If we want God to live among us we must prepare him a space Ceilon Aspensen, February 14, 2024February 13, 2024 The most important message I picked up from today’s readings overall is if we want God to live among us we must prepare him a space. My primary takeaway from each of the passages was this: Exodus 39 & 40: If we want God to live among us we must prepare him a space. Luke 1: Nothing is impossible with God, and he is able and willing to answer our prayers. Psalms 45: When we pray and prepare ourselves, God provides for us splendidly. Proverbs 14: More details about how to live a just, honest, and good life. After all the details and minutiae of the building and outfitting of the tent of meeting for the last umpteen chapters in Exodus, we are finally presented with the point of all of that: the Israelites prepared a place in their camp for God, and God dwells among them. To me, what is most important about this is not all the symbolic details of the architecture, furnishings, and rituals we have been reading about for many chapters, now. What’s most important is the idea that if we want God to dwell among us we must prepare a place for him. We need to spiff up our digs so he has a tidy place to take residence within us. This is what daily prayer and meditation are all about. It’s why I read the Bible every day. Think about your own actual place of residence. Is it clean and tidy? Are you ready for visitors at any time? Or is it dirty and heaped with clothes and possessions that have not been put away? If someone were to come to your house today, would you have to clear out a corner of the sofa or a uncover a chair so they have a place to sit? Would you have to do the dishes and clear off the stove before you could begin to cook a meal? There’s an entire school of thought today that says keeping a clean, organized house is an antiquated idea, and that one’s closest friends will not mind hanging out in your mess. I’m not so sure. I know I, personally, would not be comfortable in such an environment, and I work to keep my space cleaned up and tidy not just for potential guests but also for myself. I can’t think in a messy house. There’s another school of thought based in psychological science that says a person’s space is an outward reflection of their inner state of mind. I believe that’s more accurate, and there’s more evidence to support it. If we subscribe to school of thought number two, it makes sense that preparing our inner space also makes room for God in our lives. In Luke 11, Jesus tells a story of a demon that is cast out of a person, roaming the world, looking for another abode. It returns to the place it was originally cast out of and finds it cleaned and tidied since it last lived there. So it decides to take up residence there again, and even invites its friends. The point of that story is that it is not enough to clear out the junk; we must also replace it with furnishings and rituals that keep the place clean and suitable for a healthy spiritual life. We must fill it with good things. We must fill it with God. That, I believe, is the point of all of the details about building and outfitting the tent of dwelling in Exodus. It is not only a detailed accounting of something that the Israelites actually did (and to some extent they still do to this day in the setup of the synagogue), but it is also a metaphor for us in preparing our inner space for God to dwell within us. What are we doing to keep our space cleaned up and inhabited by the living God? Daily prayer and reading the Bible are a good start. In the first chapter of Luke, we see that the angel Gabriel has a very busy time, and receives two different responses to the good news that he bears. Zechariah receives the good news that, after years and years of prayer, he and his wife will finally conceive a child. Mary receives the good news that she will become the mother of the savior of all of humanity. Zechariah doubts and is given an affliction (not being able to speak) until the baby is born. Mary accepts the news and her fate without doubting, but not without many questions, which Gabriel answers. I believe the important message in this passage is that although we may pray and pray for a solution to whatever ails us, we are most often not prepared to receive what we ask for. Zechariah was a priest of the sanctuary but apparently did not expect to receive an answer to his prayers. We don’t know anything about Mary prior to meeting Gabriel, but we can probably guess that she likely had no inkling before this of what was about to happen to her. Even so, she accepts it without question and is willing to do what God asks of her. How do we respond to the blessings God gives us? Do we really expect answers to our prayers? Or do we doubt the ability and willingness of God to answer those prayers? That’s what I got out of it. What did you get out of the readings today? To participate in a discussion about the posts, please join us in our private Facebook group that I set up specifically for sharing what we take-away from the readings each day. If you haven’t gotten the FREE “Read the Bible in a Year” worksheet yet, you can download it here. It is not necessary for you to start on January 1st–you can start from the beginning on whatever date you get the worksheet. Join us! Learn more about why I read the Bible all the way through every year, and feel free to share with anyone you think could benefit. 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