Cleanse The House

In the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the Temple of the LORD and repaired them.
[2 Chronicles 29:3]

Milady and I have been at the Stewart family home in Kintyre all week - longer than we intended - to give the old place a thorough clean out and ready the house for sale.

We are selling following my mother’s sudden death in her 93rd year last October, and the accumulated possessions of two long lives, (my father died 10 years ago, aged 84) needed a good deal of time to sort through. Also, determined to live in the house by herself and increasingly less mobile in her last three years, there were parts of the house that were not given much attention.

I tell this story to remind us that this situation can happen to any of us, not just in the natural life, but in the spirit life also. I don’t denigrate my mother by this; in fact she evidenced a stronger prayer life and a greater awareness of scripture in her later life than ever before. She liked nothing better than sharing The Lord in conversation with any visitors over her last few years given the opportunity.

We have noticed in ourselves, how lockdown has affected our daily spiritual routine. Our focus has shifted from the spiritual to the natural - throwing ourselves into our practical chores in the garden and around the house, enjoying the time that would otherwise be spent in the gallery.

We still pray, but maybe not as often; we still read the Bible and commentaries, but not always as regularly; we love to hear from others about their walk of faith and share our own in turn, only not as often. There is not a major change in any sense, merely the nagging thought at the back of our minds that we are becoming lazy in our devotion to Him; maybe taking Him for granted. But if allowed to continue ...

We miss the gathering of the saints, but with no sign yet of there being a lifting of restrictions sufficient to allow a meeting in our small space, we must continue to exercise patience, pray and wait for The Lord to reveal His way ahead. What He has revealed already is that we must cleanse the house of The Lord - that temple which we are - restoring or replacing that which has become frayed or motheaten, throwing out all the clutter and baggage accumulated over the years, taking a fresh look at our walk, and reinvigorating our lives by a fresh infilling from The Holy Spirit.

In 2 Chronicles, King Hezekiah (Jehovah has made strong), determined to cleanse the temple, which had been closed under his predecessor, King Ahaz (he has grasped), who encouraged false Gods and evil practices ...

They gathered their brethren and sanctified themselves and went in, as the king had commanded by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord.
The priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the Lord’s house. And the Levites carried it out to the brook Kidron.
They began on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day they came to the porch of the Lord. Then for eight days they sanctified the house of the Lord, and on the sixteenth day they finished.
[2 Chronicles 2:15-17 AMPC]

This passage is another expression of using 8 to show a new beginning, a fresh start, and 16, the number of resurrection and rebirth.

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“Refiner’s Fire“ - Brian Doerksen

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OSWALD CHAMBERS - RUN TODAY’S RACE
Sunday 2nd August 2020
Jesus Christ has destroyed the dominion of death, and He can make us fit to face every problem of life, more than conqueror all along the line.

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