~ Day Twenty-Two ~

This past week, as we celebrated the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles, which is observed each year to celebrate God's goodness and to remember how His people had once lived in tents during their wilderness wanderings on their way to the promised land, we were provided a picture of our own pilgrimage of faith, that began when we were delivered by our Savior Jesus Christ out from under the heavy yoke of slavery of sin, which once kept us bound to the cruel taskmaster of our own human flesh and forced us into a lifetime of vain labor where our wages in the end are death, then baptized into a new life which placed our feet on a new path that, although we have to walk as sojourners on this present earth for a while, is leading us to a heavenly country, to that city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10, 16). At the end of Israel's wilderness journey they entered the promised land as a new nation bound in a covenant relationship to the Lord, into a land flowing with milk and honey, which is a beautiful illustration of our entrance into the Beulah Land of God's presence where we will spend eternity feasting on divine love. To celebrate their new beginning in the Promise Land, the eighth day, "the last and greatest day," of the Feast of Tabernacles is observed as a solemn assembly. "On the eighth day you shall have a sacred assembly. You shall do not customary work. You shall present a burnt offering, an offering made by fire as a sweet aroma to the LORD" (Numbers 29:35, 36a). It was during this holy convocation that our Lord Jesus stood up and revealed the Living Water:

On the last day of the feast, the people would march around the great altar in the temple courts commemorating their march around the walls of Jericho before entering the promised land (Joshua 6). They carried palm branches and waved them as the priest took a golden pitcher filled with water from the Pool of Siloam and poured it out as an offering to God and memorial of the water that flowed from the rock when the Israelites traveled through the wilderness (Exodus 17:6). As they made the seven circuits around the altar and the priest began to pour the water out, instead of the people letting out the shout, which brought the walls of Jericho down and opened up the way for them to enter the Promise Land, our Lord stood up and cried out, proclaiming the glorious good news that a new way was being opened for them, heaven's gates were being opened wide, and the eternal waters would flow from heaven to satisfy their thirsty souls. The tabernacle years in the wilderness were a beautiful illustration of the better promise land to come, which the Lord had always purposed for His people from the foundation of the world. On that last and greatest day of the feast, our Lord announced that He was now going to dwell within the hearts of His people and unlock a perennial fountain of living water that would flow from within them to satisfy their spiritual thirst. Not only will they be continually satisfied themselves, but they would become a life-giving river for others to drink from and be satisfied. "But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:39). Let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to Jesus' wonderful name for the fountain that wells up within us, which He has supplied His children for our eternal satisfaction, so we never have to know what it is to suffer spiritual thirst again. May we be willing daily to be poured out as a drink offering for the many in this world who are literally dying from spiritual thirst - that they may also know what it is like to drink from that pure fountain of eternal life! "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me" (Matthew 25:40).

Read: Job Chapter Twenty-Two

Instead of providing their friend with a cool cup of compassion drawn from the river of life to soothe his weary soul and wounded spirit, Job's friends were handing him cup after cup of poison concocted from the filthy stream of their own polluted hearts. Chapter after chapter, we find poor Job under a continuous assault from his so-called friends, who had come to offer him comfort and sympathy in the time of his greatest need. After they observed their friends' sad situation for themselves, they began to draw the wrong conclusions and then offered the wrong counsel that neither fit his situation nor provided any relief. "It is because of your fear of Him that He corrects you, and enters into judgment with you? Is not your wickedness great, and your iniquity without end?" (vv. 4, 5). Their friend had lost everything, but it wasn't because of sin as they incorrectly thought. They were making judgments without all the facts. They twisted Job's words and then filled in the gaps with made-up stories to fit their own narrative. They bullied and abused their friend and called him horrible names, like wicked, sinner, and hypocrite. If this is how friends treat you, then who needs enemies! Remarkably, Job just sat there and took everything on the chin. He remained silent and didn't cave under the pressure. He was still the same man as he was in the beginning that the Lord held in high esteem (Job 1:8). Despite all the trials and opposition, he held onto his integrity and brought honor to God. Job may have sat in the shadows, lacking a clear understanding of what God was doing, but it is certain that he wasn't hiding anything in the dark as his friends were unjustly accusing him of. To the Lord, Job was a rare and precious jewel, whom He set apart on the ash heap of the world to reveal the hidden person of a heart surrendered to God, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle heart and quiet spirit, as the most precious thing in God's sight. Sadly, all that his friends could see when they looked at Job was trash, and that is how they treated him. Thankfully, "the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7b). Let us offer a prayer of gratitude to the Lord today, for the internal fountain He has unlocked through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives; whose abiding presence enables us to be still and rest by those pure waters that flow within and remain calm in the midst of unrelenting pressure and helps us to respond in the most gracious manner which confounds the enemy and brings glory to God. "Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together" (Psalm 34:3).

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"Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord - that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful" (James 5:10).

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