Leviticus 14:34 - When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession … God is giving the children of Israel instructions (Torah/Law) concerning leprosy that is found in one of their houses after the conquest of the land.
Judy and I read this verse together the other night. As we read the verse, I stopped and commented to the affect that I wondered if I would have thought: “Yep, God put this leprosy in our house honey.” Knowing me, I wouldn’t think that.
It reminded me of when we were first married and still in school. We were renting an old mill- village house in a small southern town. After we had been moved in for some time, I noticed that several items in the bedroom closet had a lot of mildew on them due to the high humidity in the house (no air-conditioning). Some of the items were so bad we had to throw them out. But, not once did I think: “Judy, come look at this, God put this mildew here.”
I don’t know how crazy to get with this but … is God so present and real to us that even such common incidents as mildew in a closet turn our attention to God? In other words, if God puts leprosy in a house of one of His children, does He also put things like health issues, people, set backs, mold, fallen trees on a car - whatever- in our lives to see if our first attentive response is to look to Him?
Should it be, is it be, that real to us?
I kind of think so …
Our lives as God’s children (those who have been born-again) are not, as I said last time, made up of random chance and happenstance. God is concerned with and, perhaps, involved in the smallest details of our lives. He wants us to give every aspect of our lives into His hands. He’s our Father and He is constantly on the “look out” as to how He can lovingly draw us closer to Himself and the image of His Son.
We tend to think that it’s the great blessings that will draw us closer to Him. In truth, at times that is correct. But you and I both know that, more-times-than-not, prosperity drags God’s people further from Him. Just continue reading in your Bible and you’ll see it is so.
More often, it’s the hard, difficult, life-threatening experiences that motivate us to get real with God. And that’s not a bad thing. What matters is how we respond during those times. Honestly, we’ll all probably respond very humanly at first. God knows that. But after the dust of our emotions settles, that is the time to, with His help, turn all of our focus upon our loving Heavenly Father and His word.
Prosperity lulls the Christian to sleep much like the frog in the pot on the stove. The world isn’t so stupid and gullible. Anyone can praise God in the good times. What the lost world notices is when God’s people praise Him even when He puts the plague of leprosy in one of His children’s lives. They will want a God like that.
Yes, God does put the plague of leprosy in the house of our lives. Why? So that He can shine through the dark times of our lives into the darkened lives of the lost around us. For the lost to see us as real, the Light of Messiah has to shine in and through our own darkness first.
Matthew 5:14-16 — 14. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.