Wen-Wei's Devotions - 31 Jan 08

Numbers 33
51 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'When you cross the Jordan into Canaan,
52 drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places.
55 "'But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live.
56 And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.'"

Numbers 35:34
34 Do not defile the land where you live and where I dwell, for I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.'"

Land has special symbolism and significance. The Promised Land, in particular, is sacred. Here is where God Himself would dwell and commune with His people. As the Lord is holy, so too the land must be holy for the Lord to inhabit it.

The 2 commands of the Lord given in the above passage say to Israel, in effect, first purify the land, then keep it pure thereafter that Lord may dwell there with you.

I ask the question now, where does God dwell today? and where do I go to commune with God?

The answer is, of course, in me. He is, after all, Emmanuel, God with us. And as I have been purified by the blood of Christ when I came to faith in Him, so I must be diligent to maintain my purity constantly.

But I think there is a second application for me: My physical house itself. This is the place of physical refuge and sanctuary for my family and I, even for my E-Group when we gather. When we moved in, we prayed for what may have existed on this plot of land before this house was built. There may have been unholy practices performed at this very location unknown to us. So we asked God to cleanse it spiritually even as we swept and washed the house physically. And we dedicated this house to the service of God.

Today I asked myself: Have I allowed evil and unholiness to re-enter this house? God prompted me in a number of areas:
- unholy words spoken here
- unkind acts performed here
- unwitting junk downloaded onto my computer
- intentional visits to unedifying websites
- movies of evil and blasphemy viewed here

So begins a re-cleansing and purposeful throwing out, that God's presence may be at ease here and His presence strongly felt here. Pray for me and with me.

PS - With this, I have finished my devotions in Numbers and I continued into Deuteronomy today ...