Fried Egg Sandwich: from 7/16/08

Background
This week I spent 24 hours away for prayer and planning. There’s a gracious family who makes a lodge on their hill country ranch available to me for such getaways. One of the “extras”: the fresh eggs. I always look forward to cooking up a fried egg sandwich for breakfast. And this time I had some fresh tomatoes to go with it! Yummy!! However, something happened. Read on.

And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple. 1 Kings 8:11

Observations: As Solomon dedicated the temple, bringing up the ark of the covenant and all the furnishings, the presence of God manifested itself in the form of a thick cloud. “The glory of the LORD filled His temple” and brought all activity to a halt.

Application: What would it be like to be so aware of the presence of the LORD that all activity ceased? Nothing could and nothing needed to take place. In the words of Bob Roberts, “Jesus would be enough.” Man, that’s where I want to be. But how to get there? I’m not always where I need to be to experience that. To stay before God long enough to empty me of me in order to experience the fullness of Him, that’s another step higher (or lower) on my spiritual journey. And then to experience that as a church—what would that be like? Powerful. Humbling. Life-changing.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, bring about the life-change in me that needs to happen for me to be aware of the fullness of your presence. Let me start by simply giving up that fried egg breakfast sandwich that I’ve really been looking forward to eating this morning.

Note: By God’s grace, I went without food for the morning. It was a great morning of fellowship. And it was a good lunch, too.