“For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said, “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people”” (2 Corinthians 6:16, NIV).
When the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, manifested on the Day of Pentecost, He rested on and empowered the disciples to do things that were needed in the moment, things they in themselves could not do. They spoke with new tongues and about 3,000 people were saved that day. They took up the charge to continue the work of Jesus and were transformed from terrified, huddling lumps of clay to world-changing evangelists. The Holy Spirit changed things. Suddenly, we became the Lord’s temple. We have direct access to God because He comes to live inside us when we choose Jesus as Lord.
“My eyes and my heart will always be there” (1 Kings 9:3, NLT).
The Lord stated this to Solomon when He consecrated the temple. The Lord made a promise that is as solid and immutable today as the moment it was first spoken. And while the temple no longer stands in Jerusalem, we as His children are His temples. Therefore, His eyes are on us, and His heart is with us. He is here. He is present. And He is always faithful.
“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrew 13:5 based on Deut 31:6,8 and Joshua 1:5,9).
I love the fact that God will never leave, never forsake me, even when I fail in little or gargantuan ways. I can’t lose His love, and He will never take His eyes off me because He lives in me. He is here. He is present, and He is faithful. One day, the Lord and I were having a conversation, and He asked me, “Why am I faithful?” I had no answer and asked Him why He was. I will never forget His response:
“Because I am who I am. I am forever. I am constant. I the Lord do not change (Malachi 3:6). I rejoice over my children with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). I renew you. I sustain you. I give you good gifts. I am faithful” (emphasis His).
We proceeded to talk about His constancy and the fact that He is forever.
“I the Lord do not change” (Malachi 3:6, NIV).
“I am the Alpha, the Omega, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 21:6, NIV)
He renews us, sustains us. He gives good gifts, and He is faithful.
Reading the book of Lamentations is a one-way trip into a country song. The circumstances are grim and depressing, leaving one with a serious need for a soul boost afterward. It somewhat reflects the past few months where our world plunged into uncertainty, fear and turmoil. However, even in the midst of melancholy, destruction and devastation, Jeremiah remembers who God is:
“Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I hope in Him!” (Lamentations 3:22-24, NKJV).
May we, too, remember that we can trust in the Lord always, even when everything around us is shouting otherwise.
I pray blessing over you and your family today, wherever you are and in whatever circumstance you find yourself.
(From July 14, 2020)
