Readings for today: Haggai 1-2, Revelation 11, Psalms 139, Proverbs 30:15-16
What is the meaning of life? Why are we put on this green earth? What is our purpose? What is God’s will? These are the fundamental questions of our existence. And no matter how hard we try or how much we drink or how many pills we take or how much we smoke or how much we eat or how much we save or how much we spend or how hard we work out or how successful we become or how much sex we experience or how many children we have or how much power and control we are able to gain…we will never find peace until we find the answers. For thousands of years humanity has been on this quest. Searched high and low. Traversed the globe. Looked in every nook and cranny on earth. To no avail. U2 was right. We still haven’t found what we’re looking for.
What is the chief end of man? What is the reason for our existence? Why are we here? To worship God and enjoy Him forever. To praise God for who He is and what He’s all about. To serve God and bear Him glorious image to the world. This is why God comes down so hard on Israel when they neglect the rebuilding of His Temple. It’s not that God’s homeless. It’s not that God is feeling lonely. It’s not that God somehow is dependent on the worship of His people. Far from it. God created the universe and all that is in it and exists outside time and space in perfect communion with Himself. But God does love us and He desires to have a relationship with us and the Temple is the place where Israel could come and meet with Him. The Temple was the place where Israel could come and worship Him. The Temple was the place where heaven met earth and on that threshold we find all our fundamental questions answered.
“Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes…Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord.” (Haggai 1:3-6, 8)
God will have the worship He deserves and the worship He demands. He created us to praise Him. Created us to worship Him. Created us to serve Him. When we abandon those purposes or neglect those purposes, our lives descend into chaos and confusion. When we are attentive to the Lord and surrender to His will and willingly offer our lives to Him, we experience the blessings of peace and joy and love that pass all understanding. As you head into Christmas this year, where is your heart? Is it drawn towards worship? Drawn to the stable? Drawn to the manger? Drawn towards the Christ child? Do you find your heart longing to go to the “Temple” to worship the Living God?
Readings for tomorrow: Zechariah 1, Revelation 12, Psalms 140, Proverbs 30:17