Today’s passage is Hebrews 7:11-19. Because the Levitical priesthood, created according to the Law of Moses, could not bring perfection to the people under the Law, another priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek was necessary. Jesus is a priest according to that order, which is eternal with the power of endless life and thus gives us the better hope of drawing near to God.
Do you keep God’s commandments?
Do things go according to your plan?
Things so rarely go according to my plans that I sometimes wonder why I even make plans.
But I keep making them because I need to make them and I keep hoping that maybe some of those plans will work out.
The question is why don’t they work?
There are four basic answers.
My plans are not well thought out. Circumstances that I didn’t or couldn’t foresee interfered. Something is basically wrong with me. I don’t depend on God.
When I actually reflect on plans gone awry, which is not often enough for me to learn something important, I usually see that all four answers had a hand in the failed or incompletely realized plan.
Since we’ve just moved twice recently, let me use that as an example.
First, why did we move from our big, comfortable apartment?
The plan was conceived a year ago in response to my wife’s desire to have a small house with a small garden.
Every day for months she searched for it on the internet.
It seemed obsessive to me and I became irritated with her interrupting my work every night to look at pictures of houses.
I finally said that if the next day’s QT passage said anything about a house, we would buy one.
Because we were reading Job, I figured I was on safe ground and wouldn’t have to do anything except order my wife to stop searching.
The next day’s passage was Job 38, when God answers Job.
There are seven references that apply to a house: foundation, dimensions, measuring line, footings, cornerstone, door(2x)!
That seemed definitive to me, so I acted on it by actually going out to look at real houses.
We couldn’t afford any we saw but then my wife discovered land for sale in a new development in Yangpyeong.
We visited the site on Christmas Day, found it beautiful, negotiated a good price as the first buyer and looked forward to moving to a new house in the summer.
That was a year ago.
We are nowhere near our new house.
We’re living in a small apartment in Junggok after moving from a small apartment in Hakdong after moving from our big apartment in Indeogwon.
Our new house is not even built.
In fact, there is still no permission to construct it although the builder has permission to begin his development.
Apparently, each individual property must get government approval as well.
Maybe our house is never going to be built. At this point we just don’t know.
So, what happened to the plan?
The plan was not well thought out.
We didn’t investigate thoroughly, didn’t ask the right questions, didn’t talk to people in our church who know about real estate and construction.
Neither we nor the builder foresaw a number of new government regulations that delayed development.
My sinful nature interfered. I like speed, I like things to happen fast and so I often skip steps.
My desire for speed makes me careless. I under-estimate costs, time, effort.
I don’t pay enough attention to other people who are involved and cause unnecessary tension and conflicts.
Finally, I did not truly depend on God. I didn’t pray diligently or regularly.
I jumped to conclusions and assumed everything would go the way I wanted it to go. It didn’t.
The result is that we are living in an old apartment about the same size and condition as the one in Ansan where we lived when we were poor.
But ironically we like the low class, working neighbourhood and find many conveniences.
We can squash a small mokjang into our main room and kitchen.
The big lesson is that I need more God, just as Apollo says in today’s passage.
The old way of doing things isn’t good enough, doesn't work.
I got careless in my assumption of God without doing my part in growing a deeper, closer relationship through prayer, both personal and in our church community.
So, we are sort of where we were when we began at Wooridle, in a poor apartment in a poor neighbourhood instead of in a new house on top of a mountain in Yangpyeong. Just makes me laugh.
Application: stop trying to be quick, slow down and pray
Lord, forgive my sinful independence. Inspire me daily with prayer, bend my knees to your will.
