Building a tabernacle of meeting: The Goodness of God

I have always believed that God is infinitely good.  I cannot remember ever questioning that.  It just never made sense to think that a perfect God is anything less than perfectly good.  Despite all the bad and heartbreaking things I see, hear and even experience at the moment, I have to come back to the core of the matter – God’s character.  He is and remains infinitely good and every step He takes with mankind is meant for good, even if I from my perspective at a particular moment in time cannot see what the good is behind the moment that I perceive as ‘bad’.  In Romans 8:28 we read the following: 

²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. NKJ

In Hebrews 11:1 we read that faith is the substance of things we hope for – the evidence of things NOT seen.  In other words, in the context of God’s goodness in moments when ‘bad’ things happen, faith is the evidence of the fact that we believe God is good – even in those moments when ‘bad’ things happen, and we cannot see the good.  Faith is what gives our hope substance, it causes us to KNOW that ALL THINGS work together for good for those who love God… 

It is here in this place of faith that I can build – ‘a tent of meeting’, like David did in Psalm 27. 

Psalm 27

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
² When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
³ Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.

⁴ One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
⁵ For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.

⁶ And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;
Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.

⁷ Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
⁸ When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
⁹ Do not hide Your face from me;
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.
¹⁰ When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the Lord will take care of me.

¹¹ Teach me Your way, O Lord,
And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
¹² Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
¹³ I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.

¹⁴ Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!

It is when we struggle to see God’s goodness from our human perspective, that we need to retreat into our tent of meeting with Him – seeking His face, in faith believing that we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Unless we do that, we will lose heart.

Let us therefore sing and declare God’s goodness, let us praise Him and exalt Him above our fears and doubts.  Let us bring sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle declaring the goodness of God.

©HG Venter Jan 2021

 

Good, Good Father

Casting Crowns

 ©HG Venter Jan 2021

New years message 2021 Part 3: Building in the face of adversity

Monday devotions 18 January 2021

God’s Word records for us the lives of many of His servants that managed to build Kingdom in the face of adversity. Building in times when life is hard and all but a rose garden, is a great challenge that the body of Christ faces at this unprecedented time. It can be very daunting, and we may tend to feel discouraged, not knowing how to go forward. Let us take a quick look at some examples of how people still managed to build, even though life was hard for them. I am sure there may be more things that these people built but this is what stood out for me at present.

Moses

In Exodus 33:7-11 we read that Moses built a tent of meeting outside the camp where he and anyone else could retreat to, to speak to the Lord. I can imagine the hustle and bustle in the tent camp of thousands of Israelites, and nowhere to find a place to just be in God’s presence. Moses saw this need and built a place of meeting with God. It was here that God met him and where God spoke to him face to face as with a friend. It was here where Joshua stayed in the presence of God when Moses went back to work. It was here where the pillar of cloud by day and the fire of God by night was a visible sign of God’s presence with the people. Later, God formalized this temporary tabernacle when He gave Moses instructions how to build the tabernacle of His presence that eventually became the blueprint for the temple of Solomon in the Promised Land.

Hezekiah

In 2 Chronicles 32:2-4:30 and 2 Kings 20:20 we read how king Hezekiah built a tunnel that diverted the Gihon water springs into the pool of Siloam, so that the city will have water inside its walls. He was building in a time when they faced the mighty Assyrian army who was on its way to besiege Jerusalem.

Daniel

Daniel was but a teenager when he went into captivity to Babylon. He served in the court of several of the Babylonian kings with no hope to ever have the ‘normal’ life he must have dreamt of as a young boy. As far as we know he never had a family and never went back to Israel – yet he continuously built God’s Kingdom, even at the threat to his own life. He built with righteousness and integrity within an occult and corrupt government system to such an extent that the gentile king Nebuchadnezzar had to acknowledge that his God was the one and only true God.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah brought God’s word to a people in a time that nobody wanted to listen. No matter how much he prophesied, the people accused him of bringing fake news, while the fake news was hailed as truth. He is called the weeping prophet because he cried before God on behalf of the people and in the face of the hopelessness of him preaching but nobody hearing. God also sent words of hope to the people in captivity through Jeremiah that He will once again restore them when they return to Him – for some this only came true in the next generation, yet it was a word of hope for them to hold on to.

The Disciples

Jesus’s disciples built Kingdom with enthusiasm and passion through many trials, tribulations, and persecution. Paul says in Philippians 4 that he had learned to be content with what he has, for he has known lack, abundance, and distress. Paul was shipwrecked, Peter and many other disciples were imprisoned. Paul was assaulted and left for dead. All the disciples except for John died in service of the Messiah and was executed for their belief – their knowing – that Jesus had been resurrected. They built kingdom despite danger and even when facing death.

And so we can go on and on reading and learning from people who came before us who faced immense hardships and still built the Kingdom of God, because the Holy Spirit was with them, strengthened and encouraged them with the presence of God. Finally, let us take the following truths and lessons from the above with us into this year that now looks as challenging as climbing Mount Everest:

1. Let us build a “tent of meeting”, a place where we can go to encounter Him and let Him speak to us face to face.

2. God introduces Himself to us in the word as the “Fountain of Living Water” (John 4). Let us bring that spring of living water into the protection of the walls of the city where the enemy cannot get hold of it, for it is our “wellspring of life”.

3. Let us build with integrity in an environment where corruption and the darkness of occultism is growing day by day. As the darkness grows, let our light shine even brighter.

4. Let us bring hope to a world that has lost hope – proclaiming God’s goodness even when we do not see it manifest in our own life and time, holding on to God’s promises even when they will only manifest in the generations to come.

5. Let us build in the face of adversity and persecution – well knowing that this life is a temporary journey in a temporary dwelling, but that we are citizens of a heavenly Kingdom and our citizenship is everlasting.

 

Our Worship Song for this week is "Not even now" 

Alisa Turner 

 

©HG Venter January 2021