Sunday, January 22, 2017

Boring.....Tedious.....Step By Step

Numbers 3:36-37
Now the appointed duties of the sons of Merari involved the frames of the Tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, all its equipment and the service concerning them, and the pillars around the court with their sockets and their pegs and their cords.

Sometimes this new life of recovery is simply us doing the every day things.
But doing them correctly and with the proper attitude.
What attitude?
Why an attitude of gratitude of course. Having this view of life, gratitude, keeps me from sliding over into the darkness and path that will take me back to old ways and old thoughts.


Just like the men and families that God appointed to carry the tabernacle (the tent and Ark of the Covenant) during their wilderness wanderings, it wasn't all glamour and 10 Commandment moments. A lot of the time it was simply doing the right thing, over and over and over. Set the tabernacle up.........make sure everything is in place according to God's design.....do the daily, monthly and yearly sacrifices according to instructions....take the whole she-bang down, pack it up and move to the next location. 

It would be really easy to slide over into a place of apathy or even resentment. Thinking to yourself, "Hey...look at the family Jones! They don't have to carry any of this tabernacle stuff! Why don't they have to? Why am I stuck with carrying the tent pegs while others get to carry the Ark? Why don't I get to carry the Ark? I'm as good as they are. I am not going to do this anymore. I had it better in my old life and job".

We need to guard ourselves and be grateful and content with what God has given us and the place he has given us to occupy. It is there in the place of his calling that we will receive his blessing and favor if we are faithful. It's more than simply doing what God has called us to do, it also involves the motive and attitude we carry as we do the job. We simply do the next thing.

The apostle Paul writes: Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.
What was Paul's secret?
That God can be trusted.
Knowing that there is purpose behind what we know we are suppose to do. We are building a new life, a new way of dealing with the world one day at a time..
If God called us to carry the tent pegs of the tabernacle, why then we should be the happiest, most content tent-peg-carrying people that ever existed.
No matter what is going on in your life today, fall on the fact and comfort that God can be trusted and that your circumstance has not caught him off guard.

This relationship we now live with Jesus Christ is built on faith, his grace to us and trust.
Did you see how Paul's situations were always changing? Prosperity...or want....full stomach or going hungry...abundance or suffering...no matter what, Paul's faith in God did not waver. This is the kind of life I desire to have. How about you?

God on you......
mb

No comments:

THE REALITY OF THE NAME OF GOD

Listening to Keith Green this morning as he sings "How Majestic Is Your Name". I had to  ask myself, "Do I truly unerstnd the...