1 Kings 6:7 “The stones used in the construction of the temple were finished at the quarry, so there was no sound of hammer, ax or any other iron tool at the building site.”
My heart is hurt, I am so sadden by the death of George Floyd. I am sad that people are dying in ways that are completely preventable. My heart is heavy at the abuse of power in our world, the lack of compassion in so many people. The utter disregard for peoples lives and their cries for help. My desire is for all to live a blessed life. One where the presence of the Lord is sought by all, and in that presence we have understanding of our rightful inheritance of His blessing and favor. One where all of the skills, talents and gifting’s that He has for each of us is used to further His kingdom. One where the enemy is stopped, his chains are broken, and we live life in the freedom that Christ paid for on the cross. That is the purpose of this blog. To help everyone to achieve the BLESSED HOME that they desire and deserve. I believe that the way to achieving this is by following Jesus, reading God’s word, listening to the Holy Spirit and obeying. Today when I went to God’s word after watching the video of George Floyd’s death, the above scripture was were the Holy Spirit stirred me. So this post is what the still small voice opened my eyes to. I write this with some reluctance, as I do not know how it will be received by you. But here goes.
King Solomon was having the Lord’s temple built, and the scripture tells us that he did not allow any sound of iron tools to be heard. It was quiet. Why? It could have been in following Deuteronomy 27:5 that said an alter was to made without any iron tools used. Solomon may have been following this direction. Why was it important to God that it be a place of quietness, and were no iron stone was used to build? What happens when we are quiet? We can hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. The one who was left as a gift, to be our guider to truth, the one who is our comforter. The one who speaks for us when we have no words.
I have no words to say about how I feel about the whole incident with George, I don’t know what to do? But I do know I want to see change that grows God’s Kingdom. I want to be spreading love like Jesus did. Jesus who was quiet when being questioned by Herod. He was silent so that I could be saved, He endured His suffering and sin’s penalty of death to be finished for me. He showed His LOVE in His silence. Jesus loved and commanded us to “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mathew 22:39) This means I must get to know someone, spend time with them welcome them into my life . Jesus was willing to give up His own desires of living (he pleaded to God, to spare him, but also said God let happen what you want) . Am I willing to do that? My fleshly desire is too scream and yell and hate the cops who did this. I want to focus my attention on them? But how was the temple built? In the quiet. With no iron ax or hammer. Items that could be used as weapons. If my desire is to see the kingdom grow then I need to be loving. Luke 10:25-37 the parable tells us how it was the one who helped the man and showed him mercy, that he was the one counted as his neighbor. As a Samaritan, he put aside his own cultural and ethic boundaries to help the Jewish man. He did not go running to find the three robbers. Jesus did not put the focus on the three robbers, and speak about how to go using weapons to seek justice and sentence them. God tells me that vengeance is His to seek. But I am called to show love. Then I began to think about Paul, before his Damascus road experience. Paul was killing Christians. He was there at of the stoning of Stephen. How did Stephen respond, he prayed for Paul. That prayer was likely part of God giving Paul the Damascus road experience that change his life and so many became followers of Jesus because of him. Paul’s words speak to so many of us today as they are written in the Bible.
So what am I to do with my sadness and feelings of wanting to seeking retaliation as a Christian, as one who wants to see ALL come to Jesus, and live a blessed life? I am to put aside my fleshly desires, that do not show the love of Christ. I am to pray for the lost. The cops involved are lost. I need to pray for them. I need to be quiet and listen to the Holy Spirit. I need to allow the temple to be built without noise and iron ax and hammers, not wielding those types of weapons. I need to be willing to show them love, despite where society is culturally telling me to behave differently. I need to be helping the man on the road beaten, or in this cause George Floyd. How I do that is by praying for a change in the hearts of those who could do this to another person. The kingdom is built by loving those who are hard to love. Those cops are hard for me to love. I will never even remotely like or be ok with their actions, but change in the world comes by changing their heart. They may eventually have a testimony that is like Paul’s. As my understanding is that George Floyd was a kingdom builder, just as Stephen was.
Today, I ask you, as I am asking myself, if one of those cops showed up at your home or church would you be willing to be their neighbor, would you be willing to pray for them. Could you allow your mind to be quiet and not be filled with the noise of hammer(the hammer of a judge) and ax cutting them down, long enough to hear the still small voice of God. Who says I created this man, and love him, help him to see the error of his ways and show him my love and mercy.
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