Pillars Of The Past.
Ancient explorers used a method for finding their directions when wandering through forests or densely covered areas. It is known as “Dead Reckoning”. When trying to walk forward in a straight line they will continue looking back at the way they have came and see their trail behind them. It will show them if they have deviated to one side or the other. Ships and sailing craft can do the same thing by looking backwards at their wake in the ocean. And although as Christians it’s not always good to look backwards sometimes it’s a good idea to do it just to see how far we have come and what direction we are heading.
Pillars are mentioned many times
throughout the Old Testament accounts. They are used as way-markers or memorials,
depending on their context. Many times through their journeys in the Wilderness
of Sinai the Children of Israel would leave way-markers as a sign that they had
been somewhere.
Consider Exodus Ch24 (4)… Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel.
And in 1st Kings ch7 (21) Solomon set up two pillars by the hallway of the temple as memorials to his sons…
“…he set up the pillar on the right and called its name Joachin, and he set up the pillar on the left and called its name Boaz….”
Nowadays we speak of pillars
symbolically. Someone could be described as being a “pillar of the community,
or society” or a “pillar of the church”
And when I think back I can point to many pillars that have helped me along the way. Old preachers and teachers that I knew. Books that I have read that enlightened me into the aspects of Jesus and the Christian life. Christian conversations and projects that I have been involved in. Each one brought a different aspect to my experience and learning.
A few years ago I met up with some old
school friends for a get together and to catch-up with each other. And although
we all left school many years ago and got along with our lives, it was good to
talk to these guys and be reminded that we were once young teenagers with our
hopes, dreams and ideals. Reminders of our friends and our past are sometimes
indicators of who and what we have become
Sometimes people look on a past experience and treat it as a meaningful turning point in our lives. We remember the date we got saved. We remember the place we were christened. We remember the day we got baptised. And these are great things to remember as they are important parts of our faith-journey with Christ.
The people of Israel still go back to
the Western Wall of the ancient temple of Jerusalem. For it is the closest
point that they can come to so they can worship God in their old customs. And
more and more places of ancient Israel is being held in reverence as
archaeological digs reveal more and more ancient sites. All a testimony to the
ancient civilisation in Israel’s story.
But, instead of looking back at these way-markers and holding them in reverence, we should really treat them as way-markers toward our future. We know that Jesus will carry on walking with us because we have seen Him guiding us in our past. We know that prayer, praises and worship will sustain our relationship in God because it has already done so in the past. The God of our past will still be the God of our present and our future.
Exodus Ch13 (21)… And the LORD went before them by day in a
pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them
light, so as to go by day and night.
One of the later kings of Israel was a man named Josiah. He was the 16th King of Israel, he reigned approximately 300 years after King Solomon and he reigned for 31 years. He was the king who reigned after
Israel were able to return from their captivity into Babylon. And he decided to re-establish the old laws of Israel and also introduce some new laws about tearing down the old idols.
2nd Kings Ch23 (3)… Then the king (Josiah) stood by a pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to follow the LORD and to keep His commandments and His testimonies and His statutes, with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people took a stand for the covenant.
So it is good to look to ourselves and
see how we have walked along our christian journey. It will have been a journey
of trips and falls, of stumbling and wrong turns. But it will have been our journey
in Christ, for Jesus has kept His hand on us all along the way. You don't have
to have been to bible school. You don't have to have been a preacher. All you
have to do is worship God, share His good news and pray to him every day.
Remember - A mature Christian is just a new convert who never gave up.
Amen.
I Will Sing Praise To My God While I Have My Being.
My Meditation Of Him Shall Be Sweet.
I Will Be Glad, I Will Be Glad In The Lord.
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