A Scroll of Remembrance

Have you ever had a long conversation with your spouse or friend regarding plans for your future, or your finances, or serious decisions that need to be made? You find that you are discussing many options and each of you are giving your own viewpoints, and you begin to realize that the decisions you are about to make could profoundly affect your future.

John and I had such a conversation on the telephone last night. Two people our age about to join our lives, our families and our futures together have a lot to discuss and work out. Well, let's face it, no matter how long two people have been married, there are always compromises and decisions that need to be made! But I have never before been through this kind of discussion with such an awareness of God's tangible Presence. As we were exchanging our thoughts, ideas, concerns and suggestions, we were coming to the same conclusions in a sense of total unity; and then I heard the Holy Spirit whisper in my ear, "I am listening and I am writing all this on a scroll of remembrance." I mentioned these words to John and told him I knew this was a scripture somewhere in the book of Malachi. "Scroll of remembrance?" he asked. "Yes," I told him, "I sense that the Lord is listening in on our conversation and I believe He wants us to pray through this passage." We both got our bibles out and turned to Malachi 3:16-18: "Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in His presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored His name. "They will be mine, "says El Shaddai, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked; between those who serve God and those who do not."

This passage covered us in awe and blessing! How overwhelming it is to embrace the notion that the Creator of the Universe cares so much about each of us and our daily affairs that He listens in on our conversations and writes them on a "scroll of remembrance." And according to what He hears, He makes a distinction between those who serve Him and those who do not!

Was our conversation pleasing to Him? Did our discussion about finances honor Him? I realized we had been speaking to one another about our desire to commit every decision to Him before acting upon it, and to seek Him together for wisdom and understanding in all our plans for the future. Surely that was honoring to our God, and exalting Him to the highest place. Surely He heard our desires to serve Him above ourselves. It was thrilling and overwhelming to think about His "heavenly eavesdropping" on His children, and His compassion and desire to make His presence known in the midst of our discussion.

Yet it was so powerful that it gave me pause to wonder, "How many of my daily conversations would I really want the King of the Universe to hear, and to write on His scroll of remembrance? " Does He always hear talk from my mouth that causes Him to speak of me as His treasured possession? I believe that passage will stick with me in the future: "Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other and the LORD listened and heard."

One Flock and One Shepherd

In the Torah portion this week we read of Jacob's meeting with Rachel at the well. Genesis 29:10 says, "When Jacob saw Rachel, daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and Laban's sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle's sheep."

He rolled a stone away. Does that sound familiar? Is this not a vitally important prophetic picture? As I dug deeper into the meaning of this action that Jacob takes at the well, I found that it corresponds closely with the rolling away of stones in Yeshua's time. When he was summoned to the tomb of his good friend Lazarus, a great stone was rolled away - and as we know, that brought forth life from the dead! Yeshua said, "Father I thank You that You have heard me. I know that You always hear me but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that You sent me" (John 11:42). The rolling away of this great stone was to cause the people who were there to see that Yeshua (Jesus) is the promised Messiah, and all who believe in Him will receive eternal life. In John 11:25 Yeshua tells Martha, "I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me will live even though he dies."

We know that another great stone is rolled away after Yeshua Himself rises from the dead. "Early on the first day of the week while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance" (John 20:1).

Back in Genesis 29, Jacob rolled the large stone away from the mouth of the well in order to water Rachel's sheep. So, what are we to see from that ancient picture? The Scripture tells us of Jacob, "There he saw a well in the field with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well's mouth and water the sheep (Genesis 29:2-3). Then along comes Rachel with her father's sheep at the high noon of the day. In Genesis 29:6 other shepherds at the well say to Jacob "Look, here comes Laban's daughter Rachel with the sheep."

What I hope you can begin to see here is the parallel of Rachel's flocks and Yeshua's sheep. Remember, we were told there were three distinct flocks of sheep. No matter who these sheep represent throughout the course of history, I believe one thing is certain: the flock who was with Rachel that day symbolize those of the House of Israel who received the Gospel as soon as they saw and heard Messiah Yeshua. For example, when Yeshua encounters the Samaritan woman at the well that day He tells her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman runs into her Samaritan town to tell all the people about the Messiah, and many believe in Him. They are Rachel's flock! The stone is rolled away, they receive the Living Water, and are born again into eternal life in Yeshua.

So, who are the other two flocks? I believe the second group of sheep represent the House of Judah (the Jewish people) who have always been believing in and waiting on a Messiah to come. And the third group represent people who do not yet know Him, but will come to believe yet in the future. As Yeshua says in John 10:14-15, "I am the Good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me - just as the Father knows me and I know the Father - and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd."

This explains why, back in Genesis 29, the shepherds have to explain to Jacob "We can't water all the sheep yet until all the flocks are gathered and the stone rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will gather the sheep." Is this not thrilling? I believe we are living in the last days, when that last group of sheep is going to come, thirsty not for water and hungry not for food, but for the Living Water and the Word of God! The "stone" will finally be rolled away from their blinded eyes and they will "see" and know the power of the Resurrection of the Son of God.

All Rachel's flocks will be restored at last, and gathered at the well: one flock and one Shepherd!

Wait for Your God Always

Waiting is definitely not my strong suit! In fact, I suffer from a terrible case of impatience and am forever asking God to help me learn to truly wait on Him. I have been blessed and encouraged in the way He has kept me strong to wait on Him for eleven years, for the mate that HE would choose for me; but now that His choice has been made, I confess my impatience has reared its head again, and I have been sorely tempted to just get on with the wedding!

This past week we began to feel overwhelmed with many others (including our own children)who were writing or calling to say, "What are you waiting for? Just get married!" Was this a temptation of the enemy to step out of God's will and His timing for us - or was it indeed the Voice of the Spirit, giving us permission to move things along more quickly? I pondered this question of "waiting on God" all week. Several scriptures and scenarios came to mind:

Hosea 12:6: "But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always."

Psalm 27:14: "Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD."

Psalm 130:5: "I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in His Word I put my hope."

I revisited the Scriptures in Genesis 16 about Abraham's wife, Sarah. Even though she and her husband had been promised a son, Sarah got tired of waiting on God. She devised her own plan to move things along - and we all know the difficult circumstances her plan produced, which continue even today as the descendents of Ishmael and Isaac are still at war with one another.

In contrast, I spent some time in 1 Samuel 1, considering the similar plight of Hannah. Though she was barren, Hannah continued to pray and wait on the Lord to open her womb in His perfect time. Verse 20 reads, "So in the course of time Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel, saying, 'Because I asked the Lord for him.'" In the course of time? How long was this "course of time" before Hannah conceived? We are not told - but what we can be sure of is that it was the exact time the Lord had planned for her; and her willingness to wait resulted in the birth of a son whom she consecrated over to the Lord. As we know, Samuel became one of the great prophets of God!

In light of all this, I decided to put a fleece before the Lord regarding our wedding date. I prayed and asked Him that if the church had an open weekend for a wedding in January, we would know we had His consent to move the wedding date up. If not, we would know our February date was HIS timing, and we would wait. The church secretary responded immediately; no January date was available. Upon receiving this information, my heart quieted and total shalom enveloped me. "How good it is," I thought, "to wait upon the Lord. As we are printing on the front of our wedding program, "Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall soar as on wings of eagles. They shall run and not grow weary. They shall walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:31). Yes. I will be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD. His timing is indeed always perfect!