The Gift of the WildernessSample

Verse 2: Seeking God in the Sanctuary

“So I have looked for you in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.” Psalm 63:2 NKJV

In the past, David had spent time seeking God in the tabernacle; the same way that we, today, seek Him in our churches. As David sought the glory and the power of God in the tabernacle, he found him.

But David is not singing at the tabernacle, he is singing in the wilderness. Does that mean that God’s presence, power, and glory are not available outside of the walls of the tabernacle?

The coronavirus pandemic has taught me some valuable spiritual lessons. One of those is how this wilderness season of isolation has actually brought my church closer than when we all gathered in the same building. I pray the same is true for your house of worship.

What has happened is that everything about the church has been stripped away and all we are left with is our desire to seek God.

There is a song by Jimmy Needham called, “Clear the Stage” and its lyrics are so impactful at this time.

“Clear the stage and set the sound and lights ablaze, if that’s the measure you must take to crush the idols. Jerk the pews and all the decorations too, until the congregation’s few then have revival”.

We are urged to gather together as a church body and to corporately worship the Lord, but what if we have been doing it wrong? We pray for revival and revival doesn’t come—but perhaps revival has to start within us. 

Could it be that the ashes left behind from all the enemy tried to burn down could be rekindled to usher in a fire of revival within the church?

What do we do when we find ourselves in isolation as David was? What happens when the church building closes? 

What I have learned in this wilderness time is that the Church never really closes. The building may be closed, but the Church is not the four walls—the Church is us—the body of Christ. Like David, God is teaching us that the sanctuary is not just a place, it is a spiritual dwelling. It can be entered, by faith, anytime, anywhere that a person is.

David is longing to be with God in the tabernacle again one day. We should be longing for this as well. Let us not grow too comfortable with watching online messages while we eat pancakes in our pajamas. 

In Hebrews 10:24-25 we are exhorted, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Seeking God in the sanctuary and seeking God in our time of isolation do not have to be mutually exclusive—they can, and should, exist as coequal partners in this dance of revival with the Lord.

Whatever the circumstance, I pray that you will seek him and know that God is not bound by time or space. 

He is found wherever you look for him.