The Blood of the Lamb

I want chickens, but there's a problem.  I have been told by many owners of the productive fowl that when they stop laying, it's time for Sunday dinner.  

Now, some of you may think I am silly.  It's okay. I've already been told.  I just don't think I would be able to end the life of something that I have coddled and fed and petted and held and laughed at and kept warm in the winter and cool in the summer.  A chicken in my yard would be more like a precious pet, I'm afraid.  So, the idea of taking its life really doesn't "sit well" with me. 

Because of that, I can't imagine what the Old Testament Israelites must have had to go through in order to present a proper and useful sacrifice to the Lord.  Because sin was so vast and filthy in His sight (and still is, by the way), He required the most valuable - the most perfect specimen - be offered in place of the family's sin as a sacrifice.  

Often times, I'm sure the "sacrifice" was the most prized possession of the family.  It was their pet. The children raised it from a small little helpless creature, knowing that one day, that precious animal would have to spill it's life's blood for theirs.  

You see any other sacrifice wouldn't work.  The lamb had to be spotless, without defect - the best the family could bring.  

So, while reading I Peter 1:18-19 today, my mind got stuck there: "For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." 

The Israelites were required to bring their best as an offering to the Lord, because HE would one day, BRING HIS BEST, as an offering for them.  The God of Heaven - the God of love - would one day, take the life of His own Son, because as precious as those lambs were to the people, they were never good enough.  They weren't perfect.  God knew it.  The only perfect "Lamb" was Christ.  
So, let me encourage you to "get stuck there" today.  "Get stuck" in the idea that you no longer HAVE to bring something precious and valuable to God to appease His wrath.  You no longer HAVE to take the life of something that you love in order to just be able to stand in His sight.  

For through Jesus, HE did that for you. 

Thank You, Father, for the great gift of Your Son...really.  Forgive me when I take His death and preciousness of His gift so casually.  I thank You for Your love for me, even when I do.  Cleanse this calloused, hard heart and fill it with Your precious Spirit.  Thank You, Father, for Jesus.  

The Power of the Tongue

Finally, they were home.  The only thing left to do was to go in and take over.  

I'm speaking of the Israelite people, by the way.  They had been in slavery their whole lives, and yet now, they would finally have a land of their own...a freedom of their own.  No one and no thing - except God, Himself - would ever control them again.  No more beatings.  No more punishment through lack of food. No more torture.  Their lives would be their own, so to speak.  All they had to do was cross the Jordan and chase those who were on their property out of town. 

So, Moses sent twelve spies across the Jordan to spy out this Promised Land and to bring back samples of what was to be theirs.  The bounty they found was amazing.  It was just as God had told them.  All the spies agreed.  It was indeed a land flowing with milk and honey.  It was heaven on earth...  

BUT...  

You know, sometimes, that can be a really great contraction, boasting of great things to come. However, in this case, that three letter word meant huge trouble for the Israelites.  "But (ten of the spies said) "the people who have settled in the land are strong, and their cities are greatly fortified. We also saw the descendants of Anak (a giant).  Amalek lives throughout the Negev while the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country.  The Canaanites live by the sea and on the bank of the Jordan" (Num. 13:27-29).

In other words, ten of the spies came back freaking out.  They were scared to death of the "giants" and wanted nothing to do with the warring tribes they would have to face once they crossed over. 

Did they forget who God was?  Seems like it.  

It doesn't stop there, though.  Caleb and Joshua tried to quiet the people and encourage them, but the ten retaliated: "We can’t attack those people,” the men who were with him said, “because they’re too strong compared to us.” So they put out this false report to the Israelis about the land that they had explored: “The land that we’ve explored is one that devours its inhabitants. All the people whom we observed were giants. We also saw the Nephilim, the descendants of Anak. Compared to the Nephilim, as we see things, we’re like grasshoppers, and that’s their opinion of us!" (Num. 13:31-33).

And how do you think the Israelites responded?  How did God's people who watched the Egyptian army that threatened them be swallowed up in the rushing Red Sea respond to the news of the spies?  Why, of course, they trusted their God!  They decided that He was strong enough and big enough to conquer anything and any foe that they faced...giant or not!  

NOPE.  

Instead, the WHOLE assembly - hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of people - lifted up their voices and wept.  They were in such anguish at the thought of what was to come that they decided slavery was better than God's plan.  Aaron and Moses?  Well, they should be stoned, and then we'll find a new leader...one that would lead us back to Egypt.  

Sound silly?  Of course, it does, but more than anything, it sounds convicting.  James 3:5-6 says, "in the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts of great things.  Consider how small a spark sets a great forest on fire.  The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body.  It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire and is itself, set on fire by hell."  

Now, that's not to say the tongue does not have benefit when controlled by the Spirit.  However, when we allow the tongue to wander on its own, not minding what spews forth from it, people get hurt.  That particular generation of Israel NEVER got to see the Promised Land.  They never got to go home.  Instead, because of their disbelief, God condemned them to die in the wilderness. Their children would inherit the land, but only after dealing with being homeless for 40 years.   

And the reason...the uncontrolled, unbridled tongues of ten men.  We are talking hundreds of thousands (probably a million or more people's lives) were incredibly, detrimentally altered because of a few words.  

Now, does that put the power of our tongues in perspective? 

I hope it does for you, because it sure does for me.  I have the power of life and death wrapped up in this little tiny organ in my mouth.  May I choose today - and every day for the rest of my life - to speak words of life...to allow my speech to be directed by the One who created it.  I pray you will join me.  

Father, challenge my heart and convict me of anything that I have said that does not reflect who YOU are.  Forgive my disbelief and my disgruntled speech.  I trust You, Lord...in all things.