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O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name. – Psalm 63:1-4
Where do we find God? Where is the place we know we have seen his power and glory, where we have known God’s steadfast love that is better than life. For many of us, that place is the place we associate with church. It often is a building where we gather with those who like us are also seeking to come closer to God.
People have been enamored with buildings for as long as there has been community. For the ancient Israelites their building of worship was the temple. For generations that temple was a mobile tent of meeting that went with the people of Israel as they traversed the wilderness. Even after establishing themselves in the promised land, the continued to worship in the tent of meeting. It wasn’t until king Solomon that a ‘permanent’ building for worship was completed. A few generations later, however, that building was destroyed and the people scattered. After the Babylonian exile many of the children and grandchildren of displaced Israelites were able to return to Jerusalem and they built a new temple on the foundation of the old. This temple, too, would be destroyed.
The psalm above, however, is attributed to king David. David is the king who would first start the idea of a permeant place for God to reside and the people to worship, however, it is while he is wondering the wilderness in Judah that David has the revelation of God’s sanctuary. While David wanted to honor God with a building, the building was never the true sanctuary. The true sanctuary is wherever God is worshiped.
As we continue to be displaced from our church building, maybe we should renew the idea of king David. The same idea Jesus shares with the woman at the well in John 4, that the true place of worship is in spirit and truth. It is not dependent on a place, but on a state of longing, desiring more of God, and praising God for the steadfast love that meets us where we are.
May God meet you today, whether together or apart.
Grace & Peace,
Sam