Category: Practical Apps

Pierce Your Ear

Featured ~ Sowmya Gali

Psalm 40: 6

Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but my ears you have pierced…

Deuteronomy15: 16, 17

But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family is well off with you, then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life.

After Israelites entered the Promised Land, God gave them several instructions as to how they should conduct themselves before the Lord and towards their brethren. Right after the instructions about cancelling debt of a fellow Hebrew in the seventh year, God gives this interesting instruction to Israelites about Hebrew slaves working under rich masters. A fellow Hebrew who offers himself or herself as a slave to a rich Hebrew master is permitted to remain a slave for six years and must be allowed to go free in the seventh year. However, if the slave chooses to remain a slave to this kind master, because the slave loves the master, the master must pierce the slave’s ear by pushing an awl through the earlobe into the doorpost. Then the slave will remain with his master for life.

In Psalm 40, King David after experiencing God’s goodness, mercy and love, decided to remain God’s servant for life. His desire was to remain in the house of the Lord forever. He was so confident of his faith and love towards his Master, that he offered his ears to be pierced. We do not know if David literally got his ear pierced on the doorpost of the tabernacle where the Lord dwelt. His heart’s desire was such that he longed to remain a servant or slave to his Master because he loved God, the kind Master and His family. David knew that he would be well off if he remained in God’s house. That is why he is a man after God’s heart.

Are we ready to get our ears pierced? Are we longing to remain in God’s house forever? After witnessing His love, mercy and faithfulness, can we be any complete elsewhere? Do we love our Master enough to remain in His house forever? Do our hearts carry such passion for our kind Master that we are willing to become His servants forever?

God is seeking willing hearts to join His family.

Prepare Ye, Prepare Thine

Featured ~ Sowmya Gali

Isaiah 25: 6-9

6. And in this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the lees.

7.  And He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations.

8. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; the rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken.

9. And it will be said in that day: “Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”

Another year has come to a close and a new year has dawned upon us. Let us thank our good Lord for carrying us through another year filled with a mixture of joyous and anxious moments, tragedies and pleasant surprises. Our good Lord has never failed us. We rose up from our mistakes and are forging ahead equipped with better experiences. Throughout this tumultuous year, our Lord stood by us like a pillar of strength. Thanks be to Him!

As I look forward for another year, I am reminded of a song “Prepare the way” by Darrell Evans and Eric Nuzum. We are reminded to prepare ourselves for God’s reign in our lives. First and foremost, we need to prepare our hearts, our homes and the people of God for our Lord. However, knowing my Savior, I couldn’t help but see the underlying desire of my Lord for this preparation.

Our Yahweh God loves us so much that He sent His only begotten Son to save us, die instead of us and restore us to our Heavenly Father. In addition to the rescuing and restoring of our souls, He deeply desires that we are in perfect joy, peace, health, and success while we are in this world. It is just like Him. It is His very nature. He desires that we be restored everything that the devil has stolen from us: health, joy, success and peace of mind. In so doing, He is preparing a people who are just after His own heart: generations of people who live for the Lord, live in the Lord and live by the Lord. He desires to see people who are victorious, healthy, gracious, peaceful and always joyful. Such a generation of people will bring forth a heaven on earth that we now only dream of. A heaven that we so look forward to where there is no strife or tear, we could as well have it right here when there arises a generation who strive to live God-centered lives.

Make ready your hearts, make ready your homes and make ready a people of God in this New Year as our Restorer God is making His move to restore everything that we’ve lost: our joy, peace, love, health and success. It is not just a one-time restoration but a wave after wave of overwhelming blessings that will chase us down and wash over us. A time will soon come when we will look up to Him and say, “Lord, why do you love me so much?” In that time, all we can do is surrender to His love with raised hands, tears of joy and eyes longing to behold such a loving God face to face. Prepare yourselves, prepare your families and prepare a generation of people for our God. Our Restorer is waiting to make His move!