MIDNIGHT AT THE OASIS

Ezekiel 20:1-49; Hebrews 9:11-28; Psalm 107:1-43; Proverbs 27:11

“When I bring you home from exile, you will be like a pleasing sacrifice to me. And I will display my holiness through you as all the nations watch. Then when I have brought you home to the land I promised with a solemn oath to give to your ancestors, you will know that I am the Lord. You will look back on all the ways you defiled yourselves and will hate yourselves because of the evil you have done. You will know that I am the Lord, O people of Israel, when I have honored my name by treating you mercifully in spite of your wickedness. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!””

“So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.”

“Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves. What a blessing was that stillness as he brought them safely into harbor! Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them. Let them exalt him publicly before the congregation and before the leaders of the nation.”

“Be wise, my child, and make my heart glad. Then I will be able to answer my critics.”

Our church is beginning a very interesting project. One of our young pastors had an inspiration, or vision, of 100 men praying and reading the Bible together for 30 days in support of the entire church. We began our month this week with a 24/7 straight through reading of the entire Bible, out loud. No one was specifically scheduled to read at any time. The entire thing was an exercise in faith. Amazingly, though, someone was always available to read. I took a very early morning (around 3AM) shift. It was actually a surprise to feel emotion flow through me as I read through Ezekiel’s commissioning, because I have heard similar words myself. Our pastor was completely overcome while reading the opening chapters of Lamentations. The neatest thing, though, was just watching guys come and go at that most difficult hour, as if they really had nothing more pressing to do, and fully understood what they were doing as a mission and purpose. In some strange way, the place in which we were became an oasis of God’s Living Water, nourishing us all, individually and collectively.

It came to me, then, how many of us have lost our hunger and thirst for God’s Word. The parts we know, we have heard to the point that they have become almost clichéd. We stumble over the less recognizable parts like strangers using an unfamiliar map. Overall, then, Scripture has lost its “magic” for many of us. As I sat there listening afresh to the inspired Word, I mourned the times I have sat in church and taken the Father’s love letter for granted. But the Lord is good, and His steadfast love does endure forever. Because as I sat and allowed His Word simply to flow over me, I also felt His power flow into me. I wondered at what I have been missing, even as I have read through the Bible when doing this blog.

Having thought more about it now, what has been missing is the experience of hearing the Word in a fellowship of like-minded believers who have actually sacrificed something in order to share it together. So often, we come before the Lord – we occupy His pews – without expecting or sacrificing anything, and we are never disappointed if that is our approach. But one natural human tendency actually would serve us better in such a case. Each of us tends to value the things for which we sacrifice the most to encounter. What doesn’t cost may not count for much at all. We tend to take for granted the freebies in life. When we allow ourselves to think of grace as a “gimme,” though, we cheapen the Gift and end up cheating ourselves, and our Savior, of the wonder of it all.

In short, worship is contagious. But it also costs; it costs our heartfelt and uninhibited participation. I’m not talking about hand waiving and shouting. Those things are a matter of personality and personal preference. But the immersion in the Spirit true worship requires is non-negotiable, and it’s hard to do in isolation. Anyone who tries to worship alone is shortchanging themselves. There is a reason that the only time the Son guaranteed his Presence is when two or more are gathered together in His Name.

Bring a friend to the altar. Support each other when drinking in the Spirit. The Church is an oasis, a sanctuary. But the best refreshment is refreshment that is shared.