Holy Mystery

Scanning through program offerings on television can be an adventure - kind of a sideways commentary on society.  When we moved here, my husband decided we were going to get the complete package of TV programming - sports channels, music channels, premium movie channels - all in addition to 'regular tv'.  Honestly, with about a million choices, we still have a hard time deciding on what to watch.  Especially when we're home in the middle of the day - not feeling well - without the energy to do much else....  So, I was watching HGTV the other day.  Not one of the remodeling shows - but one of those "The World's Most Unusual...." - you fill in the blank - This one was about bathrooms.

I found it strangely fascinating.  First, what in the world do these people do in the huge bathrooms they build?  I mean, I understand spa, and I get privacy, but goodness, I could probably fit my whole house into some of these so-called bathrooms...  You could honestly get lost in them.  I can't imagine spending enough time, doing what you do in a bathroom, to make the sheer space/value worth it.  And, if I'm not mistaken, we generally do what we do in the bathroom, alone.  Right?  So the value is not in the party possibilities -

There was one guy, in Spain, I think, who didn't go for huge.  He went for extravagant material.  He had a shower made entirely of 24-karat gold tile.  He said it made him happy to shower in all that 'lucky' gold every day.  Again, the funny thing to me - was size.  The guy they interviewed was kind of big - maybe rotund-ish would be a better word.  The shower he'd built was not so big.  Was he trying to save money?  Really?  I could just picture him (oh, please, no!) hitting the golden sides of that shower every time he soaped up or rinsed off.

So I was reading about King Solomon's temple today.  Oh my!  The scale alone is daunting - 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, 45 feet high...It had to have dominated Jerusalem in its day!  The exterior was built of stone - dressed off-site to keep the construction noise down.  The interior was paneled in cedar - then overlaid with gold.  Imagine walking into that - I bet that would make you happy - all that 'lucky' gold...  But then, this temple was to be God's house on earth.  It was where the Ark of the Covenant was to be kept.  It was holy ground.  And regular people would never actually see it.

I suppose that's what causes me to think.  We have so much information available at our fingertips, today - through the internet, through television shows, youtube, movies and films.  When I couldn't quite grasp how the temple would have looked, I googled an image.  When we have a question, we google and get multiple sites for a variety of answers.  I love the availability of information - but I think, sometimes, I miss the 'not knowing'.  The faith required to believe something without seeing it.

When the priests came out of the Holy Place, a thick cloud filled the Temple of the LORD.  The priests could not continue their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of the LORD filled the Temple.

1 Kings 8:10-11

Imagine... About three thousand years ago, a great temple was built for God and HE filled it with his presence.  Now that is holy mystery.