Truth Reinforced

Between 2 Samuel 15 and our Pastor’s church sermon from John 4, an vital truth can be seen (along with many other places in Scripture). Whether we look at the Old or the New Testaments, it is clear that God is not confined to a building, a tent, a city, or a country. He is not confined to the Ark of the Covenant.

Especially in the time of King David, many Middle Eastern religious beliefs had infiltrated the beliefs of the nation of Israel. I’ve addressed this before. The predominate view was that the gods were only present when and where the idols were present. As a result the various armies took their idols with them into battle. Most of Israel believed the same thing about the ark – God was only present when the ark was present.

So in 2 Samuel 15, David is being ousted as king as the people rallied behind David’s son, Absalom. As David fled, the priests brought the ark along. David responded to the high priest in such a way that showed David had at least an inkling that God was everywhere:

2 Samuel 15:25-26: The king said to Zadok [the high priest], “Return the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the sight of the Lord, then He will bring me back again and show me both it and His habitation. But if He should say thus, ‘I have no delight in you,’ behold, here I am, let Him do to me as seems good to Him (NASB).

David appeared confident that God could and would deal with him, no matter where he was and no matter where the ark was.

Jesus gives us this same message in the gospels. In John 4:1-42, Jesus does a very non-culturally appropriate thing. He has a conversation with a Samaritan woman. The woman asks Jesus where people should worship – on the mountain in Samaria or in Jerusalem. Jesus answers in verses 21 and 23-24:

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. . . But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Jesus emphasizes that the place to worship God is not important. I need to remember this and focus on God wherever I go and whatever I am doing. God is not confined to my office in the morning or in church on Sundays. He is present everywhere at the same time.