Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Wow. This last week has been very hard at work. I am so overwhelmed that I have felt like I can’t even take time in the mornings to do my devotional and of course that is taking a toll on me. My armor and shield is down so I am prime bait for the enemy to torture me, and of course he is. We are coming down to the wire of our house being gone, one of my co-workers aren't taking me home any more and the other one told me this morning he is resigning so my rides into work will be gone in a couple of weeks. The good news is God has provided every day for our needs!! We have not gone without at all and He is faithful! This was one of my scripture readings today:

Psalm 131

1 My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.

2 But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.

3 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.

Tom has been fasting since Friday. I am glad because I have been praying that he would get a grip on his eating and turn that over to the Lord. This is not why he is fasting (which is good) but it is a side benefit I believe he is hoping to achieve while he is seeking God’s face and worshiping Him instead of eating. He is learning so much from the “Jesus has left the building” book! He is learning to challenge his thinking in many ways and not taking things at face value. We have spent the last couple of days rethinking why we are going through the HMI licensing path and decided this morning that we need to stick to it and go through the process whether we feel like we “need” it or not.

Tom’s parents have decided to buy a new town home and sell their house and Tom is going through some changes about that and we have decided to have him fly out for the “saying goodbye” to the house party. I know Tom is missing his family so this will be good for him to go. I wish I could go but we cannot afford to do that in many ways… I really want to quit my job in a big way and I feel like I am getting closer and closer to making that decision.

As I was reading the other scriptures in Luke 22 I noticed some things that I hadn’t seen before:

The Last Supper

7Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover."

I don’t remember knowing that he was betrayed on the same night as the Passover and the significance of that connection.

19And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me."

20In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

I also had not visualized the breaking of bread and the drinking of the cup as being at the beginning and the end of the meal. I guess because we have always taken communion one element after another, I have always pictured Jesus doing it that was as well. It made me think about when we do the house church that we would start off with a meal and have communion the same way…. Just a thought. I certainly don’t want anything to become a “formula” or “ritual” but I think it would be a neat way of partaking in our communion together.

45When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46"Why are you sleeping?" he asked them. "Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."

This is something else I hadn’t seen before; the disciples were “exhausted from sorrow”?? That really speaks of the possibility that they may have known more than the scriptures tell about what Jesus was about to do...? Or was there another reason for their exhausted sorrow?

The other thing I thought of was just the silliness of “the betrayal”. What I mean is, why would they take Jesus captive because one of his disciples showed them where he was? What did Judas say was the reason for His arrest? They had been looking for ways to arrest and kill Jesus for some time but didn’t because they feared the “people”. Why would this act change that? I realize that the bottom line was “it was His time” now and they couldn’t do it before then, because it wasn't his time, but still, it just seemed like a very simple and strange way in which to arrest and crucify someone. I am sure I am missing something here but it did make me think about this a little more.

Anyway, thank you Jesus for your Word that speaks to us and is alive and active, revealing the very nature of God to us every day. Thank you that you loved us so much that you were willing to sacrifice yourself, the sacrificial Passover lamb, for US, to pay the penalty and take our sins upon yourself so that we could be reconciled with God… What a truly amazing act of love you displayed for man kind. I love you Jesus and again, I thank you that you love me enough to do this. Please help me to “pick up my own cross” and die to myself daily for you. In Jesus name I pray.