The Game of Minutes

1 Kings 8:1-13

1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ houses of the people of Israel, before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David, which is Zion.

2 And all the men of Israel assembled to King Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.

3 And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.

4 And they brought up the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up.

5 And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.

6 Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim.

7 For the cherubim spread out their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubim overshadowed the ark and its poles.

8 And the poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the Holy Place before the inner sanctuary; but they could not be seen from outside. And they are there to this day.

9 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone that Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.

10 And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord,

11 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.

12 Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.

13 I have indeed built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.”

During the time following the exodus from Egypt, while wandering the wilderness, God’s people were instructed by Him as to the building of the Tabernacle which contained the Tent of Meeting; the original place of worship for His people. For the next 500 years, that Tent was maintained and protected, providing God’s people with a focal point for their worship lives. While that Tent was moved from place to place, it was now time for a permanent residence for the Ark of the Covenant. This is what Solomon constructed in the Temple. The celebration that moved the Ark and the Tent to this glorious golden building was truly magnificent. All of the tribes were gathered and with sacrifice and reverence, as the symbolic presence of God is moved from a temporary dwelling into a permanent one. God even condescends to manifest His presence with a “dark cloud” so that the people would be assured that He was indeed with them and would stay with them.

In 2012, because we stand on this side of the resurrection and Pentecost, we are constantly in God’s presence. His indwelling is guaranteed to all believers because He sent His Spirit to be present with us; gifting us, guiding us, motivating us, encouraging us (and so much more.) But because we can’t see that “dark cloud” we tend to forget that He is there, even becoming complacent or apathetic to His presence. Remembering Him and living like He is actually here with us requires an intentional response on our part. Mental energy needs to be expended in order to walk with Him daily.

 

Frank Laubach (September 2, 1884 – June 11, 1970) was a Christian Missionary to the Philippians. He had a great passion for literacy and spent his life teaching others to read. In 1935 he developed the "Each One Teach One" literacy program. It has been used to teach about 60 million people to read in their own language. While this was truly a wonderful legacy to leave behind, he also challenged God’s people with “The Game of Minutes”. He was certain that should God’s people intentionally spend time with Him their lives would change. Here is a brief justification for his idea:

“Take the United States, for example. Only a third of the population belongs to the Christian church. [Keep in mind, this was written decades ago!] Less than half of this third attend service regularly. Preachers speak about Christ in perhaps one service in four — thirty minutes a month! Good sermons, many of them excellent, but too infrequent in presenting Christ.  Less than ten minutes a week given to thinking about Christ by 1/6 of the people is not saving our country or our world; for selfishness, greed, and hate are getting a thousand times that much thought. What a nation thinks about, that it is. We shall not become like Christ until we give Him more time. A teachers’ college requires students to attend classes for twenty-five hours a week for three years. Could it prepare competent teachers or a law school prepare competent lawyers if they studied only ten minutes a week?”

Laubach makes a good point! His discipline (similar to Brother Lawrence’s The Practice of the Presence of God) is to consciously try and just think of God once every minute. Sounds easy, right? It’s not. Laubach, in fact, started by trying to think of God once every hour (while awake) and then expanded it to once every 30 minutes, then once every 15 minutes – you get the idea. A good discipline has to be learned. You don’t generally succeed the first time you try. But this is an incredible way to acknowledge that you are constantly in the presence of God. Since there is not “dark cloud” to serve as a reminder, you have to exercise that muscle between your ears a little and strengthen your own resolve to remember God.

If you would like to read Laubach’s entire essay regarding The Game of Minutes, click the link below. It’s very interesting and will serve to challenge you in this area of the faith.

laubachgamewithminutes.pdf