It is so quiet and so empty in the old workplace that we are moving out of. Yes, our new place is expansive, well equipped, roomy, but I am truly sentimental for the old place, I probably will be for a time, but I will get over it. (I will always miss the windows!). I will remember 20 years of getting stuff done, having a place to be with friends, and of making the most of it. Maybe that’s what missing in the new building for me, I am missing memories that I have not yet lived, I am missing that feeling of the energy, like “we must make this work with the tools we have” making the most of what limited space we also had. The new areas will come together, I know they will, but wow the old rooms looks bigger empty. End of one chapter – start of another.
Yet, it IS time to move on. Even if there are growing pains in between. I am not super sentimental to a fault, I am not. I’ve had to move on from college, grad school, old favorite cars, old lives. I’ve done it, sometimes run from it, but mostly appreciated it. Memories are portable. Moving forward is about taking the blessings with you yet leaving the baggage behind.
The present we must embrace. Otherwise TODAY won’t ever get to be a fond memory too.
That’s what’s missing in our lives now when we just focus either on the past or on future expectations rather than just live one day at a time. We need to be planning, yes, but be practical and JUST BE WHERE GOD PLACES US. (I just now had to pause for playing with the cat, it’s her request of morning time, and I can edit this anytime). We were made by God for this time and place. We must embrace this space. Make the most of it, even if this phase is ALSO short-lived in all ETERNITY.
MAKE THE MOST OF TODAY.
In 1st Kings, the story is SO descriptive of Solomon’s Temple. with the ornate Palace, Courtyard, all surrounding the Temple. So many Oh’s, as in WOW!!!
But really, how I must have been thinking of an Empire State Building sized place. Oh, huge. Oh! NOT!!!! These were ornate but their size was not huge like skyscrapers. These buildings were detailed and carefully made, yes, took years, but not forever. But why was it built? Not for the spectacle (or maybe for that too). Truly this was built FOR THE LORD, WITH THE LORD’S INSTRUCTIONS. For Worship… Oh…. AND A PLACE TO COME FOR FORGIVENESS.
God wanted and wants attention and worship. God wants us to come to Him for FORGIVENESS.
The temple that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high. The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple extended the width of the temple, that is twenty cubits, and projected ten cubits from the front of the temple.
The palace was built ornate, the cedar, the gold… In the Temple, the cherubim were 15 feet tall and wings spread 6 foot on each side. The Ark of the Covenant was placed inside with the two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it, because the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.
“More than I imagine” – that’s a song lyric of seeing God’s Love. God sends His Love by dwelling WITH us. When the Lord arrived in a cloud, filling the ornate temple, the glory of the Lord was IN a cloud, and He filled His Temple. Solomon said, “I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.” That physical Temple is gone today, some remnants remain of rebuilds but that is it. However, the Lord, who does not change, remains. The Lord instructs building, He in dwells, but He is not contained by any building.
Solomon built the temple and knew the promise that were made to his father, King David, and him for their line on the throne to continue. Well, God kept the promise, the Promise was, and IS, and WILL BE, Jesus on the throne forever.
Jesus now risen. Jesus has asked the Father to send the Holy Spirit to IN-DWELL in us, to carry God, God’s Will, God’s Word, IN us. Jesus was the ultimate rebuilt temple of risen self. We are now to be His temple for filling, as a cloud of Spirit can find all the room within us. We must make room. The room is much bigger when we empty it. Declutter us Lord.
A temple, for worship and asking forgiveness, that’s in us too. We ask forgiveness as if we have anything to do with receiving it. No, we ask but it comes as a gift, from Jesus, covering us with His blood. Our Temple, His HOUSE, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’
Hear the prayers of your servants, Lord.
Oh…. may You indwell in us forever.
Amen
AMEN!
Part of Solomon’s dedication (1KINGS 8:23-30
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven and said: “Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it—as it is today.
“Now Lord, the God of Israel, keep for your servant David my father the promises you made to him when you said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants are careful in all they do to walk before me faithfully as you have done.’ And now, God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.
“But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence this day. May your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, this place of which you said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that you will hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. Hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and when you hear, FORGIVE.
READ ALL THE BUILDING HERE:
Debbie Upper 