This Sanctuary

Exodus 25:1-9 The Message

1GOD spoke to Moses: 2"Tell the Israelites that they are to set aside offerings for me. Receive the offerings from everyone who is willing to give. 3These are the offerings I want you to receive from them: gold, silver, bronze; 4blue, purple, and scarlet material; fine linen; goats' hair; 5tanned rams' skins; dolphin skins; acacia wood; 6lamp oil; spices for anointing oils and for fragrant incense; 7onyx stones and other stones for setting in the Ephod and the Breastpiece. 8Let them construct a Sanctuary for me so that I can live among them. 9You are to construct it following the plans I've given you, the design for The Dwelling and the design for all its furnishings.

There’s something so beautiful about this picture. The willing offering of a people who would stop at giving nothing but the best – of gold, fine linen, incense, precious stones and more; making space for a Sanctuary that would have God dwell among them. In moments of desperation and need, we often turn our cries heavenward in earnest, praying for the assuring presence of our comforter, Emmanuel ‘God-is-with-us’. Yet, in doing so, we have assumed that between the heavens and the earth lies a great divide of which God is on one side and we the other.

Yahweh, I am reminded, has always – and shall always be a personal God. Right from Creation, we bear the image of a God who because of His great love gave His most beloved children the autonomy to choose if they would receive His love and respond in return. And as we were expelled from Eden, we had a God who remained faithful to us even in our rebellion. Through the generations, He journeyed with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He raised up Judges time and again to deliver Israel from their enemies. He established David as His representative, and He sought to speak to His chosen people through the Prophets. And when all else failed, He sent His Son to bridge that great divide we had drawn between us and Him when we hearkened to the Serpent’s devilish tales of deceit and bit into the cursed fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.

It is with a heart of thanksgiving and praise that I come to understand that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God. The greatest divide that we may draw is the same one that we see in the story played out in Eden. Compelled by the same love that we saw in the beginning, we too must make the choice to draw near to Him or not. God desires a willing offering from His people – a people who would choose to make space for Him in their lives – and we may be confident that He would surely dwell among us if we do so.

I’m in a season where I’m still learning how to move from mere rhetoric to a faith expressed through every facet of my life. I suspect most people my age would find themselves feeling like a schizophrenic as they wrestle with questions of their destiny, identity, purpose and worth – and when enough pressure has been exerted in one direction or another, we make a choice either to walk the tight-rope of faith or abandon it altogether. There is no doubt about it, for market-place pressures are real, and how many of us can honestly say that we have made our way through the labyrinth of the concrete jungle without a scar here or a scratch there; and without having lost our innocence in the dangerously enchanting woods out there?

But if I should have any chance of survival at all, then I must at least remember that a life without the presence of His Sanctuary is surely suicide. I can only pray that I may know what of my possessions I must willingly give in order that His presence may be able to dwell in my midst. As for now, I recommit this choice that I have made: Emmanuel, dwell with me – I choose you.

Foolish Games

Luke 22:54-62 The Message

54Arresting Jesus, they marched him off and took him into the house of the Chief Priest. Peter followed, but at a safe distance. 55In the middle of the courtyard some people had started a fire and were sitting around it, trying to keep warm. 56One of the serving maids sitting at the fire noticed him, then took a second look and said, "This man was with him!"

57He denied it, "Woman, I don't even know him."

58A short time later, someone else noticed him and said, "You're one of them."

But Peter denied it: "Man, I am not."

59About an hour later, someone else spoke up, really adamant: "He's got to have been with him! He's got "Galilean' written all over him."

60Peter said, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about." At that very moment, the last word hardly off his lips, a rooster crowed. 61Just then, the Master turned and looked at Peter. Peter remembered what the Master had said to him: "Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." 62He went out and cried and cried and cried.

We must’ve all once known what it was like to be caught by our own blissful ignorance, puffed-up arrogance and foolish pride. The Master’s piercing gaze caught Peter right at this moment, and he remembered his bold proclamations of loyalty and love to Jesus.

Yet, I notice that it wasn’t Jesus’ heart that broke, but Peter’s own. I suppose Jesus is never quite sorry for the mistakes that we have committed or the stumbles that we experience along the way. Taking it in His stride, He perhaps knows better than we do ourselves, that it is through times of testing where we fail the test miserably that we become aware of our sin and weaknesses, learn His truths irrevocably well, and emerge from the dust and ashes refined to become a little more like Christ.

An image that has captured me is the one of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. ‘Pray that you won’t give in to temptation,’ He instructed His disciples (Luke 22:39-40). We don’t have to pretend to be stoic before God our Father in the face of testing and temptation. We may be honest before Him presenting our prayers, petitions – our weaknesses and desires – before Him. Jesus Himself prayed to the Father for the cup to be removed from Him. In the same breath, He also prayed to God for help in times of weakness, ‘But please, let not my will but Yours be done’ (Luke 22:42). And at once, an angel from heaven was at His side, strengthening Him (Luke 22:43).

Many times we think we have to pray what we think God wants to hear. Take your cue from the Psalmists and lay your heart bare before Him. With the blood of Christ covering us in His cloak of righteousness, we no longer have to hide behind the bushes as God comes walking past. We are no longer naked – and there is no more need to be ashamed.

I Can Only Imagine

Luke 5:1-11 The Message

1Once when he was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, the crowd was pushing in on him to better hear the Word of God. 2He noticed two boats tied up. The fishermen had just left them and were out scrubbing their nets. 3He climbed into the boat that was Simon's and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Sitting there, using the boat for a pulpit, he taught the crowd.

4When he finished teaching, he said to Simon, "Push out into deep water and let your nets out for a catch."

5Simon said, "Master, we've been fishing hard all night and haven't caught even a minnow. But if you say so, I'll let out the nets." 6It was no sooner said than done--a huge haul of fish, straining the nets past capacity. 7They waved to their partners in the other boat to come help them. They filled both boats, nearly swamping them with the catch.

8Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell to his knees before Jesus. "Master, leave. I'm a sinner and can't handle this holiness. Leave me to myself." 9When they pulled in that catch of fish, awe overwhelmed Simon and everyone with him. 10It was the same with James and John, Zebedee's sons, coworkers with Simon.

Jesus said to Simon, "There is nothing to fear. From now on you'll be fishing for men and women." 11They pulled their boats up on the beach, left them, nets and all, and followed him.

There is something about Simon’s first glimpse of Jesus’ glory that touches me deeply. Perhaps this is my first lesson in understanding the heart of worship – that it cannot be forced, that it cannot be elicited through artificial means, but only when we are awash with an overwhelming awe of His glory.

Although never quite an adequate parallel – but sufficient to get my point across – I guess we can say that worship is like the time when we reach the climax of a movie and find ourselves rooted in our seats with our eyes burning with hot tears (most often hoping that no one can see us respond this way in spite of ourselves), thoroughly moved by the poignancy of the moment as we behold the lives of the central characters and their acts of love, heroism and sacrifice.

In one simple act, everything was put into perspective as Simon Peter beheld the power, sovereignty and holiness of God, which drove him to his knees to plead that he be separated from something or Someone so much bigger than himself: ‘Master, leave,’ said Simon, ‘I’m a sinner and can’t handle this holiness. Leave me to myself.’ (Luke 5:8) Yet in the same breath, Jesus stood between what seemed like the great eternal divide between a Holy God and a Fallen Humanity as He said to Simon, ‘There is nothing to fear. From now on you’ll be fishing for men and women.’ (Luke 5:9)

I am reminded of the words of MercyMe’s I Can Only Imagine:

I can only imagine what it will be like
When I walk by your side
I can only imagine what my eyes will see
When your face is before me
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

Surrounded by your glory
What will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you Jesus?
Or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence?
Or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing Halelluja?
Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

I can only imagine when that day comes
And I find myself standing in the Son
I can only imagine when all I will do
Is forever, forever worship you
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

Surrounded by your glory
What will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you Jesus?
Or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence?
Or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing Hallelujah?
Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

Surrounded by your glory
What will my heart feel?
Will I dance for you Jesus?
Or in awe of you be still?
Will I stand in your presence?
Or to my knees will I fall?
Will I sing Hallelujah?
Will I be able to speak at all?
I can only imagine

I can only imagine
I can only imagine
I can only imagine
I can only imagine
I can only imagine

I can only imagine when all I will do
Is forever, forever worship you
I can only imagine


In my sin, I find grace in the One who has stood and continually stands in the gap of the great eternal divide. Surrounded by His glory, what will me heart feel? Will I dance for my Jesus? Or in awe of Him be still? Will I stand in His presence? Or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing Hallelujah? Will I be able to speak at all?

I can only imagine.

I can only imagine when all I will do is forever, forever worship You.