Six Days of What?

       It was 1989 and we had just received the crushing news that we would never be able to become parents naturally.  At first it was not too bad.  After all, I had a God who was more than capable of any miracle needed, and He loved me ‘cause I’m His little girl’.  Month after month I believed He would do a miraculous healing and we would conceive, and month after month the evidence proved otherwise and a few days of depression would ensue.  After a year my faith failed and I shut out my Lord.  Why didn’t He heal?  Why didn’t He hear my cry?  I had so many whys.

       For my husband and myself, it was a very long wait to have children, well over six years from when we wanted to start and it certainly didn’t arrive the way we expected.  It took a homestudy, exposing our pasts and present, a few thousand dollars, and A LOT of waiting to finally have a daughter bless our lives.  We did not enjoy the wait; nobody I know loves to wait, but at some point of our lives we all have to do it. 

       So, I’m reading this morning in Exodus about Moses.  He and a bunch of people went up into the mountain, they saw God, and they ate.  (Ex. 24:9-11)  God commanded Moses to come to Him and so Moses and Joshua went up. (v. 13)  One question of many I have for this part of scripture is this:  it says, “And the glory of the Lord rested upon Mt. Sinai and the cloud covered it six days; the seventh day he called to Moses from the cloud.” (v. 16 TLB)  So… God calls Moses up, and then what...  He makes Moses wait. 

(It totally blows away the ‘and God rested on the seventh day’ thing!)

       What did Moses do for those six days?  He’d just seen God, ate in front of Him, gets called up and goes to Him just to wait around for the next- oh, um, 6 days or 144 hours.  Did he pray and fast?  Did he rest and relax?  Did he shoot the fat with Joshua and build campfires?  Did he sit there wondering what God was waiting for?  Was he impatient at waiting, or was he calm and cool?  I guess I won’t know until I meet him, but I do know it was worth the wait.  Moses was in the presence of God forty days and nights while God gave him direction.  Who wouldn’t love that?

       I hope someday to trust my Lord so completely that I can wait patiently whenever He wants me to wait.

Is. 40:31- But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.  KJV

Certainty

       When we are young children we believe our parents are right about everything they say; they seem to be the smartest people in the world.  As we increase our knowledge from outside sources we realize that sometimes there are others who know more than Mom or Dad.  Then as teenagers we often think our parents don’t know anything at all and so surely they couldn’t possibly understand anything we are going through.  Eventually we go out into the world on our own and we realize that Mom and Dad knew more than we gave them credit for.

       All through this cycle we thought we knew the truth, but it was based on our perceptions, our parents’ beliefs, or facts that we were taught through the educational system whether true or false.  Though science is a good thing, I have heard these two things stated.  Science is based around the current best explanation of an event given current facts observed.  That means basically scientific truths are always changing.  (seems unreliable to me)  Also, science isn't truth and it isn't certainty.  So if this is true, how can we trust what we currently hear or read?

       Now I will make a bold statement knowing that I have lived only a breath of time and with limited knowledge at that.  I say the Word of God (Jesus and the Bible*) is the Truth and we can be certain that eventually over time it will all (past, present, or future) be proven true.  In my brief existence it is proven more accurate yearly.  The disciple Luke wrote his book so that “you may know the certainty concerning the words which you were taught.”

The definition of certainty states:  Something that is 1a- fixed or settled, 1b- proved to be true 2- particular, 3- dependable, reliable, 4a- inevitable, 4b- incapable of failing, 5- assured in mind or action on the basis of objective evidence.  (Webster’s 9^th Dictionary)

       I really like the definition of certainty.  In which other person than Jesus can we rely?  In which other book can we find such certainty?  Not our history books which are biased based on our perceptions, nor our science books based on current theories, but the Word of God** which hasn’t changed in over 2000 years.  Another world ‘wise’ saying is: the only thing certain is uncertainty.  Well I surely don’t want to live life with such ambiguity!  My trust can only be given to that which is trustworthy.

I don’t want to base my life on a lie or misperception.  I want to base it on certain Truth.

That means Jesus… and the Word.

*John 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

**1 Thes. 2:13  …when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God…

2 Tim. 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. KJV



In His Presence

In Your presence, in Your presence

There is peace

In Your presence, in Your presence

There is joy

I will linger, I will stay

In Your presence day by day

Till Your likeness can be seen in me

       This is an old song I haven’t been able to get out of my head since yesterday- you know how that happens.  I tried to find out who wrote it, but the internet pages I checked out gave no answer other than anonymous.  It must have been someone who loved the Lord and wanted to spend time with Him, but also realized that His presence changes us*.  It should change us.

       When I look in my mirror, it’s not Jesus I see.  My face doesn’t glow like Moses or even some Christians I know.  The face that stares back at me has dark circles around the eyes, thinning hair and pores that should have improved by my age but haven’t (can you say acne!).  None of that physical stuff bugs me because it is just my shell and I expect it to age.  In fact, I take pride in the few gray hairs I have as they show I have survived this long! 

       What concerns me is my eyes.  Some days I see such sadness in them, and I know that it comes from the trials I have endured that have changed my life, mostly for the better but there are things that linger…  Other days I see weariness and I wonder how I will ever get through the next stage of this journey.  Then there are days when joy shines through and I think, “I need more days like this…”  But no matter what I see in the mirror, it is still not Jesus.  (Well, maybe there’s some similarity of facial hair. lol)

       I guess in the long run it doesn’t matter what I see, I mean, do we really see ourselves impartially anyway?  It doesn’t matter how others see us although we are to live our lives as best we can so as not to cause others to reject Christ because of our poor behaviour.  What really matters is how God sees us, and I’m just guessing here, but I don’t think He cares if our face glows.  He does care what’s in our hearts**. 

       Moreover shouldn’t we want to have His likeness be seen in us?  How else will the world find Him in such dark times?  We do want them to be saved, don’t we?  Then we have to be willing to put in some effort, even if that effort is finding time to spend in God’s presence- not always easy but soooo worth it!  It not only refocuses our eyes on Him instead of all the worldly cares around us***, but also changes our inner man.

Lord, help us all spend time in Your presence, and while we are there, change us to be like You.

*2Cor 3:18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. NIV Rom 8:29,  Gal. 4:19

**Heb. 4:13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable. NLT

1 Chr. 28:9 …for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. NKJV

***Rom. 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. NKJV