⁵³ But the Levites will camp around the Tabernacle of the Covenant to protect the community of Israel from the Lord’s anger. The Levites are responsible to stand guard around the Tabernacle.” (Num 1:53)

²⁵ As he [Paul] reasoned with them [Felix and Drusilla] about righteousness and self-control and the coming day of judgment, Felix became frightened. (Acts 24:25)

⁷ Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline. (Prov 1:7)

¹⁶ Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“Look! I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem,
a firm and tested stone.
It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on.
Whoever believes need never be shaken.” (Is 28:16)

²⁴ “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life. (John 5:24)

¹⁴ For our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that I must soon leave this earthly life, (Greek I must soon put off my tent [or tabernacle].) (1Pet 1:14)

¹⁶ Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? (1Cor 3:16)

¹⁹ This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. ²⁰ Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. (Heb 6:19-20)

Observation:

Okay, this is a fascinating study.  There is so much scripture all tied in together.  I tried to pull in just a few and I will try to paint a vivid picture of what God had planned from the very beginning.  Imagine the Israelite people: they have seen the Lord’s anger up close and personal.  God wiped out thousands of people because of the whole golden calf thing.  Then they all get together and work hard to build God a house (the Tabernacle, which later became the Temple).  God had to put guards around His home in order to protect His own people from His anger!   Very few people were allowed to enter the Tabernacle, let alone the most Holy place; inner sancuary; Holy of Holies and those who did were purified by intense rituals and still had to fear the wrath of God.  Then, years later, along comes Jesus.  A man from Nazareth (the armpit of society) who was so perfect he did not have to go through any purification rituals and who death actually physically ripped the curtain separating the inner sanctuary in half! Fear of death and condemnation was forever banished for those who place their belief in Him!  For those who choose not to believe and who choose to live their own ways, there is fear (for example: Felix and Drusilla).  Not only does God not have to place guards to protect us from Himself, but we now become HIS HOME!  We are His Temple!  There are no purification rituals, no fear of instant death, no protection from the wrath of God.  He lives IN US!  The fear we feel leads us to run to Jesus; it is the foundation of all wisdom.

Application:

I fall way short of tying this all together in one short paragraph.  But what fun it was to search through all of scripture and see how God planned this from the very beginning!  I strongly recommend it.  The Word of God IS alive and will speak directly to your very soul as the SPIRIT living inside you, in the MOST HOLY PLACE, guides you.  Just read through the above scriptures and ask God to speak to you.  He WILL!

Prayer:

*sigh* Thank you for dragging me to my Bible this morning so you could speak to me through your word.  Thank-you God for your most awesome plan for humanity.   You are truly amazing.  I can feel “your glory fill the temple” inside me, almost as if I will burst trying to contain it.  It is a true honor to be your home; your dwelling place.  It is an honor I know I am absolutely not worthy of.  Thank-you, Jesus, that I don’t have to fear your wrath.  You took all of God’s anger upon yourself so that he couldn’t even look at you.  You were punished so severely and now I don’t have to fear; for I did fear and it drew me to you and that fear became the foundation, the rock, which my life is built.

You close your eyes and sigh deeply.  When you open your eyes, the city is gone.  Jesus is gone.  Wait, you feel Him near you.  As you slowly turn toward that light that was leading you away from the city, you feel Him more.  He is that Light.  You know it now, but you grieve for the vision you have lost.  The funnel has again been placed around you sight and you can only see the path illuminated ahead of you.  You have a new excitement, a new love for the Light.  You know where it is leading you and you are excited to get going.  You follow the light, not even looking to your right or left.  You know if you follow the light, you will find the city, you will be with Jesus!  The path is clear and clean and well illuminated.  You are enjoying the journey.  The vision of Jesus is close in your mind and it is feeding you along the way.  He is your sustenance.  He is your Joy.

¹ One day as Jesus was teaching the people and preaching the Good News in the Temple, the leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders came up to him. ² They demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?”³ “Let me ask you a question first,” he replied. ⁴ “Did John’s authority to baptize come from heaven, or was it merely human?”

⁵ They talked it over among themselves. “If we say it was from heaven, he will ask why we didn’t believe John. ⁶ But if we say it was merely human, the people will stone us because they are convinced John was a prophet.” ⁷ So they finally replied that they didn’t know.

⁸ And Jesus responded, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Observation

The people who asked Jesus this question did not do so out of an earnest desire to learn the truth.  They were trying to trip Him up.  They thought about the answer they were to give and how it would effect their ultimate motive.  Jesus knew they were not sincere seeker of truth.  He did not feel the need to expand upon His answer in any way or justify Himself at all.  He didn’t argue with them or try to make them understand His point of view.  He knew it would do no good at all.  He did not waste His time.

Application

Occasionally we meet people who are hostile towards our faith in God.  They ask questions; sometimes in the guise of truly wanting to know.  But they are just trying to trip us up.  They want us to say something that will make them feel better for not believing the way we do or give them ammunition to refute our beliefs.  They are not truth seekers, but journalists.  They want to pick out the parts of our words that justify their ends.  We should not feel compelled to answer these questions.  How do we know the intention of the person asking the questions?  God will let us know.  As we draw closer to Him, we can hear His voice and learn His emotions.  We will know if we should engage in a theological debate or not.  Sometimes a person may appear outwardly hostile, but they are really seeking the truth.  God can help us differentiate.

Prayer

Lord, teach me to know when to talk about my faith in You to other people.  I don’t want to miss any opportunities to share You with unbelievers, but I don’t want to cast pearls before swine either.  Jesus knew Your heart and He knew when to engage.  I want to know Your heart the way Jesus did.

In my previous post, I stated that FAITH is being able to grab a hold of what you can’t feel, but you know is there.  To add to that, FAITH is continuing to live your life even though there are unanswered questions.  The book of Job was the first book of the Bible written.  Why?  It is a book filled with unanswered questions.  It is a frustrating book, because in my mind, Job asks some very good questions.  Most of them boil down to “Why, Lord, are you allowing me to suffer?”  That is really the universal question.  If God is so good, why is there still pain?  Why do I have to live with depression?  Why do I have days that it is a struggle to get out of bed?  Why do some people that drink and smoke their whole life have no health problems when my patient who loves You very much has to suffer through cancer?  Why do young children die?  Why is there starvation in the world?  WHY, WHY, Why?  Add you own list of why’s.  We all have them.  Of all people, Job definitely had a right to ask why.  He was an upright man who even God said of him, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.” (Job 1:8) Job suffered as much as any person, except Jesus, has ever suffered.  I think he had a right to ask why.  Did God answer his question?  Did God tell him why he was suffering?  No, He did not.  When I read through Job the first time and came to the heading, “God Answers Job“, I became excited.  Finally, answers to the universal question!  God is going to tell me why we suffer!  But to my great disappointment, God answered with a series of questions of His own.  “Where were you when I created the earth? Did you command the morning to appear?  Can you make it rain?  Can you count the clouds?  Can you make lightning appear? Did you create the creatures of the earth?”  These are rhetorical questions in which God says “I AM WHO I AM and that is all you need to know.”   What was Job’s response?  “I am nothing, how could I ever find the answers? I have said too much already.  I have nothing more to say.” (Job 40:4-5) Job was left with unanswered question to why he was suffering.  But, he was left with the knowledge of God, and that was all he needed.

Christian Reger, a Dachau Survivor, had this to say about his suffering: “Nietzhe said a man can undergo torture if he knows the why of his life, but I, here at Dachau, learned something far greater.  I learned to know the Who of my life.  He was enough to sustain me then, and he is enough to sustain me still.”

Paul was given a “thorn in his flesh” to remind him that it is not about WHY, but about WHO.   “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.  Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need.  My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.” (2 Cor 12:6-9) I don’t believe we are told what Paul’s thorn was because we are all given a “thorn” to keep us from becoming proud and to remind us that God is all we need.

So again: to me FAITH is living my life even though it appears to be defined by my pain; continuing on with my responsibilities when I feel I have been let down by God;  waking up each morining and knowing God is with me even though I can’t feel Him; trusting in Him even though it appears hopeless; praying to Him even though I’ve prayed the same thing a million times before.  FAITH is LIVING THROUGH THE PAIN EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE UNASWERED QUESTIONS.

Jeremiah 1,2
John 10

Too (fill-in-the-blank) for God’s service

Scripture

“O Sovereign Lord,” I said, ” I can’t speak for you!  I’m too young!”  The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you.” Jeremiah 1:6-7

Observation

Jeremiah thought he was too young to be used by God.  There is always a weakness in our lives that we believe will hinder God from using us.  Too fat, too slow, too poor, too tired, too uneducated, too tied down, too (fill-in-the-blank).  There are many instances in the Bible where God uses people in spite of their percieved weaknesses.  Jesus said, “My grace is all you need.  My power works best in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Application

Whatever is in my life that is hindering me from submitting to be used by God, I need to realize that He is in control.  If He has called me to do something then He will make it happen.  Actually, it takes the stress out of it, because now it is out of my hands.  I can’t Lord, but You can.  How do I submit?  By daily seeking to know Christ more and more.  As I spend more time with Him, I will become more like Him and I will be able to hear His voice more clearly.

Prayer

Dear Jesus, help me to know and understand that even though I am weak, You are strong.  If there is something You want me to do that I am not doing, please reveal it to me.  Thank-you that your grace is all I need.

2 Kings 23
2 Chronicles 35
John 7

Godly parents, evil children

Scripture

“Never before had there been a king like Josiah, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and soul and strength, obeying all the laws of Moses. And there has never been a king like him since.” 2 Kings 23:25 “Jehoahaz [the son of Josiah, who succeeded him to the throne] did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestors had done.” 2 Kings 23:31-32

Observation

Josiah was such a great king. He completely and utterly got rid of every form of idolatry. He restored the passover. God promised him that because of his faithfulness, He would not destroy Judah until Josiah died. Why do great and Godly kings have children that are evil? Didn’t the Bible say to “direct your children onto the right path and when they are older they will not leave it”? Proverbs 22:6 It makes me wonder if the kings were actively involved in raising their children. Lots of very Godly people have rebellious children.

Application

It’s not enough to just be a Godly person. “Direct” or “train” or “raise” are action words. They require more than just a passive belief that because we love God, so will our children. We should not leave the teaching up to others either, although there is a place for that. It is our duty to God and our children to practice our faith, explain to our children what we are doing and why, and to live our lives to the best of our ability the way we want our children to live theirs (ie. practice what we preach). Thankfully, God is full of grace and will fill in where we make mistakes, but mistakes are only made when we are active.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, help me to actively train my children about you. Help me to take responsibility for their spiritual health while they are young. Help me to live my life in just the way I want my kids to live theirs. Thank-you for your grace. Thank-you for filling in the gap where I fail.

I have always prayed before work.  I pray for my patients I will have during the day.  I pray for myself and the doctors who will see them.  I pray that I will be able to treat each person as I would treat Jesus himself.  The struggle I am having is that I am finding it more and more difficult to see these people through Christ’s eyes.  I am being hardend by repetition.  I look at a young prostitue with missing teeth and scabs all over her face who is sleeping off a meth high and have a hard time seeing the beautiful soul and potential that Jesus sees in her.  It’s hard for me to link someone in crisis with someone who has been there and overcome.

As I was singing in church and struggling with this, a phrase from the song we were singing popped out and struck me.

“It’s your kindness Lord, that leads us to repentance”

Wow.  My eyes were opened.  Being a nurse instantly held new meaning to me.  I have Christ living in me.  Therefore, wherever I go and whatever I do, Jesus is there.  I am his representative.  I am to represent what he would do if he were in physical form here on Earth.  Every time I go into a room and treat a patient as lost, undesirable, and hopeless, I am not sharing Christ.  I am not representing him.  But when I treat them with kindness; as a beautiful child of God in need of a savior, I AM representing Christ.  I am providing hope.  I am providing ”kindness that leads to repentance” and change. The Bible says,

“You may think you can condem such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse!  When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. . . Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? . . Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?” Romans 2:1-4 NLT 

So, I will probably not see the results of my kindness, but I can know that as I am representing Christ, I am planting seeds in my patient’s lives.  As I represent Christ, he will live fuller and fuller in me and it will be easier to SEE through his eyes.  Thank-you Jesus, for letting me be your representative to lost and dying people.