Jan 22 – Zeal for Your House has Consumed Me

“And the LORD said to Moses, "Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. Therefore say, 'Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.'"

Numbers 25:10-13

“Zeal for your house has consumed me.”

Psalm 69:9

The centerpiece of our prayer this morning was that the zeal of the Lord would consume us. The passage from Numbers follows a scene where Phinehas impales an Israelite man and a Moabite woman on his spear. The Lord says of Phinehas that he “was jealous with my jealousy.” Later in scripture, when Jesus overturns the money changers tables in the temple, the disciples say that he was consumed by a zeal for the house of the Lord.

Zeal for the Lord drives us to pick up our Cross and die to ourselves. Zeal instructs us to wage war with the sin that entangles us and silences our worship. The zeal of the Lord only comes with one level: complete consumption. It will impale the lesser things of our life. It will burn a jealousy within us for more of God’s love and mercy to be made known in our lives. Zeal is being consumed with seeing God’s kingdom plan made known in our lives and in our community. There is no such thing as being kind of consumed. It is all or nothing.

Yesterday, a major theme in our prayer was that our Church would become a place for the abused to come and find healing. Last night a person who had faced extensive abuse in their life came to the evening meeting and received prayer. We had also prayed that God would give us bigger hearts for children who are orphaned and in the foster care system. Last night I found out that a friend had grown up in foster care. They encouraged me to keep seeking God on this issue. They felt that it was only by the grace of God that they were placed in a loving foster home that eventually adopted them. They felt that too many foster situations were exploitive and focused on government money instead of children. They felt there was a huge opportunity for church ministry in the foster system.

Our hearts were convicted in prayer that often we are not open to encountering the abused or those in the foster system because we can only see all the problems on the outside of the person. We do not have the patience, mercy, and love that God has for us. We need a huge dose of his Holy Spirit in order to effective ministers to a hurt and dying world.

Be Blessed