PERSISTING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD

We pick up where we left off last week on the threshing floor on Mount Moriah.  A literal place with significant historical and spiritual symbolism.  This threshing floor owned by Araunah (also known as Ornan the Jebusite) on Mount Moriah, Jerusalem, is the same threshing floor believed to be the spot Abraham offered Isaac, which later became the site of Solomon’s temple, and then Herod’s temple in Christ’s time, and which is currently occupied by the Moslem shrine — the Dome of the Rock also known as the Temple Mount.  It is also believed that this same site, Araunah’s threshing floor, will be the location of the Temple in the Tribulation and then finally the millennial temple.  Yes, the Old Testament is relevant today!

As I think of the threshing floor, a word comes to mind. Sanctification.  The connection in my theologically untrained mind is the separation.  Threshing involves setting apart, separating, changing the natural form of the wheat into a useable form, and discarding the unusable parts.  In the sanctification process, we are set apart, separated from sin, and transformed and changed into something God can use, and our sin is discarded.  The new (useable) has come, the old (unusable) has gone.  Think about your life for a minute.  Has your heart been on the threshing floor?  Are you being changed, transformed?  Have you been separated from some sin(s) like the wheat from the chaff?  Trampled on the threshing floor?  Through that process do you see yourself becoming more and more like Jesus? 

 I want to point out one more thing before we get to my new favorite verse.  This threshing floor passage we are studying, 2 Samuel 24, is also recorded in 1 Chronicles 21.  This event was significant enough for two different people to write about it and for it to be placed in two different books of the Bible.  Remember, repeated things are important things in The Word of God. 

In the 2 Samuel 24 rendition the author says that after David bought the threshing floor, built an altar and gave offerings He prayed to the Lord for the land, the Lord was receptive and the plague on Israel ended.  We have a little more detail from Ezra’s account in 1 Chronicles.  Both books tell us the angel of the Lord was standing at the threshing floor of Araunah (Ornan), but Ezra’s depiction in Chronicles is so very visual, look:

David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth with his sword drawn, reaching out over Jerusalem.   So David and the leaders of Israel put on burlap to show their deep distress and fell face down on the ground.

Wow.  We can see that in our mind’s eye.  Can you just imagine that?  Knowing that your sin caused pain for your people and watching as the angel of the Lord struck them down for your sin’s sake?  What a terrifying and yet dramatic sight it must have been to see the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth, sword drawn, ready to strike the death blow to David’s beloved Jerusalem.  We may not have seen the sword drawn angel of the Lord, but we have all either experienced it or caused others to.

Does this visual cause us to want to deal with the sin in our lives?  I hope.  How do we do that? How did David deal with his sin?  He fell “…into the Lord’s hands because his mercies are very great…”.   Isn’t that an incredibly beautiful verse?  I’m reminded of Jeremiah’s lament:

I will never forget this awful time,
as I grieve over my loss.
Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this:
The faithful love of the LORD never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
Lamentations 3:20-23

In our times of brokenness, rebellion, pride, and sin, our God is a merciful God.  Praise! Praise! Praise! Only by His mercy are we separated unto Him.  Only by His mercy is the drawn sword held.   Yes, the threshing floor is a place of separation, but just as it separates us from something – sin, it separates us unto someone – God! 

Just like King David, we deserve punishment, but God does the opposite, He blesses us.  Why does He do that?  Because He loves us.  God’s love and mercy are inseparable.   They go hand in hand.  We can’t have mercy without God’s love and we can’t have God’s love without His mercy. 

Instead of punishing us for our sin, God showed us the ultimate act of love and mercy, He sent His Son.  David’s people were punished for his sin.  Jesus was punished for our sin.  David’s people took on his sin.  Jesus took on our sin.  Just like the sword was withdrawn from Israel, the sword of death has also been withdrawn from believers.  I don’t know about you, but that’s a HALLELUJAH moment for me!

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…

Who shall separate us form the love of Christ…

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:1, 35, 37–39

That is earth-shaking, life-changing, profoundness.  Think on it.  Don’t rush past it.  Linger in it.

Once again, I didn’t get to my new favorite verse.   Next week! In the meantime, read over again 2 Samuel 24, 1 Chronicles 21, and Romans 8.  Meditate on it and ask the Lord to connect the dots in your mind and heart.  He will. 

As we open The Word, although I shouldn’t be, I am amazed by I AM! I love how He points out nuggets of His Word to make us go hmm?   When we open the Word and quiet our hearts (that’s the hard part) it is almost like we can see the finger of God underlining what He wants us to know.    Remember the bouncing ball? That happened in 2 Samuel and I now have a new favorite verse:

“No, I insist on buying it from you for a price, for I will not offer to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.  ”2 Samuel 24:24

 Let’s look at the context of this verse for a minute.  Here we have David who has sinned against the Lord by taking a census.  Although warned against taking such action, David was not unlike us, he did it anyway.   (This census was not God-ordained as with the census taken by Moses.) Nonetheless, the census revealed that there were 800,000 soldiers in Israel and 500,000 in Judah.  David was King, Commander-In-Chief, Head Honcho, The Big Kahuna of 1,300,000 fighting men.  The results were staggering for a shepherd boy who had been on the run a lot of his life. His fighting men represented more than the population of many popular cities in the US, and three-quarters of the population of the State of West Virginia.  With this many men behind you, it’s easy to see how one who does not guard his heart could get a big head, rely on self and fall into the sin trap.  The sole impetus of this census was David’s pride, full stop.  Spurgeon tells us:

Pride lies at the root of all sin.
If people were not arrogant, they would not be disobedient.

 Ouch. 

King David, all on his own took an ill-advised census.  After the census (the sin), 2 Samuel 24:10 tells us that “David’s conscience troubled him after…”.  Notice that the King’s conscience was not “troubled” until after he had taken the census of the troops, after the sin was committed.  Up until then he thought it was a good idea. Unfortunately, that’s often when we’re “troubled” by sin too.  But, then the King did what we’re too called to do when we realize our sin, He repented and admitted his foolishness. 

Here’s the sticky part, just because we repent and are forgiven doesn’t mean we don’t have to walk through the consequences of our sin, our disobedience.  And many times, like King David, our sin has consequences for those around us.  Our sin can often create a plague for the people we’re close to as well, can’t it?   When David saw the consequences of his sin laid upon his people, David sought forgiveness.  Through Gad, a prophet and one of King David’s close advisors, he was directed to set up an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah.  The place where God stopped the plague of the “destroying angel.”  A threshing floor seems an unlikely place to reconcile sin, or does it? 

 The threshing floor is a place where harvested wheat is broken down and separated from the useless chaff.  It’s a hard flat surface.  Sheaves or bundles of wheat are laid out on this surface, and it is repeatedly trampled by cows or oxen.  If livestock are not available, humans would beat the sheaves with sticks to break the wheat apart.  Then a fork, called a winnowing fork, would be used to throw this trampled mishmash into the air.  The wind would catch the chaff, the useless stuff, and it would blow away leaving only the good stuff, the useable stuff on the floor.  The threshing floor is a place of separation.  The good stuff from the bad.  The useful from the useless.  The fruitful from the fruitless.  The useful wheat is gathered, and the useless chaff is burned.  Close your eyes and picture this physical process. 

The threshing floor was not just a literal place on top of Mount Moriah, but it is also symbolic of a spiritual process, a spiritual separation.  John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:12 that Jesus will come to separate the wheat from the chaff.  That separation is done on the threshing floor.  The wheat is gathered into the barn, and the chaff will burn with a fire that never goes out.  Think on that a bit in light of the physical process that takes place on the threshing floor.  The grain is gathered the chaff is charred.  This is judgment. 

Three thousand years later, the threshing process looks a little different, it has been modernized.   We now use fancy farm equipment.  Combine harvesters reap, thresh and clean all in one swipe.  Although the process has changed, it has the same effect.  Separation. 

Jesus calls our hearts to the threshing floor.  When we surrender to Him, the Holy Spirit begins working in our hearts, separating out the chaff, our sin.  This process never stops.  Sometimes we may feel like our hearts are being trampled by oxen or we’ve been through a combine harvester, it can be a very painful process, however, the reaping, the threshing and the cleaning are required.  The removal of sin from our hearts is necessary in order to glean the good fruit whether by threshing floor or harvester. 

Where is your heart in this process?  Is the threshing process currently taking place in order to remove some sin, known or unknown to you, to deal with your pride?  Is there a particularly difficult stalk of wheat that you’re wrestling with?  Is Jesus trying to separate you from that chaff?  Will you allow the threshing?  Will you surrender to the process? 

NOTE:  There are so many lessons in 2 Samuel 24, that I never did get to my new favorite verse!  Now that you have the context, tune in next week.  In the meantime, read, study and meditate on 2 Samuel 24. 

I’ve been stepping in and out of Proverb 4:23 – Guard my heart above all else for it is the source of life – for the last few months.  In fact, in December (blog from 17^th), I was studying how to “guard my heart” and taking lessons from Mary’s guarded heart. 

In a rabbit-hole kind of way I found myself back at this verse again, and the Lord spoke another teaching (conviction) into Proverb 4:23 through Psalm 19.  We know that scripture interprets scripture.  As Isaiah suggests, we are to learn line upon line and precept upon precept (Isaiah 28:9-10).  And as Brother Paul taught us, we are to use the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths (1 Corinthians 2:13). I absolutely love the way the Lord has interconnected all of His Holy Word. Scripture begets scripture.  And Proverb 4:23 beget Psalm 19.

Now all of 19 speaks of ways to guard our hearts, but I’m zeroing in on verse 14, with lead ins in 12-13:

Who can discern his own errors?
Cleanse me from my hidden faults. (vs. 12)

Keep Your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless
and cleansed of great transgression. (vs. 13)

May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in Your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. (vs. 14)

When we look on these verses, we can probably all agree that 12 and 13 are vital to a guarded heart.  We know that sin (errors, faults, transgressions) is the separator.  It divided us from our Holy God.  Remember, our Holy God cannot even look upon sin.  He would not be able to look upon us either except that Jesus exchanged his righteousness for ours and gave us Status.  Read verses 12 and 13 again.  What do they say?  They say cleanse me from the sins I don’t know about – whether hidden, suppressed, or sins I didn’t realize were sins.  And then it says keep me from willful sins – help me to yield not unto temptation, turn from evil and wickedness (anything not of God), go the opposite way, empower me to resist from what I know is wrong.  Being aware of sin, hidden or willful, is vital to a guarded heart.

Something else vital to a guarded heart is found in verse 14.  It’s not just about ensuring that our hearts are free from sin (what’s out of our hearts), but it’s also about the meditation of our hearts (what’s in our hearts).  Why is that important?  The phrase before that tells us – the words of my mouth.  Verse 14 is saying the meditations of our hearts determines the words from our lips.  Take a minute to think about the words from your lips in the last hour, day, week.  Think about those conversations with family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, strangers.  It’s an Ugh! for me, maybe you too?

So, let’s figure this out together.  Let’s read over verse 14 again: 

May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in Your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. (vs. 14)

Now again, slowly, carefully, and incrementally:

May the words of my mouth

Read it over and over until it speaks to you, until thoughts start bubbling up, until questions start coming to mind.  Until prays start ascending.

The word “may” means possibility, permission – perhaps a prayer, it expresses hope.  We know what “words” are, right? They are something we say.  We can speak in many different ways, but “words” come from our “mouth.”   Say this phrase again.  This is first person, my.  This is personal.  The Psalmist, King David, is praying about the words that come from his own mouth.  When you say it, it is your prayer, your request, your hope pertaining to the words of your mouth.

and the meditation of my heart

And now King David turns to the meat.  Again, this phrase is first person.  It is personal.  It is his prayer, his request.  And now, it is about the meditation of his heart.  So, let’s check out “meditation.”  There are 20 uses of the word meditate or meditation used in the Bible.  And there are 9 different words used for it.  The Hebrew word for “meditation” in verse 14 is used only one time in the Bible.  That word is higgayon.  Higgayon means a murmuring sound, i.e. a musical notation. Similar to the Italian word affettuoso which is used as a musical direction which means tender, affectionate expression.

In verse 14, “meditation” refers to the joining of spoken confession (words of my mouth) and inner rumination (deep thought, chewing, thinking, what is in our deepest heart).  What we meditate on in our hearts will be reflected in the words that we speak.  Let’s move on, we will come back to this.

be pleasing in Your sight,

In essence, our words and our hearts must align in order to be pleasing.  Our private thought-life must harmonize with verbal testimony if worship is to be acceptable before the Lord, in His sight.

Then King David, the man after God’s own heart finalizes his prayer by proclaiming, acknowledging, and laying claim to the One who can answer his heart prayer.

O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

David’s prayer is that the meditations of his heart will be reflected in his words and bring glory to God.  That too should be our prayer.  That God would balance our inner thoughts and our outer sounds.

Higgayon tells us that God hears every chord struck, every word uttered, and every thought entertained. And although we know that we believers are to grow and produce fruit to cultivate a heart that speaks God-honoring words from the lips, we also know that without this prayer, we cannot do it.

So, what is the murmur of your heart?  What is your heart saying that comes out your lips?  Is it a song of joy, peace, encouragement, love?  Are we taking steps to guard our hearts so that the meditation, the whisper, the song of our heart, the sound of our heart is tender, affectionate and approved by God.  What song would your lips sing?

It was a night of vigil in honor of the Lord, because he would bring them out of the land of Egypt.  This same night is in honor of the Lord, a night vigil for all the Israelites throughout their generations.  Exodus 12:42

We’re familiar with the events that precipitated this “night of vigil.” You will remember that the Lord had enacted 9 plagues in an attempt to get the Egyptians’ attention and to reveal Himself to the Israelites as well.  This tenth plague, the horrifying death by the “destroyer” of all firstborns not under the “distinguishing mark” of the blood of the Lamb, had prompted a previously immovable Pharaoh to practically push the Israelites out of Egypt, at least for a minute. 

As the “destroyer” moved among the land, as instructed, the Israelites sheltered under the blood of the lamb, they held vigil, kept watch.  The Hebrew word here for vigil, encompasses the Lord’s watchfulness as the “destroyer” to protect His people, and the people’s obligation to watchfulness as the “destroyer” moved throughout the land. 

“It was a night of vigil…”

 But the beauty of this phrase is actually demonstrated in Exodus 12:52:

On that same day the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt according to their military divisions. 

The beauty is not in the movement, or the going out, although that is beautiful.  When I read it, I see the beauty in “On that same day…” On that same day, the day following the night of vigil, the Lord kept His promises to the Israelites:

I will bring you out…I will rescue you…I will redeem you…I will take you as my people, and I will be your God…I will bring you to the land that I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…Exodus 5:6-9

The Lord enacted a plan, set in motion before time began.  The Lord enacted His plan on a date certain, “on that same day.” The day reserved by the Lord to carry out the redemption of His people.  God’s people, unbeknownst to them had a reservation to come out into the wilderness.  They had a divine appointment, a prearranged time to leave captivity and go to meet their Lord and it happened to be the very last day of year 430 of captivity.  Wow!

You know that it is no different for us, right?  Before time began God knew us, had a plan for us, and recorded a divine appointment for us.  Before time began, God had a reservation for rescue for all His people.  Only this time instead of spreading the blood of the lamb over the lentils, the Blood of the Lamb was poured over our hearts.  The blood of the lamb over the lentils ensured the “destroyer” did not enter.  The Blood of the Lamb poured over our hearts ensures that we are not destroyed in our sin.   

Jesus’s birth was a divine appointment:

But when the set time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of Woman, born under the law…Galatians 4:4

Jesus’s death was a divine appointment:

Though he was delivered up according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you used lawless people to nail him to a cross and kill him. 
Acts 2:23

We each have a divine appointment.  We each have a rescue reservation, a time for salvation, however, just like the Israelites, we have to keep the appointment.   The Israelites came to their rescue appointment a weak and humble people.  We must do the same. 

How do we know that we each have a divine appointment? He told us so. 

Your eyes saw me when I was formless; All my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began.  Psalm 139:16

Keep your divine appointment, it was made before your first breath was taken.  It is a time set aside just for you by God to fulfill every promise He’s ever made.  If you miss this appointment the consequences are eternal. 

Dear friends, don’t overlook this one fact: With the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.   The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.  2 Peter 3:8-9

The Lord is waiting for all to show up for the appointment.  Have you kept your appointment?  Remember, this rescue reservation has been made just for you.  A date certain, a time prescribed before the beginning of time.  The Lord is ready and willing; in fact He is eager for you to show up at the divine appointment set just for you for your salvation. 

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.   For with your heart, you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.  Romans 10:9-10

The Israelites were a people who knew a little bit about the wilderness – -mentally, spiritually and physically.  About dry, arid, uninhabited, uninhabitable, empty, desolate places – they lived it.  We often think of their wilderness journey beginning upon their release, but their wilderness journey actually started nearly 430 years before their release.  Captivity was the start of their wilderness journey although some would argue they lived a wilderness life starting in the Garden. 

We know where this particular wilderness began.  The famine in which Joseph metered out the food and seed which eventually saw all of Egypt enslaved to Pharaoh, resulted in the Israelites prospering, flourishing, and growing in number. 

Then a new king came to the throne who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done.  He told his people, “These Israelites are becoming a threat to us because there are so many of them…” So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves and put brutal slave drivers over them hoping to wear them down under heavy burdens.” Exodus 1:8-9, 11

Then the tables turned. The Israelites became the enslaved. Eventually God led the Israelites along a route through a wilderness toward the Red Sea. 

Physically, they were enslaved to Egypt.  They lived in Goshen but under the rule of Pharaoh, a ruthless, brutal, God-denying, god-worshiping “king.”  The Israelites were enslaved to Pharaoh and all Egypt under wilderness conditions. 

The Egyptians literally lived their lives on the backs of the Israelites.  The Israelites were emotionally and mentally defeated.  They were crushed, helpless, and their lives depended on their submission to the Egyptians.  Living in a constant state of fear and emptiness, the Israelites were living in mental wilderness conditions. 

As with any enslaver the goal is to assimilate the enslaved, to break the will and the spirit of the captives.  Egypt had many gods and the Israelites were often forced to endorse or even embrace those idols.  Furthermore, we know that they were prohibited from fully worshipping the One True God by offering sacrifices.  Unable to wholly worship their God alone, the Israelites were living in spiritual wilderness conditions. 

This is what the Israelites’ wilderness looked like.  What does your wilderness look like?  Are you living on the edge of the wilderness?

Are you physically enslaved?  Maybe in an un-Godly relationship, a job, a building, a house, finances, children, an ailment, or some other “thing”?  Are you living in wilderness conditions?

Are you mentally enslaved?  Maybe it’s a mindset, an attitude, an addiction to drugs, alcohol, porn, food, spending, or toxic people?  Are you living in wilderness conditions?

Are you spiritually enslaved? Maybe you are embracing idols, far from God, not fully committed, lacking total submission, rejecting the call to offer a living sacrifice? Are you living in wilderness conditions?

Just like the Israelites, our wilderness journey began long before our own enslavement.  The wilderness journey of man began about 6,000 years ago in the Garden.  When Eve “took some of the fruit and ate it; she also gave some of it to her husband and he ate it” our enslavement to sin began and our journey to the edge of wilderness started.  Enslavement to anything (physical, mental, spiritual), anything that holds us captive creates a wilderness in our lives. 

But, again, just like the Israelites, we have been released from captivity and its wilderness consequences.   But, again, just like the Israelites, we must choose whether or not we will leave Egypt when called out.  Not merely being called out of the wilderness, but when we’re called into Christ. 

Freedom is only possible through the power of Christ.  The One who can break every chain of bondage and transforms us from glory to glory through the process of wilderness experiences. 

 To God Be The Glory!

I have status.  You know, standing, station, prestige, prominence, position, all that and a bag of chips.  And guess what?  You do too if you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, repented of your sins and follow His ways.  If you’ve done that then you have what everybody in the world really wants, tries to fill, chases after and works so hard for — an endorsement, right standing, approval, acceptance, you have status!

He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 
2 Corinthians 5:21

What gives us status?  Righteousness.  Righteousness is a little tricky to fully comprehend, at least for me.  Righteousness asks our minds to accept something that is hard to accept.  The more I think about it, the harder it is for me to lock in on.  Not because righteousness itself is so hard to understand, but because it is so hard for my human mind to fathom the why and the how of it.

Righteousness is God acting consistently with his own character to rescue sinners while remaining morally perfect.  In other words, it is the saving status granted to believers who are in Christ by a perfect God.  Believers have status, our status is righteous.  We have been made right with God by Jesus Christ.  There is no higher status in all the world and beyond this world than finding ourselves righteous because of a perfect God.

Deuteronomy 32:4 tells us that God is a God of faithfulness, without iniquity, righteous and upright is He.  The human standard for righteousness is God’s perfection in every attribute, every attitude, every behavior, and every word.  That standard seems unattainable and it is on our own.  That standard is too high for me or you to obtain.  Only through the cleansing of sin by Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit could we ever be found righteous.

Think of it this way, Jesus traded his perfect righteousness for our sin, on the cross.  It blows the mind when you really think about it.  Jesus took on our sin and gave us his righteousness so that one day we could stand before God and God would not see our sin.  When God looks at us he doesn’t see all the wrong we have done, or the right we should have done.  He doesn’t see the many times we’ve missed the mark or spoken out of turn.  He doesn’t see every misstep, the times we lied, cheated, stole, hurt and abused others and ourselves.  He cannot see our sin because believers are covered in righteousness.  When God looks at us, He sees the Holy righteousness of Jesus Christ because of the exchange made on the cross. Don’t move on too quickly, chew on that for a minute. When God looks at us, He sees the Holy righteousness of Jesus Christ because of the exchange made on the cross.

We are made right(eous) with God because of what Jesus did on the cross.  Why is this important?  Habakkuk 1:13 tells us:  “your eyes are to pure to look on evil, and you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.”  Do you see what happened?

On the cross Jesus was treated as a sinner, even though he was perfect, holy and true, and at the cross I am treated as if I was righteous, I am given status even though I’m not perfect, not holy and not true.  Jesus made a trade.  He traded down so that I could be lifted up.  He took on my sin; the sin I should bear and gave me His righteousness.

Jesus took on my filthy rags so that when God looks at me He now only sees me dressed in robes of righteousness.  Because of what Jesus did, God doesn’t have to look away from me.  He can now look at me full on.  And when He does He no longer sees a sinner, He sees one made righteous with the precious blood of His Son Jesus Christ. 

I now have status.  You know, standing, station, prestige, prominence, position, all that and a bag of chips. And guess what?  You do too if you’ve accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior.

Thank You, Jesus!

Like many others who are reading through the Bible this year, I’ve been reading in Genesis. The beginning.  Man, oh, man, what an epic story.  And then there’s Exodus!  I have been reading the history of the patriarchs in Genesis, and next up came Jacob. 

Jacob was Isaac and Rebekah’s son.  You might remember how Jacob, at his mother’s prompting, deceitfully stole his brother Esau’s blessing.  Jacob ended up on the lam, sent away by his mother and father to spare him the wrath of his brother and to ensure he didn’t marry a Hethite woman.  Jacob ended up at Bethel where he wrestled with God and God declared: “All the peoples on the earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.” And then he moved eastward toward Haran.

As he came upon a well in a field, he encountered three men waiting to water their sheep, and there he inquired about his Uncle Laban.  They knew Laban and in fact pointed out that his daughter, Rachel, was approaching to water her flocks.  As a skilled shepherd himself,  Jacob wanted to know why they waited to water their flocks when there was good daylight grazing still to be had and why shouldn’t they water their flocks and then return them to graze.  Fair question. They responded:

We can’t until all the flocks have been gathered and the stone is rolled from the well’s opening.  Then we will water the sheep.
Genesis 29:8

Wow!  This may sound crazy, but when I read that I thought that was probably one of the coolest verses I’d read in the Bible.  I underlined and even brought out the “big yellow” to highlight the verse.  I don’t want to ever forget the words nor the sense of profoundness I had when reading it.  Again, this is one of those verses I’ve read often (Genesis is one of my fav), but this time those words spoke aloud.

Now, I know this is about sheep, and nothing else.  It is not prophecy, and I definitely don’t want to read something into this verse that God did not intend, but if you are even vaguely familiar with the New Testament you may have had some of the same thoughts when you read it, you may have connected some symbolism in this verse too.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd.  Jesus gathers His flock.  Jesus removes the stone of separation.  Jesus provides living water.

But this verse also made me think of 2 Peter 3:9:

The Lord does not delay his promise, as some understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.

Just as the shepherds were waiting for everyone to get there before they opened the well – before they rolled the stone away — the Lord, in his infinite patience, mercy and love, is waiting, purposefully extending the time of grace so that everyone will gather to permanently drink from the Living Water.

As the shepherds gather at the well, Christ is gathering His flock of believers.

He protects his flock like a shepherd; he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them in the fold of his garment. He gently leads those that are nursing. Isaiah 40:11

As the stone is rolled away from the mouth of the well, Christ is removing sin’s barrier.

Looking up, they noticed that the stone – which was very large – had been rolled away.  Mark 16:4

As the flock is watered, Christ is providing living water.

“Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”
John 7:37-38

Believers are gathered, all sins have been removed, and we have been , and forever will be, refreshed by the waters of life.

For the Lamb on the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”
Revelation 7:17

Amen.

“Be wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord our God to walk in his statutes and keep his commands, as it is today.”  1 Kings 8:61

When I read this, I thought it would be a great verse-of-the-year.  You know, one to memorize, to focus and meditate on. A govern your life by kind-of-verse, a top goal for 2026 verse.

These words from 1 Kings were spoken by King Solomon.  Remember him?    We know him as prosperous, wise, and peaceful.  The Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon writer.  In addition to poetry, he was also a gifted builder chosen by the Lord to build His Temple.  He had a knack for business and had quite the foreign policy.  He reigned over Israel during what was considered the Golden Age. Cue the roses and sunshine. Stop!

His wholehearted devotion to God, the devotion he exhibited and spoke to his people of early on in his reign began to wane and although he started out quite devoted to God, throughout his reign and in his final years He began to stray more and more from God.  Just like the rest of us, his straying began because He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord, He did not walk in his statutes and He directly defied God’s Word, reminding us that lack of devotion leads to disobedience.

Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, because they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Deuteronomy 7:3

King Solomon’s women choices may have been good for his foreign policy but they were not good for his soul He married about 700 royal brides (this was part of his foreign policy) and had about 300 concubines. These foreign brides introduced idol worship to the King and his people. King Solomon forgot that God’s statutes always have a purpose and are always for our protection and edification. Always.

“Be wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord our God to walk in his statutes and keep his commands, as it is today.”  1 Kings 8:61

So, what is “wholeheartedly devoted?”  What does that mean?  What does that look like?  How do we accomplish that?

The Hebrew word for “wholeheartedly” or “wholly devoted” is shalem.  Looks familiar doesn’t it?  That’s because it is.  The word shalem means complete, whole, full, perfect, at peace.  It comes from the same root word as shalom, and carries the undertones of peace that flow from wholeness, a wholeness that can only come from God.

A shalem heart is an undivided heart.  It is a heart oriented entirely toward faithfulness.  It urges all people at all times toward undivided loyalty to God.  Wholehearted devotion is about faithfulness.  It is about commitment to the Lord.  That kind of devotion compels us to live and obey, to walk and to keep his statutes.  At this stage of Solomon’s life, it was not all about opulence.  At this stage of his life, King Solomon wanted faithful people.  Not halfway committed people – not just faithful and obedient to God when they felt like it or when it was convenient but fully committed.  No excuses.

It was King Solomon’s desire for God’s people back then and it is still God’s desire for His people today, total commitment.  Total commitment does not mean perfection, it is simply fully setting our hearts on God – undivided, wholehearted commitment to God that is lived out in obedience to Him.

So, in 2026 I think our prayer should be for God to help us to be faithful, wholly devoted, committed people.  To follow the example of King Solomon in his early reign.  To be a people striving to faithfully, wholeheartedly live and obey, to be a people who walk and keep His Word.

We’re coming off the biggest gift giving holiday of the year, Christmas, and heading into the biggest gift return day in the New Year, christened “National Returns Day.”  According to the National Retail Federation, each year approximately 67,000,000 gifts given at Christmas will be returned.  The total amount sent back runs nearly $900 billion in returns each year — about 1/38 of the US National Debt.  The volume in returns speaks to the volume in purchases.  Wow!

Now, there are various reasons for returns.  The number one being the return of clothing because it just isn’t the right fit.  Coming in second is the gift people receive that they simply don’t want or don’t like.  I get the clothing thing – it’s hard to buy the right size for someone else when sizes are not regulated.  I also get the unwanted/not liked thing – everyone has different taste.

We all know how much time and effort (sometimes fretting) goes into buying the perfect gift.  We’ve all exhausted countless hours trying to think of just the right gift.  We’ve spent days running from here to there searching for something particularly pleasing.  And we’ve all spent way too much money on it when we’ve finally found it.  Why do we do it?  Sometimes it’s because we feel like we have to, but I like to think that the majority of the time we do it because we love to.  I truly love giving gifts, but that doesn’t mean that it is effortless.  In fact, sometimes it’s downright hard to find just the perfect gift, especially for some folks.

Now we have all had a hard person here or there in our life to buy a gift for.  Don’t say you never have…It may be someone who is indifferent about every gift, unappreciative, or unresponsive. 

Maybe when the receiver opened the gift they put it aside without a word.  Maybe when the receiver opened it they said “that’s nice” (we all know what that means).  Maybe the receiver flat out said they didn’t like the gift.  Maybe the receiver asked if you got a gift receipt. 

When we’ve searched for a gift that is a particularly pleasing gift and we’ve given it everything we have, sacrificed our time, our energy, our hard-earned dollars and found what we believe to be “the” perfect gift, one of immense value (not monetary) and it’s rejected, how does that make us feel?  We’ve all been there.

A friend reminded me recently that we’ve all been on the giving side of the Christmas gift scenario, but, whether we realize it or not, we’ve all been on the receiving end of that gift giving scenario too.  Never, you say?  Let’s think about it for a minute.  And let’s think beyond the gift with the shiny paper and big bow.  Might I make a few suggestions?

How about the gift of salvation? 

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23

How about the gift of faith? 

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9

How about the gift of forgiveness? 

But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ.  And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.  For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:15-16

How about the gift of eternal life?

Both the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Anyone who hears should say, “Come!” And the one who is thirsty should come. Whoever desires should take the living water as a gift.
Revelation 22:17

How about the gift of peace? 

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.
John 14:27

How about the gift of God’s Word?

Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.
Romans 15:4

How about the gift of Jesus?

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 
James 1:17

These are just a few of the gifts God has given us.  Of course, the ultimate gift through which all other gifts come is the gift of His One and Only Son, Jesus Christ.  I think we can all agree that God is an amazing gift-giver and the gifts He gives are particularly pleasing.

I think it’s worth pondering though how God feels when His perfect gift to the world, Jesus Christ, through whom salvation, faith, peace, eternal life, the scriptures, and every other good gift flows from is treated with indifference, lack of appreciation, lack of use, outright rejection, or maybe even returned to the giver for an exchange.

Again, some of us are hopping right up and saying, I never did any of that.  And I gently say friend, yes, you have.  We all have.  We’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, that’s why we so desperately need the good gift of Jesus Christ and the gifts that come with having a relationship with Him.

As we head into the New Year, let us commit to accepting the gifts God has given us.  Let us not be unresponsive, indifferent, unappreciative, apathetic, neglectful, idle.  Let us not request a gift-receipt to exchange for a “gift” that will never fit, never satisfy, never fill the void that only Jesus Christ can.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16

God has given us the perfect gift.  Don’t return or exchange it this year.  Use it, use all of it!

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Matthew 19:26

Wow!  Something I knew made new!  I’m sure you’re familiar with this verse.  In fact, some of us are very familiar with this verse.  It reminds us of the incredible power of God.  It reminds us that He is in control.  It reminds us that there is hope.  I call this a comfort verse.

But, the knew made new enlightenment also reminded me that I was an out of context quoter of the verse.  That I used this verse in my everyday life for myself and for others, but not in the context that it was spoken.  We’ve got a situation at work that’s impossible for us to work out, but possible with God.  We’ve got a finance issue that’s impossible for us to work out, but possible with God.  We’ve got a scheduling issue that’s impossible for us to work out, but possible for God.  We’ve got a relationship issue that’s impossible for us to work out, but possible for God.  We’ve got a health issue that’s impossible for us to work out, but possible for God.  We’ve got a child issue that’s impossible for us to work out, but possible for God.

Yes!  In all these things, and so many more, in fact all of life, this statement is true.  We are powerless, He is all powerful.  We can’t, God can.  And when I cherry pick this verse, although true in every context, I miss the specific context in which it is written.  When I pull only this verse out, I apply it specifically to my life and my situations.  And, again, it is true in every situation, it’s also much bigger and has deeper meaning than the way in which I’ve always used it.

When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?
Matthew 19:25

This is what that verse is all about.  The Disciples had just witnessed Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler.  Remember, the young man who asked what he must do to have eternal life (salvation)?  Jesus told him to get rid of his belongings (stuff), give to the poor, and follow Him.  The young man walked away from Jesus grieving because he had a lot of worldly stuff.  Unfortunately, he chose not to.  He chose stuff over life.  He chose death over life.

Matthew 19:26 is a verse about the power to save.  Matthew 19:26 is a salvation issue.  Matthw 19:26 is a life or death issue and the Disciples were “exceedingly amazed,” or “astonished” at Jesus’ response.  They just didn’t get it.  They’d been taught prosperity gospel by the Pharisees – the more you followed the “rules” the more materially blessed you would be.  If this rich young man couldn’t have eternal life, then who in the world could be saved?

Let’s look again at Matthew 19:26:

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

Such a beautiful verse.  I paused at the third word – beheld.  Beheld  means to see with attention, to gaze upon, to observe something with great interest, awe, or understanding. It is a signal that what is about to be described or said next is significant, divine, or noteworthy. Beheld, pay attention, listen up.  And what I really love about this verse is that Jesus beheld the Disciples.  He looked on them intently.  He gazed at them.  He made eye contact, and commanded that they focus on Him, and then He spoke:

With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

It is impossible for you to save yourself.  No amount of money, time, effort, power, coercion, stuff,  work or trickey will save you, it is impossible!  BUT, with God all things are possible!  This verse is about salvation.  Only God can save us and He wants to and He will when we stop trying to do it ourselves, when we stop trying to do the impossible.

How can this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.
Luke 1:34-35

Salvation only comes through the Holy One to be born.  With God all things are possible.  Glory to God in the highest!