Scripture
But as for me, God will redeem my life.
He will snatch me from the power of the grave.
Interlude
Psalm 49:15
Observation
If anyone knew what it was like to be snatched from a hole in the ground it would be the descendants of Korah who wrote this Psalm. Their ancestor had been more focused on his own greatness and self promotion.
*Korah had positional authority for he was a great-grandson of Levi, the third of Jacob’s twelve sons, and a first cousin to Moses and Aaron, the Jewish leader and High Priest.
*Korah had relational authority for he was born in Egypt, at the time when the Jews were enslaved to King Pharaoh. He experienced the miraculous Exodus from Egypt and journey through the Red Sea on dry land, and received the Torah at Mount Sinai along with the rest of Israel.
*Korah had financial authority for he was extremely wealthy.
The problem for Korah was that God chose Aaron to be High Priest instead of him and his jealousy led him to his downfall… literally. Korah used all of his authority to stage a rebellion that he hoped would lead to a coup and result in his being appointed as the High Priest. He was certain he would and could run things more effectively than the current leadership and he had 250 would-be fellow priests with incense to back him up. The only problem is that when God isn’t backing your power play, when your authority comes from man, no matter how great you think you are the only direction you will ultimately be going is down. While Korah sang his own praises Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and asked God to choose. “31 And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. 32 And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. 33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. 34 And all Israel who were around them fled at their cry, for they said, “Lest the earth swallow us up!” 35 And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men offering the incense.” (Numbers 16:31-36) As a permanent reminder to the nation of the disastrous outcome of jealousy and rebellion, Aaron’s son Elazar was instructed to melt the pans and craft them as plates to cover the Tabernacle altar. So, every time sacrifices would be made and worship raised the priests and the people would be reminded of some powerful lessons: The safest position to take before the Lord is humility. The truest declaration to make is of God’s greatness and not my own. And, as in the case of Korah, the power of God’s redemption you simply cannot shake, is that no matter how low you have gone, God can raise you up and restore you. The descendants of Korah were now walking in the authority and humility their ancestors had abused and misused. They were consumed in the worship of the King over all things who redeemed their family tree.
Application
According to early records Cyndi’s side of the family has the dubious honor of being related to the first murderer off of the Mayflower to be hanged. She might kill me for sharing this, but it’s such perfect example of how God can redeem our family tree. Even as I write this I sit next to Cyndi’s Dad who is an amazing example to my boys of humility and authority as we follow the Lord. Do I need any more proof of how God has used Dave than the fact that he raised my favorite human being on the planet? Jesus knew exactly what his family was all about and He still identified himself with them in the Gospels: Tamar did what with her father-in-law, Rahab did what for a living, Ruth was from where, Solomon had how many wives who worshipped false gods, David had a guy murdered so he could get away with sleeping with his wife? This is one shady family tree…. And yet, God redeemed each of their stories and they are in the direct lineage of the Savior of the World. Jesus came from a lineage that many saw as proof that God had left Israel to its own destruction. We look at a failed marriage, a wayward child, a lost job, a broken dream, a friend’s betrayal, a personal failure, a reoccurring addiction, a painful past and we see nothing but a grave. Death where there used to be life, despair in need of repair, destruction where we need a resurrection. Well, that just happens to be our Savior’s forte. He is an expert at turning dead ends into divine beginnings, brokenness in to beauty, arising from the ashes, from darkness into a new day. This is what our Savior does if we will let Him! So, that’s His part, but what’s ours? Are we stumped and not sure where to start? Have we grown so used to seeing the mess that we can’t see the message? Where we see a dead end God sees a new beginning. Where we see a grave God sees the perfect place to plant a tree! We just need to come in the same humility as Korah did and acknowledge our need of His forgiveness and praise Him for our freedom!
Prayer
Lord, we are only a few weeks away from the ultimate celebration of Your gracious redemption, but I want to praise You now! Thank you for redeeming my story. Thank You for taking me from death to life and for giving me a new song to sing. Like Korah, I look back and I see how, despite my ugly pride, You have brought about something beautiful in my family, in our church, and in our world. I can’t wait to look at more impossible stories and see what You do with them!
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