Thursday, July
12, 2018
“Have the
people make an Ark of acacia wood—a sacred chest 45 inches long, 27 inches
wide, and 27 inches high. Overlay
it inside and outside with pure gold, and run a molding of gold all around it. Cast four gold rings and
attach them to its four feet, two rings on each side. Make poles from acacia
wood, and overlay them with gold. Insert
the poles into the rings at the sides of the Ark to carry it. These carrying poles must
stay inside the rings; never remove them. When the Ark is finished, place inside it the stone
tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, which I will give to you. Exodus 25:10-16(NLT)
When I read Scripture there
is always something that grabs my attention.
This morning, well before sunrise, the phrase never remove them leaped
into the foreground. It is a reminder for
me today that the Ark of the Covenant, Israel’s symbol of the God they could
not see, is like the God they cannot see:
restless. The Ark’s carrying
poles were to always be at ready, never cast aside,
as if the sacred chest had arrived, and was now entrenched…not to be moved
again. For an unchanging Sovereign, He
is ever on the move!
In his youth St. Augustine (eventually
bishop of Hippo) ran as fast and far as he could from God. But he could not outrun the prayers of his
Godly mother, nor the pursuing, prevenient grace of God’s loving Spirit. Hear the restless heart of Augustine, longing
to know the peace of resting in his Creator:
Alas for me!
Through your own merciful dealings with me, O Lord my God, tell me what you are
to me. Say to my soul, I am your salvation. Say it so that I can hear it. My
heart is listening, Lord; open the ears of my heart and say to my soul, I am
your salvation. Let me run towards this voice and seize hold of you. Do not
hide your face from me: let me die so that I may see it, for not to see it
would be death to me indeed.[2]
To be restless is not
that you cannot rest; in the case of our Creator, it is that He will
not rest until his family is complete, and (at last) home! He will not rest until we are at rest! And yet, like the acacia wood poles that are
always in position to move, God moves us forward, ever prodding, leading, guiding,
calling, and inspiring to move. We are
called into His rest, yet we are ever mindful that our souls can never rest
until, as Augustine reminds us, we are at rest with Him.
Like the carrying poles, we
are never to be away from the presence of the ark of God’s safe embrace. This is why we are called to this early
morning dance with the Spirit. In these
early hours our hearts are finding the pathway to that rest.
It is the lifetime employ
and quest of our spirits to know Him, and the power of His resurrection, along
with (and in) the fellowship of His sufferings[3].
And this in-Christ
rest is what we discover is the only true rest a human can know – a
peace beyond all human comprehension and joy[4].
For You Today
This picture of the carrying poles
at the ready is a constant reminder that we are not home yet; we’re passing
through this life, and it’s a restless occupation until we see the Father’s
face.
Go to VIDEO
[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com
[3] Philippians 3:10
[4] Philippians 4:7
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