Monday, December 10, 2007
The Book of Joshua 3:1-6 (NIV)
1 Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. 2 After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3 giving orders to the people: "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards [a] between you and the ark; do not go near it." 5 Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you."6 Joshua said to the priests, "Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people." So they took it up and went ahead of them.
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3 comments:
Here, the "ark of the covenant" representing the presence of the Lord, guides and leads Joshua and the Israelites. It's interesting to see how people were required to consecrate themselves (to cleanse and devote themselves)and to keep a distance of about a thousand yards between them and the ark. This passage gives us an idea how much the Israelites feared and trembled before the presence of God. Compared to that, we can really count ourselves to be fortunate enough to go close to Him every moment in our daily lives. The door to Him has been opened to us freely at no cost. We should seriously ask ourselves if we take this free gift with an appreciative heart.
I agree with Won Min. This also reminded me of the awesome power of God. I think people (including myself) often take God for granted now. Because we can approach Him directly now and have a personal relationship with Him, I often forget that He is God - totally awesome, infinite, omniscient, omnipresent, creator of the universe.
Even the fact that He inhabited the ark was amazing! I believe that if He had shown his full glory to the Israelites, without the ark as a buffer, His presence would have overwhelmed and destroyed the people. The people would be like bits of cotton that got too close to the sun.
I pray that I never forget the awesome power and mercy of the Lord.
To cleanse oneself... this is the preparation time before the Lord... again patience comes to my mind.
Even though these people didn't have direct relationship with the Lord, they followed his every detailed orders.
Here we are with gift of having direct relationship with God which the Israelites didn't have yet we still disobey him daily.
We are truly the "rich & blessed" children of God. In fact I feel that we are spoiled!
As we mediate the living word and grow in Christ, I want to step out of the children stage and mature so that I can live daily appreciating this gift we've received and truly live the life God has given us rather than merely existing.
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