1 Kings 8:6-11 - Worship experience

Scripture:

1 Kings 8:6-11
6 Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim.
7 For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its poles from above.
8 But the poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen outside; they are there to this day.

9 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.
10 It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord,
11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.
NASU


Thoughts:

What a day of celebration!  The ark of the covenant is placed in the temple of God for the first time (verse 6), under the sculpted cherubim.

And how wonderful is it when the Lord shows up in a special way during a worship service! (verses 10-11)  Truly He is always present when we worship, but how great it is when He makes His presence known in a more tangible way. 

Fantastic displays like this are not the Lord's method we tend to experience these days, but we still may feel Him touch our heart in some way as we worship.  We can't allow ourselves to depend on feelings in our walk with God, for these special moments are few, but how neat it is that God chooses to touch us at times in a unique and meaningful way.  What a marvelous, personable God, Who chooses to interact with His creation!


Prayer:

Lord, may I know Your presence in my life today, even in the mundane.  Whether You work in any tangible way or not, may I be confident that You are with me, as You promise:

Hebrews 13:5b-6
He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU," 6 so that we confidently say,

"THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID.
WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?"
NASU

And may I worship You in sincerity.  Whether I sense Your presence or not, You are worthy of all worship and praise.

Amen

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.