There's Gold if you Dig

 I'm sitting here, looking at photos of the flood damage from Helene and a thought just popped into my head. I don't know why because it has absolutely nothing to do with floods. 

You won't find gold lying on the ground.

And that's true. Even with placer mining, where a miner uses water to separate gold from other particles in water, it's not lying about like your old socks. 

In order to find it, you'll have to dig or engage in placer mining, which may require building a sluice. You must have water to operate the sluice. You can mine with a pan in river and stream beds. But originally, all that gold came from a mountain somewhere. Nature shifted it to create a more accessible path. 

Gold is valuable. Stories of gold mining and its effects on the formation of nations fill history books. Gold moves mountains. Really. People have fought wars over gold. Every city built around gold mines experienced violence daily. It wasn't because people didn't like each other, but because greed breeds violence. And gold breeds greed.

Other things are valuable, too. Perhaps not as intrinsically valuable as gold, but value is often in the beholder's eye. Some eschew possessions and so gold is worthless to them. They seek value elsewhere. 

So what is the point? That was my question. What does that statement mean?

Things of real value are hard to find. Not because they aren't available, but because they require effort to reach. You're going to have to search for the worthwhile things in life, and it won't be 'things'. You can dig in a mountain and you might find gold, but on a cold dark night when your soul aches, it won't do you any good. When you stand by the grave of the love of your life, all that waits outside the cemetery is meaningless. When your child is lying in a hospital, you won't be worried about the job, the house, the bills, or the bank account. 

You won't find gold lying on the ground. Hidden treasures are not for the foolish. Real treasures are not finite. 

Let's Forget the Past!

 Can anyone remember the song?

Be careful, little eyes, what you see.

Be careful, little eyes, what you see.

For the Farther up above, is looking down in love. 

So be careful, little eyes, what you see.

Be careful, little ears, what you hear

Be careful, little ears what you hear.

For the father up above is looking down in love,

So be careful little ears what you hear.

It goes on with hands and feet. 

We should have continued to teach these old Sunday School songs. Be we had to be popular and follow the crowd. We had to make it "current."  Well, current isn't what we thought, is it? The time had come for change.

I remember those little songs we sang in the 60s. And yes, they influenced me because I haven't forgotten them. 

Only a boy named David, only a little sling.

Only a boy named David, how he could pray and sing.

Only a boy named David, only a rippling brook.

Only a boy named David, but 5 little stones he took.

And one little stone went in the sling, and the sling went round and round.

One little prayer went up to God, and the giant came tumbling down.

Those songs taught me more than how to carry a tune. They taught me how to think about my actions and how my actions impacted my world. They taught me faith, hope, and charity. And consequences. 

If a brother is in the road, we will stop and pick him up. 

If a brother is in the road, we will stop and pick him up. 

If a brother is in the road we will stop and pick him up. 

And we won't lag along behind. 

If the devil's in the road, we will roll right over him.

If the devil's in the road, we will roll right over him.

If the devil's in the road, we will roll right over him.

And we won't lag along behind.

Judges 2:10

10 When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.

Why? How is that possible? 

Because that generation who raised them went to sleep. They didn't influence their children with the past. When you stop reminding people of the past, of where they came from, and the values that were crucial, well, they lose direction. They think they know where they're going, but they tossed the road map. The map their fathers and grandfathers carved out. The past is old-fashioned, out of date, not in touch with reality. 

I'll tell you who's not in touch with reality, the people who raised a generation that knew nothing about their past. The reality lives in the present and those who raised this generation are going to have to stand before God and give an account of why they thought it was a good idea to forget the past.

You may think burying the past is so liberating. You'd be wrong. That's how nations become enslaved. That's how an entire generation arose in Israel who didn't even know the Red Sea parted. They didn't know about a pillar of fire at night. Their heritage was unknown to them. Hundreds of years of miracles forgotten. 

Now our children only remember how to log in to apps to be entertained. These days I see children in church playing with phones and tables. I see adults doing it, too. Believe it or not, you can tell if they're looking at a Bible on their phone or sending text messages and scrolling through a website. You're not fooling anyone. And your children? As soon as they got out of Sunday School, they forgot all about the lesson when you handed them the phone. 

What is wrong with us? No wonder we have lost a generation. In fact, we've lost two generations. The children and the parents. Forget the songs your grandparents sang. They're not fashionable. They mention b-l-o-o-d and d-e-a-t-h. Words like sacrifice, the cross, and conviction fill the pages of the song books. They teach values and remind us of thousands of years of miracles. Our history. Our faith. 

But they're just children's songs! 

No, they're the greatest stories ever told. I won't forget. 

Where's the Prayer Meeting?

I posted this on Life on the Ledge in error on the 3rd of this month. I guess I was just not with it. Anyway, putting it here. 

 I was reading my Bible Sunday morning and ran across a verse that I don’t recall ever reading or hearing preached. The verse is interesting to me because as I read it, I was led to some other interesting verses that set me to thinking about prayer.

Many people often ask when to pray and how often or if they should pray at all. One would think that, if there was a specific scripture in the Bible that comes close to an answer, then everyone, every Christian, would be plastering it on the wall in a fancy plaque, embroidering it onto pillows, cross-stitching it on fabric, wearing it on a shirt, or writing about it in a book. And yet, I don’t know of one book out there that answers the question, “When should I pray?”

Yet, there it is in Exodus, summed up in two verses. The minimum daily requirement is twice a day.

Exodus 30:7-8
7. And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.

8. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

As far as I can recall, Jesus never told his disciples how often to pray. He gave them a formula in the Lord’s Prayer on how to pray but he didn’t say a thing about how many times a day we are to pray according to that formula. Could it be that Jesus, knowing this scripture was there, expected everyone to know how often they were to pray?

I decided to do a search of the word “incense” in the Bible in an attempt to better understand how it was being used. I found that incense, in scripture at least, seems to represent prayer and there are many Old Testament scriptures that mention incense, hundreds, in fact. I recount only a few here that I felt were important and support my theory.

Leviticus 16: 13 describes praying for mercy. “And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: . . .”

Exodus 30:27 mentions an altar of incense. That would be an altar of prayer. In Numbers 7, the formula for the dedication of the altar is described and one of the things mentioned is an offering. “One golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense...” This is an financial offering given with prayer.

Next in Numbers 16, God was about to destroy the people because they were mad with Moses and talking about him. The day before God had destroyed Korah and his family for the same offense. The Hebrews were scared to death then, but the next day they were complaining about it. God had just about had enough of this whining bunch of wimps who couldn’t follow directions without someone drawing a picture. Here is what He tells Moses and Moses acts quickly to save the people.

Numbers 16: 45-47 45.
45. Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.

46. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the Lord; the plague is begun.

47. And Aaron took as Moses commanded, and ran into the midst of the congregation; and, behold, the plague was begun among the people: and he put on incense, and made an atonement for the people.

When I read this, I felt the sense of urgency that Moses must have felt. He’d had several conversations with God. He had seen people struck down and swallowed up. He knew what that one statement from God would mean for Israel. He and Aaron acted quickly and interceded on behalf of the people with fiery prayers, not just in the temple, but by running among the people with burning incense. Total destruction of Israel was averted.

In 2 Kings 22 Josiah is king and the priest comes to him when he finds the book of the law in the house of the Lord. The book is brought to Josiah and read to him. Upon hearing it, he is so upset he tears his clothes, a sign of grief. The book revealed to Josiah that the nation had not been keeping the law. He sent his priest to talk to a woman who lives in the college. Whoa, dude! An educated woman preacher! Who said it was a male dominated society?

Here is what she said to them in 2 Kings 22:15-17
15. And she said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Tell the man that sent you to me,

16. Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read:

17. Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.

(Note of interest: she doesn’t even call the King by his title or name until she is repeating what the Lord has told her. She refers to him as “the man” -- an educated woman, unimpressed with titles.)

Josiah sets about to destroy every place where incense has been offered to other gods! He purges the nation of false priest, religions, and gods.

Psalms 141:2 also emphasizes that incense represents prayer in scripture.

Psalms 141:2
2. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

Prayer is important and in scripture, it is compared to incense drifting up to God. The lifting of the hands is a sign of surrender. So this verse could be said to signify surrendering to God and petitioning or worshiping him. When should you do this?

Exodus 30:7&8
7. And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.

8. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.

How you pray is important. What you pray is important. Who you pray to is important. And yes, when you pray is very important. And if you want to pray more than twice a day, it sure can't hurt you.

• Footnote: One of the few places in the Bible where one is told “when” to pray is in 1st Thessalonians 5:17 -- Paul said to “Pray without ceasing.” Considering the Old Testament events surrounding the use of incense, one can understand the importance of his instructions. For a perspective on Paul’s  verse, https://renderedpraise.blogspot.com/2008/01/time-place-to-pray.htmlto read “Time, A Place to Pray”