COMING INTO “MY SANCTUARY”
by Eric Elder
The Ranch
I’d like to encourage you this week to find a place where you can spend some quiet time with God. Not necessarily just a quiet place, but a place where you can really sense God’s presence, where you can talk with Him and He can talk with you, where you can go to get away from the craziness of the world and enjoy spending some time with the God who created you, who loves you, and who cares about the things going on in your life even more than you care about them.
Whether it’s a physical sanctuary in a church, or a prayer closet in your home, or a hammock swaying in the breeze between two trees, I pray that You’ll be able to find your own kind of sanctuary this week, a place of refuge, a place where you can truly enjoy being in the presence of God.
I remember walking into a church sanctuary one day in the middle of the week. I was all by myself, and I thought I’d just sit down and play the piano. As I was sitting there calmly by myself, suddenly I realized I wasn’t alone anymore. God Himself was right there with me. That church sanctuary was instantly transformed into a literal “sanctuary,” a holy place where the presence of God had come to rest.
Coming into God’s presence like that was such a wonderful feeling that I started to write a song about it, called “My Sanctuary.” It went, in part, like this:
“All I want
All I need
Is to be with You
And to know You’re near.
“All I want
All I need
Is to talk with You
And to know You’ll hear.
“And I know
There’s a place
I can go to feel Your presence
Oh, Lord, bring me there
Bring me home.”
I continued to write and sing a new song to the Lord that day, a song that was welling up within my soul and came out as an expression of thankfulness to Him for showing up to be with me there in that place.
Earlier this year I had a chance to walk through the streets of Jerusalem and go down inside the tunnels along the western wall of the Temple Mount area. Inside these tunnels, there’s a place you pass that is the closest you can get today to the “holy of holies” of what was once the Temple in the days of King Solomon years and years ago. That was the place where God said His presence would dwell. It’s a fairly holy spot still today, and the presence of God still seems to simply exude out of it, and people still come from all over the world to stand and pray at that spot near the wall. It’s a holy spot, for sure, knowing that you’re standing in a place that has been so revered and so hallowed by so many over such a long span of years.
Yet I’ve experienced similar “holy places” in various spots around the world–not because anything particular happened on those spots at some point in history, but because I felt God’s presence there in powerful ways that can only be described as holy moments.
Holy spots like these abound. And if a holy spot is defined by a place where God’s presence dwells, then such a spot could be anywhere at any time, all around the world.
A few years ago a woman stayed at our house for a few months to help us repair and restore it. She had come from overseas to help us as we worked on it, and she said she felt God’s presence there in a particular way as she stayed. On the day she left, we were walking around the house looking at various aspects of it when she came to a plaque in the front entrance of the house. On it was a picture of a house with the words: “Home is where the (HEART) is,” (There was a picture of a heart where the word “HEART” would have appeared.)
Our guest took out a pencil and wrote on the heart just one word in very small, but distinctly capital letters: LORD. The plaque now read what she had experienced there: “Home is where the LORD is.” I’ve often been reminded of that truth as I look at that plaque, that home is not just where the heart is, but home is anywhere the LORD is. And since there’s nowhere in the world that the LORD isn’t, then we can come into His presence and get that sense of “home” anywhere in the world. We just need to be willing to take the time seek Him, invite Him in, and then acknowledge His presence when He is there.
There’s a joy that comes from being in God’s presence. There’s a sense of safety, of comfort, of protection that comes from spending time with Him. A “sanctuary” is just such a place. It’s a safe haven, an oasis, a shelter, a retreat, a hideaway, a port in the storm. But more than those things, a sanctuary is a place where the presence of God dwells.
That’s why I want to encourage you this week to find a place where you can spend some quiet time with Him–a place where you can really experience the presence of God. A place where you can talk with Him and He can talk with you. A place where you can get away from the craziness of the world and enjoy spending some time with the God who created you, who loves you, and who cares about the things going on in your life even more than you care about them.
My prayer is that you’ll be able to find such a place. And when you do, I pray you’ll feel right at home.
Will you pray with me?
Father, thank You for being a shelter in the storm, a place of refuge, a strong tower in our times of trouble. Lord, we come to You this week, looking for Your presence and eagerly desiring to spend some time with You. Help us to find that place, wherever it may be, so that we can spend some time with You, soaking up all You have to convey to us, and letting us share with You all that’s on our hearts, too. Bring us into that place, Lord, and help us to come into it over and over and over again in the days ahead. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
P.S. If you’d like, you can listen to the piano version of my song “My Sanctuary” for free day and night on The Ranch website (along with nine other songs on my album “Soothe My Soul”). Just click this link to listen and enjoy (it’s the second track on this playlist):
Click here to listen to “My Sanctuary”
P.P.S. I’ve also just finished a transcribing a second piano book this week which contains for the first time the sheet music for this song and four other original songs from my album, “Soothe My Soul.” I’m excited to be able to offer this to those who love to play the piano, whether for times of communion, offering, or for your own personal quiet time. If you’d like a copy, just follow the links below to learn how to get one in either paperback or in ebook formats for Kindle or iBook readers.
Paperback: Click here for the Paperback version
Kindle: Click here for the Kindle version
iBooks: Click here for the iBooks version
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