Before going to bed, I usually write down thoughts or ideas so that I don’t forget them. What I wake up with is usually one thought which permeates the rest.
Last night, I wrote down the word “Sanctuary.” It’s not a word I think about or a word that you hear people using today. You might picture a church, or some far away convent where monks live out their monastic lifestyle before God. Others are more acquainted now-a-days with the concept of a “sanctuary city,” a place where people go to seek asylum from being oppressed or ostracized in some way.
As I was thinking about the word sanctuary, a little part of an old song surfaced that I had long forgotten about. I don’t know where the song came from or who sang the song, and I certainly don’t remember but a few lines of it.
It went like this:
Lord prepare me, to be a sanctuary…
Pure and holy,
Tried and true…
With thanksgiving, I’ll be a living –
sanctuary for you.
I’m not a singer, but there are times when a familiar tune or chorus comes to mind, and when it’s something directly related to the Lord, I take notice. It’s as if the Spirit of the Lord is trying to bring to the surface something important, trying to highlight something he wants me to remember.
Lord prepare me to be a sanctuary…Those few lines talk about help that comes from the Lord to be what he has created us to be in the first place, a dwelling place for him.
Pure and holy speak to having a clean, undivided, and holy heart – a descriptive way of being or living, a specific ambiance and atmosphere of the place where Jesus wants to residence in, to live in and be inside of us.
Tried and true I believe states that no matter the circumstances designed to test our faith, wear us out, and leave us wanting and waiting means that we remain and persist in being loyal subjects, devoted followers of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ.
With thanksgiving is an awareness that all we are and all we have is because of him. Every breath, every blessing, every mundane thing we take for granted derives from his great love, compassion, and mercies in our lives as our beloved creator and provider.
I’ll be a living sanctuary for you. This is a declaration of a full, attentive, and active life, set apart and devoted for his Holy Spirit to abide and make holy for his own for his sake.
Why this reminder? Why now? Well, if you’re on the same page as I am – life has been extremely chaotic, disappointing, and seemingly a constant stream of striving to get anything accomplished. It’s like going up hill, against the wind and rain, while slipping and sliding back down that same hill.
You begin to wonder if you brought the wrong equipment, missed the memo, or if you even got the right address. Why is this cycle or season so long? Its as if someone hijacked it and the wheel continues to spin only in place, never taking you anywhere.
When that happens, disillusionment and despair set in trying to take up residence first in your thoughts, and then in your heart. You start going through the motions of life, dull and numb, as you begin to close down your emotions and protect yourself from yet another unrealized expectation.
This reminder of being a sanctuary points us to the promises of God, and is designed to help us remember who we belong to, and how to focus ourselves in the midst of chaos.
HELPFUL VERSES:
“God is with us “Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14, 8:8; Matthew 1:23)
“You will bring them and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, The place, O Lord, which you have made for your dwelling. The sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.“ (Exodus 15:17)
“And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst…” (Exodus 25:8)
“You are my hiding place; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with songs of deliverance.” (Psalm 32:7)
“He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you may seek refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.” (Psalm 91:4)
“For you have been a defense for the helpless, a defense for the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat…” (Isaiah 25:4)
“Though I had removed them far away among the nations and though I had scattered them among the countries, yet I was a sanctuary for them a little while in the countries where they had gone.” (Ezekiel 11:16)
“Abide (or remain) in me, and I will abide (remain) with you.” (John 15:4)
“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil.” (Hebrews 6:19)
“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19)
“You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.” (Leviticus 21:8; Exodus 19:6; 1 Peter 1:16; 1 Thessalonians 4:7)
“You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5)
“…the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)
The Song on my mind…
Sometimes it is a word, or a simple song the Holy Spirit uses to remind us of what we were created for in the first place, of what he has built with his own hands out of love.
Living sanctuaries in the midst of difficult seasons and a tumultuous world – where there is no greater proximity wherein we can be in touch and touched by the one who resides in such a place, the Holy and Living God.
