God wants to bless us…

“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord. 
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’ 
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.” (Jeremiah 23:1–8)

Before this trip I prayed for the usual: good weather, safety, health, etc. but I also prayed for a clear view of Mount Denali. It is the highest mountain in North America and creates its own weather clouds. Many come to Alaska and cannot see it at all. On the train ride we were told only 1% get to see the top of it out of the 30% who get to see it at all. So I asked God to give us a 1% view, and He did! All that came after that was lovely but that answer to prayer was spectacular.

Devotions came later as we got on the train very early for this eleven hour trip and God makes another move that blesses me. His people had been led astray, but He promised to bring them back, give them a perfect Shepherd, who became their righteousness and mine too, and give them a forever home.

Jesus, You are incredibly good and perfectly able to do what is best for Your people. However, it is those often daily surprises that put great joy and increased love for You in my heart. I’ve been filled all day with praise for You, Your creation, and Your kindness. Thank You so much.

Complexity made simple — by grace!

 

 

Leviticus 5-8

I’m making a complicated quilt with lots of pieces and fabrics and a complex design. Its pattern was a guide but not helpful in the arrangement. In other words, no rules to follow and I am using experience and my sense of design and color for this challenge. While enjoying the process, I look forward to the next one which will be simple and much easier.

Then I read these four chapters in Leviticus with directions for sin and guilt offerings and realized how little I know about complexity. These rules were vital in the relationship of God’s people with Him, their only way to be forgiven for sin and yet they seem so impossible. A sample of a few commands:

When he realizes his guilt in any of these and confesses the sin he has committed, he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation for the sin that he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin. (Leviticus 5:5–6)

But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring to the Lord as his compensation for the sin that he has committed two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. (Leviticus 5:7)

But if he cannot afford two turtledoves or two pigeons, then he shall bring as his offering for the sin that he has committed a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He shall put no oil on it and shall put no frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering. (Leviticus 5:11)

If anyone sinned regarding the holy things of the Lord, to be forgiven he must sacrifice a ram without blemish for a guilt offering and make restitution for what he has done, adding a fifth for the priest. If anyone breaks a commandment unintentionally then realizes his guilt, he must do the same. (Leviticus 5:15–18)

Those who gain by robbery or take something entrusted to him, or find something another person lost and do not return it, he shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, then restore what was take to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt. (Leviticus 6:4–5)

As for the burnt offerings, they were to be on the altar all night until the morning. This fire must be kept burning with the priest adding wood every morning, then the burnt offering and the fat of the peace offerings. This fire shall not go out. (Leviticus 6:8–13) Also, the grain offering must be burned, not eaten. (22-23)

There were specific laws for the guilt offerings, sin offerings, peace and grain offerings, alike in some ways yet with variations. For instance, a vow offering or a freewill offering must be eaten on the day it is offered and the next day, but the rest burned on the third day or he who offered it will not be accepted and shall bear his iniquity. If that person eats the sacrifice of the peace offerings while unclean, they shall be cut off from his people. Eating fat or blood was forbidden. Those who did it were also cut off from their people.

Ordination offerings were “waved for a wave offering before the Lord as He commanded Moses.” When Aaron and his sons were consecrated as priests, some of the anointing oil and of the blood that was on the altar was sprinkled on them and their garments. They were not to go outside the tabernacle for seven days or they would die.

I’m not aware of all the symbolism in these rules and rituals. I just know that Jesus is the sinless Lamb offered for the sin of the world and slain on a cross, not an altar. His blood was shed to atone for their sin, our sin, my sin — so I can experience forgiveness and a relationship with Him — apart from all the laws and rule-keeping that became even more complex as the Pharisees kept adding more rules to “protect the rules” and sinful human hearts kept saying “I will do this myself” instead of trusting Him. I think of the noises and smells of dying animals, and the grief of realizing these rituals would need repeating because humans are so helpless to stop the sin that would otherwise condemn them — constantly, constantly. And I think of Jesus who “has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.” (Hebrews 7:27)

He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption . . . And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 9:12; 10:10)

Lord, by grace You saved those who trusted You back then and those who trust You now, by grace through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, once for all. Thank You, thank You, thank You.

 

God is a master of surprises!

Deuteronomy 21; Psalms 108–109; Isaiah 48; Revelation 18

Every now and then I lose empathy for those who do not know Jesus and cannot relate to how they feel, what their emotions are or their struggles to figure out life without instruction from the Giver of life. And every now and then God dunks me into an experience to remind me of the woes of being in the dark concerning Him.

On Sunday, I prayed to be Spirit-filled, then spent the day ignoring the Lord. He was not happy with me and I was not happy — period. I confessed my selfishness but the sense of His loving presence was gone, not strong and joyful as it usually is. I felt abandoned and no matter my repentance, He left me in that dark and lonely place.

When I opened my Bible this morning, I expected to hear nothing and didn’t, until I read from Isaiah and realized that God was showing me the fate of those without Him, those who hear His voice and do not respond. Apart from the redemptive power of Jesus Christ, all peace is gone and all blessings withheld. These are His words to me:

You have never heard, you have never known, from of old your ear has not been opened. For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously, and that from before birth you were called a rebel. “For my name’s sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another. (Isaiah 48:8–11)

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go. Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me.” (Isaiah 48:17–19)

“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.” (Isaiah 48:22)

This is why Jesus died — to forgive and cleanse the rebellious of heart. I am one of His children, wicked yet redeemed, beloved and destined to heaven. I mess up but Jesus died for all my sin and lives to guide me in the way that I should go. Sunday’s self-indulgence may not seem like much, even to another Christian, but God used it to show me what happens to those who resist Him; they don’t enjoy that eternal peace that cost Him His Son and cost me my stubborn pride.

There was a prelude to this. Last night I dreamt of a big house being furnished, particularly large rooms for each of my children. It was spotless, lovely, filled with laughter and harmony. When I dream of houses, they usually relate to actual life and thoughts of what is going on when I’m awake. This time, the dream signified hope and a promise, a touch of the Master’s hand who was making all things lovely, not black, dark, lonely and without peace.

That dream and the words from Isaiah restore my sense of God’s nearness. His Spirit clarifies what He wants me to understand. All sin, all selfishness, divides me from Him, my heart from His. He had something else for me to do on Sunday and I will never know what it was. At the same time, He knew I needed to remember the state that many people are in, the deep sense of being alone and without God, of being ‘wicked’ and not realizing that sin is measured in saying NO to God, no matter how large or small His request might be. He wanted me to ‘get it’ that the emptiness and sorrow they feel is not about the state of the world or the situations in their lives or their family’s lives; it is about the distance between them and the heart of God. It is about running their own life instead of letting Him in. This is not a happy place.

APPLY: I’ve no idea what God may ask of me today, but I’m far more tuned in than Sunday, and far more at peace than I deserve. Thank You. (Later: He gave me an hour on the phone with someone who is looking for that peace and helped me tell her how to find it. Amazing.)