and Hebrews is still repeating it's words for my heart's message....
Today, as I awakened, the morning sun was barely peeking over the rim of the hills...
the clouds were wisps across the heavens and appeared to me as WINGS emanating from the source of the sun's light... Without the light beginning to appear, I'd have never seen the clouds and the shape of the wings on the Heavens!
THEN.... the LORD spoke to my heart... "today I'm speaking something into your heart that you thought you knew, but you only knew in part.... HEAR me!"
OKAY FATHER... give me ears!
What if....
What if we use an overlay when viewing this chapter?
The last words of the Old Testament before the LORD is "silent" until John the Baptist.
What if the overlay is a couple of facts.
1) God cares about people not things or "stuff", or even the earthly treasures we hold dear.
God is about PEOPLE!
2) The sacrifice God desires is that of a contrite heart and a broken spirit. (said over and over
through a variety of scriptural passages.
3) "Robbing" God is not about money.... it is about what HE considers "treasure".
4) Question: What is the "storehouse"? What is "food" for "My house"?
(I think I find the answer to these as I read this passage with the above overlays.)
Why is it that in my immaturity that I always understood this (from pastors and teachers too) as bringing my MONETARY gifts... and sometimes as giving my TIME (a gift).... but not really about me being the "treasured possession" (Mal 3:17) of which I have "robbed" the Lord?
Vs 2:17 YOU (me) have wearied the LORD....
Yes, I do think this is true... forgive me Father for my lack of understanding of
Your heart that NEVER changes!
3:1 "I will send My messenger... suddenly the LORD you are seeking will come to
"HIS TEMPLE"'...
and what does scripture say is HIS "temple"?
3:3 "He will set as a refiner and purifier of silver... he will purify the Levites...
THEN the LORD will have men who will bring offering in righteousness..."
so as I am refined and purified... maybe that is my maturing... as in James 1... the "testing" (refining/purifying) of your faith develops perseverance (maturity)... my understanding goes beyond the flesh into the spiritual messages from the LORD
that my flesh cannot receive.
3:6 "I, the LORD do not change"
Oh thank YOU LORD... this is such a solace for my heart! in a world where everything is shifting and where right and wrong are merely situational ethics.... YOU NEVER CHANGE!
3:7 "Return to ME and I will return to you" says the LORD Almighty!!!!
so do you think that when something is stolen, it uses the same turn for rectification... "return it to it's rightful owner"?
What has been stolen? Of what was God "robbed"?
the people ask "how do we rob You?"
3:8 "in tithes and offerings"...
(here is where I believe God is showing me a deeper truth... one that, to some, still where I was, could seem rationalization for not bringing money or time into the "church" or congregation)
3:10 "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in MY HOUSE. Test Me in this, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit. Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a DELIGHTFUL LAND," says the LORD Almighty!!!"
What if...
the "House" is the body of Christ, the Bride?
What if...
the "food" we bring is the gifts that we have been given when in conjunction with the whole body operates in perfect unity and completeness? A banquet of just green beans is so much less than that of a feast of turkey/dressing/cranberry relish/potatoes/gravy/jello salad/fresh fruit/ along with the green beans and even dessert. It is an entire and complete meal enjoyed by the entire table/family!
What if...
the "pests" are disease and hindrances that prevent the yield (our crops) from being all it can be... maybe even our health for producing all our gifts allow for the Kingdom?
What if...
all the nations will call us blessed because we are complete... whole... the way things should be as the Creator designed it...
Isaiah 2:2-5
..."and all the nations will stream to it (the mountain of the LORDS TEMPLE!!).
Many peoples will come and say,
"come let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, tho the HOUSE of the GOD of Jacob.
He will teach us HIS ways, so that we may walk in His paths."
3:17 "THEY WILL BE MINE"... says the LORD Almighty... "in the day when I make up MY TREASURED POSSESSION"
are these not terms about ownership... what again is restored to the owner... what had been "robbed"... returned?
and finally.....
3:18 "And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not."
This morning began with wings around a sunrise.... and ended like this.....
Malachi 4:2
"But for you who revere MY name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall"
I praise the LORD for any word that HE wants to deposit in me... I thank HIM for truth beyond my simple heart and the fact that HE says HE wants me to know... I praise Him for the fact that HE NEVER CHANGES... but the fact that He is willing to change me.... from glory to glory... and from simple to less simple.... LORD keep me mindful of my flesh and how easily I get distracted from YOUR desires for me.... Help me LORD be what You've made me to be.... YOURS!
