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Num. 4
If any of the Levites touched or saw, even for a moment, any of the holy objects of the tabernacle and its service, they would die. It that fact doesn’t put a sense of reverence and awe in you, I don’t know what will. God is God, and we need to respect that. At the same time, because of God’s grace in the person of Jesus Christ, Paul points out, “…you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Rom. 8:15b).
So how do we reconcile the trusting familiarity of a father figure with the reverence of a most holy God? The answer that immediately comes to my mind is, with humble gratitude. We can freely approach God, throw our cares at His feet, find security in His lap, find comfort in His loving arms, and cry or laugh on His shoulder because He loves us and stopped at nothing to make that possible for us. But let us never forget that He is the One and Only, Holy, All-Powerful God.
Ps. 38
This Psalm graphically expresses the weight of our sin, which is something I think we really need to understand. I fear I am too often overly flippant about sin and grace; that I take too much for granted. That leads to living a lukewarm life and losing my first love. I don’t want to do that. Instead, I want to recognize God’s perfect holiness and comprehend the weight of my sin. Only then will I have a true appreciation of the immensity of His grace and the burden that He took from me. And that appreciation should affect the way I approach everything in this life and help me to keep God at the center.
SoS. 2
“My beloved responded and said to me, ‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along. For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers have already appeared in the land; the time has arrived for pruning the vines, and the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. The fig tree has ripened its figs, and the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance. Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come along!’ ” (SoS 2:10-13).
When I read that this morning, it made me think of Jesus’ second coming. For some reason, the transformation of winter into spring, and especially the ripening of the figs, brought to mind Jesus’ words to His disciples regarding His return. And I thought about how the bride in this Song is constantly seeking and waiting for her beloved. So I can imagine these words, at the appointed time, as Jesus’ gentle, loving call to go with Him to the place He has prepared for me.