Holy Departures

“Then the glory of the LORD rose and moved to the threshold…Then the glory of the LORD departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim.  They stopped at the entrance of the east gate…and the glory of the God of Israel was above them…The glory of the LORD went up from within the city and stopped above the mountain east” Ezekiel 10:4, 18-19, 11:23.

When I was pregnant with Michael Bruce’s parents drove their trailer down and parked it in our drive.  They were here for three weeks just doing life with us, as we awaited our son’s entrance into this world.  It was a sweet time with lots of laughter, love and fellowship.  The anticipated day came and the experience was all the sweeter because their presence was with us during the experience.  The afternoon they left Bruce and I stood in the driveway with our new baby in our arms and first watched them hook up the trailer.  After a few moments we watched them get in their car and get situated for their departure.  As the moments passed we could feel a bitter sweet moment between us.  Then we watched as their car went up the drive and their back lights disappeared.  We knew that they had to leave but there still was a sadness that they wouldn’t be with us any longer.

The Israelites had crowded other gods around the One true God.  They had set up their lives with themselves enthroned in the center.  Warning upon warning came from God, followed by the action of His presence being withdrawn from His children.  I can’t even begin to imagine the people as they saw that mighty cloud arise and begin moving away from the temple…first the inner court…then the doorframe…then the entrance to the camp…finally moved through the city and up to the top of the mountain. 

We have a Father who wants to be in the center of our families, and experience every drop of life with us.  He desires to be involved in every decision, share all of our laughter and wipe away every tear.  He will never depart from us but will respect any distance we put between us.  He has given us a choice to involve Him in every aspect of our lives.  The depth that we choose to involve God will be the depth of intimacy we experience with Him.  As we pursue intimacy with our Father we will experience the closeness of His presence and the faithfulness of His love.