In the shadow of your wings

I've been studying Pslam 57 of late - way too much revelation to fit into this blog, but here's just one thought; David's in hiding because Saul and about 400 of his elite soldiers are after him. You'd excuse him for having a bad attitude not just because his life is under threat, but also due to the fact that he's been forced to sleep in a cave! But for David, his circumstance isn't a hole in the side of a hill, instead its rest...in the shadow of the wings of the almighty, and so he begins to Praise! That's kingdom perspective, and I think i want it :-)

Lamp unto my feet

The Lord reminded me of Psalm 119:105 this morning whilst I was running 'Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path', (5:10am by the way…yes it was dark and yes the street lights did help :-) As I was running, I could see the path in front of me, but only as far as my next step. So I began to think...perhaps the lamp of God's word, sometimes, lights just enough for 1 step and not necessarily with too much more in view?
When your driving a car and your in thick fog, you're likely to slow right down & if its bad enough you'll even consider stopping and waiting till the fog clears. But as simple a revelation (reminder) as this is, God spoke to me again of the need for faith, for trust in God's word - but a trust that moves...faith without works is dead… I don't think we're called to sit and wait for the fog to clear. If we do I suspect we'll still be waiting until Jesus comes back! But how much of the stepping is trial and error? I think we too often step and only look to the word when we've discovered we've stepped into the wrong area...so how now do we get out...? The word only shines light on the pathway if it's alive in our life. Reminds me of a preacher firing up about people using the analogy of the bible being like a street directory...but don't we only ever pull that out when we're lost? or a cook book...but don't we only pull that out when someone comes over for dinner and we want to impress them...?

Abide with me

The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions. One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. Then the LORD called Samuel. Samuel answered, "Here I am." (1 Samuel 3:1-2)

The moment I read this verse I thought of the hymn 'Abide with me' (Gold!).
What a sensational picture of Samuel as a little boy 'lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was.' I can even imagine him singing as he lay there...'Abide with me; fast falls the eventide: The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide: When other helpers fail, and comforts flee, Help of the helpless, o abide with me.'
We know Eli to be a good man, a great priest, but we also know that he failed because he failed to lead his own family. And surely Eli's two sons would have been as much an influence as Eli, if not greater, on Samuel as a boy. Today we would say, 'it's not Samuel's fault, he just got caught up in the wrong crowd...the wrong place at the wrong time...' But Perhaps we're too quick to bow to the influences of this world? With an awareness of what was happening around him, maybe Samuel fought to move in the opposite direction? I wondered whether the wisdom of Samuel grew at such an early age because he spent his life in the presence of the Lord. Whether it was that that led him to a place where he could make decisions for himself that would seem to be beyond the level of maturity that his age would suggest? And just maybe there's not only a direct relationship between the silence of the Lord and the silence of Eli, but also between the voice of God and a boy that was hungry to live in his presence? Notice Samuel's response wasn't...'I'll be there in a moment', but rather 'here I am'. So if God called to you right now, and your response reflected the place where you currently rest, would you be saying ...'I'll be there in a moment', or 'here I am'.
?

I have become His priest

Judges 18:1-6 says,

In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites was seeking for itself a territory to live in; for until then no territory among the tribes of Israel had been allotted to them. 2 So the Danites sent five valiant men from the whole number of their clan, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land and to explore it; and they said to them, “Go, explore the land.” When they came to the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they stayed there. 3 While they were at Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite; so they went over and asked him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?” 4 He said to them, “Micah did such and such for me, and he hired me, and I have become his priest.” 5 Then they said to him, “Inquire of God that we may know whether the mission we are undertaking will succeed.” 6 The priest replied, “Go in peace. The mission you are on is under the eye of the Lord.”

I wonder whether this circumstance reflects the position of many people within society? I see a people that are leaderless. I see a people that have no place to rest. They know that something has been allotted to them...i.e. they know that life has more to offer than what they currently know, and they're actively searching for what they believe is rightfully theirs. The significant thing is the fact that they begin to find their answer in the voice of a boy, a 'young Levite' (v3).
And it's not that surprising that their initial reaction is one of shock,

“Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?”

His response,

"...I have become his priest.”

Imagine the church, full of a generation of young people that when asked what they're doing, their response is this; "...I have become a priest"! No that they've become a 'Pastor' as we know it or a 'Salvation Army Officer'...or a 'Bishop' etc. but simply the fact that their heart is one that is devoted to nothing other than hearing and responding to and speaking the word of God.

You'd almost forgive the older men for looking upon the boy and saying 'get back home, you should be waisting your time on xbox...'!
But they don't. Instead they say this,

“Inquire of God that we may know whether the mission we are undertaking will succeed.”

Suddenly 5 valiant men encounter Godly leadership...from a boy!

Lord I pray for a prophetic generation that will seek to hear and speak your word. I pray for the boldness to say 'We are priests of the Lord'. I pray for a society that will turn again to the church.
And may you speak so clearly through us, that your voice through us would have the power to effect change is this world. I pray that we as a generation would bring a message of peace (v6) to the world.

So perhaps the heart of Jesus is this; that the Church would rise up as a kingdom of priests, to be a light to the nations directing them to the only one that brings peace - Jesus.

In the beginning was the Word...In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. (John 1:1-7)

Lord, raise us up a John the Baptist Generation!

Know

Luke 11:27-28 says, While he [Jesus] was saying this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”

So to hear the word of God and obey it is to know Christ like a mother knows her child.

?

Ask

I found it interesting this morning to read what directly followed the teaching of the Lord's prayer in Luke 11. We know how we're supposed to pray, Jesus is clear in his instruction. So when it comes to the act of praying, there's always a cautious cyclic pattern of wanting to ask for something in prayer but not before honoring God above all. Once we get to our own needs, we're conscious again of getting our mind off our circumstance and back on to God. But i think Jesus teaching in
verses 5-13 is summed up in in the word 'boldness' (v8), essentially meaning 'shameless'. Interesting revelation. I would have thought that it's one thing to be bold but another to be shameless. My experience is that I'm often too ashamed to remain at the asking stage and need as quickly as possible to return to the 'hallowed be your name'. Thank you Lord for the reminder - we can come boldly before the throne of Grace. I know i would be devastated if Arielle felt too ashamed to ask me...for anything. Thank you Lord that you desire to give to your children, especially your Holy Spirit (v13).
Good to be back :-)