Where then is a house you could build for Me?
And where is a place that I may rest?
"For My hand made all these things,
Thus all these things came into being,” declares the Lord.
"But to this one I will look,
To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. ..."
(Isaiah 66:1-2)
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For thus says the high and exalted One
Who lives forever, whose name is Holy,
"I dwell on a high and holy place,
And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit
In order to revive the spirit of the lowly
And to revive the heart of the contrite. ..."
(Isaiah 57:15)
This morning when the Lord took me to Isaiah 66, I was struck by how much its first two verses resembled Isaiah 57:15. God is so far above us, we can't begin to imagine the scope of His holiness, might, and beauty. And yet, His eye searches out those who will come before Him lowly and contrite, in whom to make His earthly dwelling.
It occurs to me that He Himself must prepare us for this. We humans are an interesting mix of insecure and confident, yet insecurity isn't what God is seeking, nor is He seeking to strip away healthy confidence. He's simply seeking someone who will say "yes" to Him, acknowledging that He is God and we are not. This process (which continues for the rest of our lives even after the first "yes") is the spiritual equivalent to major heart surgery. New believers come to God with varied amounts of contrition, lowliness, and reverence, and with a varied grasp of core doctrinal truth, even varied amounts of understanding of exactly who God is, who Jesus is. "He is God and we are not" is also something He reveals in wonderful stages, as we learn to seek His will and trust Him.
Amazingly, God is happy to begin where we are, at a sort of "starter" level of submission, as long as it's honest, and then to gradually build our humility, reverence, contrition, and understanding as we yield to Him. You're never too old or young, never too educated or uneducated, never too messed up or even too put together for God, as long as it begins with a sincere "yes."
At this first incision, as we place our lives before Him, God's process of renewal begins. He continues this process by taking us to be with Him, spiritually, in the high and exalted places where He lives -- we, too, now have two abodes, as we draw near to Him. Feet on the earth, where He can walk us where He wants us to go; spirit "in Heaven," daily revived and renewed by communion with Him in His mighty love.