God The Father's Christmas
I will always remember telling my son goodbye as they took him off to open chest surgery when he was nine, the helpless feeling of watching my boy get rolled down that hall to be sliced open, more pain than I ever had going into my own surgeries not even close. SO how did God the Father feel as Jesus left home for Earth
The picture above connects a lot of RED dots this Christmas for me. This morning I ask Jesus what He was praying for me and He told me; "that He was praying that I would honor the Father." What a beautiful devotion at Christmas.
God the Father knew the whole story. He knew when Abraham was standing there about to slay his son Issac, what that would really feel like on Mount Moriah centuries later with the Ram Stuck in a crown of thorns. He knew the crimson worm's color would be used to dye the thread that would adorn Zerah's ankle, Genesis 38:28 . He knew that Rahab would toss out the Tik-vah Red Cord that HOPE. He knew Jesus would quote the 22nd Psalm from the cross, "My God, My God Why have You Forsaken Me." and that verse six, David lamented that he was a worm, but not just any old worm, but a "towla", the crimson or scarlet worm the female of which attached herself to a tree, (pictured above) where she then lays her eggs with her body covering them, subsequently begins to die turning an amazing scarlet color. Her young feed on her, (not unlike Communion). The she stains both her young and the tree, red. The ancients used a very costly process to extract the color to make the dye used by the Biblical Tamar, The craftsmen in Exodus who fashioned the curtains and the Priests when cleansing certain diseases in Leviticus 14. Later, Rahab the prostitute would pin all her hopes on that same scarlet worm's sacrificial red cord. So are mine.
Jesus told us, I am the Way the Truth and the Life, no one comes to THE FATHER but through Me....John 14:6. Jesus tells us the destination is the Father, it is all this that Christmas Hope represents that leads to my restoration to the Father. My thoughts go back to when I was standing in the Hospital Hallway. WOW, the Father loves me, wow what he laid out so that I may have hope when I see Red for the rest of my life after what he has taught me this Christmas.
It would appear Naomi had lost hope when she told Ruth and her sister in law in Ruth 1:12-13 " Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, H8615 if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons; 13 would you wait for them till they were grown? Would you restrain yourselves from having husbands? No, my daughters; for it grieves me very much for your sakes that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me!”
It was all about a Baby who would be Obed, She had no Tik-vah (hope), but her Grand Mother in Law, Rahab had let down the spies with Hope/A Scarlet Cord the first time we see Tik-vah in Joshua 2:18 " Behold, when we come into the land, thou shalt bind this line H8615 of scarlet thread in the window which thou didst let us down by: and thou shalt bring thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and all thy father's household, home unto thee.
So going back to honoring my heavenly Father, one way I know is obedience, his great commission, "Go Make Disciples of All Nations Baptizing Them in The Name of The FATHER and THE SON and THE HOLY SPIRIT." What I found this week aligned amazingly with that in Deuteronomy 11:13 "And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,"
When you look at this passage in Hebrew there are more letters on heart and soul than Deuteronomy 6: Love the Lord with All your Heart etc... It confused me at first then I read, Rashi, the great Jewish Commentator on the Passage and he gave me the understanding, that King James could have used some southern boy translators for this verse, what I now believe it says in southern English is: "And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all YA'LL's heart and with all YA'LL's soul,"
What Father wouldn't want all his children to be in one Accord -- The Christian Car way Naturally. Think with me, how can we honor our Heavenly Father This Christmas.