At the Quarry

05.20.14

1 Kings 6.7 7 In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built. (NIV)

I’m gonna try to make an analogy today with this verse and our lives in Christ. Right now we are at the quarry where we are being dressed and fitted for use in the Temple then – in heaven. Our lives today are a work in progress – we must never forget that. In our lives today are the sounds of hammering, drilling, sanding, chiseling – we are being fitted for the Master and for our place in His presence – we must never forget that.

But one day all of that noise of fitting and shaping and polishing will cease. And the exact place of our destiny will receive us as those blocks were prepared and received in that temple so long ago.

Nothing lasts forever apart from eternal friendship with God. And God is shaping our lives now for the benefit of that friendship forever with Him.

One of the saddest things in this life (probably) is how little we appreciate what God is doing to us, for us, and through us as the day approaches for our fitted reception there. One of the verses of the old Christmas song, Away in a Manger goes:

Be with me Lord Jesus

I ask Thee to stay

Close by me forever

And help me I pray

Bless all the dear children

In Thy tender care

And fit us for Heaven

To live with Thee there

That is what is happening now and one day that happening will cease and all will be finished. And what a day that will be!

God is not done

The Temple’s not finished

His workmanship is in process

His skill not diminished

Now, at the quarry, is loud with hammering and drilling

But the Hand of the Master is deftly fulfilling

Every promise He’s made under Heaven’s great dome

Bestowed upon His kids as He waits for them – completed – at home

O Father, help me remember what it is You’re up to in the process of bringing me to my new home; and how the work will continue noisily until that day when You look at me and once again proclaim: It is finished! Help me to trust You Jesus in the process – Amen.