Enthroned Between the Cherubim

We are going to begin today's post with a brief look at the Ark of the Covenant.
As a reminder, the Ark (as I'll refer to it in this context) was established when the Israelites were at Mt. Sinai, shortly after God delivered them from Egypt.  On its lid, there were likenesses of two cherubim (Exodus 25:17-22), forming what came to be called the Kapporeth, or "Mercy Seat". 1

The Israelites carried the Ark around with them as they wandered for 40 years, brought it with them across the Jordan and kept it with them until the Philistines captured it in battle, during the judgeship of Samuel and the priestly ministry of Eli (1 Samuel 4).  It is implied in 1 Samuel 4:10-18 that the capture caused Eli to have a heart attack, fall backward out of his chair, break his neck and die.

The Ark brought death and destruction on the Philistines; as a result, they only kept it around 7 months.  They took it to a town called Kiriath-Jearim (or Baale-judah), where it remained for 20 years.   This town, in the area known as Gibeah, was about 9 miles north of Jerusalem.

Once King David moved his governmental seat from Hebron, where he reigned for 7 years, to Jerusalem, he wanted the Ark of the Covenant brought there too.  David says in 1 Chronicles 13:3 that, all during the reign of Saul, no one "inquired of the LORD"; that is, the Ark was not consulted, revered, etc.

This brings us to the central text of today's post: 1 Chronicles 13:5-14 (although the story is also recorded in 2 Samuel 6:1-11.)  Please read one or the other, as I am not going to reproduce the text here.

Saul is an object lesson for Psalm 106:15, which says:

And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.

(KJV2000)

The people of Israel had coveted their neighbors' kings, and had begged God (during the leadership of Samuel, the last judge) to give them one. Previous to this, they had been led by a succession of judges.  The catalyst to the people's request, a "hitch in the giddyup" you might say, occurred when neither of Samuel's sons was fit to succeed him, as they lacked the moral capacity to do so.
In 1 Samuel 8, God tells Samuel to warn the people that having a king was a very bad idea.  In obedience, Samuel delivered God's message quite strongly.  God told Samuel the people were not rejecting him and his family, or even the concept of leadership-by-judge, but rather that they were rejecting Him, as they had done for years.  Yet, God allowed them their king.

Saul, the first king of Israel, was a spoiled brat.  Tall and handsome, he had probably been excused and indulged, regardless of his bad behavior, his entire life to that point.  It only stands to reason he would continue to operate in a similar way as king.  In 1 Chronicles 10:13, we read that Saul was rejected by the Lord because of his unfaithfulness to him and his disobedience ("because he did not keep the LORD's word".) Instead of inquiring of the Lord, he even consulted a spiritualist, a medium, for guidance.  "Leanness" indeed.

Apostasy has consequences, many times unforeseen. 

At the time King David wanted to retrieve the Ark, it was under the care of Abinadab.  Now, there are at several schools of thought about this character.  (The name "Abinadab" occurs 12 times in the Old Testament.)
1.  Some allege he was a Levite. But, nowhere in the Hebrew Bible is he designated as such.2  Furthermore, David's comments after the Uzzah incident do not make sense if this is true.
2.  Others believe he was King David's older brother. 3  David did have an older brother by the same name, but it is unlikely he was the same person as the man whose house was entrusted with the Ark.
3.  Still others contend this was the same Abinadab as the son of King Saul. 4   However, there is nothing in the scriptures to verify this, as nowhere are sons of this particular Abinadab listed.  He was killed, along with his father Saul, in battle.  He may not have had sons at all.
4.  Finally, some believe this Abinadab was none of the above, but an obscure Gibeonite. 5 The Ark had been kept undisputedly in the area called Gibeah.  Gibeonites were not by-blood Israelites, but had made a crafty deal with Joshua many years earlier, deceiving him into not destroying that people (Joshua 9).  Accordingly, they became the bond-servants of the Israelites, and it was to them the Ark was entrusted when the Philistines rejected it. I believe this to be the most likely explanation.

The Abinadab at the center of this story had a son named Eleazer, the first son consecrated to care for the Ark, when it came to the house of Abinadab, from the Philistines.  However, the Ark was with this family, or "house", for 20 years.  At the time David sought to retrieve it, Eleazar was not mentioned.  He could have died.  Regardless, the two young men mentioned as guiding the cart with the Ark, as it progressed down the hill, were "of the house of Abinadab" and kinsmen of Eleazar.

So, the first problem in this story is that we see men who were not Levitical priests caring for the Ark.  This had gone on for many years.  God had long ago ordained the "sons of Kohath" (Numbers 4:14) to be the custodians and caretakers of this holy article.  But, because apostasy had crept in, it was no longer so.  Saul had scant regard for the Ark, and David had some ignorance about its care, at this point.

Coming down the hill, the cart tipped and, to keep the Ark from falling, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady it.  God immediately struck him dead.  God's action seems rash, until you consider He had been extremely forbearing, because the Ark had not been properly "handled" for many years.  It had been allowed to reside in the house of non-Israelites, first the Philistines and later the Gibeonites. Scripture records Uzzah's death made David angry, but that it also caused him to "fear" (have appropriate awe and reverence for) the Lord. 

In fact, he was so freaked out, he directed the Ark be carried to the house of Obed-edom.  (There is a similar controversy about exactly who this man was also, but I figure you've had enough of that sort of thing.  So, I'm not going to go into it, lol.)  During the brief 3 months the Ark remained with Obed-edom, the Lord blessed him and his house.  After 3 months, David had the Ark brought to Jerusalem - - this time doing it God's way, along with great pomp, circumstance and celebration. 

Lesson learned.

Note 1 Chronicles 15:2 - -

Then David said, “No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the LORD has chosen them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister before Him forever.”

(BSB)

And again the words of David, in  1 Chronicles 15:13 - - 

It was because you Levites were not with us the first time that the LORD our God burst forth in anger against us. For we did not consult Him about the proper order.”

(BSB)

What are the lessons we can learn from this story?  Why do you think God allowed its inclusion in two different books of the Bible?  Here are some that occur to me.  Feel free to add your own thoughts in the comments of this post.

1.  God is holy and expects His worshippers to respect His ways. Obedience, with reverence and awe.
2.  Satan has been tempting humans to question God's ways since he asked Eve in the Garden of Eden this question: "Did God really say that?"
3.  Our ways, are not God's ways, but our ways can seem oooohhhhh so appealing.
4.  There are always consequences when we ignore or conveniently make excuses to work around God's precepts.  They may not be immediately apparent, but consequences will eventually come.  And, sometimes consequences fall on those who were not the cause of the original apostasy.  David was the prime decision-maker in this story, although Uzzah ended up being the one whose life was taken.

Yes, God is Love (1 John 4:7) and Mercy.  But, he is also Light, and Holiness and Truth.  While His methods of dealing with people have varied over the centuries, His essential character has not changed.  He is changeless, immutable.  Our loving God is "the LORD who is enthroned between the cherubim"  (2 Samuel 6:2)

Sources:

1 http://www.agapebiblestudy.com/documents/The%20Ark%20of%20the%20Covenant.htm
2 https://globalchristiancenter.com/christian-living/lesser-known-bible-people/31309-the-house-of-abinadab-and-the-ark-of-god
3  https://www.bibleabookoftruth.com/KingDavidsFamily.pdf
4  https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Abinadab
5  https://www.biblestudytools.com/encyclopedias/isbe/abinadab.html

From the Birds

4/2/20

House wrens are so called because they love to build their nests in eaves, porch overhangs and in other crevices of homes here in the South.  They are small, rather nondescript brown birds, with a long-ish beak.  Several live on our property.

Our house has a front porch, with a pot of ivy on a plant stand beside the front door.  The plant is very hardy; otherwise, I would have killed it by now.  Each year, a house wren burrows down into the planter to build a nest.  This year, she produced 4 eggs, pictured above.

The poor bird's nesting season has not been free from trouble.  All three of us quarantined "inmates" have enjoyed soaking up the sun on the front porch in the afternoons.  Although we have tried to be generous, we have frustrated mama bird, no doubt.  Yesterday, Hubs came inside saying she had "run him off".  When I asked how she did that, he replied that she "makes her presence known" and won't approach the nest while he is out there.

Remarkably, she has become a bit accustomed to us, allowing me to peer into the nest while she is roosting, as long as I don't get too close.  For days, I would go out and take a peek.  If she was on the nest, I would back away.  But, I got the photo one day while she was out. 
It seemed to take too long for the eggs to hatch.  I was worried we had disrupted the natural course of things so much that they would no longer be viable.  Then, there was the tornado warning the night of Easter Monday... I lamented, as Hubs re-arranged the patio furniture, that high winds might blow the planter off its perch and harm our little avian "family".  Hubs replied if that happened, we'd have much bigger problems than a nest of birds.

Still, I fretted.  Maybe they would hatch on Easter?  No.  The day after?  No.
Finally, on Tuesday after Easter, I peered in and saw four little birdie bodies, newly hatched.  Based on previous experience, in no time they will "fly the coop".

"His Eye is on the Sparrow"....

This well-known gospel song is a favorite of my cousin Robert's, who would often sing it in church when I was a child.  The song was inspired by Jesus' words in Matthew 10:29 and also 6:26.

Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.

Matthew 10:29 (NKJV)

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

Matthew 6:26 (ESV)

I had already planned to blog on this topic today, because it is so relevant to the many anxieties we allow ourselves to stumble into during this Time of the 'Rona.
Then, this morning in my devotional reading, the text was Psalm 84.  Look at verses 3-4.
Isn't God good!

3Even the sparrow has found a home,

and the swallow a nest for herself,

where she places her young near Your altars,

O LORD of Hosts, my King and my God.

4How blessed are those who dwell in Your house;

they are ever praising You.

Psalm 84:3-4 (BSB)

"...she places her young near Your altars..." 
I know this is poetic language, but wow!
She does her best and then trusts God.  Oh, may I do that, concerning my "young"!

Not all birds "make it".  The Berry College Eagles lost both their eggs this season.1
Yet, no matter what, God is in control.  Trust His plan and His timing.
As many of us are "dwelling in our houses" during these 'Rona Days, may we also seek to dwell in His house, and to ever be praising Him!

Source:

1.   berry.edu/eaglecam

The Balaam Balak Backstory

I have resisted writing this post for 3 weeks.
Ever since the covid-19 quarantine began, I've been in a strange sort of paralysis, reverting to "survival mode".  It has been one of the oddest things I've ever walked through.

So, finally, Balaam?
What do you know about him?
The infamous donkey-beating incident, right?
That's the "Bible story" we hear in Sunday School: Balaam was not a nice man because he beat a donkey.  I was amazed at what I found, digging deeper.

The story takes place just before the Israelites had crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land.  On the "wilderness side" of the Jordan, God had just given them a huge military victory over Kings Og and Sihon, of the Amorites.  Word of these major wins spread to the land all the way to the Mediterranean coastline.  All peoples in the Levant became filled with dread and terror over the Israelites.  King Balak of Moab was one such king thus affected.

During this time period, the following territories east of the Jordan ran north to south, like pearls on a string:

• Amorites (Og and Sihon) - - present-day Syria
• Ammonites - not to be confused with the Amalekites (who were a Canaanite people west of the Jordan)
• Moabites - where Ruth was from
• Edomites - Esau's descendants
• Midianites - - present-day Sinai Peninsula

Balaam was a non-Israelite prophet who lived in the city of Pethor, in Mesopotamia, north and east of these aforementioned territories - - over by the Euphrates River.  (This was the general area the Wise Men of nativity fame were from.)  Balaam apparently had some fame as a prophet, because the king of Moab knew about him.  So, the king of Moab, Balak, sent a delegation with riches to entice Balaam to come to Moab and curse the Israelites.

Now, here's the curious thing:  Balaam knew who Yahweh was, and he HEARD from him!  So, Balaam was not a false prophet, as far as receiving actual, genuine prophecies from God was concerned.  God chose to reveal Himself to him.
But, he was a wicked prophet1 (and not just because he beat the donkey).

To make a long story short(er), Balaam received permission from God to go with Balak's representatives, but it was one of those "I'll give you what you want, but you will regret it" types of scenarios.  To express His displeasure, God sent an angel to block the road Balaam and the ambassadors were traveling on.  The donkey could see the angel and, quite rightly, stopped, refusing to go on.  Balaam could not see the angel, and so beat the donkey in frustration.  Here we see the odd "talking donkey" of the Bible, because God allowed the donkey spoke to Balaam in an effort to save her life.
Well, Balaam went on to Moab and tried three times to please the king by cursing Israel, but God only sent blessings to be pronounced by this wicked prophet.
The highly displeased king sent Balaam home empty-handed (no riches).  Before he left, he graced the Moabite king with four more prophecies about Israel, all of them favorable, and one of them "famous".  Did you know Balaam spoke these words?!  (I didn't.)

I see him, but not now;

I behold him, but not near.

A star will come forth from Jacob,

and a scepter will arise from Israel.

Numbers 24:17

This is a Messianic prophecy, a prophecy about the coming of Jesus Christ.  Wow, God truly can use any human, and He uses whom He wishes to accomplish His purposes and bring Himself glory! (I find it curious that, like the natal "Wise Men of the East", Balaam studied astronomy....hmmmm...)

So, you probably think Balaam went home after blessing Israel 7 times, and that was that, right?  I mean, that's what it says in Numbers 24:25!  When you move ahead into the next chapter, you find the Israelites committing idolatry by marrying Moabite women and polluting their households with the Moabite idols.  This led to the infamous Peor incident, which reached epic proportions of grossness in Numbers 25.

Ahhhh, but between chapters 24 and 25 key information is left out, information explaining how the Israelites got to that point.

Look at Numbers 31:8.  Here it is recorded that the Israelites killed Balaam with the sword.  The logical question is, "Whoa...wait a minute, WHAT?!"  The last time Balaam was mentioned chronologically in Numbers he had passed along prophecies of blessings, seven of them, on Israel.
What happened?!

To get the answer we must look at the Talmud, an ancient rabbinical book of history and theology, as well as two other key verses of Holy Scripture.  Let's start with the Scripture.

This is the Lord Jesus speaking, in the Spirit, via John, to the Church at Pergamum:

But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.

Revelation 2:14 (BSB)

They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.

2 Peter 2:15 (BSB)

From these two verses,
it's reasonable to conclude that, perhaps when he was with Balak on Mt. Peor (Numbers 23:28), looking out over the "wasteland" (wilderness of Jeshimon), Balaam hatched an idea to infiltrate the Israelites from within.  Make no mistake, Balaam desired God to deliver through him a curse on the Israelites, because he wanted "the wages of wickedness" from Balak.  When God did not "come through", wicked Balaam at some point advised Balak to entice the Israelites to marry the Moabite women of the area.  Over a course of years, this occurred, leading up to the utterly vile idolatry associated with the false god (ba'al) of Peor.

Here's where the history books like the Talmud become helpful.  In Hebrew, the root of the word Peor is p'r, which means "opening".  It can either allude to the one that speaks words or the one that expels waste.  The Talmud recounts that Ba'al of Peor was a false, demonic god that required public defecation as an act of worship.  It is said that in front of a huge statue of the demon "god" on Mt. Peor was the equivalent of a huge "poop pit", to facilitate this particular form of worship.2
I ... kid you not.  Perhaps Balaam, from Mt. Peor, was looking out over a "wasteland" in more than one sense of the word....

Let's back up and look more closely at those three places Balak took Balaam, to have him curse Israel.  All three were mountain peaks, and all three were sites of pagan worship.  At each site, Balaam ordered an altar be built and sacrifices offered to the One, True God, Yahweh, the God of Israel.  Each time, a sacrifice offered, but surrounded by pagan altars.  God is a jealous God, which means He does not share His glory with false gods, nor does He like syncretism, the toleration/mixture of true and false religion.  (Our home Bible study is currently studying this phenomenon in our study of the book of Hosea, although it is rampant throughout the Bible, actually.)

Now, given what you have learned about Ba'al of Pe'or, does God's wrath toward the Israelites seem misplaced?  Or, does it appear entirely justified?  You decide, but I know what I think.  What a repulsive form of idolatry!  No wonder God's anger burned hot!

And, no wonder the Israelites later killed Balaam when given the chance.

During this coronavirus confinement I've seen our household lose money, lots of it.  And, I've been confronted with my responses to those financial blows.  They were not always godly ones.  Balaam lost everything because he was seduced by "the wages of wickedness".  Money meant more to him than it should have.  That is a sobering lesson to me.

That being said, I pray for those who are not just losing money, but that are losing their entire livelihoods as a result of this national crisis.  Not to mention those who are losing their very lives!  Story after story on the news, on Twitter, on Facebook here locally...  Please join me in praying for them too, because our idols can't get us through this.  There's only one, true God, who can.

Sources:

1  https://www.gotquestions.org/Balaam-in-the-Bible.html
2   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heresy_of_Peor

God, Be Merciful ...

Well, friends, the weirdness continues, does it not?
I've had this post on my heart for several days, but a prolonged backache has sort of incapacitated me to the point I have not felt much like doing anything except "keeping quarantine".
Regardless, this morning I felt well enough and that today finally was the time to bring it to you.

This prolonged period of relative solitude and its causal factors have been stressful, not gonna lie.  I thought I was managing it well until these physical ailments popped up.
I have been very burdened about many things.  In all of this, though, I've been searching my own heart about some things.  What does God want to teach me through this situation?  How can He use me for His glory, as most of the world fights this virus together?

God led me to Luke 18.  In this chapter two parables have really been speaking to me.
Please go read 18:1-14, and then come back.
WELCOME BACK, lol!

1.  The first story of Jesus, told in this chapter was told for the purpose of teaching us "always to pray and not lose heart" (18:1).
Now, what does that last part mean, (as the first admonition is obvious)?  To "lose heart" is variously translated as "give up" or "become discouraged".
Isn't that appropriate for us right now, when the temptation to be anxious, discouraged, and fearful is paramount?
Jesus went on to tell of a poor widow who was beseeching, begging a judge to favor her in a lawsuit.  Eventually, the judge found in her favor, exactly because she kept asking him to.
What is the lesson here?  That we, as believers in Jesus Christ, His followers, should pray earnestly to our God in all circumstances, but especially about the burdens He lays on our hearts.  And, there's no harm in praying for the same things over and over and over.
The apostle Paul echoed this in Philippians 4:6 (BSB).

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

2.  The second story of Jesus, told in this chapter was told for the purpose of teaching us to beware of self-righteousness and looking condescendingly on others.
The Pharisee was praying out loud (so others would hear about how "righteous" he was) and, worse, was telling God how righteous He was!
Now, to become a Christian, the first step is realizing exactly how UNrighteous you are, which is why you need Jesus to give you His righteousness, to become your Savior.  All true Christians recognize this and have confessed this and done this.  We realize that we are completely incapable of dealing with our own sin problem.  Well and good.  Jesus forgives us of ALL of our sins - - - past, present and future.  Hallelujah!  In the eyes of God, we are then declared righteous; this is sometimes called "positional righteousness" (thanks, Pastor George!).  The fancy theological term is "justified".
Here's the thing I've been convicted by, though.
SO many of us Christians (me included) go on to misappropriate that truth, and it gets in the way of our becoming more and more sanctified (another fancy theological term for "practical righteousness").
What does the gobbledegook of that last sentence mean?
It means that our initial justification/salvation is just the beginning of our walk with God, the rest of our life.  And, because all of our sins were forgiven at justification, we more or less tend to ignore confession in our daily walk.
"God, be merciful to me, a sinner" (18:13) applies to Christians, every day. 
Why? 
Because although all of our sins are forgiven as described above, we.still.sin.  In order to keep pride and condescension from setting up a stronghold in our life, we need to confess those sins before our Lord, at least daily.
The longer I walk with the Lord, the more I am convinced of this truth.  Ask yourself how much or how often you do this; that's what's been on my mind.
Remember 2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways...
Confession is a willful act of humbling yourself before God and admitting that daily you fall short of God's mark of holiness.  Further, true confession contains an element of repentance, which means "by the power of the Holy Spirit vowing to never do that sin again".  Repentance is the "turn from" mentioned in that verse.

Here's another good one:  1 John 1:9.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If you have read that one and filed it under the category of "justification" verses, you might just be a redneck!  Kidding.  You might just be guilty of what I've been talking about. That verse is NOT only for the non-Christian!  It is for Christians too!  When the verse says the Holy Spirit will purify us from all unrighteousness, it is referring to that ongoing work of sanctification and purification the Holy Spirit longs to do in our lives.  So, our first object for confession is directly to our Lord and Savior. One-on-one.  As often as needed.   ASAP after we sin.

Ok, other confession verses:
James 5:16 (NLT) and Proverbs 28:13 (NIV)

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.

(James)

Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

(Proverbs)

Now, notice the order here.  This command is to confess your sins to one another before you pray.  He is talking to Christians, the Body of Christ.  If you are a Christian and you fellowship with other Christians, you know that this rarely happens.  The sin of pride gets in the way.  I call it the Christian Facebook Syndrome (CFS).  You know how, on Facebook, we put all the shiny posts out there?
So, BEFORE we pray for one another, or in order to get our prayers for each other right, we should confess to one another and then pray with our fellow believer over those shortcomings.
Whoa.  We all need to chew on that one for a while.

Finally, Psalm 51 and Psalm 32 - - they are very similar.  But, 51 was written after David sinned with Bathsheba and 32 focuses on the goodness of God to forgive sin.  We read in that psalm that lack of confession is bad for one's physical health! ("rots the bones" - - isn't that a pleasant thought!)

Aren't you glad for the ongoing mercy of God in your life?  I am!  I surely need it.  "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me, yeah follow me, all the days of my life!"1  Ask for it!  Receive it! And, give Him the glory for it!

Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

Jude 1:2

Source:

1    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlpui7Mxrlo

What Now?

Image by jungoangwon, from Pixabay

A lot has changed in this world since my last blog post.  So many times, over the last few days, I've been hit with a feeling of disconnect and shock.  How did we get to this point?  What do we do now?  Certainly, we are living in a "new reality".

For a long time, troubled by the "way the nation is going", I've been praying for a nationwide revival.  I realize, though, that revival always starts with the Church of Jesus Christ.  So, revival starts with examining my own heart, confessing my own sins, yielding to the Holy Spirit in my darkest areas.  In my revival prayers I've said to the Lord that surely it would take something cataclysmic to get this nation to turn to the Lord Jesus.  Perhaps that cataclysmic event is here, and is now.

In our local church, we have made plans to move to Sofa Service on Sunday mornings.  That means our pastor and music team will conduct the church service from the pastor's study, and it will be broadcast via Facebook Live on the church's Facebook page.  In addition to that, our church is taking additional steps to reach out to our community in different ways, ways we would not ordinarily have "done church".  In that respect, the Holy Spirit is using this crisis as an opportunity to witness and to serve.

Currently, my husband and I are in self-quarantine due to our ages, although neither of us have underlying health conditions that would make us susceptible to the virus.  Our age category is a health risk in and of itself.  Since last Friday, we have severely limited our leaving the house.  But, we just found out that a friend of ours, who was here for several hours on Sunday, was tested for CV-19, at her doctor's insistence.  So, we are in total quarantine until the results of her test come back, hopefully in two days.

What now?

You know, in our nation's prison system, total isolation for prisoners is an extreme punishment.  I'm not fond of all these limitations on my movements, because anyone who knows me knows I love to "go to and fro".  Isolation can be very depressing to many people.  I'm glad I'm not totally alone in my isolation, and I'm also very glad to be living through this health crisis with telephones and social media.

I talked to a friend this morning, a true prayer warrior, who said that yesterday she called friends she had not spoken to in a long time, people she worked with years ago, to pray with and to encourage them through this time.  What a great idea!

Let my blog post today, if nothing else, encourage you to reach out to those you love, either as family or friends, and encourage them.

Some of you, particularly my mother I'm sure, are fixated on my earlier announcement that my husband and I may have been directly exposed to this COVID-19.  But, listen to me.  I am not afraid.

I am unafraid because I am His, and He is mine.  Nothing can change that.
Every day I live, whether in peril or not, I am in His hands.
And, if I come down with this virus and am hospitalized and even if I leave this earthly realm ...
I am His and He is mine.

When I went to Israel the first time I knew my family was concerned for my safety, going abroad.  I told my older son then: "If I don't return, you know where to find me."

Safe in the arms of Jesus.

Do you want this supernatural peace, this true peace that transcends all earthly circumstances?
You can have it too.  Jesus came, lived a perfect life, became Father's perfect sacrifice, died, was buried, and rose again on Easter, the day of the First Fruits, so that all of us can have peace, not just with our circumstances, but eternal peace with God, eternal life with Him, forever.

If you don't have this peace, and want it, I wrote about how to get it here:
https://resplendentdaughter.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-main-thing.html


For those readers who have this peace because you know Him, and because you are known by Him, don't let the enemy steal it, no matter what your circumstances.  Peace is His gift to His own beloved, to His followers, His true Church.  Don't let the enemy steal your gift.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Pray.  Read His word.  Encourage one another with His words.  Be at peace, my brothers and sisters!

Who Do You Know?

Image by Seth0s, from Pixabay

Psalm 95 is attributed to King David, according to Hebrews 4:7.  In the chronological Bible I'm reading through this year, though, Psalm 95 is placed after Numbers 16, because the human subjects of the psalm are the wandering Hebrews.  The entire psalm is magnificent, but we are focusing today on verse 10.  It is the wooden stake through the heart.  God is speaking...

For forty years I was disgusted with that generation;

I said "They are a people whose hearts go astray,

and they do not know my ways"

Psalm 95:10 CSB

Taking the stories of the Hebrew people as a whole, they demonstrate the inability of man to follow God.  Remember, these people had God's favor, and God's Spirit interacted with many of their leaders.  But, their relationship with their God was vastly different from that of today's Christian.
God uses the Old Testament to show us that setting out a set of rules for people to follow does not produce holiness.  Over and over and over again, we see the Hebrew people failing God's tests.
The verse above refers to their repeated failures, the most egregious one being refusing to depend on God's power to bring them into the Promised Land.  This was the failure that earned them an additional 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.  God was so angry at their lack of faith and obedience that he refused to allow any adult male over 20 years of age to enter Canaan on that first approach.  Exceptions were Caleb and Joshua, two members of the scouting team who DID take God at His word, and who were highly vexed their fellow scouts were whimpering and cowering in fear.

It is easy to look at the Hebrew people and criticize.
For no other people group in human history had God "shown up and shown out" in so great a manner.
This was the generation that:

• saw 10 horrific plagues on the Egyptian people, plagues the Israelites were delivered from
• saw the parting of the Red Sea
• saw God miraculously provide for them water and manna in the desert
• saw God's holiness and might demonstrated at Mt. Sinai
• saw the ground open up and swallow entire families of rebellious Levites
• saw the pillar of fire by night, and the cloud of God's Shekinah glory by day.

Yet, God says, "they do not know my ways".  They had SEEN, but they did not KNOW.
And, because they did not truly know God, their hearts went astray.

Godly obedience flows from a heart that knows God, that has a real, personal relationship with God.
In this verse, the Hebrew word for "know" is יָדְע֥וּ yā-ḏə-‘ū
In the New Testament, the Greek word most closely approximating this is ἐπιγνώσει.
It is this knowing and this relationship Paul speaks of so eloquently in Ephesians 1:17-19.

16I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 

This is a prayer I pray over my sons frequently.  See, Paul says that if you truly know God, He can through that personal relationship - -

• give true wisdom and reveal things the unsaved (the spiritually dead) cannot understand
• enable the "eyes of our heart" to truly see
• that by embracing our calling from Him, we can know hope (true assurance) for eternity
• that we may realize how truly rich we are, having His glorious inheritance
• that we may better understand the scope of His power, that same "immeasurable greatness" that raises the dead, Jesus Christ being the first to be raised in His new kingdom.

In this world of human interactions, a well-known saying is: "It's not what you know; it's who you know."  The meaning for this world is that you get where you are going through relationships with others who can help you.  Smart, savvy people build relationships and help others as they are seeking to advance themselves.  Then, when they need help too, they have resources.  While that adage often holds to be true, it merely describes human-to-human relationships.  A far greater, much deeper meaning exists.
I truly believe this is the most important aspect of being human.

Despite all that Almighty God had done for His people, their relationship with Him was totally "quid pro quo" - - I will worship you if you behave and perform for me and do things my way".

I thank God I live in the age of grace, the Church age, where how we can know God is centered in our belief in, and relationship with, His Son, the Savior, Jesus Christ.  How is your relationship with Jesus?  Do you truly know Him?

If not, I urge you to come to know Him today.  I've been writing this blog for nearly six years.  In the 6th post I ever wrote, (ironically, it was on Independence Day 2014), I shared about coming to know Jesus.  Knowing Him really IS the main thing.

https://resplendentdaughter.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-main-thing.html

Smoking in the Tech Booth

Photo by Wunderela, from Pixabay

Confession: I often have anxiety dreams.  Or, at least, I remember them upon waking, whereas when younger I rarely remembered my dreams.  Last week, I had an anxiety dream about church.  Oddly, most of the people in this church dream were people I don't actually know, in real life.  The gist of the dream was that my "church" and I were somewhere, and I was somehow the hostess of the group.  That is, I was responsible for feeding everyone, specifically, feeding them breakfast.  There were approximately 25 people present, and I just kept running into roadblocks to get it done.  The church people kept exhibiting all kinds of unholy behavior!  Nothing lurid....well, let me give you an example.  The pastor had counseled a member, and the member had told the associate pastor the details of the session, and then the associate pastor had gotten up and shared the details with the entire group in a meeting.  See? Cray.  I woke up as the pastor was chiding the tech team for smoking at the back of the room during the worship service, around the sound board, whereupon several tech team members left the building, ciggies in hand.  SMH!

I'm not really into dream analysis, but in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy the overarching theme is the holiness of God.  That's what I've been reading about the past few days.  These books are chock-full of edicts God gave the Hebrew people, through Moses.  Some of the requirements make no sense to us.  That's because our temptation is to get God to conform to OUR standard of "holiness", whereas the truth is that He IS the standard.  I think my dream reinforced in my mind that the people of God are to be a holy people, because He is holy (Leviticus 20:7).

The other 11 tribes of the Hebrew people were to produce the soldiers that fought the physical battles for the nation.  The tribe of Levi, however, was not to be numbered among the soldiers.  Back in Egypt, when God instituted Passover, He declared that the firstborn male of every human and animal would be holy unto the Lord.  In the first chapters of Numbers, He declared that the tribe of Levi would represent by taking the place of that firstborn consecration.  (See Numbers 3:41.) The entire tribe of Levi would not fight; they would be holy unto the Lord and would perform the priestly tasks associated with the Tabernacle (later the Temple) and with worship.

Aaron, the first Levitical priest, was Moses' brother.  Aaron had four sons when God named him to this role.  He must have been so proud, thinking, "This is great!  I have four young adult sons, who can help me carry out these new duties!"  Unfortunately, in the learning process, two of his sons, the two older ones, mishandled the worship objects (some theologians theorize they were drunk) and abused the sacred ceremonies decreed by God.  And, as a horrific result, God struck them dead.  It is a fearsome story, recorded in Leviticus 10.  God is serious about His holiness.

What are the implications for us today?
The command in Leviticus 20:7 to be holy because He is holy still applies.

So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 20:7 (NLT)

The temptation for the Christian is to overemphasize the grace of God, by which we are saved through the finished work of Jesus Christ.  Many use this truth to justify being "loose and lazy" in the way we live our lives.  Are we bound by the Levitical rules laid out in the Old Testament?  No.  Has Jesus' holiness paid the penalty for our sins, all of them?  Yes.
But, consider this Dietrich Bonhoeffer quote, concerning "cheap grace":

"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."

In other words, "cheap grace" is not true grace at all.
We ARE holy, because of the shed blood of Jesus, which covers every single one of our sins.  But, the apostles and writers of the New Testament repeatedly remind us to WALK in holiness, to live out that holy state which has been given to us through faith in Jesus, and by God's grace.  His standard of holiness has not changed, although Jesus paid the price for us.  The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are still thoroughly holy and perfect and pure.  We are to walk in that reality, by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives inside us.

13Therefore prepare your minds for action.d Be sober-minded. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance. 15But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, 16for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

1 Peter 1:13-16

Did you catch that?  Peter quoted Leviticus 20:7!

I have found it fascinating (no, REALLY!) to read in Numbers about how God assigned the Levites different duties.  Moses and his brother Aaron were Levites.  It's no accident God appointed them born into this tribe.  Numbers 3 and 4 line out how the clans of the three sons of Levi (Gershon, Kohath and Merari) were to serve in their duties.  God was very specific, because He wanted to protect His people from His fearsome holiness.  Hebrews 12:21 tells us that the manifestation of God's holiness was so fearsome that even Moses was completely terrified!

In establishing Old Testament law, God essentially said "There's one right way to do things, and only one."  In the New Covenant, revealed and established by Yeshua Mashiach (Jesus Christ), there is STILL one and only one way to please God, and that is the Way revealed and provided by Messiah Jesus.
The gospel message is not a popular one.  It is a message that divides, especially in our modern-day culture where the message is "You are a bum if you don't approve of anything and everything." Totally slippery, slidey, "anything goes" approval.
It's hard to stand up and speak out, and even harder to LIVE OUT the holiness of the gospel in our everyday lives.

• To be holy in the quiet, unseen disciplines of holiness - - prayer throughout the day and daily personal Bible study
• To be holy in our conversations with others
• To be holy in the many unselfish acts the Holy Spirit convicts us to do, for others
• To be holy in our witnessing and sharing the gospel with those who worship other gods
• To be holy in our service in our local congregations
• To be holy in our civic duties, campaigning for and making time to vote for candidates whose positions line up with God's standard of holiness
• To be holy in our forms of entertainment, and the amount of time we spend in those pursuits

You get the idea.

It's good to read the Old Testament, because it's easy to be lulled into the false belief that God is only a god of goo-ey love, a love devoid of truth (which really is not love at all).  When we read the Old Testament, we are reminded that our God is also a God of uncompromising holiness, deserving of reverence and awe...and obedience.
Yes, oh yes, Galatians 4:24-25 and Hebrews 8:13 tell us that we are no longer bound by the Old Testament law, and Temple regulations, and such.

But, don't be fooled.  God's holiness never fades.  It never goes out of style.

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gp30KnAeEKA