2 Chronicles 3:1

2 Chronicles 3:1 says, Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.  Having everything assembled, Solomon began to build the temple, or have it built would be more accurate.  When we assemble things to build something for God under His leadership, we don't need to just continue to wait, but we need to start to build.  I don't believe we will please God if He has blessed us with enough to start doing His work and we are afraid to start because we lack faith in Him to continue to provide for the work to be completed.  Verse two adds, And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.  Solomon had reigned for over three years when he started building.  We aren't told why he waited this long, but I will assume there was a reason, which might have been the gathering of the timbers and stones needed for the building, even if David had amassed the gold, silver, brass and iron needed.  I do know that we must have enough support materials to build things with even if we already have the expensive things in place.  Verse three continues, Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.  The next few verses give the dimensions of temple, and it was a large building.  Even if we are not building a large, ornate building to worship in, we still need to build it in accordance with the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  Verse four states, And the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height was an hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it within with pure gold.  We are also told that as things were built, they were overlaid with gold.  Not only was the temple large, it was very ornate as well.  Still, I don't believe that God calls us to build large ornate buildings today, because Jesus Christ is our temple.  I am not saying that we shouldn't build things for God's glory, but simply that we sometimes seem to put more importance on buildings than we do on the work of God that should go on in them.  Verse five adds, And the greater house he cieled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm trees and chains.  Solomon had the ceiling overlaid with gold, but also had it decorated with palm trees and chains.  I believe these would have been engraved palm trees.  Verse six continues, And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim.  Solomon had precious stones added to make the temple more beautiful.  The temple was going to represent God, so it needed to be magnificent, but we as followers of Christ represent Him today, so we need to make our lives magnificent for His glory.  Verse seven says, He overlaid also the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubims on the walls.  He overlaid the beams and posts with gold and decorated the walls with cherubim.  Verse eight adds, And he made the most holy house, the length whereof was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.  The most holy place was within the temple and was about ten yards square.  This was the place where the priests went to meet God and was limited in its access to the people, but as Christians, we all have total access to God all the time.  Verse nine continues, And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.  Then, we are told the weight of the nails and their cost and once again that everything was over laid with gold.  Our bodies as followers of Christ are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and we are overlaid with His blood and not gold.