Milk or Manure - Proverbs 14-15

Proverbs 14:4 (ESV)

Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,

but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.

A proverb is a way to teach wisdom in a simple way with a word picture, or with contrasting or complimentary statements. In this proverb Solomon gives us a vivid picture about what can be best described as Barn Moments in life. He simply observes that if you have no ox you have a very clean barn. But if you have an ox you will have a great harvest (by the ox’s strength in the field pulling the plow). But where you have an ox you also have manure. We might say it this way, “If you want milk from a cow you may have to walk around, past and possibly through the manure to get it.” So, we have a choice in life to deal with the bad in order to get to the good. Having a church focused on children means we will have children running around the church. It might be quiet without the children, but we will have great strength from them as they grow and serve. Children make messes. Children make noise. Children … eventually produce milk. We might have struggles with our children in our family, but can grow those children who serve His Kingdom and you follow His plans.   We might have a struggle right now and it feels like “manure.”    But, God takes those times and gives us His strength to endure them.  We believe, by faith, that God will use those times to work the “manure” in life for His divine purpose.   

Romans 8:28 (ESV Strong's)

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

So, we can complain about the manure in life, or we can work hard to get to the milk. Milk or Manure is our faith choice.

God Vindicates Us and Blesses Us - Psalms 91-93

Psalms 92:10-11 (ESV)

But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox;

you have poured over me fresh oil.

My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;

my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.

Psalm 92 goes back and forth regarding who is speaking.  It is tough to understand if the song/prayer is from an individual or representing a group.  It seems to be liturgical song intended to be song as a worship song by the masses.  But it certainly has personal applications.   Note how the organizers of he psalms entitled the song:

Psalm 93:1

A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath.

Whoever wrote it intended it to be read, sung or prayed on the Sabbath.   The above lines of the song follow the admittance of the plight of the evil and unjust person.   The contrasting “But” that begins verse 10 shows us that this is antithetical to the lines that came before it.  The song is saying the wicked are like this but the righteous are like this.  

The writer acknowledges that his success if a gift from God.   The phrase you have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox is emblematic Hebrew poetry.  It means God has given me strength.   The second line is equally emblematic as it reads you have poured over me fresh oil.  The word oil in the Bible is almost always a symbol for the Holy Spirit or riches and prosperity.   What the writer is saying to us is that the wicked do not last but the righteous flourish in many ways.  We are not to forget that is God who blesses us and rescues us from those who would befall us.   He not only raises us up but he allows the righteous to see the triumph over their enemies.  We might point to the story of Job to see this more practical.   Eventually Job was both vindicated and his foes (once showing up on his door step as friends) were made to submit to him.   It took some time, but God was faithful to His promises.  We are both exalted and vindicated by our God.  

God Saves Us to Solicit Worship From Us - 2 Kings 22-25

2 Kings 23:21-23 (ESV)

Josiah Restores the Passover

And the king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” For no such Passover had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah. But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah this Passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.

One of the benefits of restoring your relationship with God is not just getting the sin out of your life, but also coming into great worship with Him.   Note what David says in Psalm 51 after he spent the first verses telling us about his confession:

Psalms 51:13-19 (ESV)

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,

and sinners will return to you.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,

O God of my salvation,

and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth will declare your praise.

For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;

you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;

build up the walls of Jerusalem;

then will you delight in right sacrifices,

in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;

then bulls will be offered on your altar.

After we confess sin and purify our house (what Josiah had just done throughout all Judea) we can come into great fellowship and worship with Him.  The above passage is about Josiah reestablishing the Passover in Jerusalem (the place were God dwells).   David prayed the same thing in Psalm 51.   Once we are free from sin we can turn to God in worship.  It is always in the order.  Here is what Paul said:

1 Thessalonians 1:9 (ESV)

For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,

God saves us to solicit worship from us.  

We Can Come To Him In Full Acceptance - Leviticus 22-24

Leviticus 22:10-13 (ESV)

“A lay person shall not eat of a holy thing; no foreign guest of the priest or hired worker shall eat of a holy thing, but if a priest buys a slave as his property for money, the slave may eat of it, and anyone born in his house may eat of his food. If a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the contribution of the holy things. But if a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced and has no child and returns to her father’s house, as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food; yet no lay person shall eat of it.

Because of God’s holiness, the people of Israel had to follow all the instructions of Leviticus, with fidelity.  They did not and that is why they would eventually go into captivity.   God had a designed way for people to come to Him.  In the above passage we read that since God had designed that only priest from the tribe of Levi could come to Him, no lay person would be allowed to follow.    Perhaps this is what is so amazing in the contrast of the Old and New Testaments.   In the Old Testament everyone had access to God, but in the Old it was the priest from the tribe of Levi that carried their sacrifices.   In the New Testament we see also that anyone can come to HIm, but now directly through the Son.   Note what the book of Hebrews tells us:

Hebrews 10:22 (ESV)

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

In the Old the lay person was unclean.  God had only made the tribe of Levi a clean to come into His presence.  In the New, all those who come to Christ and made clean and can come before God, through His Son.  

 Hebrews 4:16 (ESV)

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We can come in full assurance and in complete confidence, because of Christ’s sacrifice.  No more distinction between the lay person and the professional priest.  

Our Hope Is Tied To Our Service - 1 Thessalonians 1-2

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 (ESV)

For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.

What do you hope for?   Hope is a powerful and practical motivational tool.   Those who have no hope look down and are often diminished in spirit.   Those who have hope look up and are dynamic in spirit.  This is what Paul is writing about to the Thesalonian believers.  He is hopeful.  But his hope is not in his own successes, as defined like most men. He is not hopeful because of his wealth, his rank or his power and/or fame.   Paul has great hope for Christ’s return because the fruit of his labor was the faith of the saints; in this case at Thessalonica.   In those days the winners of Olympic Games would receive a crown of some sort.  Each game had a different arrangement of flowers with the award.   The “crown” or “wreath” would eventually die, of course.    But Paul is talking about an imperishable wreath.   He says the crown or wreath for him running the race well and finishing the race well is the believers in this church.   They are the reason for his boasting.  He is not beating his chest here.  He is saying that when Christ comes the evidence of him having run the Christian race well will be that these believers are strong in the faith.  He is honoring their walk in Christ and pointing to their walk as evidence of his own faithfulness in the ministry God gave him to steward.    Let us not forget that God has given us all the ministry to serve each other.  The evidence of our good stewardship of God’s gifts to us will be the fruit of those we serve.   We will certainly be rewarded for our own walk with Christ.  But when we pour our lives into others in Christ, we are equally rewarded for their growth and walk.   Our wreath or crown is not only our walk, but the walk we help improve for others.   That is our hope.  Our hope is tied to our faithful service.  

It Is In Christ’s Death Mankind Sees the Greater Light - Luke 23-24

Luke 23:44-49 (ESV)

The Death of Jesus

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.

In Jesus death, men saw greater light.  It was in His death that those who crucified Him could see who He was.   God used His death to open eyes.   Later the same thing will happen to two other disciples:

Luke 24:30-32 (ESV)

When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

He would later use the scars of His death to open the eyes of more disciples:

Luke 24:37-43 (ESV)

But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them.

Mankind can see the light of Jesus when they consider the cross of Jesus.  

God Determines Access To Him - Ezekiel 37-42

Ezekiel 40:20-23 (ESV)

The North Gate

As for the gate that faced toward the north, belonging to the outer court, he measured its length and its breadth. Its side rooms, three on either side, and its jambs and its vestibule were of the same size as those of the first gate. Its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty-five cubits. And its windows, its vestibule, and its palm trees were of the same size as those of the gate that faced toward the east. And by seven steps people would go up to it, and find its vestibule before them. And opposite the gate on the north, as on the east, was a gate to the inner court. And he measured from gate to gate, a hundred cubits.

In chapter 40 we have Ezekiels prophecy about a future temple for Israel.  It is prophesied 14 years after Solomon’s Temple was destroyed, as the nation went into captivity under Babylonia rule.   The chapter is full of design, dimensions and word pictures of diagrams.  The above particular section is about the North gate of the Temple.  There are four gates listed.  The East Gate, the Outer Gate, the South Gate and this, the North Gale.  This is an important teaching lesson of this section.  The Temple has entry gates.  No one gets in without going through a gate.  There is no “west” gate because that is where the Temple would be built.   The west side was the most sacred.    The concept of the gates is to teach us that God is only accessible where He wants and how He wants.   God not only designs the place He resides, He designs the avenues to Him.  Note how Jesus framed it to His disciples at the Last Supper:

John 14:6 (ESV)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

This Temple in Ezekiel 40 is to both real and symbolic.   This section is meant to inspire the retuning nation with hope and possibility of their restoration; central worship of Yahweh will be restored.   But it is also to teach us about God and His holiness.  No one comes to a holy God without His designed access, through His Son.