When God Shows Up

“When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.” --1st Kings 8:10-11

This passage has been on my heart for over a week now. Let me give you just a little background info as to what is going on here.

King David had it purposed in his heart to build a temple for the Lord. This was a huge deal not only because of the magnitude of the project, but because there had never been a permanent place for the God of Israel prior to this point. From the time the Israelites left Egypt (“Let my people go!”; parting of the Red Sea; living on manna in the desert; etc.), they had been a nomadic people. The presence of God moved, and they moved with Him. Although He didn’t need a place to dwell, God told David that his desire would be fulfilled in order to plant the Israelite people (2nd Samuel, chapter 7).

The opening Scripture picks up the story when the temple has just been completed. King Solomon, David’s son, is now on the throne. All of the finest things have been used in constructing and decorating the temple, and everything is in order for the grand opening. All of the people of Israel have assembled for the massive dedication of the building, and there is much anticipation and celebration in the air.

As one of the last things to do, Solomon has the ark of the Lord’s covenant brought into the temple. This ark is where the manifest presence of God had dwelled among the Israelite people; it was movable—enabling the Israelites to take the Lord’s presence with them wherever they roamed. Thus, by bringing the ark into the temple, the dynamic of how the Lord rested among his people changed. A once nomadic people became a people with roots. Just as the Lord now dwelt in one place, so did His people.

So after the priests placed the ark in the inner sanctuary of the temple, they come out to where they could see the throngs of people. I'm betting they had prepared an elaborate service that may have contained songs, sacrifices, praise, prayers, worship, and loads of symbolic illustration. They may have had leaders from the different tribes and family heads all scheduled to do something in the service. But then, “…the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because…the glory of the Lord filled his temple.” WOW!!!

Does that not hit you?! On such a huge day in the history of Israel, on such a magnificent occasion, all the plans of the priests got wrecked because God showed up. His glory manifested in such a thick way that they literally could not perform their service. I love it!

So I ask: How many times have we let structure and order get in the way of actually encountering the glory of the Living God? Have we resolutely clung to the predetermined lines of our “service” because it would be somewhat uncomfortable to depart from it? It seems to me that God showed up that day and was shouting, “Here I am! Behold me! I am ALL that you need!”

It makes me wonder what the goal of our worship is. Is it to usher in the presence of God? To ask Him to invade us and change us from the inside out? Or is it to fulfill other desires within us that want something familiar, something that makes us smile on the way out the door as we go to eat a big lunch? If it’s the latter, then we need to check ourselves. We need to reexamine our motives and change the way we live out our faith. If it’s the former, then we should yearn for the excessive outpouring of the Spirit. We should pray that 1 Kings 8:10-11 happens every single time we come together!

I am not saying we should discard all preparation and planning; there are multiple places in the Bible that speak on how the Church should have order. What I am saying is that we should not be so stuck to our outlines that we neglect to heed to what the Spirit of the Lord is doing around us. We should not sacrifice genuine encounter and the impulsive ebb and flow of the Holy Spirit on the altar of familiarity and structure.

Let us seek after the Lord. Let us not box Him in. I pray that the unfathomable things of God start to manifest among us as we yearn for fresh fire and revelation straight from Heaven. Amen.

Boldness and Fear

There have been a couple of different things I’ve considered writing about over the past few days, but one dual topic comes back to me more than the rest. That dual topic is boldness and fear. Let me explain… and it’s gonna be a little more random than usual :)

Boldness, to me, is wrapped up very closely with faith. When your faith is large, then boldness to share that faith in any circumstance flows naturally. When you know something, then you have no problem telling about it and acting on it. It’s when you have doubts about your beliefs that timidity and uncertainty set in. Thus, when the time comes to actually put your faith into action, fear can come swooping in and paralyze you.

For me, the most common way this manifests itself is when I’m in a public place (at the mall, at a ball game, at work—basically anywhere but church) and I have the opportunity to do something for God. Whether it is the urge to pray for someone, the opportunity to witness, or an occasion arises to just step in and make sure justice is given to the helpless, I sometimes hesitate. My mind starts to wonder things like, “What if I pray for them to be healed and it doesn’t happen?” “What if they laugh at what I say?” “What if this guy beats me up for getting in his business?” All of these questions stem from fear. Even though I can feel the Lord pushing me to do/say something, I have given fear a voice in my decision-making process.

Those times that I give in to the fear, I walk away so mad at myself. Only later, after the heat of the moment has cooled, will I start to see how my timidity was foolish. The main reason I have for not doing what I know God wants me to in certain situations springs from stupid crap; i.e. I’m scared of what people will think about me. Additionally, the hesitation can spring from a lack of faith. If I genuinely believe what is written in the Bible about healing, will I not pray for the sick with more boldness? If I genuinely believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, then won’t I witness that to more people? If I really think it my duty to carry out the will of God and make sure that nobody is taken advantage of, then won’t I speak up for the widows, orphans, and powerless every time I see it happening?

The answer to having more boldness so you can do these things is increasing your faith. You increase your faith by reading the Word, walking out what you read, praying and talking to the Lord, and experiencing the work of God firsthand. As you see the truths of God manifest in your life and in the lives of those around you, fear loses its stronghold. You worry less about what people think of you; you start to care more about God’s opinion of you.

There is a Jason Upton song I was reciting the other day that says, “In your presence, all fear is gone.” How true. When we are covered in the presence of God, fear has no residence. I pray that you press into the life-changing presence of the Lord more and more. That fiery presence is what pushes out fear and raises up boldness. Please pray for me, too. I need that boldness now more than ever.

May God bless each of you richly and deeply through His Son Jesus Christ.

In His Never-Ending and Boundless Love,

adam