Water from the Temple

I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple...The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar...He said to me, “This water flows toward the...Dead Sea. When it empties into the sea, the salty water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. 

Ezekiel 47:1, 8-9

Did you know that the Dead Sea is nearly ten times saltier than the ocean? It's so salty that only microscopic bacteria and microbial fungi can live in it. No fish or aquatic plants live in the Dead Sea at all. This, of course, is how it got its name. It is a dead sea, a harsh environment in which nothing can live.

I don't know about you but there were times in my life when my soul felt just this dead and inhospitable. Scripture assures us that this is true of all who are apart from Christ. Until Christ enters our lives we are completely and utterly dead in our trespasses and sins. But just like the Dead Sea, we are not beyond God's reviving touch.

In Ezekiel 47 we read in the prophet's vision that one day a river will flow from God's temple into the old Dead Sea and bring a revival of new life! This sea that is so famously inhospitable to life will one day teem with fish. The shores will bustle with activity as fisherman stand along the shores. And fruit trees will grow there on its shores year round without fail (v. 9-12). What a beautiful image of God's ability to breathe fresh life into dead people and things!

Whether this passage is metaphorical or whether we should look for a literal fulfillment in the future, I don't know. Either way the prophet's point has been made. We serve a God who can breathe new life and spiritual vitality into the most dead of places and human hearts. 

But how can we gain access to this living water? Only through Jesus! Notice that this river originates from the temple. This temple was where heaven and earth overlapped. It was where God dwelt on earth. But when Jesus took on flesh that changed. Now it's in Jesus that we find heaven and earth intersecting, and it is only through His atoning blood that we access this reviving, living water. Consider Jesus' words in John 7:37-38: "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."

No matter how dead, parched, or soul-thirsty you may feel today, God can revive you. Look to Jesus! Even believers can begin to feel a bit thirsty for God, especially during periods in which we are neglecting our relationship with the Savior. Jesus is the spiritual rejuvenation you need! So spend time with Him today. Read His Word, pray to Him. Seek hard after Him and be revived!

Cry Out & Be Silent (W.o.W. Rewind)

As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.”

Exodus 14:10-14 (NASB)

A person's first response often isn't their best. When we get surprised with bad news or feel attacked it's easy to lash out in anger by blaming others. This is why pausing before we respond to the situation at hand can be so helpful. It gives us the chance to talk ourselves off the ledge before we dive headfirst into the rant we really want to deliver. 

But sometimes a problem comes at us so fast that pausing doesn't seem like an option. I can only imagine that is how the people of Israel felt. God has just miraculously delivered them from 400 years in slavery. They leave Egypt and head off into the dessert, but before long they turn to see the Egyptian army bearing down on them. With their backs against the Red Sea, there is nowhere for them to run. 

But the children of Israel are learning because their first response was actually good. Instinctually, they cry out to the Lord for help. It's their second response that needs work. They blame Moses and give full vent to their anger which is obviously rooted in their lack of faith.

Moses' answer to the people is instructive and beautiful. God will fight for His people! Now it's worth noting that this is the biblical understanding of "holy war." Some in the Muslim world say that jihad or holy war consists of people fighting on God's behalf. That's not the Christian understanding. Throughout the Bible, we find God fighting for His people. He is a mighty warrior who comes to our rescue. He works mighty miracles to deliver us from the enemy. 

While it is true that He sometimes calls us to action (David did sling the stone that killed Goliath), often our role is to keep silent. As Moses says, "The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent." God fights the enemy. God fixes the problem. Our job is to keep silent. Cry out to the Lord for help, Christian, then keep silent. Wait and see what He will do.

I don't know what problems you're facing today, but I know that they're no match for God. I can't promise you that He will fix them all right away, but I can guarantee you that you can't fix them without His help. So cry out to God today. Then wait! Keep silent and see what He will do.  

Cheering Sin from the Cheap Seats

Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul...And Saul approved of their killing him.

Acts 7:58 & 8:1

My wife and I have reached that stage of life where you start watching more shows on PBS. Maybe it's because I'm boring or maybe it's just that I don't like what's on the other channels, but there are several shows that I actually like on PBS now. If you have ever watched any of these shows they end with the same message tagged at the end. "This program was made possible by generous donations from the..." and then they list the names of all the foundations and rich people who helped fund the show. After all the important people have been named, they end with this "and by the support of your local PBS station by viewers like you." At the end of every show they remind us that these shows wouldn't be possible without the viewers' support. 

It occurred to me today that sin is much the same way. I don't mean that sin would go away entirely without support, but it does rather seem to thrive on an audience doesn't it? How often are you guilty of cheering sin on from the cheap seats?

We tend to come down rather hard on Saul for standing by in approval of Stephen's martyrdom, and for good reason. Saul didn't just approve of it, he actually guarded the coats of those who were killing Stephen (Acts 22:20). He supported it! We come down hard on Saul for this, but how often have we stood by in support of sin in our own way? How often do we still do so?

When was the last time you doubled over laughing at someone's joke that was only funny because of filthy language or content? You can't tell me that doesn't encourage them to tell more jokes like that. Comedy clubs are full of people who are only as funny as they are filthy. Or how about the TV shows and movies that you watch. How many of them do you watch not in spite of the small amount of worldly content in them, but precisely because you enjoy the vulgarity, violence, nudity, and sexual content? Or how many times do you fail to be salt and light to your lost friends and instead choose to live vicariously through them by drinking in all their stories from their wild nights?

Approving of sin is sin. Don't stand by and witness it. Don't support it or make it easier for others to do it. Keep your mind, your heart, and your life clean from such filth. Be set apart and holy to the Lord. As Ephesians 5:3-4 says, "But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving." When our lives match up with these verses, we will find that another barrier in our relationship with the Lord has fallen, and we will be that much more like Christ.

A Stone in the Lord's Hand

So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.

1 Samuel 17:50-51

When we read the story of David and Goliath, many of us want to read ourselves into David's role. We are the underdog fighting an epic battle, and whoever or whatever opposes us is our Goliath. If we will only trust God, then we know we can defeat our problem with His help. 

I once heard a pastor note that this reading of the story is all wrong. David foreshadows the Messiah, not the modern believer. If anyone is David in the story it's Christ. He is the great warrior who saves His people from the enemy who is too big for them. 

Well, if I can't be David, then perhaps I can be the stone. 

The above passage goes out of its way to point out that God ordained for this mighty warrior Goliath to be killed not by a sword or a javelin or a spear but by an ordinary stone. Verse 50 tells us that there was no sword in David's hand when he killed the giant. And verse 51 re-emphasizes that Goliath was already dead (from the stone) before David cut off his head. 

It was an ordinary, small, smooth stone which was hurled at that giant and killed him. A stone which had sat in a stream bed being rubbed smooth by the passing of water and time for who knows how long before its day of glory came.

I'm not saying that this is allegorical. This is a real story. And the stone doesn't represent us in an allegorical sense. Rather, this very real stone reveals something to us about how God works and what types of things (and people) He uses. God often uses small, overlooked, weak, and despised things and people to do glorious things to advance His cause. We see this in countless other Bible stories and characters as well. I could recount stories of fishermen who turned into apostles, of a small boy's lunch that fed 5,000 people, of a prisoner who became second in command over all Egypt, and a nursing cow who proved to the Philistines that Israel's God was real. But today it was this little stone that resonated with me.

Lord, I may be more of a blunt instrument than a sharp tool. I may be ordinary, but I know that You make a habit of using ordinary people and things to glorify Your name. Let me be a stone in Your hand, Lord. For even a little stone in Your hand is far superior to the sharpest weapon in the hand of the enemy. Send me out to do Your will. Keep me on the narrow path, aimed directly at all You would have me do. And when my life is over, Lord, when my purpose has been served, let none of the glory fall on me. Let me be as forgotten as that stone in Goliath's forehead, so that the name of my Savior may abound more and more.