Researchers once surveyed people about their favourite room in the house. The top answer was the kitchen. People love that one. Most husbands’ top answer was the bedroom. Want to guess what the top answer was for mothers of young children?
The bathroom.
Why? You lock the door. You keep those little rugrats out of there for at least a couple of minutes. You keep your husband out of there for at least a couple of minutes. The idea is that you find some place where you know you are alone. You are free of stress. You find a sanctuary–a holy place.
God wants to give us sanctuary. There is another kind of presence when we are gather together, but there is a unique way in which we experience the presence of God when we are alone. . . .
. . . Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper wrote that there is a similarity between the structure of each individual life and the structure of the tabernacle in the Old Testament, which was divided into three compartments.
There was the outer court, where everyone had access. Likewise, there is a
public you. You too have an outer court, which is you when you go to work,
shop, or play. This is your appearance or your image, and everyone sees
this part of you.
In the tabernacle there was also an inner chamber called the Holy Place. Not everyone had access to this area, and most were not allowed in. You too have a holy place, the place where you only allow certain people to enter, such as your friends or family. You decide who comes in and who doesn't, and no one can force their way in. Someone may hold power over you vocationally or financially, but that does not allow them entrance. Maybe someone wormed their way in, and you have to see a therapist to get them out. But ultimately everyone gets to decide who they allow in that inner chamber.
Then there was one more chamber–a very small, carefully guarded place, deep inside. It was the most sacred, and they had a beautiful name for this: the Holy of Holies. It was entered only by the chief priest and there was room there for only one person and God.
This is the mystery and depth and amazing truth about you, because whether you are young or old, high or low on the totem pole, you have one of these places inside you too. Only God is allowed in there. No other human being can come into your Holy of Holies.
. . . You carry your soul around with you all the time. It may be filled with joy and peace; it may be empty and neglected. People who just look at the outer you–sometimes even people who are in the inner court–do not see your soul. No one knows about this but you and God.
