Wednesday, June 8,
2022
As far back as I can remember my family went to church…a
lot! My Mom was the Sunday School
Superintendent and volunteer church secretary; so our life included plenty of church. Whenever our pastor mentioned Israel in a
sermon he called them the children of God. He would also refer to this blessing or
cursing of Israel, and how we were to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Reflecting on this childhood memory, when it
came to the nation of Israel, there was one thing that stood above all else: God’s children were loved by God, and nobody
should mess with them! I didn’t
understand why…but I knew there was something special about being God’s
children.
Many Sundays, after church, we would drive an hour to
visit with Mom’s sister and family. When
I was about 7 or 8, one week the Sunday School lesson was on Exodus, when God
sent Moses to get His children out of bondage.
The pastor had even preached a sermon on being God’s children. During the drive to my Aunt and Uncle’s house
I was deep in thought about what the pastor had said. He talked about the church tent in the wilderness,
and how God’s children were always worshipping, offering sacrifices, praying a
lot, and messing up. I guess something
about all that church stuff in the wilderness, and our life in church all the
time…I leaned forward from the back seat and asked Mom and Dad (loudly over the
roar of our 1948 Plymouth’s engine)…Are we Jewish? Even in a car with a broken muffler, windows
open and the air rushing by…you could have heard a pin drop….for about three
seconds. Then my parents began to
laugh. They laughed so hard, Dad almost
ran off the road. I didn’t have a clue
what was so funny! Mom…the resident
theologian in our tribe, did her best to make the distinction between Old
Testament children of God, and God’s New Testament family.
To this day I am nothing of an expert on Israel, or the
politics of the Middle East. But I am a
student of God’s Word, and the singular characteristic that stands out in my
mind is holy. The word
means other, or special, a prized possession,
set-aside for a unique reason and purpose.
They, the descendant family of Abraham, Issaac, Jacob, Joseph, (and, by
the way, Jesus), are a special, loved, and cared-for possession of God, treasured
like no other:
For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. Deuteronomy 32:9-10
For You Today
I sense that the founders of America’s republic had
deference to Israel’s special place in history and God’s heart. I think, of late, Jerusalem’s apple-status
has given way to political expediency, and military alliances. But the Word of God stands strong,
nonetheless. Curse Israel, and you’ve
awakened the crouching lion. And the
Lion of Judah will one day remember, like a herd of elephants, all who blessed,
and all who cursed his loved people.
[1] Images: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
No comments:
Post a Comment