His Temple

You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house..

1 Peter 2:5

I was bogged down in my daily Bible reading. After I trudged through Exodus, past the victory of the plagues, the miracle of the manna and quail and the water from a rock, I sat mired in the details of the Tent of Meeting….the place where God planned to meet and fellowship with His people.

The details are multitudinous and perhaps a little monotonous…so many rings, fasteners, widths and lengths, bowls and basins…the details run on and on.

In true selfish fashion, I wondered what all of this had to do with me, here and now, with children pulling at my clothes and responsibilities weighing my frame. Then I recalled 1 Corinthians 6:19: Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God. You are not your own. Could it be that God is just as concerned about this temple, my body, as He was with the first temple...a Tent of Meeting?

The Psalmist writes, I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). God intricately wove the miraculous details of my body in the deep dark side of my mother’s womb. Instead of rings and fasteners, he dealt with the technicalities of my digestive system and the matching colors of my eyes and hair. He planned my personality and delights.

I feel the advancing years. I feel the nicks and dings of life and the crises that roll over my bones like a dump truck. Don’t you imagine that first temple took a beating too? As it was carried for 40 years and had blood sprinkled and poured and dabbed on differing spots, don’t you know it got dirty? But it was still precious to God and to His people. Wear and tear didn’t stop Him from abiding there. Nor do my bruises and dirt keep Him from loving me and desiring to be with me.

I dedicate this temple to you, Lord.

Jill Hardin