Thursday, September 10, 2015
A little hidden treasure
When I'm bored, or just for fun, or when I'm struggling, I will randomly choose a verse in the Bible to read, just to see what interesting treasures I can find.
One challenging day, I was suffering under a great load, desperately needing God's hand of protection and care over me.
In prayer, I was led to this particular verse: For the Lord your God moves about your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Deuteronomy 23:14.
I was overwhelmed with love for Jesus and for His direction to this verse. The verse had an amazing power to alleviate my concerns and offer me hope for His care. In my mind's eye, I could imagine a sort of warm cloud moving and covering the encampment of soldiers. It's almost as if the Spirit of God hung in the air like a low fog. I couldn't imagine anything more comforting.
As was my habit, I also read the verses around the beautiful passage but was somewhat shocked to see that this verse was offered to the Israelites to help them understand why the soldiers should go outside of camp to do their "business." Yup, that's right, this passage talked about human waste. Here's the passage in its entirety:
Designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. For the Lord your God moves about your camp to protect you and deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that He will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you. Deuteronomy 23:12-14
If I had read only that verse, I would have clung to a promise of God's protection without acknowledging that I had a responsibility as well. There is a lot of garbage I bring into my life that defiles the place where Jesus resides: my music, movies, thoughts, words, anger towards others, distractions, materialistic endeavors, etc.
I do believe that God was offering me a promise of His care and protection but it also helped me understand how sacred and precious His Spirit is. And how He greatly desires that His presence be honored by the removal of anything that would bring Him grief.
I still consider this verse one of the most fun treasures I've ever come across. Amidst discussion of human waste and slavery (the rest of the chapter), lies an illustration of God's presence in our lives. What a truth and a reality to ponder. Kind of draws a person into worship of such a gracious God, doesn't it?
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