Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened. ~Exodus 7:16
“…so that they may worship me in the wilderness.” This is not the first time, and won’t be the last, where Moses and Aaron appeal to Pharaoh to let Israel go into the wilderness to worship the Lord (3:18; 5:1; 5:3; 8:1; 8:20, etc.)
It is good to be reminded that “the church is not a building” and that “God does not live in buildings made by human hands.” The corrective reminder that God and his work cannot be contained is instructive for us, but God also calls his people into particular places and actions where he promises to be present, perhaps in a special or singular way.
Psalm 122 is a beautiful reflection on the refuge that is “the house of the Lord,” and the New Testament is filled with promises that Christ will be present: where two or more are gathered, in the breaking of bread and drinking of the cup, in the poor among us, among the “little ones,” among others.
Perhaps the Spirit is calling you to enter into one of these spaces with greater intentionality:
Are you feeling called to spend more time in intentional fellowship with the church, perhaps in a home group? To receive communion with a greater sense of wonder? To acknowledge that time spent with the poor, hungry, and outcast is time spent with the risen Lord?