to be the son

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of a marriage between an Israelite

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woman And a pagan man, that's a

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marriage that the law banned, but maybe

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you're thinking well, maybe that's not so

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bad Let's keep going third if you

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go back to the time when God

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had Israel construct him attempt to dwell

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and that's the tabernacle Well,

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if you read those passages, you'll learn

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that the lead builders were filled with

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the Holy Spirit But the lead builder

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on the temple project isn't filled

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with the Holy Spirit. Okay, let's

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keep going fourth Solomon does a

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census to find labor from the

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temple now the author compares it

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Explicitly to David's census and you

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may or may not remember this

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but God condemned David's census profoundly

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Why because he said the census

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was an act of pride and even more

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importantly Ancient censuses were

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a way for ancient kings

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to control their population and

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God Abort this kind of

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monarchical control that leads to our

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fifth item After taking the census,

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Solomon conscripts every foreigner in Israel

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into slave labor in order to

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build the temple. Let's just

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read this part. 2 Chronicles 2, verses

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17-18. Solomon took

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a census of all the foreigners residing in

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Israel after the census his father David had

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taken, and they were found to be 153,600.

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He assigned 70,000 of them to be carriers and 80,000 of

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them to be stone cutters in the hills, with

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3,600 foremen working over

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them to keep the people working.

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Moses' law commanded the Israelites to

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treat the foreigners in their midst

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as native-born people. Solomon breaks

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that law, and in doing so

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he becomes exactly like the Egyptian

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Pharaoh, just like the Pharaoh enslaved

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Israelites because they were foreigners and

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forced them to build his buildings

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in the same way Solomon is

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enslaving foreigners in his kingdom and

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forcing them to build a temple.

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Compare what Solomon did to what

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Moses commanded in Exodus. Do not

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mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for

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you were foreigners in Egypt. You

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see, these are the best of times in

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Solomon's kingdom. They are also the beginning of

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the worst. Beneath the shiny

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new temple to Yahweh is the blood

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and sweat of slaves. How

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often is the same true of us? When

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things are going well, do you find that

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you are slowly growing more careless about your

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faith? Do you find yourself praying less?

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Do you find yourself coming before God

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less? Do you find yourself slowly

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cutting corners and giving yourself moral

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passes on small sins like gossip

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or pride or greed or materialism?

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You're doing so well after all,

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these small things aren't a big

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deal, are they? The same

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goes not only when we're experiencing

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financial prosperity but also success. At

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work, perhaps you're being celebrated right now, but

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what's the truth when you're not at work?

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Do you have a dark addiction to

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pornography, nicotine, a little too much

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alcohol? In my own life,

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I've discovered that it's precisely when things

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are going well that I do well

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to pay more attention to the things

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in my heart, to walk with God

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more faithfully. When things aren't going well,

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the darkness is often obvious. It's

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often grieving and disappointing. You know you

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need God's help and cry out to

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Him and He answers. So

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in a strange way, I think the

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deepest test of maturity is not only

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what we do when we suffer, it's

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what we do when we succeed. The

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strangest part of this story is that

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later God actually enters this temple. He

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doesn't deny His presence because it's not

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a perfect story. Yes, sacrifices

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were made for forgiveness to purify

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the space, but God's willingness to

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dwell with us reminds us that

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no matter how bad the darkness

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is when everything looks great externally,

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He hasn't turned His back on

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us. If you feel like

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your insides are rotting and dark and

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God wants no interest in you, it

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is not too late. Jesus

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died to purify you, to forgive you,

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to make you into a block in

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His temple. That's His body, the church,

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the place where His presence dwells.

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So in the best of times,

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confess, throw yourself before God. Never

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forget that you need Him. Thanks

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so much for listening today. If this podcast

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is helping you grow in your faith, would

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you do me a favor? Text

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it to a friend who you think might benefit

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from it as well. Maybe you can

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find a time to discuss what you're learning from

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the podcast and more importantly what God is doing

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in your heart and in your life.