SANDY LEVINE

Would you let my mother and my father stay with you until I learn what God will do for me? King David

September 2012

SEEING THINGS NOW

You open Your hand and they are satisfied

Would you let my father and mother stay with you until I learn what God will do for me? David made this request to the King of Moab. Before David took the throne he was in a tight spot. He knew King Saul wanted to kill him. He also knew that his family would not be safe while he moved about and sought to discover what God would do of the world. I heard these for him. words, This is the how I see I too, have found myself in your life. need of direction for the next period of life. Oh, I clearly remember the rst time God extended His hand to me He lifted me up from death into life. Then, a few years later, I saw His hands extended at arms length holding a map Before each of these lifegiving, life-changing, lifes course altering events I did not know God was coming to give me His hand or to show me what was in His hand. Now, as I come to one impasse or another, I am

Seeing Things Now

Page 1 of 3

September 2012

Please do not let me be captured by the enemy or fall into their hands.
keenly aware how much I need what is in His hand. Often, I cry out as King David did in 2 Samuel 24:14, Please do not let me be captured by the enemy or fall into their hands. Recently, I was reviewing pictures taken during the demolition phase of our new synagogue. The workmen had used jackhammers to cut channels and trenches into the cement oors. Dirt, dug from below the foundation, was piled knee high here and there in many of the spaces where classrooms, ofces and the sanctuary would later be. During those days, we had to navigate through piles of dirt and jump over channels the width of hallways to get from one area of the building to another. There were rooms with trenches running this way and that, pipes protruding at odd angles and, of course, piles and piles of dirt.

SANDY LEVINE

Make for me a Sanctuary that I may dwell with them. I thought, how could this jumble turn into a Sanctuary?
In the conference room piles of insulation were sliding to one side, ceiling tiles were stacked literally to the ceiling, there were air return vents, bathroom and mop sinks, light xtures and, of all things, toilets! How could anyone see past this mess to what this building would actually become? Gods direction had been clear, Make for me a Sanctuary that I may dwell with them. How could this jumble turn into a Sanctuary? How did the work crew have the fortitude to go on? How did they take the news that they had to move the insulation one more time?

Trenches where rooms will be, pipes protruding this way and that...

The conference room piled with insulation, ceiling tiles and......

Seeing Things Now

Page 2 of 3

September 2012

SANDY LEVINE

When I see the mess and feel the pain of demolition, I ask for a glimpse into His hand. I may have to go someplace and wait until I learn what He will do for me.
- Sandy Levine

Or to pile dozens of doors rst in this room, then haul them into that one? God used us as a sort of container to house experiences and elements that could be incorporated into a Sanctuary for Him. These raw materials were assembled from experiences in our lives aesthetics which had made an impression on us, memories of parks and buildings that inspired us, even pictures from beloved books. Then, at His appointed time, He used those raw materials as an inspiration, as a beginning. Now when I look at these pictures, I see new meaning in demolition, repurposing and reconstruction. Each of these phases eventually led to a nished product.

Isnt this how God works on the building of my life? He received me in a specic condition. Then, with an eye towards the end result, He began to tear things out, sometimes repurposing, but always restructuring, redesigning and reconstructing. Now, when I see the mess and feel the pain of demolition, I ask for a glimpse into His hand. I have to be patient. I may even have to go someplace and wait until I learn what He will do for me. Yet, each of these times, as in Psalm 104, He has opened His hand and satised me.

Seeing Things Now

Page 3 of 3