Week 6 -An Undivided Heart: God Makes His Home in Us

God knows we need to see him. We need to feel God’s presence.

Scripture Meditation - Exodus 33, 40

God knows we need to see him.

We need to feel God’s presence.

This week’s meditation invites you to reflect on the ways God is present to you in the person of Jesus and through his Church - through us; God’s kingdom on earth.

“An Undivided Heart” Scripture Meditation Series answers the question: “How do I find peace?”

by taking you on a journey to find an undivided heart.

“Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves Me, they will keep My word. My Father will love them, and We will come to them, and make Our home with them.” John 14:23

The story of the Bible is one of reconciling the lost unity between God, creation, and his people. In the gospel of John, he writes that God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Today, we pause to consider God’s desire to be present with us through an excerpt from Exodus 33 & 40.

“Then Moses said to God, “How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”… Then the Lord said to Moses: “Set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting… Moses did everything just as the Lord commanded him…Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 

So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.”

In the Old Testament, God made himself visible in the tabernacle, through its beauty, its ritual, fire, and cloud. In the New Testament, God’s presence and rule is made visible to us in Jesus Christ. And then, the Holy Spirit comes so that God’s presence can live within us, the Church.

I am grateful that God not only understands my need to see and feel his presence but that he anticipates that need and is so generous in his willingness to do so.

I am humbled and awed by the thought that my life, joined with other followers of the way of Jesus, is intended as a tabernacle for God’s presence.  

As I listen to the passage again, I reflect on the global Church. and pray that in this troubled time, God’s presence will dwell in and among his people all over the world, shining as a light of hope to all those who seek truth and peace. I reflect on my own church community and ask God to make us a people where God rests and rules. 

“Then Moses said to God; “How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”… Then the Lord said to Moses: “Set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting… Moses did everything just as the Lord commanded him…Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 

So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels.”

God With Us, the Tabernacle represented the place you lived among your pilgrim people. How can I thank you, Jesus, for becoming the true tabernacle by dwelling among us and providing the way into your holy presence through the blood of your sacrifice and the strength of your resurrection? Make my everyday living a place where I and others find heaven on earth. (BC 26) Amen.

Produced by: Dan ABH
Narration & Script by: Lisa Smith
Music by: Fox Vernon http://www.foxvernonmusic.com
References:
1. Belgic Confession, Article 26
2. Exodus 33:16- 23; 40:1-8 (NIV)
3. John: 14:23 (NIV)