Sanctuary

Stained Glass

photo by Bgrace

“The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli.
In those days the word of the LORD was rare;
there were not many visions.
One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see,
was lying down in his usual place.
The lamp of God had not yet gone out,
and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD,
where the ark of God was.”
I Samuel 3:1-3

The treasures packed into these three verses amaze me. Words are sacred vessels, worthy of our attention. It is always important to remember, as we approach Scripture, that the authors, under the leading of the Holy Spirit, were actually authors. Good ones. They knew what they were doing. They chose to frame and fill their stories with important details, and placed them just right so that rather than merely transferring information they painted a true and rich picture with their words.
Chapter 2 of I Samuel wraps up with the Lord’s decree against Eli and his sons for their dishonor to the Lord and the foretelling of the raising up of a new and “faithful priest, who will do so according to what is in my (the Lord’s) heart and mind.”
Then we come to I Sam. 3.
Just look at all of the contrasts the author heightens for us.
The young boy; the old man.
Samuel the servant; Eli the High Priest.
And what was it like under Eli’s leadership?
“The word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.”
And just in case we weren’t connecting that time to Eli—the author tells us a physical, and spiritual sign of this: “Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see…”
A picture of the time, the man, and his legacy.
Then the author makes this intriguing comparison—a really important detail in this story, though easily passed over--and a deeply significant picture.
Eli was lying down in his usual place. Where was that? I don’t really know, but I know that it was not where Samuel was, because Samuel had to get up and go to him.
And where Samuel is may just be the most significant piece of this story.
“Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.”
There’s a number of things that are really interesting about this little bit of information.
The Ark of the God was kept in the most sacred place. The Holy of Holies: the place where the presence of the Lord was. It was sacred, set apart. Men died from the simple act of touching it, even priests went into the Holy of Holies with a rope and bell tied around their ankles in case they were struck down because of impurities and needed to be dragged out. It seems a very odd place for a little boy to even go, much less make his bedroom. But that’s what it says, plain as day, that Samuel was asleep in the temple near the ark of God. Another physical and spiritual sign the author paints into his picture for us. Samuel rested near to the presence of God.

In a time of great spiritual darkness over Israel, placed under the leadership of a corrupted priest, when the word of the Lord was rare….there was a little boy, who lay resting in the presence of the God, Whose lamp had not yet gone out.
What does it tell us about God? This God who had just revoked his covenant with the house of Eli? This God who had changed up the rules a bit to call Samuel.
What does that say about Samuel? How much was he aware of God? Why would he rest in that place? How much was he aware of the call of God on his life? He was about to find out more.

Psalm 31:20
“In the secret place of Your presence You hide them from the plots of men; You keep them secretly in Your pavilion from the strife of men.

Psalm 33:18-22
“Behold the Lord’s eye is upon those who fear Him (who revere and worship Him with awe), who wait for Him and hope in His mercy and loving-kindness. To deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. Our inner selves wait (earnestly) for the Lord; He is our Help and our Shield. For in Him does our heart rejoice because we have trusted (relied on and been confident) in His holy name. Let Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, be upon us, in proportion to our waiting and hoping for You.”

I was praying through these verses this afternoon. I have been thinking a lot about the place of God’s Sanctuary, His presence within us. No one in Scripture speaks about it more often or more eloquently than David. And I began to wonder why. Like Samuel, David was appointed to replace God’s anointed leader who had not fulfilled their calling in obedience and holiness. David faced much opposition from the very kingdom he was called to lead. He wanted more than anything to follow God, and yet his heart was torn because that meant Saul and perhaps more importantly, Jonathan, would not have what should have been rightfully theirs. I imagine David often found himself checking in with God at the deepest levels—are you sure this is right God? Maybe Samuel got it wrong. Maybe this is my pride or my own evil desire impersonating itself as you. Maybe I’m being deceived by Satan. With all the opposition David suffered, and because of the tenderness of his heart toward God, I believe that He was often desperate to be reassured by God that he was following His will. That He was walking in obedience. That the battles He was fighting were truly God’s. But David’s battles were not just fought on an external level. I have no doubt that David suffered from severe oppression as well.
Those are the things which caused Him to seek with all his heart the Sanctuary of the Lord. The place where His glory dwells. This was a spiritual place for David. (See Psalm 31:20)
For Samuel, the Sanctuary was a physical and spiritual place.

Sometimes, when I put Sarah to bed at night, I ask the Lord to minister His Spirit to her in her sleep. I pray that He would make His Spirit known to her spirit. (I Cor. 2:9-12) My desire is for her to know Him before she even recognizes Him. I want her to discover the Sanctuary in her before she understands its significance. I want her to be like Samuel.

But that is not really how I came to be familiar with the Sanctuary. I thought I knew it. I sang a lot about it. And I’m sure I had glimpses of it, but I didn’t know what it meant to dwell there, to rest there. Like David, I went to the Sanctuary because I was chased there. A few years ago, I went through an extended time of enormous oppression. It lasted for over a year. I didn’t really understand that was what I was going through. It affected me on every level—spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. It came at me through every crack and under every doorway. I knew that I was very blinded and confused. The only way I can describe it is that my world felt like it was covered in acid. Everything felt tainted. I felt like there was so much weight pressing down on me that I could barely move. I knew that there was an enormous dissonance in me between what was true and what was not, but for the life of me I could not figure out which was which. That is exactly what oppression does—it keeps us from being able to see clearly and move freely. I also knew enough to know that the levels of oppression I was experiencing were not normal—I don’t believe that most people experience what I went through nor would most survive it. I don’t mean that pridefully, but it was so bad I was begging God to take me. One of the hardest choices I had to make during that time was to stay alive. I tried every recourse I could think of to get out from under it (some good, some not so good), but nothing worked. No one that I talked to seemed to be able to help me. I was at a loss to understand why in the world God wasn’t protecting me, covering me more than this. I know that I’m a very strong person (tenacious as Dad would say), and I have weathered a lot of things that would have put a lot of others under, and I knew that I was almost failing. What kept me going was a small hope that God would not allow this to come at me for nothing. That He allows everything that comes at us in His loving sovereignty for His purposes.
But looking back, I think I see some of the blessings that have come from it. For one, there really is nothing that can replace the lessons we learn in absolute desperation. I remember when I first started to discover the Sanctuary. I was so desperate to be relieved from pain and darkness that I would curl up in a ball and press my face into the bed or floor or whatever I could find to give me some traction and just allow my soul to cry out to God. I had no words or prayers other than, “Help me.” And, “Save me.” Mostly I had tears. And as I would fully pour myself into my prayer I would find that I entered a place of peace and rest and quiet. I didn’t even know for sure if it was real, but I didn’t care. It meant I could make it through one more hour. In that place of peace, I was awake, but I would often then fall into a very restful state and usually go to sleep. Over a period of months, I discovered the Presence of God there. I discovered the Sanctuary. The place where He dwells and shadows cannot enter. Now it is a place that seems very familiar. Often very near.
Scripture tells us (all through the Psalms just for starters) that place is available to those who seek Go with all their heart. It may not come at a snap of your fingers. Sometimes, whether we are looking for deliverance, or wisdom, or simply the joy of God’s presence, we must seek and wait. Sometimes I find that fasting is necessary, or that worship opens its doors. But it is within every child of God.
There is so much in those three verses in I Sam. 3 that you should pray through them yourself. There are a lot of treasures to be found. Much about spiritual leadership and the transfer of it. I’ve been thinking a lot about that, too. But I think that what the Lord has been speaking to me about today is that in times of darkness, whether oppression or when we are waiting for God to move us into our calling and has yet to light the way, we need to discover what Samuel and David discovered: What it is like to live and to rest in the Sanctuary, near the presence of God.

The Chapel at Cornell University photo by Matt

“One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of trouble
He will keep me safe in his dwelling;
He will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle
And set me high upon a rock.”
Psalm 27:4-5