Going “up”? If you would like to enjoy the ride and get to God’s ultimate destination for your life, I would suggest that you not take the “Shabbat elevator.”
The Shabbat (Sabbath) elevator can be found in apartment buildings all over Jerusalem and Israel. These elevators, which are specially rigged to stop on every floor during the weekly Jewish Sabbath (sundown Friday through sundown Saturday), provide for humorous fodder and frequent frustration for Gentiles and non-observant Jews. But the Shabbat elevator has come to represent something far greater to me. Every Shabbat, that crazy elevator reminds me of the blood of Christ, which was shed for me so that I might “ride to the top” of God’s ultimate purpose for my life—fellowship with Him.
Oh, I can hear it now. “Kristen’s over the top!” Her trip to the Holy Land has warped her brain and now she is spiritualizing everything—even elevator rides! I know it sounds a little wacky, but no more absurd than the motivation behind the Shabbat elevator. You see, observant Jews take God’s command to keep the Sabbath very seriously.
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates." ~Exodus 20:8-10
So seriously, in fact, that to push an elevator button, or flick a light switch, or even push the remote control for a Saturday World Cup game is considered “work”… and that is offensive to God.
“You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.” ~Exodus 31:13
So, elevators and lights are put on timers and Gentile friends are asked to come over and push a remote control button or flip a switch when necessary… all in the effort to please the Creator and Redeemer God, YHWH, who delivered the Jews out of the bondage of Egypt. Just think about all that He did to rescue His people from the oppressive grip of Pharaoh. And yet, some 3,400 years later, the Jews hold themselves in bondage—now slaves to elevators, light switches, and the schemes of man trying to gain and maintain righteousness before a Holy God.
Sadly, they have rejected the One Who came to offer His eternal righteousness to them and free them from a life of bondage.
“Then Jesus said to them, ‘The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.’” ~Luke 6:5
This 4th of July weekend, as I reflect on “freedom” and as I have watched another Shabbat come and go, I am praising my Savior for rescuing me from the bondage of sin, as well as the bondage of man-made schemes to attain righteousness. Jesus Christ—the Lord of the Sabbath—has given me a free ride to the top. There is nothing I have done or can do (no button I can push or avoid pushing) to earn His righteousness and His promise of eternal life. It is a gift, offered on the Cross through His blood.
So, are you “going up?” Don’t take the Shabbat elevator. It may promise to lead to freedom, but it always stops at bondage (on every floor!).
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourslef in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Want to Know More About God? Look at a Camel!
I recently took a camel ride in Jerusalem. Then a friend sent me this article written by Bob Devine and published by Moody. I must say, I have new respect for my camel friend "Kojak" (see picture) and am in more awe than ever before for our Creator God.
Meet The Camel
If you ever doubted that God exists, meet the Very Technical, Highly Engineered Dromedary Camel. by Bob Devine
When I'm hungry, I'll eat almost anything-a leather bridle, a piece of rope, my master's tent, or a pair of shoes. My mouth is so tough a thorny cactus doesn't bother it. I love to chow down grass and other plants that grow here on the Arabian desert.
I'm a dromedary camel, the one-hump kind that lives on hot deserts in the Middle East.
My hump, all eighty pounds of it, is filled with fat-my body fuel-not water as some people believe. My Mighty Maker gave it to me because He knew I wouldn't always be able to find food as I travel across the hot sands. When I don't find any chow, my body automatically takes fat from the hump, feeds my system, and keeps me going strong. This is my emergency food supply.
If I can't find any plants to munch, my body uses up my hump. When the hump gets smaller, it starts to tip to one side. But when I get to a nice oasis and begin to eat again, my hump soon builds back to normal.I've been known to drink twenty-seven gallons of water in ten minutes. My Master Designer made me in such a fantastic way that in a matter of minutes all the water I've swallowed travels to the billions of microscopic cells that make up my flesh.
Naturally, the water I swallow first goes into my stomach. There thirsty blood vessels absorb and carry it to every part of my body. Scientists have tested my stomach and found it empty ten minutes after I've drunk twenty gallons.
In an eighty hour day I can carry a four hundred pound load a hundred miles across a hot, dry desert and not stop once for a drink or something to eat. In fact, I've been known to go eight days without a drink, but then I look a wreck. I lose 227 pounds, my ribs show through my skin, and I look terribly skinny. But I feel great! I look thin because the billions of cells lose their water. They're no longer fat. They're flat.
Normally my blood contains 94 percent water, just like yours. But when I can't find any water to drink, the heat of the sun gradually robs a little water out of my blood. Scientists have found that my blood can lose up to 40 percent of its water, and I'm still healthy. Doctor's say human blood has to stay very close to 94 percent water. If you lose 5 percent of it, you can't see anymore; 10 percent, you can't hear and you go insane; 12 percent, your blood is as thick as molasses and your heart can't pump the thick stuff. It stops, and you're dead.But that's not true with me. Why? Scientists say my blood is different. My red cells are elongated. Yours are round. Maybe that's what makes the difference. This proves I'm designed for the desert, or the desert is designed for me. Did you ever hear of a design without a Designer?
After I find a water hole, I'll drink for about ten minutes and my skinny body starts to change almost immediately. In that short time my body fills out nicely, I don't look skinny anymore, and I gain back the 227 pounds I lost. Even though I lose a lot of water on the desert, my body conserves it too. Way in the beginning when my intelligent Engineer made me, He gave me a specially designed nose that saves water. When I exhale, I don't lose much. My nose traps that warm, moist air from my lungs and absorbs it in my nasal membranes. Tiny blood vessels in those membranes take that back into my blood. How's that for a recycling system? Pretty cool, isn't it. It works because my nose is cool. My cool nose changes that warm moisture in the air from my lungs into water.But how does my nose get cool? I breath in hot dry desert air, and it goes through my wet nasal passages. This produces a cooling effect, and my nose stays as much as 18 degrees cooler than the rest of my body.
I love to travel the beautiful sand dunes. It's really quite easy, because my Creator gave me specially engineered sand shoes for feet. My hooves are wide, and they get even wider when I step on them.Each foot ha s two long, bony toes with tough, leathery skin between, My soles are a little like webbed feet. They won't let me wink into the soft, drifting sand. This is good, because often my master wants me to carry him one hundred miles across the desert in just one day. (I troop about ten miles per hour.)
Sometimes a big windstorm comes out of nowhere, bringing flying sand with it. My Master Designer put special muscles in my nostrils that close the openings, keeping sand out of my nose but still allowing me enough air to breathe. My eyelashes arch down over my eyes like screens, keeping the sand and sun out but still letting me see clearly. If a grain of sand slips through and gets in my eye, the Creator took care of that too. He gave me an inner eyelid that automatically wipes the sand off my eyeball just like a windshield wiper. Some people think I'm conceited because I always walk around with my head held high and my nose in the air. But that's just because of the way I'm made. My eyebrows are so thick and busy I have to hold my head high to peek out from underneath them. I'm glad I have them though. They shade my eyes from the bright sun.
Desert people depend on me for many things. Not only am I their best form of transportation, but I'm also their grocery store. Mrs. Camel gives very rich milk that people make into butter and cheese. I shed my thick fur coat once a year, and that can be woven into cloth. A few young camels are used for beef, but I don't like to talk about that.
For a long time we camels have been called the "ships of the desert" because of the way we sway from side to side when we trot. Some of our riders get seasick.I sway from side to side because of the way my legs work. Both legs on one side move forward at the same time, elevating that side. My "left, right left, right" motion makes my rider feel like he is in a rocking chair going sideways.
When I was six months old, special knee pads started to grow on my front legs. The intelligent Creator knew I had to have them. They help me lower my 1000 pounds to the ground. If I didn't have them, my knees would soon become sore and infected, and I could never lie down. I'd die of exhaustion.By the way, I don't get thick knee pads because I fall on my knees. I fall on my knees because I already have these tough pads. Someone very great thought of me and knew I needed them. He designed them into my genes.
It's real difficult for me to understand how some people say I evolved into what I now am. I'm _very technical, highly engineered dromedary camel. Things like me don't just happen. They're planned on a drawing board by Someone very brilliant, Someone very logical.
John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The Word means "logical, intelligent One."Verse 3 says, "All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made."
Who was the Word? Look at verse 14. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory." Who was made all flesh? The Lord Jesus Christ, the Word who created everything, including the dromedary camel.
by Bob Devine
Reprinted by permission from Moody/September 1981
Mr. Devine is the creator and narrator of "The Storybook Room" on Moody radio and the author of eight children's books on nature (Moody Press).
Meet The Camel
If you ever doubted that God exists, meet the Very Technical, Highly Engineered Dromedary Camel. by Bob Devine
When I'm hungry, I'll eat almost anything-a leather bridle, a piece of rope, my master's tent, or a pair of shoes. My mouth is so tough a thorny cactus doesn't bother it. I love to chow down grass and other plants that grow here on the Arabian desert.
I'm a dromedary camel, the one-hump kind that lives on hot deserts in the Middle East.
My hump, all eighty pounds of it, is filled with fat-my body fuel-not water as some people believe. My Mighty Maker gave it to me because He knew I wouldn't always be able to find food as I travel across the hot sands. When I don't find any chow, my body automatically takes fat from the hump, feeds my system, and keeps me going strong. This is my emergency food supply.
If I can't find any plants to munch, my body uses up my hump. When the hump gets smaller, it starts to tip to one side. But when I get to a nice oasis and begin to eat again, my hump soon builds back to normal.I've been known to drink twenty-seven gallons of water in ten minutes. My Master Designer made me in such a fantastic way that in a matter of minutes all the water I've swallowed travels to the billions of microscopic cells that make up my flesh.
Naturally, the water I swallow first goes into my stomach. There thirsty blood vessels absorb and carry it to every part of my body. Scientists have tested my stomach and found it empty ten minutes after I've drunk twenty gallons.
In an eighty hour day I can carry a four hundred pound load a hundred miles across a hot, dry desert and not stop once for a drink or something to eat. In fact, I've been known to go eight days without a drink, but then I look a wreck. I lose 227 pounds, my ribs show through my skin, and I look terribly skinny. But I feel great! I look thin because the billions of cells lose their water. They're no longer fat. They're flat.
Normally my blood contains 94 percent water, just like yours. But when I can't find any water to drink, the heat of the sun gradually robs a little water out of my blood. Scientists have found that my blood can lose up to 40 percent of its water, and I'm still healthy. Doctor's say human blood has to stay very close to 94 percent water. If you lose 5 percent of it, you can't see anymore; 10 percent, you can't hear and you go insane; 12 percent, your blood is as thick as molasses and your heart can't pump the thick stuff. It stops, and you're dead.But that's not true with me. Why? Scientists say my blood is different. My red cells are elongated. Yours are round. Maybe that's what makes the difference. This proves I'm designed for the desert, or the desert is designed for me. Did you ever hear of a design without a Designer?
After I find a water hole, I'll drink for about ten minutes and my skinny body starts to change almost immediately. In that short time my body fills out nicely, I don't look skinny anymore, and I gain back the 227 pounds I lost. Even though I lose a lot of water on the desert, my body conserves it too. Way in the beginning when my intelligent Engineer made me, He gave me a specially designed nose that saves water. When I exhale, I don't lose much. My nose traps that warm, moist air from my lungs and absorbs it in my nasal membranes. Tiny blood vessels in those membranes take that back into my blood. How's that for a recycling system? Pretty cool, isn't it. It works because my nose is cool. My cool nose changes that warm moisture in the air from my lungs into water.But how does my nose get cool? I breath in hot dry desert air, and it goes through my wet nasal passages. This produces a cooling effect, and my nose stays as much as 18 degrees cooler than the rest of my body.
I love to travel the beautiful sand dunes. It's really quite easy, because my Creator gave me specially engineered sand shoes for feet. My hooves are wide, and they get even wider when I step on them.Each foot ha s two long, bony toes with tough, leathery skin between, My soles are a little like webbed feet. They won't let me wink into the soft, drifting sand. This is good, because often my master wants me to carry him one hundred miles across the desert in just one day. (I troop about ten miles per hour.)
Sometimes a big windstorm comes out of nowhere, bringing flying sand with it. My Master Designer put special muscles in my nostrils that close the openings, keeping sand out of my nose but still allowing me enough air to breathe. My eyelashes arch down over my eyes like screens, keeping the sand and sun out but still letting me see clearly. If a grain of sand slips through and gets in my eye, the Creator took care of that too. He gave me an inner eyelid that automatically wipes the sand off my eyeball just like a windshield wiper. Some people think I'm conceited because I always walk around with my head held high and my nose in the air. But that's just because of the way I'm made. My eyebrows are so thick and busy I have to hold my head high to peek out from underneath them. I'm glad I have them though. They shade my eyes from the bright sun.
Desert people depend on me for many things. Not only am I their best form of transportation, but I'm also their grocery store. Mrs. Camel gives very rich milk that people make into butter and cheese. I shed my thick fur coat once a year, and that can be woven into cloth. A few young camels are used for beef, but I don't like to talk about that.
For a long time we camels have been called the "ships of the desert" because of the way we sway from side to side when we trot. Some of our riders get seasick.I sway from side to side because of the way my legs work. Both legs on one side move forward at the same time, elevating that side. My "left, right left, right" motion makes my rider feel like he is in a rocking chair going sideways.
When I was six months old, special knee pads started to grow on my front legs. The intelligent Creator knew I had to have them. They help me lower my 1000 pounds to the ground. If I didn't have them, my knees would soon become sore and infected, and I could never lie down. I'd die of exhaustion.By the way, I don't get thick knee pads because I fall on my knees. I fall on my knees because I already have these tough pads. Someone very great thought of me and knew I needed them. He designed them into my genes.
It's real difficult for me to understand how some people say I evolved into what I now am. I'm _very technical, highly engineered dromedary camel. Things like me don't just happen. They're planned on a drawing board by Someone very brilliant, Someone very logical.
John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The Word means "logical, intelligent One."Verse 3 says, "All things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was made."
Who was the Word? Look at verse 14. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory." Who was made all flesh? The Lord Jesus Christ, the Word who created everything, including the dromedary camel.
by Bob Devine
Reprinted by permission from Moody/September 1981
Mr. Devine is the creator and narrator of "The Storybook Room" on Moody radio and the author of eight children's books on nature (Moody Press).
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