When we arrived in Santiago, our team strolled through busy streets filled with restaurants and fellow pilgrims. There was an energy in the city from a shared sense of purpose, and it seemed like everyone in the streets were either moving toward St. James’ tomb, or celebrating the completion of their journey. We had all been through our own versions of the same thing. I couldn’t help but wonder what it was that each person was pursuing in their journeys, and what God might have provided. There were so many people, with so many stories walking around me, and I wanted to know all of them.
Walking into the square in front of the chapel took my breath away. I’ve stood in front of beautiful church buildings in my life, but this one might have been my favorite.
But, even though I initially felt a sense of awe looking at that building, the feeling eventually started to dissipate, as if the spirit was nudging me to shift my gaze. In that moment, I remembered these words from the book of Acts:
“However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands.”
Acts 7:28
I was reminded how David wanted to build a temple for the Lord. It was a temple that the Lord didn’t need, by a king that God said the Israelites didn’t need. Eventually Solomon was the one to build that temple, and I wonder if what God knew in that moment about our hearts and our minds has continued to ring true today. We look at these incredible works of creativity, designed and constructed by men, works that actually reveal the creativity of God that’s been placed in us, and we ascribe a spiritual significance to them that has the potential to blind us to a particularly important spiritual reality. God’s doesn’t need us to build him a place to dwell…he already did that.
It took a couple of minutes, but the spirit eventually turned my head a couple of inches to the left and showed me another picture. A courtyard full of people staring at a building, most probably not realizing that the God who was the inspiration for such an awe inspiring structure, chose to take up residence in them instead. I found my gaze shifting back and forth between a house built by human hands and then to the hundreds of unique dwelling places, molded by the hands of God to be occupied by the spirit of God.
As magnificent as that structure was, it was transformed into something that could only really ever serve as an object lesson pointing toward something else. Yes, God’s presence fills up the whole world, but the most significant place that he dwells isn’t in fancy, expensive buildings, on a mountain top, or any other place we might have labeled as spiritually significant. He has chosen to dwell in those around the world who desire to live their lives in his presence.
As I looked at that crowd in that courtyard, I was once again reminded how beautiful it is that God created us in his image, and that since the beginning of time he’s been choosing us over and over and over again, even as we choose other things instead of him. I thought about how pleased God probably was to have so many people seeking him, even if they didn’t know exactly who it was that they were seeking, and I imagined him hoping that what all of those people had journeyed toward might turn them back inward to the one who is closer than the breath that we breathe. God’s cool guys…and what’s crazy is that he thinks we’re kind of cool too…
