God's House

So busy today, but I want to record this experience, so I don't forget. It is always such a blessing to look back on times God has touched my life.

When I awoke one morning this past week, immediately troubles came to my mind, in particular trials that some members of my family are experiencing. I feel so much sometimes, so burdened and heavy in my spirit when I think of my loved ones suffering or facing difficulties that sometimes seem insurmountable.

Over the years, I have wondered if feeling so much (heightened emotions) is a gift or a curse. Recently, an NDSU professor led a Bible study over a noon hour (NDSU faculty/staff Christian fellowship). His study was on faith and feelings, and he admitted to not being in touch with his feelings; in fact, he said he did not experience emotions much at all. When he shared some of the undesirable results of such a condition, I responded by saying it's not always so great being at the other end of the spectrum, either.

But I digress...

As I lay in bed thinking of those troubles, along with those thoughts came not only the usual sadness,  heaviness, but also a cry in my heart--God, help me pray today--how can I pray for these loved ones and circumstances when I feel so hopeless at times, so sad and even discouraged, helpless?

God, who is faithful always, answered my cry through His powerful, living and active Word.

I picked up my Bible and opened it to 2 Chronicles 20, and I began reading. Verses 6-12 is a prayer of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, when he received reports that his enemies--the Moabites, Ammonites, and Menunites were coming to make war with him. "A vast army is coming against you. It is already [near]." Jehoshaphat was alarmed, but instead of seeking wisdom and advice from his advisors, he "resolved to inquire of the Lord." In fact, he proclaimed a fast for all Judah, and all the people of Judah "came together to seek help from the Lord."

I am impressed by how Jehoshaphat humbled himself before the Lord and before his people. He did not command the priests to pray to the Lord, but he "stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the LORD . . . and said:

O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven?
        You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations.
     In your hand are power and might,
   so that none is able to withstand you.
     ⁷ Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land
   before your people Israel, and give it forever
          to the descendants of Abraham your friend?
   ⁸ And they have lived in it and have built for you in it
           a sanctuary for your name, saying,
   ⁹‘If disaster comes upon us,
           the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine,
     we will stand before this house and before you—
          for your name is in this house—
        and cry out to you in our affliction,
             and you will hear and save.’
  ¹⁰ And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir,
         whom you would not let Israel invade
              when they came from the land of Egypt,
            and whom they avoided and did not destroy—
   ¹¹ behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession,
                 which you have given us to inherit.
     ¹² O our God, will you not execute judgment on them?
             For we are powerless against this great horde
            that is coming against us.
          We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

 What a powerful prayer--and how relevant for me today, so many generations later. I used this prayer as a foundation for my own prayer that morning. And as I meditated, the prayer fell naturally in line with so many things I have been studying and reading this year.

--Recently, we studied in Ephesians about putting on the armor of God and understanding that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 6:12)  I could not help but think of the "great horde that is coming against us" in terms of the spiritual forces that are behind the struggles we experience in our lives. But even though we are powerless against that "great horde," our God is not. He is powerful and mighty, and none is able to withstand Him.

--Another thing that struck me was the reference to God's house, which in Jehoshaphat's prayer, referred to the Tabernacle, a physical man-made structure that was the dwelling place of God. Today, God's Spirit lives not in a temple, but inside me, and I can enter in to His presence freely because of Jesus. I Corinthians 6:19:

¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body
        is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you,
    whom you have from God? 

 Hebrews 3:5-6:

⁵ Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant,
       to testify to the things that were to be spoken later,
⁶ but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son.
      And we are his house if indeed we hold fast
          our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

We have been studying Hebrews, and there is much scripture there that connects the Old Testament (law, blood sacrifice for atonement of sins) to the New Testament (grace, Blood of Jesus once for all), Old Covenant to the New Covenant, the earthly tabernacle and the "real" heavenly tabernacle. Hebrews Chapter 9 is powerful teaching about the Blood of Christ and how it relates to the tabernacle and the priestly order. The Old Covenant, the sacrificial system for atonement of sins, the physical tabernacle (first a tent and later the temple in Jerusalem): all of it copies and shadows of what is to come.

Hebrews 8 calls Jesus "the High Priest of a New Covenant."

¹ . . . We do have such a high priest,
     who sat down at the right hand
   of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,
² and who serves in the sanctuary,
   the true tabernacle set up by the Lord,
     not by a mere human being. 

 High priests in Old Testament times served "at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven" (vs. 5).

Hebrews 9:24: "For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was a only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence."

We tend to think of things on this earth as "real"; but God's Word confirms that it is the spiritual counterparts of earthly things that are truly real and the earthly things that are reflections or copies of spiritual reality.

We so often take God's Word for granted, but today I feel immensely blessed to be able to know and learn through scripture how Jesus' birth, life, and death on the cross ushered in the New Covenant and what that means for me.  

¹³ In speaking of a new covenant,
       he makes the first one obsolete. . . .
                                          (Hebrews 8)

And from Hebrews 9:

 ¹⁵ For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant,
that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—
    now that he has died as a ransom
   to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.                                         

²⁴ . . . but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.
²⁵ Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him,
           because he always lives to intercede for them. 

Praise God!

Level Paths

Hey, Blog, I'm back...

I want to start writing in my blog again. During the past months, I have found it difficult both to write and to take time to write. I am so easily distracted from writing or meditating when I become caught up in daily activities of work, relationships, my physical health, my home, time for family. However, I think the benefits I receive from writing make it a worthy pursuit--so I am determined, with God's help, to make it a part of my life.

Time constraints are always with me. Now, more than ever before, I am keenly aware of the finite, temporal nature of our lives and of our fragile, vulnerable physical bodies. How little time we have on this earth. (The other day I was thinking about how great it will be in heaven to not have to think about time anymore!)

To start writing again now seems a little unreasonable, since my life will only get busier.

--I have been working at NDSU 32 hours/week for the past year. Starting tomorrow (Monday, April 16), I return to 40 hours/week.

--And I am committed to the Livestrong program, which I started a few weeks ago. Livestrong is a wellness program for cancer survivors, funded with grants from Lance Armstrong and implemented through the YMCA. For three months, I go to the Y twice a week and meet with a small group of other cancer survivors and three trainers. The program involves exercise, but also covers other wellness topics like relaxation. One thing that makes it even more worthwhile is that I am able to have a support person attend with me. Kayla agreed to go with me, and I appreciate her support and companionship. It's not always easy to get there at 5:30 on Tuesday and Thursday, but I have only missed one so far. I am amazed at how much better I feel when I exercise, and it's a terrific stress reliever.

--My BSF Bible study is every Monday night through the middle of May. I have not put very much time into my study this year, but in spite of my sometimes lackadaisical commitment, the Lord has blessed me much through this year's study.

So many things I want to do besides these commitments--visit my mom at the nursing home, spend time with family (my grown-up children are terrific and grandkids can cure most anything), spend time with my (fantastic) husband.

For a little while, earlier this spring, I was thinking about becoming involved in some kind of outreach ministry. (Maybe, for now, it's enough just to think about it.)

I always say I don't have time for extra things, but since the beginning of this year, I have been convicted about how I spend my time, especially in terms of what I do--or do not do--for Christ. I have never been much for setting new year's resolutions, but maybe my focus on time early this year related to the new year. It was not only a new year, but also it had been almost a year since I received the news about having cancer (Feb. 10, 2011). For Ken and I, this past year has been a roller coaster of ups and downs, between the cancer treatment and recovering from treatment, Ken's mom and my mom each entering a nursing home with serious physical conditions.

I suppose with the start of a new year, it's natural to take stock of where we are at in our lives--and I suppose that is, essentially, what I am doing. Not only thinking about where I am at, but also where I am going...the path I am on. I have been so impressed lately by fact that we never stay in one place--we are always changing, growing, always moving towards God or away from him. It's what living is all about. God's Word confirms it.

It seems lately every time I open the Bible, I come across some reference to paths. Since the Lord is our guide and we are to seek his direction, it is not surprising that "paths" would be a common reference in his Word. My verse for 2010 was from Jeremiah 6:16:

Stand at the crossroads and look;
      ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and
     walk in it, and you will
    find rest for your souls.

Implies action on our part--stand, ask, walk--and a promise--we will find rest.

Last year, on my cancer journey, Isaiah 42:16 was so precious to me:

And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know,
   in paths that they have not known I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
     the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.

There were times last year when we felt as if we were blind, walking on an unfamiliar path. God was faithful, however, and now it seems there were more times of trust and not only knowing, but sensing God was guiding us (no doubt thanks to so many prayers from friends and family and others).

Here's a verse that resonates with me this year, again referring to paths:

From Hebrews 12:

¹² Therefore lift your drooping hands
and strengthen your weak knees,  
¹³  and make straight paths for your feet, 
so that what is lame may not be put out of joint
  but rather be healed.

As part of the Bible study I am in, we listen to a lecture each week on what we have been studying. One week, our teacher asked us some hard questions--
  Are we in tune with God's voice? How are we impacting the world? And how do we respond to change (in terms of God leading us in different directions? 

Good questions. We are studying the life and ministry of Paul and about the early church as a whole and the individual churches he planted. One morning, reading in I Thessalonians, I was impacted by verses 4-5, where Paul says, " . . . we know . . . that he [God] has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.” It made me see something I already know, but in a fresh way. I know this word is true from personal experience--there is no question in my mind that God chose me, because words alone did not--and could not have--changed me. I know it was the power of the Holy Spirit 32 years ago that revealed to me my need for Jesus Christ, and my desire to continue and to grow in Him is also by his power.

I want so much to influence those around me for God--sometimes, I think I get too caught up in thinking about what I should say to them or what I should do. I do well to remind myself that there is nothing I can do under my own power that can win others to Christ. It is only with the power of the Holy Spirit that I must endeavor to become involved in God’s work.

God is faithful; he will not lead me somewhere and leave me. I believe he creates desires in us, and He is faithful to fulfill those desires as we are obedient to his leading.

May He help me make level paths for my feet...