“Let us go to His dwelling place, let us worship at His footstool, saying ‘Arise, Lord, and come to Your resting place, you and the ark of Your might.'” (Psalm 132:7-8 NIV)
footstool – a low place for resting feet while sitting.
This word, footstool, has caught my attention in recent weeks. In 1 Chronicles, King David expressed good desire to build a house for God on earth. But what infrastructure could hope to contain the glory of God? What’s more, who can tell God where to live?
The Lord responds to Davids request:
“I have moved from one tent site to another, one dwelling place to another. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their leaders whom I commanded to shepherd My people, “Why have you not build Me a house of cedar?”” (1 Chronicles 17:5 NIV)
God comes and goes as He pleases. Yet David’s heart was right, and God promised to let his son build the Temple. Somewhere along the way, as the plans and resources came together, David came to the correct conclusions that God would not dwell in the Temple – His throne is in heaven – but the Temple would be His footstool. His physical place of resting presence on here earth.
“King David rose to his feet and said: “Listen to me, my fellow Israelites, my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it.”” (1 Chronicles 28:2 NIV)
King David acknowledged that no matter how fine of Temple he built on earth, the throne of God in heaven would always far eclipse it. David changed his plans, altered them from a home to a place of rest for God’s feet on earth.
I think of the Shunamite woman with the extra room for the prophet. I consider the wedding at Cana. I remember the long-awaited son, Samuel; set aside for the Lord’s purpose. God goes where He’s invited.
Feet are petty humbling, aren’t they? Feet are the most subservient place we can fall, the most lowly part of another person. Yet, when God’s presence came to rest on His earthly footstool, His glory filled the Temple so thickly that the priests could not go about their business.
“When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burn offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the Temple. The priest could not enter the Temple of Lord because the glory of the Lord filled it. When all the Israelites saw the fire coming down and the glory of the Lord above the Temple, they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground and they worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “He is good, His love endures forever.”” (2 Chronicles 7:1-3 NIV)
God’s feet; the least glorious part of Him, still filled the Temple with glory beyond human comprehension. There is not lesser part of God: even His big toe (if He has one) is jam-packed with glory and worthy of worship. Any place He chooses to rest on earth is impacted by His presence.
The woman with the nard at Bethany somehow understood this. She fell at Jesus’ feet and worshiped. She poured out expensive perfume and tended to the holy soles with her tears and hair and her quiet worship because she knew the feet of God to be far more glorious than we realize. Her washing and drying was an earthly acknowledgement of Jesus’ divine status.
“Then Mary took a about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it out Jesus feet and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” (John 12:3 NIV)
Did you catch it? When Mary acknowledge the presence of God’s feet on the earth, the fragrance of His presence filled the room, just as the glory filled the Temple at Solomon’s dedication.
Lord, help us to recognize Your tread upon the earth. May we fall at Your feet and worship, unconcerned about the opinions of others observing our outpouring. Thank You for resting here, with us, O Immanuel. Our whole world is transformed by Your glorious presence. Amen.