Leviticus 24:1-4 - The LORD said to Moses, "Command the people of Israel to provide
you with pure olive oil for the lampstand, so it can be kept burning
continually. Aaron
will set it up outside the inner curtain of the Most Holy Place in the
Tabernacle and must arrange to have the lamps tended
continually, from evening until morning, before the LORD. This is a permanent
law for you, and it must be kept by all future generations. The lamps on the pure gold
lampstand must be tended continually in the LORD's presence.
The tabernacle had been built for God…so he
would have a place to live among them. God’s presence was always there…hidden
from their sight by a mere veil. He commanded them to keep a continual flame of
fire burning in the pure gold lamp they had been told to place on the table
that sat just outside the veil. It was to be tended continually….the olive oil
changed…the wick trimmed…the light kept bright with life.
This is one rule that definitely needs to
be kept today…but not in the lampstand of old. When that veil was torn…and God
opened up a way for all of us to experience God’s presence….he sent his son to
Earth to make a way for God to live inside each of us. He made a way for the
flame in the gold lampstand to be lit within our own hearts. He means for all
of us who have accepted him as our Lord to tend the flame he placed inside us…to
trim it…and keep it burning bright.
Leviticus 6:13 said,
Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must
never go out……but I have to admit that in my own life …I have not been very passionate
about trimming the wick of God’s flame in me…or even keeping my mind stayed on
him…so the flame he placed in me at 14 has at times become just a flicker. And
I bet I am not alone when I say that I almost let my lamp go completely out a
few times since then.
I need to renew my passion…trim my wick
with more study of his word and prayer.
I need to walk along a dusty road and listen to him teach me the true
meaning of all the words I try and digest each evening and morning. I need to feel God’s word ‘burn within me’ as
it did for those disciples that had the privilege to walk the Emmaus road with Jesus
after his resurrection. Luke 24:32 sums
up what I believe he wants for all Christians ….for…. They said to each other,
"Didn't our hearts feel strangely warm as he talked with us on the road
and explained the Scriptures to us?" …that warmth was their flames being lit.
It is up to each of us now to keep the
flame he placed inside us burning with passion.
His love can stay a small ember that rests inside and never reaches the
world….or we can do what Paul wrote to his sweet brother in Christ Timothy…when
he penned the words in 2 Timothy 1:6-7… “This is why I remind you to fan into
flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and
timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”
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