Wednesday 08/07/13
Topic: The Fear of the Lord & Healing
Series – And He Healed them all:
The Fear of the Lord and Health VI.mp3
Key Text:
Prov. 3:7-8
Prov. 16:1-3
The Fear of the Lord and Healing…
Okay on the onset let me correct myself, one of my opening statement was that healing does NOT negate the aging of our bodies and that the scriptures are clear on the fact that even now in the New Covenant, death is still residing in our bodies -Rom. 8:10 and that our bodies are in a constant state of present decay – 2 Cor. 4:16. To illustrate this I used the example of Moses and perhaps I could not have found a worse example to illustrate my point. In fact, what it does is illustrate that for every rule there is an exception. For in Deut. 34:7 it says, “Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.”
So let me just say here…ooops!
What I was thinking of was Isaac and Jacob, who where both full of days and their eyes were dim before they died.
Gen. 27:1 “Now it came to pass, when Isaac was old and his eyes were so dim that he could not see, that he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son.” And he answered him, “Here I am.””
Gen. 48:10 “Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them.”
So one might ask, why would God preserve the sight of Moses and not of Abraham and Isaac? Is that not showing a respect of persons? Good question, and I will address it on Sunday 18, 2013 in the context of the fear of the Lord.
As for the rest of this message, I had been out of town for several days and so did not update my notes which resulted in re-teaching some things I already covered, but I think parts of this were actually better the second time around!
We spent most of this time examining what it looks like to fear the Lord in terms of His ownership over everything in our lives and our stewardship before Him regarding all of it. I mentioned that all people everywhere have a need for entering into and being caught up into a story line larger than their own lives. Something that offers them a sense of transcendence. It is why we get caught up in movies and TV series showing other people’s lives which are larger than life. It is why we are transfixed by heroism and its triumph over injustice while facing insurmountable odds. It is why sports and holidays attract so much attention and significance. This need is core to our humanity and its roots are in our basic need for the Divine. He IS our larger story to live in and He is our need for the transcendent. Recognizing this – not for our own benefit or to meet this basic need – but out of a clear understanding of WHO we are dealing with – springs forth a healthy beginning towards the fear of the Lord.
A great illustration of this which I mentioned as being found within Fyodor Dostoevsky’s brilliant series-novel, The Brothers Karamazov. His work is broken down into 12 smaller works (books) and in book 5 entitled, “Pro and Contra” Dostoevsky introduces the Grand Inquisitor.
It is actually a parable told by one of the characters “Ivan” to his brother “Alyosha” a young novice monk. In the parable, Jesus returns to earth during the time of the Inquisition and performs miracles mirroring those in His earthly ministry in Palestine. He is immediately arrested and sentenced to death by the Catholic church and told that they have no need for the miraculous and that His miracles will only lead to a loss of faith in converts. Though the thoughts about this segment in the book is wide and varied, I believe it to be a terrific example of man’s inborn NEED for the miraculous.
For more concerning this teaching please listen to the recording.