Foundations

I have been asking God to speak to me through this building experience and I was given an interesting insight into how God sees foundation stones.  I found myself reading 1 Kings 5:17 which is about the instructions for the building of the temple.  God says that the foundation stone must be dressed, costly and precious.  Now I thought about the foundations of the house we are renovating and decided that foundation stones must be strong, but certainly not costly, dressed or precious.  Imagine putting a few diamonds into the foundations?  So I found myself thinking about the fact that this instruction was a prophetic pointer to Jesus, the chief cornerstone, despised by the builders, but precious, or as Isaiah 26:16 says: "See I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; The one who trusts will never be dismayed. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line." or the fact that Jesus is referred to as the foundation of the whole building God is building for His glory to dwell in. Paul writes in 1 Cor.3:10 "Each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Chsrist."  Jesus was willing to fall into the ground and die, he was willing to be nothing, to empty himself of his divine glory and majesty and become one of us.  So he is the precious, costly stone this passage must be referring to.  Then I read in 1 Kings 6:18 an interesting instruction: "all stones must be covered with cedar: no stone must be seen."  So we, who are living stones, built into the temple which is His body, also must be hidden, clothed in his righteousness, willing also to fall into the ground and die. This gave me quite a lot to think about.  I know I am called to be hidden, but how difficult that is.  I want to be noticed.  So there is the challenge. The other challenge is whether I am being as careful how I build the kingdom of God and my own life and those around me, as I am about this house.  I spend a lot of time thinking about it, planning it, searching out the right tiles and paint and fittings.  I am not sure I spend as much time and energy on the Lord's house as I do on my own.  But when I confessed that to Him and also shared it with Philip he commented that whatever I do, if I am seeking to do it all to the glory of God then I am building for his glory.  The key is where is my focus.

As for the foundations of this house - they seem to be pretty good and in spite of all the banging and knocking down of walls, they are standing firm.  But I am not planning to dig down to find out if any diamonds were buried in them.  But I am praying that the whole project will bring glory to God. When I was despairing of this house really being the place he had led us to the Lord said he is making it a place of welcome, light, joy, laughter, healing and rest for us and all who will come there. So we are asking him what we should name it. If any of you can come up with a name that captures those qualities we'd like to hear them.  I thought of "Rivendell" from "Lord of the Rings" which was a place of healing, welcome, joy and light but Philip thinks too many people have used that name.  One thing I won't be calling it is "Old Charm but renovated" which is the description the estate agent had put on the advert!