Mighty Israel

 

Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Like a lion, Israel crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to arouse her?  Blessed is everyone who blesses you, O Israel, and cursed is everyone who curses you.”  Numbers 24:9

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.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road with Jesus; have a blessed day!  

[1] Images:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

In the Beginning

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Monday, April 2, 2018

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters.  And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.  Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good.  Then he separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light “day” and the darkness “night.”  And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.  Genesis 1:1-5^(NLT)

Our backyard has been something of a war zone the past week.  It was a really perfect metaphor for the Lenten season and all the chaos of darkness as we prepared for the dark time of Good Friday.  There were downed trees, with the accompanying deep gouges and ruts in our lawn as the timbers crashed to the turf.  There were broken ornamental shrubs, trampled flower bulbs and cement walkways demolished!  Most of the trees were over a hundred feet tall, and less than 60 feet from the house; they needed to go – my bride and I didn’t need to watch the carnage!

Whatever possessed me to invite a gang of strangers with chainsaws to assault the trees in our yard during such a time as the culmination of Lent…well, chalk it up to my approaching second childhood!

Still, amid the chainsaw disaster God provided a reminder that His beauty can soften the most broken heart with a surprise.  Our little peach tree had buds that had been frozen the week before; we assumed they would just drop off.  

But Thursday morning we were treated to an assurance of light on the horizon.  Against the backdrop of debris scattered everywhere, the double-blossom made its way into view, and brought a smile to these glad eyes.

There’s an analogy in there somewhere, of how, even in the darkest times of your life…the genuine tragedies of losing a beloved one, or having the doctor’s report that wasn’t expected, or a relationship that has been broken and seems irreversible, God’s rainbow shows up.

For You Today

Easter is the reminder above all that you are not completely destroyed as long as God is still living.  This is still His world…and you are still the apple of His eye.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com