1 Kings 8:26
And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father. And now, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father.
The petition belongs to Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple, the large and grand house built as a sanctuary where Israel could meet to worship God. It was offered as he entered upon his work in the temple God employed him to build, amid remarkable manifestations of divine power and precious views of the divine character. In it he asks the God of Israel to bring to fulfillment the word spoken to David his father, presenting God as faithful to that word and expressing Israel's dependence on the God of Israel.
The word to David was that his line would continue on Israel's throne provided his descendants walked in God's law. Solomon makes this request after acknowledging that God had already fulfilled His word by enabling him to build the temple. The prayer expresses deep humility and devotion and a felt need for divine power, showing that Solomon once stood closely related to God and honored Him. It includes a plea for Israel to give their hearts wholly to the Lord.
The surrounding address teaches that the true God is not confined to a temple, but meets His people by His Spirit when they gather for worship and is present with them wherever they are. God honored the builders for providing the sanctuary, and those who worshiped Him sincerely had His blessing. Although Solomon knew God, corrupting influences later led him away from God and from temple worship to idol groves and idolatry, forsaking the very temple he had dedicated. His later apostasy made him the people's seducer instead of leading them to devotion.
That light did not save him, showing that even those made repositories of God's law and entrusted with sacred truth must be spiritualized, humbled, stripped of self-sufficiency and spiritual pride, and kept by the power of God through faith.