Last weekend, I had the opportunity to go to a famous temple on a mountain top early one morning before sunrise. At 5:30 AM I walked around what seemed to be a small city covered in man made statues and temples and gods. People giving their offerings and doing morning prayers to their gods.
As I walked barefoot through the colorful and beautiful temples with the smell of incense filling my head and making me uneasy, I spoke to God in my mind,
Oh God why do people give such awe about these statues and disregard who you are and what you have done. Why are people so honoring to these gods who represent a god of anger and deceit when in my own country people mock your kindness? Memes on twitter making fun of Jesus Your son when, you aren’t even allowed to wear shoes in the presence of these statues as a sign of honor and respect for them. You get so little credit oh God.
As I was having this conversation in my head I walked out of the temple and went and stood on a nearby balcony. I stood there, staring at the not yet lit sky. “I want you to be glorified God”. I closed my eyes and started to worship. I sang His praises with my AirPods in. I was singing about His faithfulness. His goodness. His vastness. As if on que, the sun started to rise, I opened my eyes to see it. Little by little, people began to trickle out of the temples and join the balcony. Before I knew it the balcony was the kick spot of the whole place. People staring at the sun in awe, people taking pictures and maybe some even thinking about who could have created such a scene, maybe asking why the scenery all around was so much more captivating than the gods themselves. As I stood back and watched people enjoy the view I felt as if God spoke to my spirit and said,
“HanSue, I am glorified. It’s within you all to know me. My children cannot help but awe over who I am. Look at them, their backs quite literally towards their gods as they stand in amazement of what I have created. This whole city was made and designed for the worship of other gods but this balcony, I am worshipped here, my barefoot curious children see my creation and their hearts yearn for me here. I’ve been gloried from this very balcony many times, I am glorified all over the world. Always and forever.”
I don’t have proof, I don’t know how to give an explanation but I know the balcony I stood on today has been other peoples church as well. Possibly missionaries, tourists or converted Buddhist Christians have stood where I stood and sang praises to the one true God.
