Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday: Where to Look for God
When I
was a little kid I thought the tabernacle was actually God’s house.
The
tabernacle at our church was ornate and glittery-gold, and it sat on its own
mini-altar off to the side of the main altar under a glowing red lamp. I assumed
God lived in that fancy box as a small, but no less intimidating version of
himself, and I thought the red lamp was his nightlight.
A thick curtain
was draped just behind the tabernacle’s gold door, and the priest would gently
push this aside, reach his robed arm into the mysterious space and pull out the
chalice of Eucharist as we watched from the pews in hushed, reverent silence. I
always strained from my place in the pew during this solemn ritual, craning to
catch a glimpse of God, who I knew was seated on his miniature bejeweled throne
behind the curtain. And I was always frustrated and disappointed that I could never
quite see far enough into that secret, holy place.
I was always disappointed
that I couldn’t see God.
Solomon,
it seems to me, got it right, when he said this in the verses we read this week from 1 Kings 8:27-30:
“But will God really live on earth?
Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I
have built!” (1
Kings 8:27, NLT)
On one
hand, Solomon is flabbergasted, amazed: how can God, the Alpha and Omega,
omniscient, omnipotent, awesome God, actually live on earth, down here with us,
amongst we flawed and sinful people? How can that possibly be?
On the
other hand, Solomon knows that even the most elaborate, elegant temple, one built
specifically to honor and worship him, cannot possibly contain a God whom even
the heavens cannot contain.
Just
like I mistakenly assumed that God lived inside the tabernacle of my childhood
church, I still, as an adult, find myself trying to contain God in a particular
place or define him in a particular way today. I try to squeeze him into a box,
enclose him within boundaries that make sense in my own small mind. I try to
limit a limitless God, in part because his power, his infinite love and grace
and his all-encompassing, indefinable nature overwhelm me.
Solomon
knew the truth, which is that God is in every place and in every person. Not
just inside the tabernacle or within the walls of the church. Not just in the
minister and the missionary. Not just in the faithful and the devout.
God
can’t be contained in a particular place or a particular person. His temple is
our church, yes. But it’s also our kitchens, our workplaces, our backyards and our
very own bodies and hearts.
Do you sometimes look for God in the expected places, like in church, and
neglect to see him in your ordinary everyday surroundings? How do you train your eyes to look for God in your everyday?
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...and to think that we are now God's container!
Ah, but the real beauty of the tabernacle isn't when it just sits there, closed and glowing, but when it opens and we draw out the reminder Christ gave us, the bread of His own body, the remembrance and the communion.
"But it’s also our kitchens, our workplaces, our backyards and our
very own bodies and hearts."
I saw God in the living room yesterday of a couple I don't know very well, but they had invited us over to hear their story of the Spirit on the move. God peered through their eyes, their confessions, even their questions.
Love this perspective, Michelle. Thanks.
Great post Michelle. It made me smile as I read it. I love knowing how we are carrying Him around and how He's always available to us.
Praise God that He lives within each believer who has placed their faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ! Thanks for the great post & for hosting, & God bless,
Laurie
http://savedbygracebiblestudy.blogspot.com/
I've been a grown-up version of your wee little self, straining to see God, but looking with the wrong kind of eyes.
Morning Michelle...Great post today! When I was a kid, I only went to church when my "religious" relatives came to visit from Ottawa. Suddenly it was important to attend church with them. But I always enjoyed the 'dressing up' and going 'where God was'. Now, of course, I know He isn't contained within any four walls, anywhere! He is EVERYWHERE. Again, 'plugging' Ann Voskamp's '1000 Gifts', I am teaching and training my eyes to see Him here, in my everyday. Keeping my journal list of His personal gifts to me. And finding great joy in the discipline of watching for Him.
amen...yes every place and every person is a holy place...I read once...how we forget...the most beautiful creation we see...where we see God most is in someone else...not the mountains...flowers...but in another human...thanks for this....blessings~
The gratitude list is a GREAT way to train your brain (and eyes and ears) to see God in the everyday - it has changed my life immensely!
Amen, Ro. That is so true, so true. I saw God in the smiling face of an old man slowly pedaling past me on his three-wheel bike while I was running this morning. It made me smile (and so do you!).
Your post made me smile. It was so sweet. Yet, at the same time, I am reminded....Is that not still us today? Straining to get a glimpse of Christ? Yet, the fullness of Him. That torn veil. The fullness of Him on a daily basis. Is ours!! What a blessed Savior we have who paid the price! Thanks for reminding me of my full inheritance today!
This is just beautiful, Michelle. One of your best - but then, they all are, aren't they? As an older adult, I have come to a deeper appreciation for the tabernacle and those who find comfort from it. But you are right - we cannot possibly contain God. And yet we all carry some spillover, some glorious spillover within us. What a miracle. Now I pray for eyes to see that spilling everywhere I go. Thanks for this.
My Sunday School class has been talking the last couple Sundays about how we sometimes try to fit God into a box of our own making. How sad when we do that, and how awesome he shows Himself to be when we stop looking inside the box.
How cool that this post jives so well with the discussions you've been having, Rose!
Yeah, I didn't mean to imply that I don't find comfort and joy within my church -- that I certainly do, and my church has been hugely pivotal in my return to faith and my growing in faith. But I get lazy sometimes, relying on worship service as the only opportunity to commune with God. You know what I mean?
Yes, still straining for the glimpse. So true.
Lovely, lovely post, Michelle. And what an interesting story from your childhood. Oh...to see God in each of us...those who have invited Him to come and change the way we live...and how we need the encouragement from others and to encourage others. I see the LORD in you, Michelle.
I love the idea of God needing a nightlight.
Does your church have one of those red saanananctua