“He (the Lord) will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart.” (1 Corinthians 4:5)
After Solomon became king the Bible says, “Solomon showed his love for the Lord by walking according to the statutes of his father David except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places.”* (I Kings 3:3)
The "high place" (Heb. bamah) was “the ancient and technical name (found also on the Moabite Stone) of the local Canaanitish sanctuaries, which had been adopted by the Israelites, and consecrated to the worship of Yahweh.: (Skinner, The Century Bible: Kings) Worship at the high places could easily become entangled with idolatry, but in Solomon’s day there was no other place to worship because the Temple had not yet been built. Perhaps it was as close as one could get to a place of worship since the Tent of meeting was there in Gibeon. (2 Chr. 1:3)
When Solomon made a very large sacrifice at Gibeon, the most prestigious high place, a few miles from Jerusalem, the Lord appeared to him in a dream. God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” You know the story: God was pleased that Solomon did not ask for long life, or wealth, or the death of his enemies. It pleased God that Solomon asked for “a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.” (3:4)
God wanted to know what was in the heart of Solomon. Solomon sought to walk in obedience to God, doing the right thing, even though he still sacrificed on the high places, formerly places of pagan sacrifice and worship. The place of sacrifice would eventually be corrected when Solomon built the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem.
Solomon walked in obedience, walked in the light he had at that time. God would reveal more light and Solomon’s obedience would move to higher plane. This, I believe, is the essence of the sanctification process. The closer we come to the Light the more we become aware of our own imperfections.
As we walk in communion with the Lord Jesus, sin of a different level, a level we have yet to wrestle with, a level perhaps we were not even aware of, raises its ugly head. I think this is the difference between “sin” and “sins”. To those who walk faithfully with Jesus Christ in this life, sin will be revealed, layer after layer. As we walk in the light, toward the light, more and more darkness in our own souls will be revealed. Look at how God blessed Solomon who had a heart of obedience, but still sacrificed on the high places. So God blesses us even though there are levels of sin in our lives yet to be revealed.
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