I've heard a large number of speakers in my lifetime.  Some have interesting subjects, but a horrible delivery.  Some have a great ability to deliver a speech, but nothing to say.  I heard a speaker last year where the guy who spoke had a terrible delivery style--really no style at all--really horrible, and had absolutely nothing to say.  That was the worst I've had to endure.

But every now and then, a rarity occurs.  You get to hear a superb speaker with a great delivery style who also has something to say that is interesting.  Last night I got to listen to a speaker like that.  I already knew the subject he was speaking on, however, he was so interesting to listen to, so fresh in the way he spoke, that he had my attention for the entire thirty minutes that he was speaking.

Holding someone's attention for thirty minutes is hard.  When I was a full time teacher at a college, (math) I programed fifteen minutes of talk and thirty minutes of hands on instruction.  Talking, and getting people to listen, is hard to do.  Showing them how to do it is easier.

Last night the speaker talked about the ways that people learn things.  I knew the subject--having lived with a Sociologist--Ken, after he retired from the Marines.  The speaker reiterated six ways we learn with interesting examples for each category.  Experience, knowledge we learn from experts in a field, reading, intuition, the five senses, common sense with reasoning, and revelation.  I knew these under different titles.  And am not completely sure that there aren't others.

But one thing I took away was his definition of wisdom.  Knowledge, gleaned from what we learn, needs to be coupled with understanding before it can produce wisdom.  What we do with the knowledge is what is important.  I'm sure you have all had teachers who knew a lot about their subject but didn't have a clue how to apply it to life.  I surely have had a few teachers like that.

I am reminded of the verse in Proverbs 4:7 which says, "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all your getting, get understanding."  It isn't what you know that saves you, it is understanding what to do with it.  Knowing everything ever written about Jesus is interesting, but understanding what you know, and accepting it into your life is the key to wisdom.

Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding (Proverbs 4:1-7).Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding (Proverbs 4:1-7).

Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding (Proverbs 4:1-7).Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding (Proverbs 4:1-7).Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding (Proverbs 4:1-7).


Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding (Proverbs 4:1-7).Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding (Proverbs 4:1-7).
Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding (Proverbs 4:1-7).

So, I'm addicted to lipstick.  What are you addicted to--I hope nothing that is damaging your body.  I hear that prescription opioid addiction is rampant in America.  Which reminds me of what they say about the fall of Rome.  It fell from within.  Rotted from the inside out.  And fell.  The way to conquer America is to wait.  We will die from the inside out if we don't get back to the principles we were founded on.  One nation under God.  His principles.  His priorities.

I can't help but remember that Rome began to use mercenaries to fight their wars.  We are now doing the same thing.  If you will sign up,  the government will pay you.  We have been in undeclared war for 14 years(?).  Those who are fighting it are not from a national draft.   And that being said, they are the only ones who have any skin in the game.  The rest of America just goes on doing what they have always done.  And the war goes on and on.

And those who sign up, go back, and go back--again and again.  They eventually get hurt, killed, quit, or end up with Ptsd.  Mercenaries.   Hired to do a job.  They end up being patriots who are not appreciated for the job they have done because the rest of America has no stake in the war.  Our sons have not been drafted.  We are free to go about our business.  Institute the draft and you will get the attention of every mother, father and 18 year old person in America.

The last time we had the draft, we were fighting a war in Vietnam.  The politicos thought that if we didn't get over there and fight that a "domino effect" would take place and that China and communism would move to take over all of those mid east countries.  The government drafted our young men to fight a war that we should not have been in.  And there was revolt on college campuses in America.  Young, 18 year old people changed the politics of our government.  We got out of the Vietnam war.  And communism didn't move in.  Neither did China.

Now, our business seems--more and more--to be addiction.  Addiction to things, drugs, sports, stuff, politics, money, sex, power--and on and on and on.   Entitlement.  We deserve all these things because we are Americans.  We have put our government into debt up to the hilt.  Trillions.  And China holds the paper.  They probably won't even have to fire a shot.  We have spoiled, glutted ourselves on God's blessings, and have discarded the God part of the equation.

Yesterday, I was getting ready to go out, and noticed that my current lipstick was at it's end.  (I use a brush to get the last bit out.)  So I opened the lipstick drawer to get another tube.  Yes, I said drawer--there's a bunch of tubes of lipstick--they need their own drawer.

I started using lipstick back when I was in the 8th or 9th grade, and through the years have purchased the latest color, hue, shade--whatever--that guaranteed to make my lips luscious.  Which, of course, never happened.  So by now, I have tried a zillion tubes of lipstick.  Which goes to show that a woman will believe anything that is guaranteed to make her look beautiful, pretty, attractive or just "better."  And of course, I couldn't ever throw any of those tubes away--it would mean I had given up.

And in addition to all the lipsticks I bought, back when my mom died I cleaned out her things because my dad couldn't bear to do it, and sure enough there were umpteen zillion tubes of lipstick in her lipstick "drawer."  Estee Lauder--gift with purchase items, etc., which had never been used.  So naturally I couldn't let them go to waste.  I took them home and added them to the lipsticks in my drawer.  Red, pink, mauve, umber, bronze, gloss, etc., etc., etc....

Well, yesterday, when I dipped into the drawer, I realized that even though I had bought two new lipsticks this year, there were only twenty or so lipsticks left out of the dozens and dozens and zillions that had accumulated through the years.  I had determined some time ago not to buy any more until I had used up the ones I had left--I do have a little will power.  (Yes, I bought two more this year, but they promised to make me look young again--what was I to do?)

I have been using up all those lipsticks for the last twenty years or so.  And was able to reduce the total to a manageable number, and yesterday, I gave up the designated drawer--so it could be used for something else.  And from all that, I have learned one important fact.  Lipstick doesn't work like the advertisements say it will.  But I heard the other day that there is a new kind out that may do it trick.  It's called a stain.  And I'm not going to buy it.

I am in lipstick recovery.

  

I found out that the Oklahoma Metropolitan Library in OK City will mail books free to senior citizens who are over 65.  All you have to do is call and enroll.  I have been receiving books by mail for a few weeks now and have already read over 20 books.  They even pay the postage.  Great service.

I love murder, mystery and mayhem.  And like for the book to have redeeming qualities as well.  And I am totally sick of the new trend to use language that I think is beneath my idea of intelligent communication.  So finding an author that I like is difficult.  Of course there is John Grisham--but I have read everything he has written already.

I ordered "Fahrenheit 451" yesterday.  I want to read it again.  None of the members in my Sunday class had ever heard of it!!  I was telling them that we are dependent for truth from the written accounts of those who have gone before us, and many times all we have are oral accounts--and Fahrenheit 451 is a classic on that subject.  I mentioned the book "Roots" as well, and only one person knew what I was talking about.  Am I ancient, out of date, or don't people read anymore?

I have to fit reading into everything else I am doing, but can usually read 3 to 4 books a week.  Reading is so much more satisfying than watching TV.  (Which I also do.  Mostly the news.)  I told you that my mom didn't make us do housework if we were reading, so of course, I always had my nose in a book.

I was reminded of my first experience of reading this week when I was working at the antique store, and because I didn't have anything to do most of the time, I picked up a comic book--Nancy and Sluggo.  I had completely forgotten about reading comics.  But pictures came into my mind of when we used to stack them up and meet the kids on our street and swap comics.  I bet I read a million of them.  Most of the ones I remember were from the 40's.

My mom just said, "Read."  So we did.  We read everything we could get our hands on.  We traded books as well as comics.  But the Bible is still my favorite.  Because it gives us a story that no other book can give.  Hope.  I just keep rereading it.  It never gets old.

I failed to mention when I was writing about the 23rd Psalm that we are likened to sheep over 200 times in the Bible.  And yet, we continue to behave as if we know everything.  By the time a person is into their mid to late twenties, it is hard to get their attention on the important things that God wants them to know and respond to.  Last week, over 25 young people in Bible school chose Christ.  And all of them old enough to understand and know what that meant.  "A little Child will lead them." is what the Bible says.  So true.

They say that it is an extreme rarity for someone over 40 to come to Christ.  Many times because they have strayed so far off the path that God wants them to follow that they don't know how to get back.  Their friends are not people who can help them get there.  They are" hardened" in their minds.  Unable to humble themselves and admit they have been wrong and need to repent and return to a God that loves them.  "...they will say...we are going to follow our own plans and...(they) will act according to the hardness of their evil heart."  Jeremiah 18:12

"For the heart of this people has become dull, with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return,  and I would heal them." Matthew 13:15

Sometimes those verses describe the reason people refuse God's mercy.  But sometimes  God's voice no longer reaches them.  Their ears no longer hear Him.  Their eyes no longer recognize Him.  And there comes a point that they reach a place...so far away...that they are blind and deaf and God gives up on them.

I have said before, that for me the most horrible verse in the Bible is Romans 1: 28, "And...as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them up..."  God gave up on them.  No hope.  No eternal future.  No ability to hear His voice or see his truth.  Utterly lost.

"...God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient..."  Things which are not moral in the eyes of God.  He left them to themselves.  "And every man did what was right in his own eyes."  If that is where you are, turn around.  "Seek me, and you will find me."

Yesterday was our last Bible School day.  Brady went home last night because his family is going to Dallas today.  And I can't go today...I have an appointment I made two months ago--but I still feel like a Bible School dropout.  (I feel like humming the Beauty School dropout tune from "Grease")

Sunday our lesson was on the 23 Psalm.  Piece of cake--right?  Well, even though I memorized it years ago, and must have taught the lesson who knows how many times, I learned some new things getting prepared for it.

I knew that sheep were dumb and that David was comparing himself (and you and I) to the sheep--who, left to themselves would end up dead.  And was saying that Jesus is the Shepherd that cares for us.  I knew that the sheep had to be hooked with the curve in the staff to be brought back into line.  I knew that sheep would chew the grass down to the roots rather than move to a green pasture where they would be better fed, (because their eyesight is only 15 feet), and that they needed "still" water so that they wouldn't get their wool soaked--which could drag them down and drown them.

What I didn't know was that if the shepherd had an errant sheep that kept straying, he would break one of the sheep's legs to keep him close to the herd so that the sheep wouldn't become prey for wolves, etc. Which, of course, is applicable to you and I when we keep wandering off into sinful practices.  God will do what is necessary--not because He wants to do us harm, but because He doesn't want us to do ourselves harm.

I also didn't know that when they had travelers who stopped and asked for a meal back then ("he prepares a table before me") that if you wanted the visitor to leave after they ate, you would fill their glass half full--and not refill it.  Which is a reference to the line, "...my cup runs over..." Because when you wanted the guest to stay and visit, you would fill their cup full, and keep it full.

I am always amazed at the new insight I receive every time I read scripture.  My cup runs over.

Chicken nuggets every day.  That's what Brady wants.  When we come home from Bible School, we have to stop at Chick Filet (Fillet?) first.  (I had never eaten there that I remember.)   I don't like chicken all that much--and every day, well, let's just say, I may not eat chicken again for a month or two.  Then we come home and Brady lets Squig and me take a nap--because Bible School is exhausting.  We run and jump and play at Bible School--and 5 year olds don't stop.  They are like the energizer bunny.  I am not.

The theme for the week has been the galaxy.   And how God created everything.  And how He created the first people.  Stars, moon, sun, animals...

The children liked the snake in the garden the best.  Of course.

To say the least, it has been an interesting week...I will be glad to get back to adults on Sunday.  But I couldn't help but be reminded this week of the scripture...

Proverbs 22:6,  "Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."  Which is such a comforting verse for a parent.  Especially when our children go astray from time to time.  The truth of God, that is put into their thoughts when they are young, is so important.  They always have a "fall back" position when they take a wrong path.  God will remind them.  God can lead them into righteousness if they know Him.  But we parents can lead them to God.

Brady has been singing our theme song and humming it under his breath after we come home each day.  It is in his thinking and memory.  "I love God, and He loves me..."

He helped me tie up the tomato bushes yesterday.  Singing.

I'm about sung out.  Today is our last day.  I'm going to miss him when he goes back home.

Mercy.  Now I am a 22 foot long paper cutter, tape it to the floor for doing handiwork person.  And a baking soda and vinegar mountain of fizz maker.  I cleaned ten wigglers hands, and tried to learn two songs.  (The ten wigglers had the song "down" before I learned the first two lines.)  If ever there was  a total misfit-kindergarten-worker, it has to be me.  But I'm trying.  And Brady is loving it.  One of the scriptures that came to my mind this week was Proverbs 4:1-4.

Listen, my sons, to a father's instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.  I give you sound learning, so do not forsake my teaching.  For I too was a son to my father, still tender and cherished by my mother...he taught me, and he said to me, "Take hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands and you will live" A good thing to remember this "Father's Day" week.

What that scripture is saying is that a boy learns from his father--who learned from his father.  Three generations--and on, and on, and on.  It is just as true for girls.  Learning always begins at home.  But Bible School helps us as we try to raise our children--and it is instrumental for teaching those children about God, those who do not get this training at home.

But the moral compass of a nation dies when fathers and mothers do not pass their faith on to the next generation.  And all across America, Sunday School for children, Bible study for adults, and attendance at church has dropped--astronomically--as our society has, in turn, become vile in so many ways.  Without a "True North" on a compass, we lose our direction.  Without  "True Words" for living our lives, our children and our children's children will not know who to listen to, what is right and what is wrong, nor which way leads to eternal life and peace.  The result is social chaos.

It reminds me of the exact warning God gave Israel in Judges 21:25, "In those days there was no king (leadership) in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes." (Social and moral chaos.)

We need one set of moral laws for everyone.  Laws that are trustworthy and true.  Only God can come close to giving us that.  He alone has a master plan for peace.  For joy.  For eternity.

This week I am doing something I have never done before in my life.  I am working in Bible School. I told the director that I would do whatever they wanted me to do, but that my only reason for volunteering was because my grandson Brady was going to stay with me for the week--and I was going to come to Bible School with him--since he lives in Moore and wouldn't know any of the children or the teachers here in Edmond.  I didn't know how he would do not knowing anyone.

So yesterday was our first day.  He did great.  Me--not so great.  I have always worked with teenagers--and 5 year olds were a bit much.  They wiggle.  They have a ten second attention span.  I have always preferred to work with 7th grade up--when they are ready to think about abstract things.  But, yesterday I played in play dough, colored with crayons, played on the play ground and made pictures of the moon.  Four more days and I can go back to reality.  Thank God for children's workers.  Years ago, I was more than happy to turn my own children over to them.

I am loving having Brady with me, however.  He was sweet enough to let me take a nap when we got home.  He loves my Koi pond and feeding the fish, and I recently had a hatching of dragon flies that kept him occupied.  (I also have great-grandchildren.)  Brady is Jon's son.  Jon came late in Ken's and my life and then didn't marry until he was older, and then--waited to have children.  So he has two boys the same age as my great-grandchildren.  I am a multi-generation grandmother.

God gives us gifts.  And as I watched the children's workers yesterday, I was amazed at their enthusiasm for the children.  They enjoyed what they were doing, and knew each child's name.  They played games that took mega-energy.  They really didn't need me, so for the most part, I watched.  I am glad that God's gift to me was teaching teenagers.  It takes all of us.  Doing it again tomorrow.

So was the "meat" of scripture on the Mercy Seat too much??  My son Scott (who also teaches a class in his church) thinks that Jesus was the sacrifice, the blood, the High Priest, and the Mercy Seat as well.  When we read the Bible, there are unanswered questions.  So "deep" study always leaves us asking for more.  I have a zillion questions to ask when I get to heaven.  The problem I have with Scott's way of thinking, is that the scripture in Hebrews that says that the earthly holy of holies was an exact pattern of the heavenly holy of holies.  Which would include a Mercy Seat being placed between the sacrifice--and God Himself.  Either way, we are saved by the death, blood and resurrection of Christ.  And the mercy of God is simply where the blood was, and is, placed.

"...without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin." Hebrews 9:22.  Without mercy from God, Christ's death would have been in vain.   We would be without hope.

Over twenty years ago, I started writing a book and this last week, I finished it.  The problem was editing it.  Taking stuff out, rewording what I left in.  Now to find a publisher.  Friends have sent me suggestions, so I guess the rest is up to me.  And you know, (because I told you so), I do procrastinate when there is something I don't particularly want to do--which usually involves finishing something.  I do eventually finish every thing I start, but twenty years later is a record.  I hear that in the last twenty years, self publishing has become the way to go.  I have to rev up the energy to care whether it is published or not.  I wrote it for myself, anyway.  I know, I know:  Bad attitude.

Becky is doing an estate sale for a woman who was a professional seamstress.  And in the middle of editing my book, and studying the scripture on the Mercy Seat, Becky has been bringing me hundreds and hundreds of yards of fabric to measure, fold, tape and get packaged for the estate sale.  The woman also was a quilter and there were almost a zillion pieces of quilting scraps to package.

I would read the Bible for awhile, then edit, then package fabric.  My attention span for any one thing is about twenty minutes.  But eventually I got all three tasks done.  I've said this before--I certainly don't recommend my method of doing what needs to be done.

So there you have it.  God told the people throughout the Old Testament that he was going to do something different.  The prophet Isaiah spoke for God (1:13) and said, "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord?  I am full of your burnt offerings...I don't delight in the blood of...lambs...Bring no more vain oblations."  In other words, God was saying, "This isn't working.  You people aren't repenting from sin,  you are just putting your belief in rituals.  I am going to do something drastically different.  Your insincerity makes me sick."

He then outlined the new plan--and the prophet Ezekiel explained it.  (36:26-7) "I am going to give you a new heart; I'm going to put a new spirit within you.  I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and will...put my spirit with you..."  Actually, this was the plan from the beginning.  The breath of God, the Holy Spirit living within us, guiding us from within and not by laws.

So he came.  He bled and died for us.  And now, the symbolism of the Mercy Seat comes into play.  We have the sacrifice--the Lamb of God.  We have the blood.  All we need is a High Priest and a Mercy Seat on which to spread His blood so that He can intervene; so we can be reconciled to God.

Heb. 9: 8,11-12 "...the way into the holiest of all (The Mercy Seat in heaven) was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was standing, which was a figure for the time...(Old Testament). But Christ came  as a High Priest..of a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, (greater, perfect, because it was in heaven) but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place (in heaven after his death) having obtained eternal redemption for us."

And to sum up what he was saying (and I will paraphrase), the writer of Hebrews said, (vs. 23-25) "There was an earthly pattern of things in heaven.  Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, (not the earthly holy of holies) but into heaven itself...not to offer himself often...every year with blood...but once...to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself."

Our High Priest spread his blood on that Mercy Seat in heavenly places for you, and for me.

God did nothing wrong.  His plan was to create man for fellowship--which is meaningless without free will.  When Ken asked me to marry him, I said no, but he continued to ask.  If it had been something that I had no choice about--an arranged marriage--Ken would have never known if I had chosen him back.  But of my own free will, eventually, I chose him because I fell in love with him.  The conditions were that I would be a Marine wife and all that that involved.  I knew that would be my life.  I would no longer live in Pryor near my folks.   I was starting a new life.

God must have wanted that.  He wanted you and I to choose him back, like He had first chosen us.  To love him like He loves us.  That was, and is, the only condition.  But we are rebellious.  We want our own way.  And His mercy, after our rebellion, is the only way back to God.  His mercy.  So that is why the Mercy Seat is so aptly named.  No other name would do.

God must have looked at man and said, "This sacrificial system isn't working.  Yearly sacrifices don't change their hearts.  So, I will become a man, live inside a physical body.  Take on all the restrictions that entails.  And then I will give myself up as a sacrifice for their sins.  I will shed my own blood for them.  And then, if they accept my condition, I will take up residence in their lives.  I will change them from the inside out.   My only condition is that they choose me back.  Give themselves to me."

The first Chapter of John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." Jesus was God himself, wrapped up in human flesh.  God, trying once and for all to convince us that He loved us and wanted our love in return and was willing to sacrifice himself for us.  "There is no greater love than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

A perfect Lamb.  Slaughtered.  Hung on a cross, shedding blood for sin.  Not just your sin.  Not just mine.  But he also took on all the sin of every person, including those who would ultimately reject him.  The sins of the world.  He is our sacrifice.  His blood the atoning price for mercy.

Life is the most precious thing on earth.  There is nothing, nothing, that runs a close second.  First human life, then animal life.  And when God designed a method by which men could become aware of their sins, He used something precious to make His point.   An animal.   The sin of Adam and Eve entailed the sacrifice of an animal to cover their bodies.  To cover their disobedience.

The Jewish sacrifice for sin was always an animal.  But it wasn't a wasted thing.  When the lamb was sacrificed, the people, and the Levites, ate the meat.  But they were forbidden to partake of the blood.  The blood was used as a symbol of sacrifice for atonement.  Like I said yesterday, atonement for a season of time.  Sacrifices were made on a regular basis, but once a year, the Levites chose a High Priest, who took the blood into a different room called the Holy of Holies--behind a huge high drape, and offered it on the Mercy Seat as atonement for the sins of the people.   The High Priest, alone, approached God and asked for His mercy for the people.

This room is described, in length--great length--in the Old Testament.  God outlined exactly how it would be constructed, and what would go where.  The Ark of the Covenant was central.  But the "Mercy Seat" was preeminent.  It was on, over, the Ark.   The High Priest--one man--took the blood, and spread it on the Mercy Seat for the sins of the people and God, true to His word, forgave them.

The thing the people needed, the thing they made a sacrifice for, was mercy.  Paul said in Hebrews 9:22 "...without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins."  Mercy is the thing we must have; the thing we long for when we recognize our condition.  Mercy.  When we recognize that those things that we have done wrong cannot be undone.  Mercy.  Pray God, not justice.  Never justice.

This priest wore special garments.  And had a rope tied to him in case he should touch the Mercy Seat and die.  No one else could go into this place where God was.  Where He met the High Priest.

When we read about Jesus being our High Priest in the New Testament, all of this comes into focus.

The people of the Old Testament were redeemed  exactly the same way that people are redeemed today.  By faith.  Either God will do what He says He will do, or He won't.  And you either believe Him, or you don't.  "Believing in God" are the operative words.

That said, to trust someone, you must know their nature.  You must know that they are dependable.  You must know that you can count on them.  And the purpose of the stories in the Old Testament are, in large part, stories to show us how people learned those lessons the hard way.  They lead us to see,  they teach us, through history, who God is and the content of His character.  And whether or not we can trust Him.  Whether He is dependable, or not.

The people would rebel, turn to their natural selfish, rebellious, sinful ways--against which they had been warned repeatedly by the God who created them.  He would give them slack, try to work with them to turn them around, show them mercy.  But eventually, punishment would come.  They would be miserable for a spell, then repent, return to God--and the cycle would start all over again.   Human nature hasn't changed.  We do the same thing today.

The concept of a sacrifice began in the garden of Eden (Read the second chapter of Genesis) when God covered Adam and Eve with skins--after they disobeyed.  They were naked and had no concept of nakedness before then.  He sacrificed an animal.  (Up to that point, man had been a vegetarian.) God shed blood as a covering for the sin that they had committed.

Sin is always disobedience.  The Bible even tells us in a number of places that if you don't know the "rule" then you can't break it.  Only when we knowingly go against God do we disobey.  And the shedding of blood to cover our rebellion against God prevails in those books of the OT.  

So God required repentance  from people of old just as he does today.  And their ceremony of repentance involved a sacrifice.  They had to give up something to seal the agreement.  And back then, it only lasted a year.  Then they had to do it again.  And again.  For the rest of their lives.

Every two or three weeks I get a personal letter, addressed in handwriting (not junk mail!) through my mail box--snail mail--from a sweet, sweet person in Pryor.  She is a generation younger than me, and has taken me on as a project.  To encourage, to let me know that I mean something in her life, or just to say hello.  Her name is Amy Smith

It is so uplifting when she makes a comment about the things I write.  She wrote to me last week about what I had said the week I talked about growing older, and said, "I pray I can treat older people in my life with much deserved respect..."
 
I figured that if I wrote about growing older, everyone would stop reading after the first day and wait until I had something "important" to say.  I figured that the only people who would like to read it would be people my age--who would agree with me.  Which they did.  I got many comments from older folks about how the things that I wrote were true, true, true.  But it was nice to hear a younger person's comment.

This week, I am going to write about The Mercy Seat of God.  Scott and I have been having an ongoing conversation about that.  It is a deep subject--and it isn't a necessary subject for a person to become a Christian.  But as we grow in our Christian lives, details about the story of Christ become interesting to us and we begin to dig for knowledge.

Knowledge doesn't save us, Faith in Christ saves us.  but knowledge enriches our lives.  Paul got disgusted with the Corinthian Christians (1 Cor. 3:1-3) because they didn't continue to grow in their spiritual lives and said, "...I could not speak to you as spiritual...but as to babies in Christ.  I have fed you with milk and not with meat because you were not able to bear it..."

So this week we are going to get meat.  Get ready to chew.

There are three categories of wrong-doing (sin).  The apostle John wrote in 1John 2:16 that they are a result of our nature, and the world we live in.  "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world."

The first is sexual--the flesh.  There are a multitude of ways to do the wrong things sexually.   The second is a desire for things that we see with our eyes.  A new car, house, dress, shoes....stuff.  But those two sins we can address and control if we have a desire to try to be in accordance with God's will.  However the third category is more subtle.  The pride of life.

Pride sneaks in before you know it.  You get a degree in college.  You get a promotion at work.  You become the CEO of a company.  Or you get elected by your peers to an office of importance.  Or maybe you are one of those people that God blessed with an attractive countenance.  You are pretty.  You are handsome.  Things are easy for you--and you start thinking you are special.

Pride is sneaky.  We want, we like, to be better than others.  We like the "Top Dog" feeling.  And before long we start thinking we are.  We start thinking that things should go the way we want them to--because we deserve it.  We've worked hard to get where we are.

Did you ever just stop and think that you could have been born somewhere else in the world besides America?  Or if you are like me, to some family that wasn't Christian.  Or born to a family that couldn't afford to send you to school--or didn't value education.  Or born to parents who were cruel, or drug addicts, etc. etc..   There are a zillion ways that God blessed you with opportunities that you didn't earn.  And didn't deserve.

So if you've "made it," and you are up there in the stratosphere that the world puts a high value on, remember that you didn't get there because you are special.  God had a purpose.  And it wasn't so you could buy more stuff.  Don't lose sight of how to use the things he has blessed you with.  And don't forget to mentor others who have not been so fortunate.  Help somebody.  Christ did.

This last week, I helped out at Edmond Antiques a couple of times.  I had never used a cash register in my life.  I had never used one of those credit card thing-a-ma-jigs either.  But I learned.  Amazing that at my age I learned to do something new.   But Pam (the owner) trusted me to do it.  Which means that I am not over the hill yet.

I find it interesting that we all learn new things in different ways.  I don't know how you learn, but my method is never by having someone "tell" me how to do something.  I have to be shown.  And then I have to touch it.  I don't do well reading instructions either, and I certainly know how to read.  But when I don't know what I am doing, reading about "how to do it" is like reading Greek.

When I taught math, I would tell the students what we were going to do, then show them on the board  how to go about it.  I worked out examples for them.  And most of the class would set to the task. But a few students just sat there confused--because they didn't learn that way.  They didn't learn by listening.  I had to go back to their desk and give them step by step instructions while they held a pencil in their hand.  But when they got it, they got it.

As a Bible teacher, you have the same problem.  You can talk all day long about what the Bible says, what God expects, and how to do "Christianity."  But if you aren't living it out in your own life, some of those people who are listening to you won't get it either.  But you can be sure they are watching.

It isn't about what you know, it's about what you do.  I've memorized a lot of scripture.  But people don't see what is in my head, they see what is in my life.

The book of James is a great piece of writing on how to behave.  He said, "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."

What have you been doing lately?  There is an old saying, "If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"

1146.  That's how many times I have written something to you.  I had no idea when I started writing that I would keep at it so long.  I thought I would write about the book of Genesis and be done.  But once I got into the swing of it, it became a part of my day.  More than just a habit, it became a purpose.  And now, it is a habit with a purpose.

What is it that makes us keep at something for the long haul?  For me, it is bull-headedness plus encouragement.  We all have personality traits.  One of mine is that if I say I'm going to do something, you can count on it to get done.  I'm gonna hang in there.  I will be on time.  I will show up if I commit myself.  I'll do what I say I am going to do.

But along the way, without encouragement, I sag.  I will "keep on keeping on," but my heart is not in it.  You may not know what is going on in my head, (because I stick to the task), but I need someone to tell me, "Atta-girl."  I don't know what makes me that way.  It just is what it is.

I know who some of you are.  But not all of you by a long shot.  Either way, when one of you tells me, or writes me to say, that something I wrote made you laugh, or made you think, or made you change the way you were doing something--I am totally recharged.  You lift my spirit.

As members of the human race, we affect each other.  We inspire each other.  Comfort, encourage, assist, befriend and uplift each other.  I wrote on the fruits of the Spirit yesterday.  Those fruits in the lives of others are a large part of what moves us in the right direction.  You are the light of the world.

Look at yourself with honesty.  Do you produce those kinds of fruit in your life?  Characteristics that lift the spirit of those around you.  Or do you let life get you down, cause you to be a stumbling block to others?  We are responsible for the people we touch--we are children of a King.  We represent Him.

It's not about you.  It's about others.

So God says you will be blessed if you don't get enmeshed with people who have abandoned His laws--His Word.  Psalms 1:2 tells us that this "Blessed" person looks like this: "..his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law he meditates..."  If you don't enjoy reading the Bible, you may have a case of the "Devil-may-care-attitude." (Or worse, sin-sickness?)  You need a dose of living water.

Sunday, I drew a fruit tree on the board, and a stream of water running beside it.  With apples on the tree, and apples that had fallen to the ground.  And then I read the next verse of the passage:

"And that person will be like a tree planted by the rivers of living water, that brings forth their fruit in due season; his leaf shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper."  Psalms 1:3

If God's word is the water in the stream, and you are planted in the right spot, (not walking in the counsel of the ungodly) your roots will draw water from that stream naturally.  His word will flow through you as the Holy Spirit, and produce fruit automatically.  It cures sin-sickness in a heartbeat!!

Galations 5:22 says, "...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance..." These characteristics are a natural result of the Spirit within you. And within each fruit, there is a seed.  A seed that can produce a new life.  You don't have to grunt and groan to produce fruit.  The water does the work.  People are drawn to love and kindness.

And you don't have to hit people over the head with a Bible.  But you do have to know how to explain God's plan, and explain how blessed you are to be a Christian.  Why you get excited about reading His Word. "Be ready always to give an answer of the hope that is within you..."

Remember, it is the Word of God that touches a person's heart.  "...His word will not return unto Him void, but will accomplish that which He intends for it to do..." Isaah 55:11. God is the one who saves people.  He does the "doing."  You are just the messenger.  The only thing you have to do is get planted in the right spot.  Next to the living water.  Get going.

We are starting a study of the Psalms.  The first Psalm was our lesson Sunday--and it is one of my favorites.  Verse 1 says:  "Happy (Blessed) is the man who does not...": 

1.  Walk in the counsel of the ungodly,

2.  Stand in the way of sinners, or

3  Sit in the seat of the scornful.

There is a progression here.  You start off by running with ungodly people, listening to them and their opinions (counsel).  Spending your spare time with them--just good old boys having a little fun.  The next step is that it becomes comfortable to you, and you stay--you "stand" in the place and with the people you have chosen to be around.  And eventually, you are stuck.  You sit down--you become a part of that crowd.  You are them.  

It's really hard to repent.  Sin is fun.  For a season.  If it wasn't, it wouldn't be any temptation at all.  And when you are "out there," doing what "they" are doing, Christianity looks boring.  Because you aren't involved in Christian activities with Christian people.  You are in a quagmire of the 1. Ungodly, 2. Sinful, and 3. Scornful people and can't seem to get back to where you should be.  And eventually, you don't want to--and begin to make fun of those dull, stuck in the mud Christian people.

You adopt an attitude that:  "Those people down at the church are a bunch of hypocrites."  Or, "All that preacher does is talk about money."  Etc. etc. etc.  Scorning. When really, they are just people who have decided that they can't do Christianity on their own and have taken the scripture to heart that says: "Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhort (encourage) one another..."  Hebrews 10: 25  This says that you become who you "assemble" with.

Tell me who you are running with and I will tell you what you are doing, and where you are headed.  If it isn't God's people, then it isn't pretty.  Don't fool yourself.  Get out of the quicksand while you can.  Before you're stuck for good. The most awful scripture in the Bible says, "God gave them up to a reprobate mind."                          

One woman said, "I worry that I'm not going to be able to take care of myself."  Another  said, "If that happens to me, would one of you please shoot me."  None of the women worried about dying, they just worried about the process.  Not being a burden to their family.  Not getting sick and needing help.  After everyone had talked for 30 minutes or so, one of them asked what bothered me the most about growing older.

"Well,"  I said, "I want to be useful.  I want to have purpose when I get up in the morning.  After 57 years of cooking, sewing, moving, working at my job teaching, raising four kids and taking care of Ken--staying really busy, I'm not much use to anyone anymore.  I wish my family would give me small things to do "with" them when they have a project going on.  Not just "for" them--although I really like to do things 'for' them."

"I would like to be included in activities--even if it means just sitting in a chair and watching--surely there is something left for me to do that is useful in the middle of what's going on.  But aging is a fact.  You can't do everything you used to do.  And you get the feeling that you are just in the way.  That you don't have anything useful to offer.  Basically that you are a lot of trouble and nobody wants to be bothered having you underfoot.  That sounds pitiful, but it is what it is."

I feel like I'm just killing time most days.  I feel like I am waiting.  On something.  On someone to need me to do something.  I've always been so busy doing things.  And now, I've become an appendage to other people's lives.   I've become more trouble than I'm worth messing with."

Pat called the other day and said, "Mom, I have a doctor's appointment and I want you to go with me. I need a Doberman in the room to help me listen and remember what he says."  That was nice.  She needed me.  She thinks I'm a guard dog.

Becky brought me a bunch of fabric for me to package for an estate sale.  That killed two days.  I had to do it by myself--which was okay; I didn't need help and I felt useful.  But I guess what I'm trying to say is that I miss doing things "with" people.  That's what has been hardest for me.

The next lady in the group said, "The thing that I find especially hard is not having anyone to talk to.  I don't know what I want to talk about, but when my husband was alive, there was someone around to answer a question--when I had one.  Someone to laugh about things with.  Nothing big, just someone to talk to--about nothing.  Someone who remembered the things that I remembered.  I don't have anyone like that anymore.  Part of the problem is that I haven't lived here for very many years and it takes time to make friends you can talk to about stupid stuff."

"Now, I go days without ever leaving the house.  And if I do go out, it's to the grocery store, or to fill the car up with gas, or go to the post-office or the bank.  But I don't really talk to anyone when I do those things."  She continued, "I've joined every activity my church offers.  I've made friends, and that helps, but it's not the same as talking with someone you really know."

"I do read more than I used to.  But I miss conversations like I used to have.  About nothing important.  With someone who likes the same things that I do.  I'm sure part of what I am feeling is grief--for something I can never get back.  But still, I wish I had someone to talk to everyday."

As I listened to her I thought about how thankful I am for Carolyn.  I talk to her on the phone almost every day.  About nothing.  She is in Pryor, I am in Edmond, but we've both been able to keep our friendship alive by talking every day.  And Sally calls me regularly.  And Becky Bacon.  I have truly been blessed by having close friends who stay in touch--although they live far away.  Life time friends.  Yes, I lost Ken, but I am not alone as long as I have my friends.  Someone close to talk to.

Carolyn told me that people in Pryor ask her what we talk about, and she said she told them, "I really don't know.  Nothing.  Everything.  I don't remember what we said today when I called her--but I'm sure it was important."  That's the kind of talk we all need.  Small talk.  About things we share.  About the things that are happening in their neck of the woods.  Talking, listening, is a comfort to us as we age.  God made us social critters.  We need people to talk to who care enough to listen.