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Presence of God by Wesley Smith Jesus' parables cause me to think that God teaches through typology. He tells a story, and stories are a very keen teaching tool, but within the story people and even events speak of a much larger picture. A person can become careless very easily with this approach, and it is important to have other good thinking persons (friends) to make sure things don't go off kilter. Balance is very important. Having said all this I will delve into a couple things that I think this passage is talking about. Don't get me wrong: I believe that these "stories" actually took place. I'm not like the seminarians who think the stories were just stories and never even happened. I believe that God took actual historical events and told about them in the Bible to teach us other deeper Truths. O.K./ The men of Kiriath-jearim were the ones who actually went to Beth-shemesh at the bequest of the people there. The people of Beth-shemesh did not want the Ark in their city. The Ark, of course, is the Shekinah Glory and the express person of God. He had promised to dwell between the Cherubims ("who sits enthroned on the Cherubim", 2 Sam. 6:2), and Israel could always count on Him being there. Today, for us, the Shekinah Glory of God is always found in the person of Jesus Christ, and God's Word. This is the place where we can ALWAYS find God/ Strange, isn't it that the Beth-shemesh people did not want the presence of God in their city. Like most churches today, the leadership makes certain that God's presence remains outside the organized institution. God's presence upsets everything that man wants. Man wants to be able to take the lid off and look into the box anytime and in any way he wants to. Man cannot entertain a God who demands anything of us, or who requires His structure and His ways (Is. 55:8). The flesh of man actually hates any restrictions or restraints: we don't want to be told what to do. Basically, man is in a state of rebellion until he surrenders to Jesus and is filled with the Holy Spirit. Even then, he is still in a pretty pathetic condition./ So, like the church, the city of Beth-shemesh wanted to get rid of God so they could do their own thing./ The people of Kiriath-jearim were of a totally different mind-set. They went right down and brought the Ark back to their city, and were thrilled to have it there. It remained there for about 20 years./ Once the Ark was in their city they did several very important things. They knew that the Ark needed special daily care. We need to realize that in order to have God's presence with us there are certain things that need to be done, too, i.e., Bible study, prayer, fellowship with other believers, obedience to God's voice, repentance of sins. So they selected Eleazar, son of Abinadab, whose house just "happened" to be on the top of the hill. So this location was a place where every one in the city could look up to, and thusly, it was central in the minds and cultural of the city. The men consecrated Eleazar to "have charge of the Ark of the Lord" from day one. It remained there for 20 years until David came with 30,000 men to take it on up to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6:1)./ "The Lord has blessed the household of Obededom and all that belong to him, because of the Ark of God!" (2 Sam. 6:12). God's blessings come to those who consistently receive His presence in their lives. He does not promise us a Rose Garden, but for the long haul when looking at the overview of your life it is obvious that His blessings are where His presence resides./ "All the house of Israel lamented after the Lord." I feel that this is pretty much where American Christianity is today. We know that we don't have God's presence in our churches like the Early Church in the book of Acts. So we are basically "lamenting" big-time. Many of God's people have even stopped attending church on a consistent basis, or have church-hopped all over the place, because they absolutely know that what takes place on Sunday morning is NOT the best that the Mighty God of the universe is able to do. For the most part it is not even as life-giving as what the world can generate. Let's be honest. Would you rather attend a play, concert, sporting event, or film more than you like to go to church? Do you look forward to attending church with same enthusiasm that you look forward to a week-end event that you have planned on your calendar? Even pastors have confessed to me privately that Sunday is the worst day of the week for them. If the pastors don't even like it, what do you think is going on in the hearts of the people?/ The bottom line here is that each of us makes sure that, like Eleazar, we are the "keepers of the Ark". It is not the pastor's job to keep the presence of God in your life. It is not the Sunday School teacher's job either. It is my job and your job; it is my responsibility and your responsibility. Feeble-minded Christians all across our country have tried to place the blame on the shoulders of church leaders. Then they cry out, "I am not being fed at my church." Nonsense! Open your Bible, study it, read it, cry out to God for His presence. And do this on a consistent day-to-day basis. He will come. He will be more eager to be with you than you are to be with Him. How would you like it if He was so busy that He would say, "I can only find ten minutes to be with you today, and some days I might not even have that much time to spare!" That is what we do to Him. But, of course, most of us don't even believe that He is a person who has feelings. We just want to be able to push some buttons when we are in trouble and get instant blessings. It is like what the Martha and Mary story in the New Testament shows us: He would rather that we hang out with Him than do things for Him that He is not even interested in./ How fortunate were the people of Kiriath-jearim! And how unfortunate were the people of Beth-shemeth, who gave away their birthright. They gave away what they needed the most: The Shekinah Glory and Presence of God! Contact Us! Full Life Crusade 1-574-267-7546 EMAIL |