When David became King and reached a place in his leadership where he was finally living in a beautiful cedar palace instead of hiding in behind rocks in caves, he realized that the Ark of God was still being held in a tent and it bothered him.

God, however, made it very clear through Nathan that it wasn’t David’s job to build a house in which He could dwell.

God went as far as to say that He would raise up one of David’s descendants and through Him, build a house, a temple for God’s name.

As I sit in a hotel room this morning an hour and a half from home getting ready to prepare for a day visiting another high school as part of an accreditation team, this passage has really spoken to me.

God knew what David didn’t know:

Jesus was coming.

Followed by the Holy Spirit.

And in time, Christians would become the dwelling place for them.

Like tents, we are temporary shelters.

Like tents, we are frail.

Like tents, we can be moved from place to place easily.

And yet, we have been given the wonderful gift of carrying within us God Himself.

When we give our lives to Him, He dwells within us.

So, even though, I have gotten in my car and travelled from my earthly home, He’s still with me.

I still have the same Comforter, Protector, Peace-giver………..

inside of me.

And because I know that my earthly tent is temporary, I don’t have to fear death.  Because God has big plans for me..and for you.  We have a heavenly dwelling waiting!!  An eternal Home!

Until then, though, we don’t have to worry about the place in which the Holy Spirit lives.

Just as in the time of David, God had a plan for the Ark …….. that sat in a tent outside a palace,

God has a plan for us.

II Corinthians 5 says,

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.  We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.  So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Today, as you move from place to place within this world, remember that if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior and allowed the Holy Spirit to live within you, you are His dwelling place, His earthly tent, and you are enough…God has made you His sanctuary.

Live a life worthy of Him who lives within you……

And never feel alone.

Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20