Hello me dear beloved family,
I have not been getting up as early lately. No sunrises. No hour of quiet before the house stirs. I blame Jack (our yorkiepoo). He was a very faithful alarm clock. But now, he is literally sleeping on the job. I think he (and I) are in winter hibernation mode. We have had a real winter here in Florida. It went below freezing on a few consecutive days. Thank heavens it’s supposed to go back up to the upper 70s within a day or so.
This morning, I did have a little quiet time, and I was reading The Holiest of All by Andrew Murray. It’s a super good book and I am slowly making my way through it. Today, I was reading a chapter that talked about the tabernacle in the old testament. How there was an outer court, and then a holy place where the priests went in to sacrifice, and then there was The Holy of Holies, the most Holy place, where the presence of God dwelt, and only the high priest went in there, once a year. There was a heavy veil between the holy place and the Holy of Holies.
I got curious, and since we have the internet, I looked up pictures of the tabernacle, how it was all set up and what it might have looked like. There were specific instructions from God on how it was to be designed and made. So I got even more curious, and I went to the 25th chapter of Exodus to read what God’s instructions were. There were lots of details, measurements, specific materials. It was all interesting. But then I read something that really stood out for me, and those words are the very reason I am typing out this email right now…….
I have written to you about the Holy of Holies, how Jesus rent the thick veil that separated us from that place, ripped it in two when He died, giving all of us the ability to enter into the Holy of Holies, so that we can dwell in God’s presence, all the days of our life, nothing holding us back. This is a glorious, glorious gift. All who would desire to dwell in the presence of God, they are welcome. No conditions. Glorious.
But the verse I read today…… I can tell you that it is even more glorious than that. More glorious than our desire to enter into His presence.
The Lord told Moses in Exodus 25, verse 8:
“And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.”
Did you catch that??? I had to do a double take. God gave Moses all of these instructions and details to build a sanctuary so that HE could dwell among US !!! All the creation of the Holy Place, the Holy of Holies, was because God wanted to be with us. God….. Wants to be….. With …..us. This is the purpose. This is the goal. This was why He came to earth as a human. This is why He died. This is why He conquered death! This is why He took away ALL of our sins.
We are with God, in His presence. But even better, if anything could be better than that, God is with us. He wants to be with you. This is His desire and all of history has been brought about so that His desire would be fulfilled. Jesus was the way that His desire was fulfilled once and for ALL.
So, beautiful friends, most desired by God, rest in Him. Rest in the place that God created so that He could be with you, always. When we rest in that place of God’s deepest love and desire being for us, the rest of our lives, the day to day, will take its’ proper place in the back seat. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His Glory, and Grace, and His immeasurable love for you.
I love you all,
A
And now for a word from today’s sponsor, Mumford & Sons: