In New Zealand it is accepted that many people have two houses – one where they live and work and the other is a bach (pronounced “batch”), or if you live in the south of the South Island it’s a crib. Anyway it’s a holiday house, usually at a beach or lakeside. We love to get away to the bach to relax and be refreshed. I grew up in Hamilton but most of my summer holidays were at the family bach by the sea at Raglan. That little two bedroom cottage that Mum and Dad bought in 1966 is now four bedrooms and still in the family.
It seems to me that God has a bach and that bach is us. Isaiah 57:15 says that God lives in two places: “I dwell on a high and holy place, and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit”. His high and holy place is His heaven and we see a good description of that in Revelation Chapter 4. But He also lives with the humble of heart.
Isaiah 66:1,2 says the same thing:
Thus says the LORD, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool.
Where then is a house you could build for Me?
And where is a place that I may rest?
For My hand made all these things,
Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD.
“But to this one I will look,
To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”
God is looking for a place to rest. He doesn’t find that in anything He created but in something He didn’t create – the outcome of our will. Our surrendered will is the one place in the universe where God finds rest outside of Himself. God doesn’t look for rest because He’s tired or needs a break, it’s just that He enjoys being with family.
When Noah sent out a dove from the ark the dove looked for a place to rest. In the New Testament we see that the dove is a picture of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit today is still looking for a place to rest.
Will you be a holiday home for God? Allow the Holy Spirit to chill at your place.