Something.
- May 8
- 5 min read
Today’s theme that I’ll mull over is, “Yes, Lord. I’m with you. Help me.”
Let’s see what happens.
That’s how I ended last week’s piece, which I submitted to my webmistress at 9:45 a.m. Want to know what happened?
At 10:00 a.m., I went on a walk. I turned my thoughts toward the Lord, and He quickly began to “talk.” Gee, why am I surprised?
Structure (What to do)
He told me that the reason I move away from Him is that I become “unmoored” at times. As the Lord said that, He showed me a large ship moored to a dock, like a navy ship tied up in the naval yard at the shore. As the vessel bobbed on the tide, I watched the ropes slip, and the floating behemoth began to drift away. The picture quickly changed to the same ship, securely tied to the dock, being rearmed (spiritual warfare), restocked (God’s Word), refueled (Spirit-filled), and upgraded (sanctification – becoming more like Jesus).
It was clear. If I don’t start my day securely “tied to the Lord” and His Word, listening to His active word spoken to me via His Holy Spirit, it’s inevitable that I’ll drift. I’ll have started my day in a deficit, and I will soon feel like I have to pursue repentance and forgiveness throughout the day. Now I know the “throughout the day” issue is from the enemy, because forgiveness and cleansing are always available, as 1 John 1:8-9 says. That said, I also feel like I have to take time to sail back to the dock (reset my communication and sensitivity to the Lord) to maintain covenant faithfulness to Him and begin to receive all those things I listed above—rearming, restocking, refueling, upgrading, and getting repaired, if somehow, I’ve taken some hit from daily life.
So, I need structure, what to do every day, especially in the morning. I need to make sure I’m tied securely to the Lord and His Word, to make sure I stay on track, and not let important things, like Bible reading and meditating, slip by, which makes it easy for me to drift.
Order (When to do)
Next, the Lord pointed out to me that in Genesis 1, He set His creation in order. God is a God of order. I may have structure, what to do, but without order guiding me when to do what I should do, I also drift. I don’t know about you, but without order in my life, I’m often tempted to be driven by what I want to do, not by what’s best for me or what’s important.
As a famous comedian once quipped, “I’m no good on my own.” I need to remind myself what to do and when to do it.
As I write this, I’m reminded of the priests’ service in the Lord’s Tabernacle and Temple. They were tasked to “work (abad, serve) and watch (shamar, keep, guard, preserve)” when they were on duty. The Israelites were also called to do the same; to serve the Lord and guard/watch over/protect His word.
Interestingly, Adam was given this same assignment in Genesis 2. “Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it” (Genesis 2:15, italics author). The Couple’s job description was to work for the Lord by stewarding Eden and expanding its borders, and to protect Eden’s holy environment from impurity/defilement, just as the priests did in the Temple, and as the Israelites were to do in their relationship with the Lord and His word.
When you study the priests’/Levites’ duties, there is tremendous structure regarding what they were to do and the order in which to do it. Their duties were coordinated on an hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. When the nation stuck to the Lord’s structure and order, things went well, generally speaking.
However, one part proved challenging. That’s spelled out in the word, shamar, to guard and protect. “Aye, there’s the rub,” as Shakespeare wrote.
Purity/Cleanness (Why and How to do?)
The final piece the Lord showed me in this inspirational trifecta was the “guard yourself from impurity, defilement, pollution” aspect.
Adam and Eve failed because they followed Satan’s slithery words in Eden. They failed to boot the intruder out. They could have, you know. One shout out to the Lord about this temptation to rebel, and the Lord would have dealt with the threat to holiness and purity. Nope. Instead, the Couple capitulated, and all was lost. Only the Lord could restore it—but that’s a different topic.
The Israelites failed to guard themselves and their nation against defilement when they capitulated to the temptations attached to idol worship. “How cool! We get to serve a god and do what we want with its approval!” Crash. Burn.
The really sad part is that the priests and Levites even fell for it, enabling the spiritual desecration of the nation (2 Kings 23:5; Jeremiah 2:8).
Don’t think I’m pointing fingers. This is my problem as well. I suspect you also struggle with this.
We may have all the structure and order that we need to keep our communion with the Lord warm and active. But oh, how easy it is to let a little rebellion whisper in our ear. Once we capitulate, the ropes holding us to the Lord’s dock start slipping. And slip they will.
In the midst of all our structure and order, we must be vigilant at all times by talking and listening to the Lord and by being aware of our desires when they rise to mutiny against our Master and Commander. Keeping our lives ship-shape by living right facilitates proper structure and order.
So, these are the three things the Lord spoke to me after that moment of feeling absolutely nothing because I had let myself drift from the Lord for a while.
Structure – what to do, order – when to do it, and purity/cleanness – the why and how to make it all work together. That’s what I need to concentrate on. Perhaps you do, too.
All glory and thanks to Jesus for His grace, the Holy Spirit’s constant prodding, and the Father’s great love that won’t cast us off to drift over the horizon.
Now, that’s something.
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Shining the Light of God’s Truth on the Road Ahead
Pastor Jay Christianson
The Truth Barista, Frothy Thoughts