The Sound of the Hammer

T

he beating of hammers, the whirr of circular saws, the loud steady thumping of a jackhammer, and the constant sound of huge trucks moving mounds of earth indicated that something big was happening next door.  Almost overnight, the bleak, vacant lot adjacent to my complex was converted into a large construction zone with people and material pouring in from all over the place.

The first few weeks witnessed a great deal of activity but it didn’t appear as if any progress was being made. Still, the sounds of construction boomed and echoed throughout the neighborhood so we all knew something huge would soon take the place of that empty lot—and soon was right!  Out of nowhere, faster than you can blink your eye, a new apartment complex sprung up.  Only a few days before there had been nothing but mounds of dirt, overturned boulders, and piles of rocks and felled trees.

The construction workers, however, kept beating with their hammers, cutting with their saws, and breaking up boulders with their jackhammers.  The sounds grew in intensity as the buildings slowly but steadily reached toward the sky.  Soon, all the frames were built and the exterior walls and roofs were attached.  I couldn’t get over the speed with which these construction workers assembled that complex.  But throughout the entire project, the sound of the hammer continued to ring out, telling everyone that construction was not yet complete.

I often wondered if there was any way the workers could be just a little quieter, especially at 7:00 in the morning.  Even though I am a morning person, I don’t relish the sound of hammers and saws so early.  If only they could make all their cuts away from the site and assemble the buildings in silence.  The men would have enjoyed their work more and the neighborhood would have been a much quieter and saner place to live.

Now I know what you’re thinking.  Dreaming that a construction company would make all its cuts and measurements off site is exactly that, a dream!  Yet there is a story in the Old Testament where this type of construction actually happened.  The workers, however, weren’t building an apartment complex or a community of homes.  Instead, they were constructing one building, the most important building in the history of Israel, the temple of Solomon.

The task of building the temple actually started with Solomon’s father, King David.  The king wanted to build the temple himself but God would not let him.  He told David that no one with blood on his hands could build the temple and David’s hands were very bloody. However, he would be responsible for gathering all the materials for the temple but his son, Solomon, would actually oversee its construction.

So when Solomon was ready, he gave the order to build the temple.  It was to be the most wonderful building ever constructed with all the finest materials Solomon had at his disposal.  But Solomon had a little different idea about the construction of this building. So important was the temple in Jewish life that Solomon wanted the entire process to be one of honor and worship to God.  He therefore gave the order that no sounds of hammers or other tools were to be heard at the temple itself.  All materials were to be pre-measured, pre-cut, and completed before being brought to the temple to be fitted into position.

1 Kings 6:7 explains this for us, “And the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.”  I have often marveled at this verse of scripture and tried to see in my mind how the workers assembled this structure.  There was a holy hush in the place, a quiet reverence that descended upon the place that would be God’s house.  No tools were allowed to break this silence and every stone placed inside was placed with precision and with purpose.

When we stop to think that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, that we are the very dwelling place of God’s presence, it behooves us to stop and consider just what types of sound are heard in our temples.  How often does silence and reverence for God’s presence hold sway over our lives?  Are we laying the stones of our lives with precision and purpose, ever aware of His presence?  Is there a holy hush about our lives that indicates we have brought every thought, word, and action under the control of Jesus Christ?  As we continue the process of constructing God’s temple, is it obvious that we are using quality materials, laying a solid foundation on which we build our relationship with Him? 

Wherever you are today in your walk with the Lord, ask yourself this question. “What sounds are emanating from the construction site of my life?”  Are you living in revered silence before God’s holiness, making sure every thing you do is for His glory or is the sound of the hammer, the saw, and the jackhammer drowning out all indications of God’s presence in your life?  Something to think about today!