RETURNING WHILE IN THE LAND OF THE ENEMY

       "And when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who led them away captive, and pray to You toward their land which You gave to their fathers, the city which You have chosen and the temple which I have built for Your name: then hear in heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause." NKJV (1 Kings 8:48-49)

The dedication of the Temple was a most impressive occasion. Never before nor since had such extensive sacrifices been offered (8:63). The prayer Solomon, given on that occasion, was the pinnacle of his wise expressions (8:22-53). As replete with wisdom as Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are, they are but dim starlight when compared with Solomon's dedicatory prayer.
In his prayer, Solomon foresaw the waywardness of the people. He called upon the Lord to honor their prayers when they confessed His name and turned from their sin (8:35). He prayed concerning times when they were chastened by famine, pestilence, blight, mildew, locusts, caterpillars, besiegement by their enemies, plagues, and sickness. He asked the Lord to hear the one who, under affliction of heart, spread his hands toward the temple and prayed (8:37-38). Solomon was at his best when offering this great intercession for the people.
Our text mentions a special occasion in which prayer could be made. The Spirit opened to the king that the people would so provoke God to anger, they would be carried away captive by their enemies.  "If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near" (8:46). Yet, if while they were in the land of their enemies, they would acknowledge their sin, and ask pardon from the Lord, "saying, ‘We have sinned and done wrong, we have committed wickedness,'" Solomon asked the Lord to hear their prayer in heaven and "maintain" their cause (8:49). He asked that this take place if the people returned to the Lord "with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who led them away captive." What a blessed thought! There are people caught in the whirlpool of sin, spiraling downward in the land of the enemy. Yet, even there, their heart can return to the Lord, and they can pray for deliverance. They have every reason to believe the Lord will hear them.