Hello Friend! My last blog post was a quick moment of REJOICING in all the Lord has done and provided thus far! I am so thankful to be so close to being fully funded, but still have a large personal budget to raise as well — message me if you want to know how to help with this!
I am in my last 6 weeks of my undergrad, ABOUT TO GRADUATE COLLEGE AND TRAVEL THE WORLD FOR JESUS!! This week I have been abnormally excited about all the wonderful opportunities ahead of me. All the excitement and all the final papers that need to be done, I bet you can imagine all the procrastination eating away at me. In fact, in this very moment I should be finishing a very lengthy reaction paper for my Master’s course, BUT I prayed this morning and Jesus said it is already finished and the battle is won. Soooo I have faith that the last nine pages of my reaction paper WILL be finished today at some point. LOL
I want to share a little quick encouragement with you. This week during my devotions I was reading Joshua 22, where Joshua was giving his final goodbye’s to the people of Israel. The tribes had just finished splitting up their allotment of land and were on their way home to live it up in the promised land. Years after fighting through trials and tribulations, losing an entire generation of people, and being homeless, the attention shifts to the Eastern tribes (Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh) whom build an altar to the Lord on the way home.
This altar caused all sorts of uproar. The rest of Israel, led by Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, was ready to go to war against the Eastern tribes. The altar had been accused of being dedicated to another god or it was an attempt to replace the Tabernacle? The rest of Israel cried out in disbelief remembering all the turmoil Achan had just caused and all the other rebellion in the past that kept them wandering around the desert.
The Eastern tribes quickly confronted this misconception and explained how the altar was not to another god, or a replacement for the Tabernacle, but an altar to be a reminder of the relationship both sides of Israel have with the LORD. Essentially, it was an altar of remembrance, thankfulness, and a landmark to show everyone they have a right to relationship with the LORD.
THIS IS MIND BLOWING —
This type of altar was NOT uncommon. We see people all throughout the Old Testament building altars to the Lord. What is uncommon here is that the Eastern tribes feel as though they have to create an altar to prove they are a part of Israel out of fear of being viewed as inferior. Phinehas is the ring-leader in the accusations, and was “satisfied” with the answer the Eastern tribes gave. HOWEVER, while reading this I was quickly reminded who Phinehas actually is.
Just like his Father who accused Hannah of being drunk when in fact she was just PRAYING, Phinehas accused the Eastern tribes of idolatry when they were honoring all God had done and they wanted to remember the moment. Why is it that the Priest and his son could not recognize holy moments? Both prayer and building altars are pure and seen throughout the Old Testament. We already know from 1 Samuel 2-4 that Eli and his sons are evil and die because of it!
HERES THE POINT —
Someone is always going to try to pervert the pureness of your worship to God. Your prayer, your altar, your obedience, someone is going to try to misinterpret it! Our job is not to retaliate in disgust and vengeance. Even though MY flesh wants to rise up and hit em’ with the ole’ razzle dazzle, I will not be my own defender. The best I can do is share my truth, and let God do the rest. 1 Peter 3:15 tells me to always be ready to give an answer for the hope that I have. I will answer and explain, but I cannot punish for misunderstanding. Phinehas could not argue against their reasoning, but the pain from being wrongly accused still stings sometimes. God doesn’t let the wicked go unpunished.
If someone has wrongly accused you, specifically inside the walls of the Church, you are not alone. I have and so have the Eastern Tribes. God ALWAYS redeems. Do not let the sting of wrong accusation steal the purity of your heart’s intentions. God sees you, and deals with the unrighteousness of believers.
ALSO PHINEHAS – YOU YO DADDY’S SON! Like begets like.
Leaders Don’t Quit!
Jordan
