The Sanctuary

Psalm 134
"BEHOLD, BLESS (affectionately and gratefully praise) the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, [singers] who by night stand in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in holiness and to the sanctuary and bless the Lord [affectionately and gratefully praise Him]! The Lord bless you out of Zion, even He Who made heaven and earth."

I read this verse this morning and God has been speaking to my heart all day through it. And you'd never guess in a million years how it's been applied to my life! Never!!

A couple of weeks ago, Julie Simmons brought Beth Moore's webpage to my attention. She had a survey on there about insecurity that I spent a whole morning reading. There were LOTS of women who answered the survey and I was engrossed in reading them---especially those of women my age. She asked women to answer how insecure they were, how old they were, if they were married, the source of their insecurity and how men played into their insecurity.
Now here's what I found interesting. Most women (probably 95% of them) said the source of their insecurity was from comparing themselves to other women! Or that they were insecure about how they looked or how other women perceived them. Shocking! Are you shocked? I mean, as I began thinking on it, I knew that was probably the source of my insecurity, but I had no idea that almost every woman dealt with the same thing! And it was pretty discouraging to read how many women my age (and older) still deal with that insecurity---and this thought process then becomes all about ME!!
But isn't that just like Satan? He perpetuates the same lie to all of us. And you know why it works? Because we don't talk about it. It's hidden. We think we're the only one dealing with that---which, in fact, is the other lie he tells us! But this lie has been exposed! So now...what to do about it?
That's where this scripture comes in. You see, I'm so frustrated because I've gained back some weight I'd lost. And what's our normal reaction as women when we do that? We beat ourselves up! We compare ourselves to other women and find ourselves wanting.
But I think this verse has a key in overcoming. We "lift up our hands in holiness and to the sanctuary and bless the Lord." In the Old Testament, the sanctuary was a building. In the New Testament, the sanctuary is our body. When we lift up our hands in holiness--and to the sanctuary--and bless the Lord, it means our focus is on God and not our body. It means we're blessing God instead of cursing our bodies. Isn't that what goes on in your mind? It does mine---I start cursing my body.
So...I want some women to join me. Especially women who have a problem with their weight. I want some "testers" of this. No more cursing---even in your mind. Remember the verse that says, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he?" All of that cursing brings extra weight into reality because that's how we're thinking. It's what we're expecting! I want to do something different. I want to lift up my hands in holiness. What is holiness? It's living a life set apart for God. It's setting our minds, bodies & spirits apart for Him. It's lifting my hands in holiness and to the sanctuary. It's honoring the sanctuary God has given me. If He's chosen to live in my body and has set it apart for Himself, then who am I to complain against it? It's lifting my hands in holiness and to the sanctuary and blessing the Lord. I want to bless the Lord for how He has created me. I want to bless Him for this sanctuary He dwells in. I want Him to change my mind. I don't want to live in insecurity any longer. No more comparing. No more judging. No more cursing. And I want to see what happens. Any takers?