"The LORD is there."

Years ago, I was in Austria on a family vacation.  We visited the castle there and it was amazing, but the thing I remember most was a simple church off the beaten path.  I had been in several cathedrals on that trip, visited castles, and buildings that were built before the US was even a country, but that particular church stood out.

We were there over the Christmas holidays visiting my sister and the sanctuary was cold, and classical music was playing softly over a hidden speaker.  It was threshold experience.  The moment you walked in you felt a transition into what we might call another realm.

Moses was walking in the wilderness and saw a burning bush.  When God saw that he went over to look He called out to him, but He also told him to take off his shoes for he was on holy ground.  Sproul said, “The holy space Moses occupied was made holy by God’s presence.  The composition of the earth at this spot was no different form the earth on the rest of the desert floor…”  It was “made sacred by a super-added presence.”  

I wonder if we are aware of what Ezekiel meant in the last phrase of his book.  He spoke of Heaven, and he said, “And the name of the city from that time on shall be, ‘The LORD is there.’”  In Hebrew the name is Jehovah Shammah.  Wherever we go, whatever we do, whoever we are with…God is there.

A threshold is the crossing from one realm to another.  It might be as profound as crossing from the foyer to the sanctuary or as simple as crossing from the mundane business of daily life to unadulterated worship of a Holy God.  He is always there, but you and I must cross over.
I’ve been grocery store aisles and hospital parking decks when the overwhelming sense of “He is here” came over me.  Just walking to my car, sitting and watching the gulf waves, or looking for an item on the grocery list and He is there.  I can stand on  a creekbank in Tenneessee where God saved me and be overwhelmed.  I can go to Lake Forest Ranch and experience His presence in a way I can’t explain.  Those are what some have called “thin places” where God’s presence is just tangible…like that church in Austria.  

But there are times when you are standing over a sink washing dishes, or mowing the lawn, drinking coffee, or driving down the road and He just shows up.  It’s like Elisha in 2 Kings 6 seeing the angels, or Jacob in Genesis 28 becoming aware of the realm of glory, or Moses in Exodus 3.

It’s amazing that most of those times were away from the crowd, away from the noise, and in the wilderness places, but like Enoch we can walk with God and abide with Him in the day-to-day business of life.  I’d suggest that if we aren’t doing it there, we probably aren’t going to experience Him in the wilderness.