Archives - July 2009, Part 3, from www.timewithgod.blog-city.com

timewithgod.blog-city.com — July 2009

Numbers 3-4 Being One of 8,580 Active Employees

What might it have been like to be in the service of God at this time in Israel's history?  The picture I got this morning was anything but glamorous.  If you were from the tribe of Levi, your life was pretty much planned out for you:&n

What might it have been like to be in the service of God at this time in Israel's history?  The picture I got this morning was anything but glamorous.  If you were from the tribe of Levi, your life was pretty much planned out for you:  up to age 29, you waited to serve.  For the next 20 years, you served intermittently.  And for the rest of your life (after age 50).... who knows?

Depending on your family group, you were either:

    a) a curtain and tent toter

    b) a frame, pole, and peg toter

    c) a holy item toter

    d) or a holy item packer.

The Holy Tent, surrounded by fabric and/or leather "fences", was never visible to ordinary people.  Neither was what was inside.  Only Aaron's family ever got to see the holy items.

So, as a Levite, for all of your life you were in the service of God, either carrying what we today would consider mundane things like tent pegs, or carrying stuff you'd never be allowed to see.  You faced the death penalty if you tried to sneak a peak.

Such close PROXIMITY to the holy things, yet no hope of seeing them!  I can't imagine a life of being near to God but not close to Him!  In fact, with 8,580 men between the ages of 30 and 50, a rotating cycle of service times finally developed.  So if someone asked about your life, I guess the answer might be, "I was set apart for God at birth, tended crops and flocks on land I did not own for 30 years, then I actually served at the Temple one week a year for 20 years, then went back to whatever I'd been doing."  Twenty weeks of Temple service over a lifetime. 

Father, that seems so removed from You -- so sterile.  These groups actually camped so close to Your Holy Tent to keep the other Israelites away, lest they die.  I'm so very thankful that my High Priest intercedes for me before Your throne 24/7, not only one day each year.  I'm thankful that my sins are forgiven.  And I appreciate all the more the privilege of weekly service to You however You all me to serve.  Thank You for drawing near to me!

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Published: Wednesday, 29 July 2009

Numbers 5-7 A Restart Commanded

There was a little something I caught about the Nazirite vow that stuck in my mind.  This was a voluntary vow where a person would separate himself apart to God for a time -- usually 30 days.  Three "abstentions" were required --

There was a little something I caught about the Nazirite vow that stuck in my mind.  This was a voluntary vow where a person would separate himself apart to God for a time -- usually 30 days.  Three "abstentions" were required -- grape products, haircuts, and touching dead bodies.  If any were broken, then a series of offerings had to be given, and the clock was reset to zero as the counting of days began again.  A person could not apparently decide to shorten the length of the original promise once started.

My commentary said, "In spite of all the offerings, the days of his original separation were lost, and he had to begin all over again.

What modern conclusion can be drawn?  Again, from my commentary:  "For us, this means that a backslidden believer can be restored, but the time spent out of fellowship with God is WASTED."

That's certainly how I felt about those first years after college.  Although I was attending church, I'd allowed myself to get so wrapped up in New Age philosophy -- which does nothing more than allow Satan a giant foothold in one's life by glorifying self rather than God -- that I drifted away from God.  Although in His loving-kindness He drew me back, I grieve for all those wasted years, and I try my best to tell those guys that I teach how to watch out for such traps of Satan, for he used them to derail me from the path God had for me.

Father, I know those years were lost in my relationship with You, and they were losses for me as well.  I hate to think of what I missed!  Yet in Your grace and mercy, You drew me back to You and set me on a new path.  Help me never to stray again, Father.

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford

Published: Thursday, 30 July 2009