March 27

EXODUS 38
Living in Oklahoma, we experience many kinds of weather extremes. We’ve experienced temperatures as cold as twenty degrees below zero and as high as 115. We are known for our violent thunderstorms which produce destructive hail and tornadoes. We have the world’s highest incidence of tornadoes per square mile. When the rains do come, they seem to fall all at once. We were once known for being the “Dust Bowl.” In the thirties a combination of poor farming practices, poor water conservation methods and poor rainfall wreaked havoc upon the land. The last few years in Oklahoma have once again been a drought equal to, if not worse than, the 1930’s. Our ponds and lakes are literally drying up. If we have another year like the last two years, we are going to be in big trouble. We haven’t been in a dust bowl this time because the first dust bowl taught us that we needed to change our farming and water conservation practices, but even stored water eventually disappears if there is not enough rainfall. We have a population of 3,814,820 spread out over 68,594.92 square miles for an average of 54.7 persons per square mile. The state as a whole averaged 33.93 inches per year over the last 120 years.
Today’s passage tells us that their census revealed 603,550 men twenty years old or older at Mt. Sinai. If each man had a wife and two children, then there would have been 2,414,200 people, about 63% of the population of Oklahoma. The Sinai Peninsula receives less than 4 inches of rainfall per year (11% of the average rainfall of Oklahoma) and covers 23,000 square miles (33.5% of the size of Oklahoma). That is 63% of the people in 33.5% of the land receiving 11% of the rainfall of Oklahoma. Even that is deceiving, for the Israelites were all living together and not spread out over the Sinai. It would be like moving 2.5 million people into an area smaller than the Stillwater city limits of 28.3 square miles, about 113 people per acre. Having just moved to the area, they had no water collection projects, no ponds, no lakes, no cisterns. They only had natural lakes, wells and seasonal rivers, basically nothing. Providing the water, food and sewage needs for that number of people in a desert would have been a logistical nightmare! Talk about extremes! It would have been humanly impossible.
God’s glory is seen in His miraculous provision for them. He alone could have provided. Only food rained from heaven could have produced food needed for them to survive. Only water driven from the reservoirs of the underground could have met their need. How they managed the sewage, is a whole other topic! But God met their need! In the midst of a physical desert, He was preparing them to feast on His word. In the midst of dire need, He met both physical and spiritual need.
Can He meet my need/our need? Certainly He can, and He will! It is His glory to do it, but He has one requirement, which is that we trust and obey. Trust means that we are still long enough in His word, to hear His instruction. (Hearing His voice is part of what the furniture of the Tabernacle symbolizes.) Obedience is that when we hear, we do what He instructs. The result is that we will see His glory. There is no other option. Perhaps that is why we see so little of His glory today. We are unwilling to hear and obey. Never-the-less, His glory remains, and He awaits our hearing and obeying to reveal it. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 86
Look at this list of the glories of the Lord! He is merciful (3, 5, 13, 15). He makes us glad (4). He is good and ready to forgive (5). He listens to our prayers & supplications (6). He answers us (7). There is no one like Him (8, 10). He does great and wondrous things (10). He is truth (11, 15). He delivers me (13). He is full of compassion and longsuffering (15). He helps and comforts (17). With a resume like that, why are we so slow to praise Him in spirit and truth? David hits on the answer in verse 11. He pleads with the Lord to “unite” his heart to praise His name. Now wait a minute! This is the man whom God describes as a man after His own heart. This man has a problem with a divided heart. Oh there is hope for me!
I am so fractured. I know how wonderful the Lord is, but my heart is deceitful. It seeks to tell me not to trust Him with every detail of my life. It sees the appearance of the things that the system of this world offers. It hears the lure of the enemy whispering that the world’s system really will not kill me. I hear him saying that the world’s system can really make me wise. My heart hears the old nature whispering that the world’s system is pleasant and it will make me wise. Yet that list of what God is like tells me that the world, the enemy and my old nature are all liars! Oh God, unless You unite my heart, I am undone! Unite my heart that I might praise Your name! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

SONG OF SONGS 1
The Song of Songs has had four different approaches to its interpretation throughout the millennia.

1. Allegorical. Some approach it as a non-literal narrative that looks beyond the relationship between the lovers to a spiritual meaning of the relationship between Jehovah and Israel, and for the church between God and the church.
2. Typical. Some view the Song as a type of the love between Christ, the Bridegroom, and the church, His bride.
3. Literal. Some view the book as a portrayal of love songs or poems that are designed to extol human love.
4. Dramatic. Some view the book as a drama. The Shulamite, who has already given her heart to her shepherd, is taken by Solomon to be part of his harem. It concerns her resisting Solomon to remain pure to her true lover, the shepherd.

I tend toward a dramatic interpretation with a typical application. For the purposes of this Meditation on the Glory, this is the route I will take. I am not dogmatic upon this. Who knows, maybe next year I will take a different approach. But for right now, this is the one with which I am comfortable. Indeed, maybe when I am done with these eight chapters then I will say, “Nah, that just doesn’t fit.” On the other hand, I might be more convinced that it is the proper route to take. Besides if the literal approach is the proper one, then I have little to say for eight chapters, 117 verses, other than, “Love between married partners is good. Jesus invented it. For that, we should give him glory!!!”
Using the dramatic/typical approach, the Shulamite is a beautiful young maiden having older brothers and whose father is deceased. As such, she has been keeping a vineyard as part of her household responsibilities (v.5). In the process she has met a shepherd to whom she has pledged her love. Her opening statement (v.2) is a statement of longing to be with him again, but she has been abducted by the king to be part of his harem (v.4). She dreams out loud to go and find her shepherd lover (v.7). The court ladies are tired of her complaint and would be glad for one less rival, so they bid her go (v.8). King Solomon seeks to have her stay by promising her jewels like those with which he adorns his horses (v. 9-11). (Can you imagine wasting riches upon decorating horses with jewels?) The Shulamite in the banqueting room makes reference to king Solomon’s sitting in the circle of his friends. While she waits, she dreams of being with her Shepherd lover (13,14). Then she recalls a love dialogue (either of the past or one desired v. 15-17).
So what is the glory of Christ in this drama? If this is a type, then looking beyond the drama, we would see Solomon as a type of the world which constantly seeks to lure the Bride of Christ away from Him. The Shulamite is the church. The shepherd would be the Shepherd of our souls, our Lord Jesus Christ. In this drama, why should the Shulamite desire a simple shepherd as a husband over being one of king Solomon’s wives? There are at least two reasons. 1) With Solomon she will always be just one of a thousand. When he tires of her, he will move on to the next pretty face and body that strikes his fancy. O sure, she will still be well cared for in his harem, but she will always be missing that relationship for which she longs. 2) The shepherd has an intrinsic quality that is living and vibrant. His kisses are desirable. He has learned to fragrantly perfume his ointments. His name is pleasant. (Remember that in their culture, one’s name was a window to their soul, to their character, to their personality.) The bedroom for the shepherd is the pleasantness of green grass. His house is the shade of a large cedar. His rafters are fir trees. In the poetic, idyllic thought, what could be more pleasant than this setting during perfect weather in the springtime? This is the shepherd’s house.
So what is the glory of Christ? Unlike the world, which constantly seeks to seduce us and lure us into its bedroom, Christ is faithful. The world flashes promises of pleasure and prosperity, but in the end, it will only cast us aside. Jesus promises the pleasure of the sweetness of affection, his aroma, the faithfulness of His name. His house is indeed pulsing with real life. It is not made with wood, stone and metal. It is living and vibrant. It is better than the garden of Eden, which was perfect, and Adam and Eve needed no house. Recently I have met many who feel that they have been cheated or picked on by this world’s system. For them I would say one thing, “Jesus will give us what we need for His glory.” In the midst of giving us that, we can expect shelter, clothing and food for each day. We can expect the joy of His affection and the faithfulness of His name. Those things may not come in the form which we expect, but they will be there. Unlike the world, He does not use us up then throw us away. He allows us to live for His glory, and then He brings us into the glory of His home. Let us resist the seduction of the world and pursue His pleasure! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

LUKE 4:1-30
One thing the car had was power. When I was a freshman in college a high school friend of mine, two years younger, had just purchased a Camero. I forget the size of the engine. But, it was the largest Chevy could put in a Camero in the late 60't early 70's. He had a four barrel carburetor put on it. The first time I rode with him he said, "You wanna see what it will do?"
I said, "Sure," thinking we'd go out on the highway. Instead he stomped on the accelerator and off we went. As my eyes sunk to the back of my head, I remember thinking, "He's gonna hit someone." We were in a residential area, and I was afraid some kid might jump out in front of us. After a couple of seconds I said, "That's good enough." He let off the accelerator. The raw power in the engine was indeed impressive. In those few-however-many seconds we went from 0 to 55, and he seemed to have the intent to continue accelerating had I not said anything. The wisdom of accelerating in that neighborhood was indeed unimpressive. But I have to admit, that car had a lot of power.
Look at the glory of Jesus. He has all power as God. But as a man before the resurrection, He chose not to use that almighty power. Instead, as a man, He depended upon the Holy Spirit for His power. The Spirit took Him out in to the wilderness to show Him what He could do. It was 0-40 days without food, then the temptation set in. His first was to quit depending upon the Holy Spirit to have His hunger needs met. He had tremendous hunger pains at this time. It would have been easy to justify the inordinate use of His own power to meet His needs. After all, He was led there by the Spirit. He had not had anything to eat for 40 days. The fast was over. It was only right that He should have something and something now! But no, the Spirit would provide.
His second temptation was to side step the Spirit's path to the throne of David. If Satan would just relinquish his hold on the world why not do this one act and side step all the work. But no, the Spirit would provide.
His third temptation was to side step the Spirit's plan for humility. He could use His power to show the world how great He really was. There would be no need for people to be skeptical of His credentials or mistrust Him when even the Chief Priests would observe that He was rescued by angels! But no, the Spirit would provide.
Wow! Such power over sin is unbelievable! Lord, O I would that Your people might begin to avail themselves of this awesome power! But power did not stop at just victory over temptation. He had power to preach, power to heal and power to set free! This is the Jesus we follow! He has power that pushes our eyes to the back of our skull. It is awesome power. But it is power under control! His control! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john