THE HOUSE OF GOD

"They are to make a sanctuary for Me so that I may dwell among them. (Exodus 25:8 HCSB)

God demands and deserves our worship. Being a God so immense, that not even the heavens can contain Him, it is impossible that a church building can. He transcends all things, fills all things--He is all in all. There is nowhere you can go, that He is not there. This is the Being we worship.

But, we are finite creatures, locked into time and space. While God is everywhere, we must be somewhere, so that I need a meeting place with God--a sacred space where I can worship the Infinite One.

Can I not worship God anywhere? Can I not encounter Him in the fields and woods, by the lake or the ocean, since He is just as much there as anywhere. You could, you should, but would you? We are easily distracted. Do we associate the stream with praising God or catching fish? Will we look to the heavens while sitting in a beach chair or observe a child chasing a beach ball across the sand?

Please, don't misunderstand what I am saying. I recognize that wherever we go and whatever we may experience, there is an occasion for our hearts to be directed toward the Lord and draw near to Him in seasons of intimacy with the Creator.

Yet, worship is also not confined to the individual, but is done in the context of community. We are to gather together in corporate celebration of who God is and what He has done. That requires a meeting place.

Thus, God directed Israel to construct a sanctuary--in this case an elaborate tent. When they moved, the tent would be taken down and taken with them. When they stopped to camp, it was to be set up in the middle, for worship was to be central in the national life.

Is worship at the core of your life journey? How often do you find yourself in the company of fellow believers expressing gratitude to God? When you are physically attending, are you fully present--your mind and heart engaged on the truth? Do you mindlessly mouth the stanzas of the song or do they come gushing from the heart? When someone leads in prayer, do you pray or zone out? As the Word of God is proclaimed do you consume it with a ravenous appetite or do you look quickly from the text to your wrist watch, wondering, "What's for lunch?"

Worship is important to God. That ought to make it important to you. It will be the order of eternity. We should get used to it now. Let us gather tomorrow, praying that the Lord will rend the heavens and come down in power and glory. I am desperate for that! God willing, I will be there to meet God in the sanctuary. I don't want to miss it! Don't you dare!