God's people had waited many years for the work on the temple to finally be completed. Now that it is finished they celebrate, joyfully dedicating the temple and then by remembering the Passover. They rejoiced because they could now freshly experience a measure of God's presence. The same God who had commissioned them to build the temple, who rescued them from captivity, and who wanted to be present in their lives then is even more fully available to us today. What great reason we have for joy and celebration in our own lives, not only in our victories but also in our waiting.