Awed by the very thought of God's indwelling presence

Solomon’s prayer in today’s first reading (1 Kings 8: 22-23, 27-30) is brilliant in its intuitive sense of the incomprehensibility of the presence of our God and the depth and breadth of God’s mercy.   “Lord,” he says, “there is no God like you anywhere, neither in heaven above nor on earth below.  You keep your covenant of mercy with men and women who are faithful servants. Is it true,”  he asks, “that You, God, truly dwell on this earth, in this temple which I built, when not even the heavens can contain You? If heaven cannot contain You, how can earth? How can this temple?”  Solomon  is overwhelmed by the thought of who Yahweh is.  Could Almighty God actually abide in a temple made by human hands?  Could an all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent God dwell on this earth and in the heavens above?  Who is this the I AM who keep His covenant of mercy forever toward those who give of themselves enthusiastically, wholeheartedly, to act with justice, to walk in humility and to love tenderly (Mic 6:8)?  Solomon could not get his arms around the truth of God’s mercy, God’s love, God’s omnipresence in the lives of those who hold nothing back in living a life of holiness. He closes His prayer by begging the Lord to hear his pleas for pardon? Is he recognizing how much humankind falls short of wholehearted service and chagrinned by realizing that we are known for eternally breaking promises, not eternally keeping them.