Construction Site Ahead
We moved to the original Love Shack in the summer of 2006. Our home was newly constructed, and it was nice to walk in after work to the aroma of fresh paint and the shine of new surfaces. We spent most evenings with cold drinks in hand, lounging on our welcoming porch, sheltered from the hot San Antonio sun, classic oldies keeping us young at heart, and an outdoor ceiling fan to add to our comfort. We were chiflados – spoiled and happy.
What we didn’t factor in was that while our house was newly built, houses around us were either still in the planning stages or still under construction. As soon as the sun came up, so did the volume in the neighborhood. The jarring sound of jackhammers breaking through South Texas rock to prepare sites for foundations to be poured. Cement trucks and trailers full of lumber rumbling down the streets. Catering trucks honking a universal signal to workers that lunch was available. The pop of nail guns as frames went up and roofs were added. The soundtrack of construction – music playing loud and proud – and the occasional off-key sing-along of men too long in the hot sun. Voices shouting over the noise - coordinating window placement, brick laying, sod planting.
From dawn to sun down, the work went on, until house by house, the subdivision was complete. And then…the blissful peace of a quiet neighborhood.
1 Kings 5-6 of the Bible gives the account of a different construction site. Solomon has been charged by his father King David and by the Lord to build a temple for God in Jerusalem. God has given very specific instructions for every detail, and Solomon is faithful to follow those instructions. God deserves the very best, and Solomon delivers.
The finest cedar is found in Lebanon. Solomon arranges with the king of Lebanon to have the lumber for construction prepared in Lebanon before being floated down to Joppa and then finally being transported to Jerusalem. The majestic stones that would form the foundation and walls are cut and dressed before being hauled to the temple site. 1 Kings 6:7 says, “In building the temple, only blocks dressed at the quarry were used, and no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the temple site while it was being built.” Once all of the construction elements are gathered, each one is quietly placed according to God’s instructions. The temple’s furnishings to be used in worship and the elaborate décor are added as the finishing touches. Seven years of meticulous assembly, and the temple of God is finally complete.
Charles Spurgeon relates the construction of the temple to the sanctification of the believer’s life in preparation for our eternal purpose and position. He says, “As in the building of Solomon’s temple, where ‘neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard’ because it all arrived perfectly prepared for the exact spot it was to occupy, so is it with the temple that Jesus builds, the preparation is all done on earth.” The inhabitants of heaven are fashioned on earth.
My dear friend, does your journey seem to be pocked by pounding and sawing and commotion? Have you felt the pain of surfaces being planed smooth, the sharp blow of the chisel chipping away imperfections, the tension of joints wedged and forged by force? You’re not imagining it. This is the process of readying you for what God has in store for you on the other side of this life. Every hardship, struggle, and trial that you experience has a holy purpose – to fit you for your place in God’s eternal kingdom – a place He determined for you before the foundation of the world. Don’t lose heart. The eternal glory of heaven awaits you.
“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:17-18
