This place is the holiest sight in Judaism because it is all that remains of the Temple that existed in the first century and was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70. The stones are huge and can be twenty feet long and weigh a half-million pounds (not an exaggeration). The larger ones, on the bottom, can be dated back to the time of Jesus.
Jews are here 24/7 praying. On Thursdays there are bar-mitzvahs after bar-mitzvahs. Religious practices are constantly happening. Men are singing Psalms in Hebrew and women are weeping. The devotion people show at the Wall is incredible.
(A photo showing the notes with prayers that are shoved into the cracks of the Wall.)
Like any religious pilgrim when I arrived I put on a yamaka and prayed at the Wall. It was incredible. God is definitely uniquely present at this place. I'm not sure if it is because is it the site of the Old Temple or if it is simply because their are many seeking Him here. I would lean toward the latter. But He is here.
I began to pray my favorite Psalm, the 27th. Verse four became more real to me than it ever has been before since I was paying it at the Wall. "One thing I have asked of The Lord, this is what I seek, that I may dwell in the house of The Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of The Lord, and to inquire in His Temple." When David wrote those words he was speaking about the place at which I was praying (or as near as makes no difference). And for me being there made the longing for His presence a greater reality in me. May you and I always long to be in the presence of our God, to dwell in His house forever.
Verse 8 of this psalm:
ReplyDeleteMy heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, LORD, I will seek.