Radically Different

Hebrews 10:19-25

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%2010%3A19-25&version=NIV;PHILLIPS

 

When I was in grade school and my teacher said to take out a piece of paper and draw

anything you want – I invariably would draw a mountain scene like the one to the left. For me, the mountains represented something bigger than myself that provided strength, security and safety. It was a safe place for me to live vicariously through my drawing. I found peace, purpose and a place in the world.

 

What I never considered though, were the lives of the people who lived in the valleys, the hollows and the peaks of those mountains. Because they were people, no doubt they all had some struggle or issue. Maybe it was poverty, an addiction, a broken relationship or work. Like me, they needed a safe place. We all do.

 

I like how J.B. Phillips wrote this passage in Hebrews 10.

 

So by virtue of the blood of Jesus, you and I may now have courage to enter the holy of holies by way of the one who died and is yet alive, who has made for us a holy means of entry by himself passing through the curtain, that is, his own human nature. Further, since we have a great High Priest set over the household of God, let us draw near…

 

The writer of Hebrews is speaking of the Holy of Holies which is the inner chamber of the Temple where only the High Priest could go on the Day of Atonement. It was where the actual presence of God resided! It was a safe place; not to hide from the world, but to become engaged with the world.

 

…In this confidence let us hold on to the hope that we profess without the slightest hesitation—for he is utterly dependable—and let us think of one another and how we can encourage each other to love and do good deeds. And let us not hold aloof from our church meetings, as some do. Let us do all we can to help one another’s faith…               J.B. Phillips

 

Jesus is our mountain scene; our safe place. From there, we are called to draw nearer to Him, to encourage each other to acts of love and to do all we can to help one another’s faith.

 

What do you need to do to spend time in your safe place; in the very presence of God? Whatever it is, make it a priority today. If you do, your life will be radically different from those who don’t.

 

 

 

A Safe Place

Luke 22:14-20

 

¹¹ “Eat it with your shoes on your feet and your walking stick in your hand. And you must eat it in a hurry. It is the time the Lord will pass over. ¹² For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night. And I will kill all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and animal. I will punish all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. ¹³ But the blood will mark for you the houses where you live. When I see the blood I will pass over you. And no trouble will come upon you to destroy you when I punish the land of Egypt.                     Ex 12:11-13 NLV

 

Can you imagine what that first Passover must have felt like? The Israelites were eating quickly as they listened to the wailing of their neighbors. Their emotions must have been all over the place; from fear to guilt to relief and back to fear again. The lamb’s blood on their doorpost is all that separated them from life and freedom, and the painful loss of their first born. The blood made their home a “safe place”.

 

¹⁵ He said to them, “I have wanted very much to eat this special supper with you

to remember how the Jews left Egypt. I have wanted to eat this with you before I suffer.             Lk 22:15 NLV

 

As Jesus served his disciples the Passover meal, he knew what was going to happen to him that night; He knew that all hell was about to break loose. But for his followers - his life blood, his body would provide the same protection that the Israelites experienced in Egypt. He was the sacrificial Passover lamb. This was indeed a safe place.

 

Of course, the body and blood of Jesus provided much more than a safe place. He changed things forever. With his death, and ultimately his resurrection, he made it possible for all our sins to be forgiven; he made it possible for us to know God personally; he made it possible for us to go to the ultimate safe place of Heaven.

 

When I was about 7 or 8 years old, I would come downstairs on a cold winter morning and crawl behind the couch and lay there for several minutes. I was snuggled between the couch and the heat vents in the wall. It felt very secure. It was a safe place for me to start my day.

 

Each one of us needs to find, or create our own safe place. A safe place where we can be refreshed; where we can draw strength to “fight the good fight”; where we can “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles; where we can begin to “run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith”; where we can “approach the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need”.

 

Nobody said it any better than David.

 

God is our safe place and our strength. He is always our help when we are in trouble. ² So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and the mountains fall into the center of the sea, ³ and even if its waters go wild with storm and the mountains shake with its action.            Psalm 46:1-3 NLV

 

 

Like the little boy hiding behind the couch, getting ready for the day;

let us create our own safe place with the LORD throughout our day.

 

 

 

 

 

(If God has spoken to you, or touched your heart through this devotional, please feel free to share it with others.)