“A BEAUTIFUL HEART”
David is remembering what the House of God was like from a distant place—he’s probably on the run from Saul as he’s penning this prayer. The sons of Korah channel David’s passion for God’s house when they write in Psalm 84:1, “How lovely are your dwelling places, Lord!”
For many of us, the significance of physical places where the Church meets—such as buildings, homes, and their immediate locales—have been somewhat downplayed. We rightly observe that “The Church isn’t a building, it’s a people,” but God continues to meet His people in Upper Rooms, at altars, and other such places of surrender. Quite conversely, the will of God for our lives always has a geography.
Sometimes we falsely separate material and spirit, thinking that God doesn’t care about things that can be touched—but it’s just the opposite! We forget that places have meanings because places represent where our hearts have been changed—like a park bench becomes special to a couple that shared their first kiss there. This is the significance of altars in the Old Testament— they were places of preparation that God would visit in power.
Maybe it’s time we rethink our attitude towards God’s presence and power. Of course God can meet us anywhere, but God puts value on the places in which we have put value, and every acceptable sacrifice has a Divine response. In David’s eyes, God’s House was where he encountered God’s presence, not because the curtains were just right, but because David had met the very God of the Universe there!
Is God’s House still something beautiful to you, or have you found yourself battling some detachment to the real needs of keeping it lovely?
PRAYER
Father—help our hearts! Let our passion to keeping Your House excellent burn with renewed vision, in Jesus’ Name!”
This is thought provoking and powerful. Does God care about the buildings we meet in and does how we think about and care about/for the buildings we gather in matter to Him?
I’d say yes! If the Lord was intricately detailed about buildings in the Old Testament, has He really changed all that much? I’m convinced that how we treat the places we gather are at least a small reflection of how we view the Lord!!