Senior Pastor’s Devotional
Day 71 Movement Control Order – “Strategic Psalm 91 Watch”
“In that room were a golden incense altar and a wooden chest called the Ark of the Covenant which was covered with gold on all sides. Inside the Ark were a gold jar containing manna, Aaron’s staff that sprouted leaves and the stone tablets of the covenant.”
Hebrews 9:4
I was blessed by this enlightening truth as to why God commanded 3 items to be placed into the ark of covenant. These 3 items are the vital link to the lives of the people then as well as for their future generations. It served as timely reminders then and always.
Firstly, there were the tablets of the law. In a world where truth is often drowned out by the deafening clamour of irrelevance and trivial, we remind ourselves that there is absolute truth that is non negotiable and that is the unchanging WORD. God has never left us fumbling in the dark but has provided us a ‘lamp unto our feet.” Ps 119:105.
Secondly, there was the manna from the wilderness that was kept there too. The way in which the manna was provided earlier was designed to teach the Hebrews that faith is a day by day walk. Our decision to follow Christ was not a “one off” kind of thing when you accepted Him but a daily choice that needs constant renewing – just like the manna that needed to be collected daily!
Thirdly, Aaron’s budding staff (Num 17:8) was also placed within – a symbol of life that comes out of lifelessness. It is a great reminder for all of us to know that God has spoken, “what is impossible with man is possible with God – for with God – all things are possible!
We all tend to remember what we should forget and forget what we should remember and so the contents were placed there to hold what was vital before the hearts and minds of God’s often amnesic people.
Ps Lawrence Yap.