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What House Will You Build for Me?

Writer's picture: Tal HaroniTal Haroni

Thus says the LORD, “The heavens are my throne, and the earth my footstool. What house will you build for me, and what will be my resting place. For my hand has made all these things and caused them to be. Yet I will look upon him who is humble and contrite in spirit and who trembles at my word.” (Isaiah 6:1-2)


God created each and every one of us. He knew us even before the universe was formed. He knew our weaknesses, strengths, and difficulties. He knew the color of our eyes and the date of our birth. He also knows when our soul will return to Him. Nothing can surprise him. He already knows everything, because in fact, everything is His, including you and me.


And yet…


God wants to build a house within us. He wants us to prepare a place for Himself in our lives. There is one thing that God has placed in our possession, our free will. We can choose to give Him the place He deserves and allow Him to be our “landlord” – to let Him find a resting place among us and turn our bodies and lives into a temple for Him.


Or we can keep our lives to ourselves.


God invites us to let Him dwell among us. “Do you who think that the scripture says in vain: ‘God longs with jealousy for the spirit which he made to dwell in us’” (James 4:5).


He wants to fill us. He longs to be an integral part of our lives – to be more than a guest who is occasionally invited to visit. He won’t even be satisfied to be a long term “renter.” God invites us to let Him be the owner of the house – by way of parable, to be the one who decides how to “remodel” the house, which wall is to come down and which is to stay.


I myself am renting an apartment now, and I have a good landlord. He owns the house, even though I brought my own furniture, and I tend to the yard and house cleaning. However, since the house does not belong to me, I cannot get up one morning and decide to knock down one of the walls without consulting my landlord. I cannot simply do whatever I want.


A few days ago my rental had an electrical problem. I called the landlord. He told me to try a few things myself to solve the problem, and said that if necessary he would hire a professional to do the repair.


This is how it is with God as our landlord. When we have a problem we turn to Him, and ask for help. He may point to things we ourselves can repair. He may tell us to get help from someone more experienced. He may come Himself and fix whatever needs fixing.


God invites us to surrender our free will to Him, to learn from the life of Yeshua, who said in Gethsemane, “Father, if it is possible, please cause this cup to pass from me, yet not my will, but your will be done” (Matthew 26:39).


This verse always challenges and surprises me. Yeshua was fully human. He did not want to go to the cross. But of His own free will He surrendered to the will of God. He knew the suffering that awaited Him in the last day of His life, but was also confident in the goodness of God. And He chose to go with God’s plan to the uttermost.


When we believe and know that God is good and there is no shifting shadow in Him, we surrender our lives willingly; confident that He knows what is good and right for us. We invite Him to be our landlord, and we know that whatever He chooses and gives us will be for the best. Our lives are much better when we are submitted to His will, of our own free will.

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