Today's Bible Reading: 1 KINGS 8:1-53, 2 CHRONICLES 5:14-6:42
2 Chronicles 6:18“But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built!
Sometimes we come across those piercing life questions that have been the source of debate among scholars for centuries. The attempts to address these questions often present deep dialogue that leads to further discussions. Solomon asked such a question, “Will God indeed dwell with man on earth?”. He inquires if the transcendent could become imminent. He considers if the infinite God could inhabit the dwelling that He had built for Him.
He contemplates the vastness of the immense God of the universe. He argues that if the heavens that He constructed cannot contain Him then, How could the temple he constructed even come close to containing Him.
Here is good news for us. God can’t be confined or contained. His omnipresence is the obstacle. How can you constrain the God who is everywhere? Other gods of the world are localized; they are confined to a temple where they dwell. You go where they are to meet them. But Solomon’s God is not. He is everywhere, all the time. He is never not there. Where you are is where He is.
Thus, there is never a place where you are at that He is not present. There is not a moment in your life when He goes missing. David’s great text affirms this when he asks, “Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.” (Ps 139:7-12). He is ever present.
So the temple of Solomon was not design to contain the Lord but to display the fact that He could not be contained. It was not built to cause us to go there to meet with Him, but to remind us He is here…..He is among us. He is not some distant deity unconcerned about us, or a distracted deity who has little regard for us, but a dwelling deity who has come near to us and remains here with us.
The temple also was a precursor of Jesus who came and dwelt among us. (John 1:14). He is Immanuel, God with us. (Matt. 1:23). It is in Him we see the “image of the invisible God.” (Col 1:15). The temple represented God’s presence with us, Jesus is God’s presence. Now the Spirit of the Lord dwells in us and with us.
So we can take comfort knowing that there is no time that God is not there. He is not bound to a building or a body. He is where you are. God is present. Through your pain and problems, He is present. In your darkest nights and most dismal days, He dwells with you. He is always there to walk with you through your disappointments and delights. He is there.
Today thank God that He is too Big to be contained. Thank Him that He is always where you are.
Comments