Bethel is the symbol of fellowship with God; Ai is the symbol of the world. ("He moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east, there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord." Genesis 12:8) Abram "pitched his tent" between the two. The lasting value of our public service for God is measured by the depth of the intimacy of our private time of fellowship and oneness with Him. Rushing in and out of worship is wrong every time-there is always plenty of time to worship God. Days set apart for quiet can be a trap, detracting from the need to have daily quiet time with God. That is why we must "pitch our tents" where we will always have quiet times with Him, however noisy our time with the world may be. There are not three levels of spiritual life-worship, waiting, and work. Yet some of us seem to jump like spiritual frogs from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work. God's idea is that the three should go together as one. They were always together in the life of our Lord and in perfect harmony. It is a discipline that must be developed: it will not happen overnight.
Oswald Chambers- My Utmost for His Hightest
