Temple of Heaven
By Elin Henderson
“Behold, the heaven and the heaven
of heavens is the LORD’s thy God,
the earth also, with all that therein is.”
Deuteronomy 10:14 (KJV)
Two years ago we had the incredible
experience and privilege to visit China on our way to a conference in Thailand.
Thanks to the assistance of a helpful Chinese guide, we fit in an inordinate amount
of “tourism” in a short 36-hour period. We saw everything from the Great Wall
to the Forbidden City. And last, but not least, was the Temple of Heaven. She
explained to us that this was where the Emperor would come twice a year to make
sacrifices and pray to the heavens.
There was much ritual and formality
to ensure that the god of the heavens/nature god would give them a fruitful planting
and then harvest season. As we were walking through the incredibly colorful and
ornate passageways leading to the Temple, she made sure that we knew that the
ritual doesn’t take place anymore because there is no Emperor. She then
continued to say that people do still pray to the heavens - - for they control
the seasons.
I asked her, “Who then controls the
heavens?”
Perplexed, she stopped. Then looked
at me with a grin and replied, “No one, I guess.”
It broke my heart to hear her reply
and to know that to her, along with millions of others, that question remains
unanswered. How I longed to have the time to sit down and share with her that
there is One who controls the heavens. And more than that, there is One who knows
us all by name and loves us!
Nature, disconnected from a Creator
is a sad, random and disorganized thing. How encouraging and hope-giving is it
to know that our Creator spoke the heavens and earth into existence, organized
and ordered them. [1]
That He owns them. [2] He controls and dominates them. [3] He dwells in them. [4] He can
open them up or shut them down. [5] He listens from them. [6] They cannot contain Him. [7] That He
pours out blessings from them as well as righteousness. [8] And the list could go on…
The heavens are His temple and to Him do
we lift up our prayers and hopes, not twice a year, but every moment of every
day!
GOING
DEEPER:
1.
How does
knowing the God of the Heavens bring peace to your little piece of earth today?
FURTHER
READING:
[1] Genesis 1
[3] Job 9:8
Oakwood’s missionaries Elin
Henderson (a registered nurse) and her husband Phil serve as church planters
with Ethnos 360 in Mozambique, Africa.
Elin is mother to eighteen-year-old Callie and fifteen-year-old Elias.
