Room for Rent?

“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him and He in God.” 

Memorizing this verse for AWANA gave my seven year old and I alot to talk about.

He wondered: “Where exactly is God living in me? Right here?” (Pointing at his chest). “Well, is Jesus the Son of God or is He the Son of Man?” (Having just memorized a verse that said so.) “If God lives in you, and you smoke, will He turn black like your lungs?” (Perplexity as I laughed.) 

Where is God’s dwelling?

David endured many hardships in order to find a dwelling place for the Lord. He lost sleep. He didn’t go into his own house. He made a plan to bring up the Ark of the Covenant (and thereby, the Lord’s presence) from where it was in Kiriath-Jearim to an ornate dwelling for it in Jerusalem.

The road from Kiriath-Jearim slopes up to Jerusalem, and the whole throng of people made merry, rejoicing with symphonic instruments as they brought the ark the seven miles. 

Somewhere along the way, the oxen stumbled, Uzzah rashly reached out his hand, and the merry-making was replaced by silencing fear as the Lord struck Uzzah dead. He fell to the ground, his hand immediately humbled into the dust.

The experiment in housing the Lord’s presence ended poorly that day.

It wasn’t until over a thousand years later that God’s dwelling would really be established.

Two weary, mournful travelers were walking that same stretch of road, but they were going downhill from Jerusalem to Kiriath-Jearim (now called by another name). Perhaps they were just at the point that everyone still called “Perez-Uzzah” (where the Lord broke out against Uzzah) when they were joined by a stranger.

“What sad things are you talking about as you walk?” the stranger asked.

They told him about Jesus, the crucifixion, that even His tomb had not been a place where He could dwell. They didn’t understand. They shook their heads.

“Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things?” The Stranger walked them through the entire Old Testament as they traveled together, explaining how God had never wanted to dwell in an ornate box but in the hearts of men who loved Him.

Their hearts burned as their grief turned backwards, and in the lightning bolt moment when the Stranger broke the bread in Emmaus (that same Kiriath-Jearim), they realized that they had heard of God’s dwelling from the very beginning when He had been born in Bethlehem. The Son of Man, who had nowhere to lay His head, was the very Son of God who came to abide in the hearts of men.

When they made their midnight race back to Jerusalem, they were even more merry than David’s party had been in bringing up the ark because now, they carried God’s presence- without fear- in their hearts!

There may not have been room in the Inn, but is there room in you?

Find “Perez-Uzzah” A Poem to Worship By that accompanies this article at my Substack Channel right HERE.