Revenge

Leviticus 19:18 reminds me of several New Testament verses. See the sense of revelation really does not change that much from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Paraphrased this verse says "Do not take vengeance or bear any grudge against any of your people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

Deuteronomy 32:35 expands on the first part of this. "Vengeance is mine, says God, I will repay." This is a moral imperative we should all understand. Vengeance is too great for us. If we take vengeance into our own hands it will ruin us. I have only watched snippets of the new TV show Revenge. The main heroine has been working all season to take vengeance. Does it show emotional destruction? It should.

The second part of Leviticus is the golden rule, the opposite of revenge. This part is quoted by Jesus (Matthew 19:19). It is echoed in a different context in Mark 12:29-31. When Jesus summarizes the law, boiling it down to two principles, the second one is a quote of this part, "Love you neighbor as yourself." Leviticus 19:18 ends by stating "I am the LORD." Jesus begins this summary by proclaiming "The LORD our God is one Lord!" This is the "schema" to the Jews. It is the same affirmation implied by Leviticus - "I am the LORD."

These rules tell us a lot about the character of God. He will do the revenging. We can trust him to do what is necessary. To take it upon ourselves is to take on God's job. That's what got us into trouble in the first place in Eden, trying to be like God.

So let us remember the advice from Leviticus: 1) Do not take it upon ourselves to get revenge, and 2) Let's us love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Good advice.

another of Paul's lists

A wonderful list of gifts at Romans 12:6-8.

Paul knew having gifts was not enough to make them affective in the body of Christ. One must have the proper attitude.

I know some of these gifts are mine and I do need encouragement to have the proper attitude. In fact when I read this my first response is "Lord help me!" I know in my own strength I will come up very short.

prophesy - faith

service - serving

teacher - teaching

exhorter - exhortation (these llast three use the same root, Paul is simply saying "Do it.")

giver - liberality

leader - diligence

mercy - cheerfulness (for these Paul adds extra qualities that make them stronger, more effective)

The first four Paul is saying, Do it. Don't hold back. Don't be shy. Do it! With prophesy use all your faith. That is another way of saying don't do it half way. Prepare yourself. Using your faith has something to do with staying open to God, being close to God.

Mercy with cheerfulness is a hard one for me. We are all called to be merciful. It's a grace as well as a gift. I need to pray for cheerfulness, all the time.

I just love this list.

Romans - the Holy Spirit is given for all men

I spoke for a few minutes last Sunday (Pentecost Sunday) at a Bellaire retirement home, substituting for a couple who do a regular service there. So of course I accentuated the Holy Spirit. One thing I missed was that now the Holy Spirit is for all people, not just the Jews. I know I can't say everything there is to say about the Holy Spirit. What I said was pretty good. I think I need to slow down and be freer to repeat myself. But I did some repeating, especially on the part that was most important to me. I just always second guess myself afterwards. I would need my notes now to remind myself what I said.

I was glad that the man who spoke after me underscored some of my message before launching into his message. He used Memorial Day as his launching point. It was great. (I always love the fact that it takes so many of us to replace one couple, this time it was six people. That is a joke I tell each time. Repetition again. But its a cool thing. We had a Spirit filled time. I especially loved the worship.)

Paul, in Romans explains that the Jews were rejected, temporarily, so that the Gentiles could be chosen. The Holy Spirit is part of the deal. This part of God is now for all men, as Joel prophesied. But since the Jews rejected Jesus, God's messiah, God rejected them. God added in all the nations to be his people. It is like the parable Jesus spoke of the wedding feast. The chosen guests refused to come. So God dis-invited them and took in everyone else.

But on the other hand God's promises are forever! God's rejection is only temporary. Because God never takes back his promises. He promised Abraham that he would be their God forever. And God promised through Jesus Christ to save all those who believed on his name. God has promised. Have you believed on him? Do you believe that he keeps his promises specifically his promise to you? Even when we fail God is still faithful. By our actions we may be temporarily rejected but he is faithful to keep us his at the end of the day. Paul gets excited and praises God. I do too.

Romans 11:25-36 ^ For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery-so that you will not be wise in your own estimation-that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; ^ and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB." ^ "THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS." ^ From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; ^ for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. ^ For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, ^ so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. ^ For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. ^ Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! ^ For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, OR WHO BECAME HIS COUNSELOR? ^ Or WHO HAS FIRST GIVEN TO HIM THAT IT MIGHT BE PAID BACK TO HIM AGAIN? ^ For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

Central Texas impressions - politics too

First Best Western is in a lot of small towns. Also lots of Dollar Generals have taken over as the small town grocery. Best Westerns have rebuilt and making them very nice. And they are charging full price. You get big city amenities at big city prices. If there are small town local motels, like the old days but Best Western are no longer trying to compete. They are still pretty full. This business plan seems to be working. Dollar General has replaced HEB's as the local grocer. We have one next to us as a sort of all purpose ghetto store. In a small town they are the all purpose general store. I saw one defunct local grocery replaced, I guess, by the Dollar General chain.

We saw a lot of Texas stars on houses and few U.S. flags. Is that a slap at the way our national government is going?

County Squares are unique. I love to look at county squares. One thing I noticed this year is that each square has private offices, like title companies and special lawyers who no doubt practically have monopolies in the county. One county lawyer has his name prominently placed on an old shack in the square. I think he has a weird sense of humor.

John F. Kennedy famously said "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for you country. We have gone full circle. Barak Obama asks, "Why should you work? Those damn rich bastards owe you a living, a free lunch. This the first administration that is openly trying to buy the vote of the poor and lower middle class. More and more people are on the dole.

It is sad when people more and more think they deserve free stuff without working for it. This country was kept going by the many people who worked for what they got and even if they were not rich, they got by and were proud of being self sufficient. Obama and his type are telling people they should not have to work. The rich should pay for your sustenance. It's going to kill us as a country.

vacation

we have taken the week off to drive through little towns near the Brazos River. There is a brochure published by Texas Parks called "Texas Brazos Trail". We are following this trail with some side trips. We did the one called "Independence Trail" two years ago.

The first thing we notice is how green it is in the fields and along the side of the road. This area can be brown. But the spring has been pretty rainy for this area. Also all the man made ponds are very full of water. There is lots of corn fields doing well. There are few other crops in fields we are not sure the name of. We assume sorghum. I am pretty sure I saw a fairly new planting of beans, that would be soybean. But it is mostly corn.

We have seen cattle and some goats. A few vultures circle overhead. You hardly ever see big farm activity. Growing crops is mostly about planting and then lots of waiting and praying.

I love the unusual houses, the big houses, the turrets, the elaborate roofs, the county court houses, the town squares. We have been getting out to walk around the squares.

In Elgin we found the square curio shops pretty cheap. We did not need much, we bought a few familiar books to reread. Then we ate at a nice "buffet" restaurant off the square called the City Cafe. Not really an all you can eat buffet but the price is right. Different entrees offered each day, for the regulars so they won't get too bored. An entree and one side is $6.50. You get enough. The Dollar General Store is ubiquitous in these little towns. They serve as the center grocery store now and of course adds some other things. They are a little version of Wal-Mart.

We went to a Wal-Mart in Taylor. I got a nice battery charger for my phone. My old charger is acting up. But some of my rechargeables are bad. This new charger tells me which, that is very helpful.

We are staying in Salado today. This is the only motel we have seen here. This is called the Stagecoach Inn. Salado was a major stop for cattle trails and stagecoaches back in the day. Whether this was really an old stagecoach inn on not this place is playing off the nostalgia. We got in early yesterday and have been catching up on sleeping. Soon we need to move on.

I got a short walk this morning. There is a B&B next door but you have to know its there. There is a small artist area, very small and not very successful. But there is an active glassblowing place. That is neat. They have a wonderful flat statue of a man using a long pipe to blow a blue glass container. That might be nice to visit today before we leave here.

Pretty soon we need to check out and look for late breakfast.

God's indignation about sin - Psalm 38

I am reading Psalm 38 verses 1-3 "Rebuke me not in your wrath." "For your arrows have sunk deep." "There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation." "There is no health in my bones because of my sin."

I had a weird thought. Do death and sin have a direct connection? We remember death came into the world because of sin. There was no death before Adam sinned. Does sin directly cause sickness in people? Verses 1-8 imply such a relationship. or am I being too literal here. Our sin causes God's wrath and indignation. Does it cause dis-ease in us that makes us older and causes us to live a shorter period? Perhaps this is too literal. But it is a question that came to mind while reading this section.

We are burdened by our sins. It weighs us down, burdens us down, causes our legs to burn. It makes us sickly. Is this just an allegory or is it literally true? Sin did bring death into the world. We will all die. Are we like the novel, Picture of Dorian Gray, where the evil deeds of this man Dorian Gray end up on his portrait instead of his face as they are supposed to. Those evil lines and worry lines would be signs of his aging. Without this aging is the character living longer than he should. When he later slashes the painting in self loathing this act is like suicide. Is Oscar Wilde making the claim that our sins cause us to age? No probably not, he is writing a fantasy. Yet his fantasy world is close to reality. We often do think, perhaps wrongly that our cares, if not our sins, will become etched on our face.

We put a lot of store in healing of memories. i think we do harbor a hope that this healing will lessen our burden of sin and perhaps give us a better quality of life if not a longer life. But I think when we go in for prayer we usually choose to pray about awful memories of when people have sinned against us. I think often that is easier to share and perhaps simpler to unravel. But we would do better to pray about the sins we are ashamed of, the acts where we have sinned against people and need to forgive ourselves for and ask others for forgiveness, if we dare. In sinning we are ashamed of ourselves. We squash down the remembrance of the acts I think. But the act of pressing them down puts an awful burden on our minds and emotions.

We do not share these things because we are so ashamed. We do not want others knowing about the awful things we have done. The burden of sin is intolerable. So we try to forget. Even when we try to honest pray about these things they have been hidden in our subconscious for so long we cannot bring them to mind anymore.

Would praying through those things put more years on our lives? I am not sure. It would be good to resolve these things before God, pray for forgiveness for ourselves, make reparations when we can and when we dare. But it's awful hard. I usually prefer to make a general confession and put my hands into God's mercy. I do deserve to die and I will.

Psalm 38 continues, saying people are out to take advantage of his plight. He pleads with God to protect him. The he says he is guilty and he beseeches God for mercy and forgiveness. Then he ends by proclaiming God's faithfulness and his trust that God will forgive him and justify him in the end. After all this about his sin causing him to waste away he also states at the end that he is following good. That seems contradictory. Yet I can understand it. The psalmist knows that despite his sin, his iniquity God is still for him and he can ask God to help him. God is his only hope. I can sure identify with this psalm today.

Psalm 38:1-22

^ A Psalm of David, for a memorial. O LORD, rebuke me not in Your wrath, And chasten me not in Your burning anger. ^ For Your arrows have sunk deep into me, And Your hand has pressed down on me. ^ There is no soundness in my flesh because of Your indignation; There is no health in my bones because of my sin. ^ For my iniquities are gone over my head; As a heavy burden they weigh too much for me. ^ My wounds grow foul and fester Because of my folly. ^ I am bent over and greatly bowed down; I go mourning all day long. ^ For my loins are filled with burning, And there is no soundness in my flesh. ^ I am benumbed and badly crushed; I groan because of the agitation of my heart. ^ Lord, all my desire is before You; And my sighing is not hidden from You. ^ My heart throbs, my strength fails me; And the light of my eyes, even that has gone from me. ^ My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague; And my kinsmen stand afar off. ^ Those who seek my life lay snares for me; And those who seek to injure me have threatened destruction, And they devise treachery all day long. ^ But I, like a deaf man, do not hear; And I am like a mute man who does not open his mouth. ^ Yes, I am like a man who does not hear, And in whose mouth are no arguments. ^ For I hope in You, O LORD; You will answer, O Lord my God. ^ For I said, "May they not rejoice over me, Who, when my foot slips, would magnify themselves against me." ^ For I am ready to fall, And my sorrow is continually before me. ^ For I confess my iniquity; I am full of anxiety because of my sin. ^ But my enemies are vigorous and strong, And many are those who hate me wrongfully. ^ And those who repay evil for good, They oppose me, because I follow what is good. ^ Do not forsake me, O LORD; O my God, do not be far from me! ^ Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation!

I will arise

Reading an old ministry letter from Gary Wilkerson reminded me of a wonderful hymn we sing at Easter a lot.

Here are the lyrics:

I Will Arise

Silence fell upon the hill the day that Jesus died

He cried out it is finished and hope was crucified

The soldiers mocked and gambled for the robe that He had worn

The women wept His friends had fled, creation seemed to mourn

They took His broken body down and carried Him away

They laid Him in a borrowed tomb and then they sealed the grave

Hope it seemed was dead

Yet in their darkest hour would they remember what He said

I will arise I will arise

like the sun at dawn's first light I will arise

you can bury Me that day

seal the tomb and turn away

but the power of the grave will be denied

I will arise!

Gary is talking about how we do not know the end. Those who saw Jesus did not know what would happen to give victory. We too often think we are defeated. But we are not. We need to remember that arising also applies to us. We will arise with Jesus.

Wilkerson mentions that Satan too did not know what would happen. He thought he had won. This lyrics for this song does not include a verse that describes Satan thinking he had won. It's a wonderful verse. But I cannot find it online. Satan is a limited being just like we are. Only God can be in many places at once. Satan can only be in one place and you can bet he was observing Jesus die. He thought he had won. He thought now he would truly control the world. He was ready to dance. He invited his demons to rejoice and party. But soon there would be an earthquake and he would see Jesus alive. He would know he had lost and his efforts had only allowed a greater victory.

The lion Aslan's victory in the Lion Witch and the Wardrobe is meant to literally depict what Jesus did on the cross.

What do I do with my eyes?

Such a great question. It describes my self conscious problem succinctly. What do I do with my eyes/ I am very self conscious about this. That and my eating problem. I am very self conscious about my eating too.

I am a terrible failure at both. For most of my life I have stared too much especially at women (of course). When I see food I want to eat some. When I am not looking at food I am thinking at how I can create something to eat. I am planning what I will eat or not eat. Invariably I mess it up and fail. I eat more than I should and things I should not. All my efforts to reduce my eating have been failures. I still try. However that makes me very self conscious.

I was with a group of women Saturday morning, the wives of the offenders in our marriage class. We were leaving the jail for the last time. One of them used the expression "What do I do with my eyes?" It's a great way to express the problem. She mentioned that in certain situations she lowers her eyes. That rings a bell with me. At some time very early on in life, junior high maybe, I decided I would not lower my eyes as a sort of rebellion. Lowering my eyes, averting my eyes, seemed to be admitting defeat against those who teased me, put me down.

I am working to see it differently. Now I think of it as preferring the other. I do not want to send the wrong message, make people feel self conscious. I do not want to give the wrong impression. I am not trying to flirt. Quite the opposite. (I guess to some women staring, meeting someone's eyes looks like flirting - who knew?) So I consciously avert my eyes when passing someone now. This is all very self conscious. Will it ever be natural? Is it natural for some people? I do not think it will ever be natural for me. And I am still learning in this area.

I think I am doing better in this area. Who knows for sure? But in the food area I am still a bit failure. And I am still very self conscious too self conscious. I need to find things to keep my mind off food. It's like if I think "don't think about food, don't think about food ..." of course I am thinking about food. And I give in to temptation.

I know there is something, most fun and surely not important that I wanted to share. I've thought of it twice but both times did not write it down, darn!

Well we had the last marriage class last Saturday. We did it without food. I don't like it much but it did make it simpler. When asked for a reaction they all did not like it. The women wanted to "feed" their men. Of course the men liked. When I mentioned that they saved money it got quiet. That hit a chord. Yet they would rather spend the money, money they may not really have.

It was bittersweet. They have been maddening. Yet I will miss the times. I pray that they got something out of it to help their messages. But for this group it was mostly about seeing how much they could get over on the man.

Sunday night the Fowlers were in Scotland "for the last time" as Quin said. So we had a sub to lead us. It was a weird night. The leader had to play piano and come not keep time. For the most part we did it all right. We made it through safely. But I think the anthem, one we should do well, was disjointed. Maybe it was just me. It seemed off. And my section guy loves to go off on flights of musical fantasy. I think I enjoy the base line more than he does. That felt weird too.

I still can't think of it.

Oh Jim is in Boston, got up at 4:30 AM to get him to airport. I felt groggy all day. April is off at camp. So mom and I had the house to ourselves! We spent some time together, watch a 1944 movie called "It Happened Tomorrow". About a guy who gets a newspaper with tomorrow's news. Have you seen that idea before? Heh. Well it was a cute little film. No doubt an attempt at escapism during tough times of WW2.

Exodus 36

I am still going through this dry as dust part of Exodus. The details of the tent of meeting have little direct meaning for us today. Well we can think in general of God's attention to detail, of his presence to his people. God did not come as a man, but he wanted to be as present in his people's lives as he could be. This tent symbolized his presence with his people. God wanted them to know how much interest he had in being present to them.

I am still struck by the bright colors. Blue, purple, and scarlet (not red, the brightest red) are the brightest colors I can think of. Then gold, bronze, and silver are the brightest metals.

Bezalel is mentioned again as the chief designer, or artist. Surely he had men working for him. He would encourage these men to follow the design of God to the greatest detail. This was the design God gave them.

Judging by the great detail (MEGO) and the affirmations of the great doings that would occur in this holy building the men spared no effort to get it right, to do it perfectly. It would take men of skill to do it perfectly and well.

A lessor skilled person could do his best and still botch the job. It not only takes the will to do something right, but the ability. God gives the ability. Yet, no doubt these skilled men had trained, been apprenticed, and had lots of experience before attempting this great creation of their lives.

The description here is almost a repeat of a previous set of instructions. Despite my getting lost in the detail I think there are some slight additions made. Why the repetition? Are two sets of instructions better than one? Certain this underscores they fact that God sees every detail as important.

This movable tent of meeting did show the importance God felt about his presence to his people. Today God wants to be present to his people, both individually and in the church, the body of Christ that assembles together. We make our buildings special to signify God's presence and his character. God appreciates beauty. He is glad when we appreciate his creation and creativity.

Psalm 72

A royal psalm. Written by Solomon, this is the last of the first grouping of psalms. So many hymns and spiritual psalms take inspiration from this psalm.

The theme of this psalm is justice, justice especially for the poor and needy and righteous judgment altogether.

Solomon must be praying for himself in this psalm. Solomon was attributed much wisdom. Yet in his heart he must have known the basis of his wisdom was God's inspiration. He must have known his need for God in this. That would be the basis for his wisdom, his knowledge of his dependence on God. He looks to God as his source of wisdom.

If our leaders ruled wisely and gave righteous judgments there certainly would be more peace. A corrupt government can certainly create strife. When people are taken advantage of or oppressed there will be angry people. It would not solve all our strife and angry people. Selfish people will be angry even if they are given perfect judgment. They will think they should get better than they deserve.

God wants justice yet he is most concerned with the poor. He describes them in different ways: children of the needy, needy, afflicted. God vows to crush the oppressor. I guess the rich and powerful can take care of themselves. But God champions the poor. If you find yourself poor and without power, you should call on God, he is your champion.

God seems to be calling and predicting a king who will rule like this. He will live a long time. In fat "may his name live forever". These images seem to speak of someone greater than a mortal man. Now we see these allusions referring to the messiah to come who we now believe was (is) Jesus. Jesus has taken his place beside God in heaven and will some day come back to rule. His rule will be like this: righteous, perfect, and eternal.

Of Solomon. 1 Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. 2 He will [fn1] judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice. 3 The mountains will bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness. 4 He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor. 5 He will endure [fn2] as long as the sun, as long as the moon, through all generations. 6 He will be like rain falling on a mown field, like showers watering the earth. 7 In his days the righteous will flourish; prosperity will abound till the moon is no more. 8 He will rule from sea to sea and from the River [fn3] to the ends of the earth. [fn4] 9 The desert tribes will bow before him and his enemies will lick the dust. 10 The kings of Tarshish and of distant shores will bring tribute to him; the kings of Sheba and Seba will present him gifts. 11 All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him. 12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. 13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. 14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight. 15 Long may he live! May gold from Sheba be given him. May people ever pray for him and bless him all day long. 16 Let grain abound throughout the land; on the tops of the hills may it sway. Let its fruit flourish like Lebanon; let it thrive like the grass of the field. 17 May his name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun. All nations will be blessed through him, and they will call him blessed. 18 Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. 19 Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen. 20 This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse.

God explains the Sabbath

The sabbath is a covenant (Exodus 31:16-17), a sign between God and his people.

We still think the seven day week capped with a rest day is a good idea. The world over, time is divided into seven day units. one of them is a day of rest. This idea is used throughout the earth.

Did God first give the idea to men at Sinai? It could be that the week already existed in some form but God simply blessed it and made it holy to his people. God changed it but it did not begin here. Perhaps.

One might ask, "Why a seven day week?" Why not five or six or ten? Does anyone know? I do know there is a hypothesis that seven is about the limit to a man's perception ability. One cannot quickly see more than seven objects. We cannot keep in our brain more than seven names at a time. I think my limit is actually a bit less. To be able to hold seven at a time takes genius. But it is the human limit.

God provided a rest day. But how many of us actually use it for rest? I think God was saying we need rest. For our mental health we should take a day off. God certainly did not actually need rest. He is God. He rested as a model for us to follow. We need to have rest periods.

What defines rest? I think Sunday worship can be a time of rest, where we let go all of our cares and problems and praise God. We can get lost in looking to God. Rest needs to involve letting go of worries for a while. I don't think I could do it for a whole day. But an hour, even fifteen minutes would help my mental health a lot.

I can get busy with all sorts of distractions. I have a lot of little hobbies and pastimes along with some actual work. Are the hobbies rest time? Sometimes they add to the tension and pressure I feel. They do not do as much to relax me as a few minutes focusing on God, a quiet time if you will.

What does rest mean to you?

skilled craftsmen

I think that our culture does not give enough honor to skilled craftsmen. In this part of Exodus where the building of the tabernacle is ordered skilled craftsmen are mentioned a lot. It will take an effort to find the right people for the job. Mediocrity is not acceptable. In one or two places my translation uses the singular: "skilled craftsman". Is that significant?

In chapter 31 of Exodus some of the skilled craftsmen are honored by name. Bazalel and Oholiab. There are others. God says he has given them the gift of skill. Do you know skilled craftsmen? God has certainly given them a gift. There is the physical gift and the desire to excel. It takes both to be a skilled craftsman. And often the only thanks you get is the finished product. And for skilled craftsmen that is reward enough. God gives this gift. In Exodus it seems this is a gift from the Holy Spirit, who exists even in the time before Jesus came to earth.

I don't think we honor enough the craftsmen who build our churches and the decor and make them so beautiful. I do not think we honor our musicians, singers, and dancers who keep our worship beautiful, who lead us and keep us on pitch when we worship. Encourage a skillful craftsman that you know today.

God gives honor to two craftsmen here in Exodus 31. They are the others have been filled with the Holy Spirit to create the amazing Tent of Meeting and the altars.

Archaeologists and others admire some beautiful work found in ancient cities that are unearthed. These statues and jewelry and carved columns and such are the result of amazing skill. Even the frescoes found in Egyptian tombs show amazing artistry. They followed the artistic rules of their culture, often making very stylized works. But the craftsmanship of the artists is undoubted. We know the artist for many museum pieces. But for art from burial cities and tombs the artist is unknown. Yet still we can admire the craftsmanship of someone who lived thousands of years ago. Beauty has always been prized. Perhaps the artists of these works were honored more than we often do present day jewelers and sculptors. Perhaps not. But I bet the artists themselves found a great deal of satisfaction in the result of their creation. Maybe some of these sensed that their work would go on long after they lived.

The Tent of Meeting and the priestly robes were beautiful breathtaking creations. They helped God's people worship. They were tangible symbols of God's glory and majesty. Our churches too should reflect God's love, glory and majesty.

Exodus 30

Exodus 30 - Did you know God claimed an anointing oil recipe and incense recipe for himself? These two combinations can only be used in the worship celebrations at the Tent of Meeting. If you were caught using these recipes for yourself you were to be banished for the people of God. God sort of patented these recipes to be used only by him. This made them holy, set apart. This made these recipes special.

God is God, august and spectacular. He is not to be trifled with. He is great. He demands worship and awe. We do well to remember that always. All these preparations for worship, the buildings, the vestments, the incense and anointing oil are to demonstrate how special God it.