The Ark

As a young believer when first reading Exodus I found much of it to be dry and not really life-applicable. Several years ago my wife and I participate in a "LifeLight" Bible study at Hope Lutheran Church in West Seattle in which one of the modules carried us through the book of Exodus. If you get a chance to join a LifeLight study, please do so.

Among many other encouraging things the Lord showed me a wonderful message within the passages of Exodus. It is within the details of the Ark of the Covenant in Exodus 25. The observation is that the Ark was instructed to be made with Acacia wood. But the wood was to be covered with pure gold. Acacia wood is actually a fairly common wood.

Back then seeing how the Ark was made with a common wood and then covered with a precious metal did not make much of an impression on me. But as I was reading this again recently the Lord impressed it upon me further. I see this as nothing else but encouragment to know how believers (also common) is used for God's purpose. And not on our own. Just as the Acacia wood was covered by pure gold we are covered by grace through God's precious Son, Jesus. The Ark back then held the Testimony. So it is that we believers today hold the Testimony by the Holy Spirit. Finally notice that the atonement cover (the lid) was not made of wood. Rather it was made from pure gold. To me this signifies it is our Lord alone who is the atonement.

Psalm 104

This is a repost of an old blog from August 25th, 2003.

This morning I read Psalm 104, out loud. I find that I cannot really concentrate on scripture, so I read out loud. Mostly with Anita listening but even when she's not in the room. Anyway, this Psalm puts the world (weather, mountains, seas, the flood, animals, man) in a nutshell and from what it says God makes it and takes it away. It really puts focus on the Lord. We are bombarded with all sorts of worldly philosophy about these things, all devoid of God. But Psalm 104 wipes all that way. It's all about God.