Sanctuary, By Sarah Tummey.

I’ve come across a lovely verse in Ezekiel. Ezekiel was a priest – a man who descended from Abraham’s great grandson, Levi. Ezekiel started hearing from God when His people had been exiled from their land because of their disobedience. A few of the poorest people remained in Jerusalem to take care of it (2 Kings 24:14).

The people left in Jerusalem make an assumption. They claim the exiles are far away from God; therefore God has given the land to them, but they’ve misread the situation, and God wants to reassure the exiles. This is what He says. “Although I have scattered you in the countries of the world, I will be a sanctuary to you during your time in exile” (Ezekiel 11:16).

I don’t know what you do when you’re in difficult circumstances. To take my mind off things, sometimes I’ll immerse myself in the lives of fictional characters. Other times I’ll play my music and thank God that I can hear it, but this verse shows me God wants us to make Him our sanctuary – not books or music or TV. There’s nothing wrong with those things in themselves, but they were never meant to take the place of God in our lives.

At the gym the other day, I was listening to a song which said: “You’re the glory of our brightest day, the comfort of our night.” That’s what making God your sanctuary is like. It’s turning to Him for comfort when you’re nervous about the day ahead, or looking for His blessings when your situation seems hopeless. A book or a television programme might relax us temporarily and I don’t think God minds that, as long as we don’t use those things to shut Him out.

Let these words of Ezekiel 11:16 remind you that God wants to be a sanctuary to you.

To read more from Sarah, please visit her blog
Sarah is also an incredibly gifted songwriter. You can find out more Here