“When Solomon finished praying, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices, and the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple. The priests could not enter the Temple of the Lord because the glorious presence of the Lord filled it. When all the people of Israel saw the fire coming down and the glorious presence of the Lord filling the Temple, they fell face down on the ground and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying, “He is good! His faithful love endures forever!” Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices to the Lord. King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats. And so the king and all the people dedicated the Temple of God. The priests took their assigned positions, and so did the Levites who were singing, “His faithful love endures forever!” They accompanied the singing with music from the instruments King David had made for praising the Lord. Across from the Levites, the priests blew the trumpets, while all Israel stood. Solomon then consecrated the central area of the courtyard in front of the Lord’s Temple. He offered burnt offerings and the fat of peace offerings there, because the bronze altar he had built could not hold all the burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sacrificial fat. For the next seven days Solomon and all Israel celebrated the Festival of Shelters. A large congregation had gathered from as far away as Lebo-hamath in the north and the Brook of Egypt in the south. On the eighth day they had a closing ceremony, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the Festival of Shelters for seven days. Then at the end of the celebration, Solomon sent the people home. They were all joyful and glad because the Lord had been so good to David and to Solomon and to his people Israel.”
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2 Chronicles‬ ‭7‬:‭1‬-‭10‬ ‭NLT

Worship is an interesting thing. Though we often think of it as unidirectional, there are always two parties involved in it. There is the worshipper and the worshipped. To ascertain whether worship is proper is commonly thought of by how one worships. For instance, is the gift of the worship processed correctly? Is it the right type of thing? Is there enough of it? In this way, at least from an anthropocentric lens, worship is transactional. Other passages in scripture make it clear that God doesn’t prefer sacrifices alone when he accepts worship. He views sacrifice as an outpouring of praise. It is a response to true worship. How we prepare that sacrifice demonstrates how worshipful we are. Nonetheless, a widow’s mite has more value than a large sum of money, in Gods economy. The determining factor is whether what we give is a true recognition of God as he is. This inaugural act of worship contained three elements along these lines. The first was the inordinate amount of sacrifices, the second was the acceptance of them with a familiar tone in fire from heaven. However, the acceptance should be seen less as an approval of the sacrifices and more of the intonation of them. They were the outpouring of praise that God is good. They were a recognition of his base narrative of relationship, that his love endures forever. This is easily what God responded to, more than the all the animals and blood. Here we see that man is finally acknowledging again that he needs God. This is true worship. This is why the temple was consecrated by, not only man, but God himself.

Nature of Worship: Worship involves both the worshipper and the worshipped, and true worship involves recognizing God’s nature and acknowledging our need for Him.

God’s Perspective on Worship: God values the heart behind the worship more than the outward display, and a true sacrifice is an outpouring of praise and recognition of God’s goodness.

Inaugural Act of Worship: The sacrifices offered were an acknowledgment of God’s goodness and enduring love, and God’s acceptance of them signified the restoration of relationship between God and man.