2 Chronicles 6-7: Why Has the Lord Done Such a Thing?

...the LORD appeared to him at night and said: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.
 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people,  if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
  “As for you, if you walk before me as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a man to rule over Israel.’
 “But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them,  then I will uproot Israel from my land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 
 And though this temple is now so imposing, all who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’  People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them.’”  - 2 Chron. 7:12-22 NIV

We have just returned from Israel where we once more saw the western wall and the tunnels underneath where one can stand at the site closest to where the temple once stood.  Both Solomon's temple and the temple that Herod built are gone.  Any remains are lost to layers of building on top of the rubble. The temple that was so imposing, no longer exists.  All because God's people chose other gods. 

It has always been that way.  We can build all the fancy monuments and temples we want; all the great ministries and broadcasting networks, even governments can be built in the name of God. but if we embrace them, worship and serve them instead of God, we will bring the same disaster upon ourselves.  There is only one God.  There is only one deserving of worship.  He chooses to dwell where his glory will be shown, where people are in awe of him, and only of him.

2010 Post - 2 Chronicles 6-7:  A Promise Keeping God