JUDAH'S KNIGHTS TEMPLAR (2 Chronicles 23)

Earlier I noticed that one group of priests received the responsibility of guarding the Temple (the other divisions were music and offerings, I believe).  I didn't discuss in my "nibbles," however.

But today it jumped out at me again, so I decided to write about it. The priest Jehoida protected young Joash from the time his grandmother killed his father for seven years. Then he decided to act, to remove Athaliah from the throne, and to crown Joash.

To accomplish this, Jehoida turned to the one group he felt he could trust: his fellow Levites.

Do you remember the nibble where all the people, from infants to grown men, worshipped and went to war, only to find that all the enemy soldiers were dead?

This time, they didn't worship together. Instead, all of the Levit3es acted as soldiers.  Only one  thing mattered on that day: protecting the young king, the living reminder of God's promise that a son of David would always sit on Judah's throne. (Grandma Athaliah had killed all his uncles.)

Imagine this with me: suppose ministers from across the country met for a convention. Only, instead of worshipping together, or preaching, the leader split them into teams and furnished them with all the weapons they need. Of course preachers can also be fighting men, but most of us don't expect our pastors to stand guard at the church while carrying a a revolver.

Neither was their guard purely in defense.  They are told to "kill anyone who tries to break through your ranks." When it came to Athaliah, the death sentence had already been pronounced. They dragged her outside the Temple--to the smells of a corral--and killed her there.

I have often mentioned how God has something different for each of us to do. This is very true, in terms of my life's call.

However, at other times, God calls all of us to do the same thing at the same time. Even if we can't sing, we'll put on our choir robes, Even if we don't know the barrel of a gun from the trigger, we take a weapon in hand and march with the army.

Americans in general are too independent, too committed to free speech and the such, not to have some dissention among the ranks.

Neither do I think we should follow every leader blindly. We need only think of Hitler and Jim Jones to understand that truth.

But if God calls us to unified action, through our leaders, are we ready to listen? To obey?

Hmm. Maybe I should call today's post "God's Gun Store."

DRAFT NOTICE (Exodus 7)

I will have my way with Egypt and bring out my soldiers, my people the Israelites, from Egypt with mighty acts of judgment. (Exodus 7:4, MSG)

It's hard to imagine a less likely army than the Israelites. They were slaves, used to hard physical labor but with weak constitutions because of their living conditions. They obviously weren't unified (look at all the later squabbling), and they hadn't learned to think like free men. 

God called this group of ill-prepared, wishy washy, unwilling people His soldiers. No elite soldiers here. No volunteers, but all draftees. 

Unwilling soldiers with an unwilling general (God, please send someone else.)

These are the people God used to accomplish one of the most spectacular freedom marches in history?

Today God calls us His soldiers. At least that's the image He gave us through Paul, in Ephesians 6. He urges us to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power--the same power that freed the Israelites. He tells us to put on battle gear, the armor of God. 

So I'm at war. Today. Sitting here in my wheelchair.

The good news is that God won the battle. He knocked Pharaoh off his pedestal while the Israelites watched, ready to march when He gave the order. 

Sometimes I watch God at work. Other times I'm on the front line. But I'm always in the army, and God is always on my side. 

Muster up.