#167 Stonehenge (21nov07)

'Thus saith the Lord……….: where is the house that ye build unto Me? And where is the place of My rest?'
Isaiah 66:1

Europe has beautiful but near empty cathedrals, Latin America has the Machu Picchu in Peru, and the Aztec of Central Mexico used to have great places of worship for their sun-god and human sacrifices, while Asia has the Buddhist monument of Borobudur and Angkor Wat in Cambodia, not including the many dotted pagodas of Myammar, Thailand, and the rest of Asia.

'Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?
Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways'
Haggai 1:4-6

The closest my humble abode can come to some sense of greatness is that it shares the same hallowed name as that of the mountain that Moses spent time with the Lord our God, when he received the Ten Commandments. A little lane it might be located in, but the Lord has indeed blessed me in all things, His way.
These past few days, the Lord our God brought me to the topic of home, and home is truly where our heart is.

'Who is there among you of all His people? His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, ….and build the house of the Lord..'
Ezra 1:3

Eons back, God placed the desire in the heart of Cyrus, King of Persia, at the beginning of his reign, to make a proclamation for the Jewish diaspora, in his vast empire to come together to build a house for the Lord our God in Jerusalem, Judah(read Ezra 1)

In my recent quiet time with the Lord, He has brought me to the book of Ezra and the book of Haggai twice over. The Lord our God is not just atuned to the pulse of the world, He is Sovereign.
In the context of the booming property markets, some fertile and worldly intellectual might read it to mean that God is giving him or her some privileged tips on the direction of the exuberant property markets, but I believe there are weightier issues that God wants us all to ponder upon and response to.

'Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough…'
Haggai 1:6

Most in the world today would have heard of our Lord Jesus Christ. A significant portion of that believe in His existence and in God and in fact many call themselves Christians. But how many truly follow the commands of God? ie to seek Him with all our hearts, soul and mind and acknowlege Him in all our ways. And to love others as much as we love ourselves.
A quick survey of professed Christians(be it staunched or limpid, stumped or all knowing, stymied or free spirited, reborn or still-birth or whoever or whatever falls in between the gap of this spectrum of shades of Christians), could possibly reveal an unsurprising fact, which is, a significant percentage hardly read the Bible and even fewer spend time with the Lord our God in prayers, in His work and in worship(other than the obligatory Sunday)
Is this statistically correct? Only the Lord knows.

'And many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold'
Matthew 24:12

The Lord blesses those who seek Him, who trust and obey Him, who response in faith to His will. But many have been misled for they let their needs and desires set the parameters of their desired relationship with the Lord our God.
Man seek to be God, but God wants us to be like Him but not Him.

'…he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol.. Yea they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations'
Isaiah 66:3

In our desire to worship or even be the god of our sinful and misguided understanding, many of us expend our very all to attain what is really unsustainable. The Divine and only true God has no place in the hearts of those who seek otherwise.

'…but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.
But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble..'
Jeremiah 2:28-29

Stonehenge, a prehistoric monument, located in old Mother England, is rumoured to be a place where extra-terrestrial visitors left their markers upon in times past. Myth it might be but it is also a place where modern pagans(be it Druids, or wizards and the whole riff raff including hippies) choose to gather. Misguided or misplaced it might be, men tend to house their 'gods' within strictly defined parameters, be it real or imagined. Men like to deal with their 'gods; on their own terms, but there is only One Sovereign God, whom we look to and not look upon, for what is mere men but

'…the flock of My pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God'
Ezekiel 34:31

Great monuments will have their moment in history. But over time, it will be at best ruins. As the year comes to an end, would it not be good to listen to the prompting of the Spirit of God, to reflect upon what God has called upon all of us to do in the time He has blessed us with.

'I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer, when I spake, they did not hear…'
Isaiah 66:4

We are the temple of God. As believers who obey and follow the Lord our God, the Spirit of God resides in us. We are the living temple for the Living God.

'A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you………….
…I will put My spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes….'
Ezekiel 36:26-27

Telepathy it might seem to be, but truly, as we move as one with the Spirit of God, as we let go and let Him, life takes on a totally new meaning.

'And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are as yet speaking, I will hear'
Isaiah 65:24

How do we move forward from desire to a real response??

'Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me'
Matthew 19:21

This might seem like a giant and rather foolish step to take but rest assured that should that day come, we will have already taken many more measured steps of assured faith and while miracles can happen in a second(if the Lord our God so wills), I have come to realize that 'Rome was not build in 7 days, (though it did rest on 7 hills) and in a similar vein, God knows our limits and our so called 'leap of faith' is a culmination of experiences and preparation as we let God lead us.

'…With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible'
Matthew 19: 26

Tentative steps, that will grow into measured steps, and eventually into certain steps is a certainty, as we desire and response in faith. It is time that those who call themselves Christians truly walk their talk and let the Lord our God lead them in building a heart of worship. A God imbued, God sanctified sanctuary that will remain in eternity, for our God is an eternal God.

What is the alternative??

'But many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first'
Matthew 19:30


God Blesses

Eng Hieang

Note:

2 Chronicles 23 is where the Lord brought me to as I closed this past few days of time with Him. The Lord our God has brought me to different parts of His Word that talks about the same thing(Isaiah, Ezra, Haggai and now Chronicles). Do take time to reflect upon what God means to you in your life. He is real but have you been responsive in doing His will or have we let the desire to build our own castles in the sinful world distract and worse, keep us away from the real work that God has commanded all who believe and obey.

'Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and He hath charged me to build Him and house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Who is there among you of all His people? The Lord his God be with him, and let him go up