"Seeking The Ark"

"Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood." Psalm 132:6 

The "it" in the verse was the ark of the covenant. The ark represented God's presence. The ark was not where it was supposed to be, so the Israelites were searching for it. They heard it was in one place but discovered that it was not there. After continually searching, they finally found it, but not where it should have been.

 

There are a few things I see in this. 

1) We must "search" out the presence of God. While His presence is everywhere- He is Omnipresent- there are times when His presence is near to us in a special way. "Search it out" means to keep pressing in through prayer or praise, or both, until we have "touched His hem" and He fills us with His presence. If we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. If we seek Him, we will find Him. 

 

2) God's presence isn't always where we think it should be. We think His presence is only found in the good times, happy times, prosperity times and blessing times. When bad things happen, we think He has left and isn't with us. His presence is in the difficult times, the hard times and the trying times as well. You will find Him in the furnace, in the lion's den, in the pit, in the valley of the shadow of death, in the wilderness. He doesn't leave us in the bad times. 

 

3) Make sure God's presence in our lives is always where it should be-- first, front and center. We need to make sure that our lives evolve around Him always-- not just at church time, not just in hard times when we need His help, not just when it is time to perform some religious duty, not just when it is convenient for us. He has to have first place in our lives. He has to be Lord of our lives... all the time. 

 

Where is the "ark" in your life? Do you seek His touch/presence daily? Do you feel that He has forsaken you in the bad times? Have you "lost" that intimacy with the Lord? Do you give Him some place other than first place in your life? Where is He in your life?

 

Have a great day. Is the Lord where He should be in your life? 

 

For further reading:

James 4:8

Matthew 6:33

Psalm 105:4

Acts 17:27