Sound the Alarm - Encouragement Café - October 2, 2014
Café Menu for Thursday, October 2, 2014
Today’s Special is: The Feast of Trumpets
Carefully prepared just for you by your friend, Tammy Priest
Main Ingredient:
Tell the People of Israel, On the first day of the seventh month, set aside a day of rest, a sacred assembly - mark it with loud blasts on the ram's horn.
Leviticus 23:23-24 The Message
Entrée:
Have you ever heard the blast of a shofar? The sound of a ram's horn is unlike anything you've heard before. It's both startling and beautiful at the same time.
Throughout Scripture, sounding the shofar was both a war cry and a victory shout. A long blast announced the king. One day, it will proclaim the restoration of Jerusalem under the Messiah's reign. Without a single word, the blast of the shofar speaks volumes.
The ministry of the ram's horn is so important that God established an annual feast dedicated to blowing it: Yom Teru'ah. The Feast of Trumpets.
There's no other purpose given for the Feast. Just gather and sound the alarm. Sound the war cry and the victory shout. Announce the coming of the king. All day. It sounds like sensory overload. And that's the point.
Science tells us that loud, piercing sounds like the shofar affect our brains significantly. Our senses are sharpened and our minds brought to heightened alertness. Emotions become clear and long-term memory is awakened. In short, the cry of the ram's horn brings life abruptly into focus.
Which is exactly the intent. To wake us from our slumber. To startle us into renewed awareness of who we really are: broken, flawed and selfish. Imperfect and sinful before the King who demands perfection and purity.
The cry of the shofar opened people's eyes to their need for salvation and restoration. Mercifully, ten days later, the high priest would put his life on the line, stepping inside the Holy of Holies to atone for their sin with the blood of a perfect lamb.
Incredibly, the very first shofar mentioned in Scripture belonged to the animal that took Isaac's place. That first ram's horn, caught in a thicket, made the way for the first exchange of death for life.
Do you see? The instrument God chose to wake people to our need for salvation, was, in fact, a picture of how He would bring salvation once and for all: the Messiah was bound on the Cross to take our place on the altar. The ultimate exchange of death for life.
All of us need to be awakened to the reality of our great need for God - whether for the first time or the millionth. With this heightened awareness, life comes into focus, and we can enter a deeper journey with Him. Listen for His call...
Take Out:
Is God trying to get your attention? Is there a message He is trying to speak to your head or your heart?
It could be a call, a conviction, a comfort or simply a loving reminder of His Presence and His sovereignty.
Like the blast of the ram's horn, sometimes God's call is startling, frightening even. But, at the same time, the message is always beautiful, because the One who utters it crafted you and loves you beyond your imagination.
Dessert:
Lord God, open my ears and my heart to Your call. Wake me from the slumber of my ruts and routines so that I can grasp all that You are and all that I am in You. Thank You for continuing to call to my heart, no matter the season. In Messiah's Name, Amen.
© 2014 by Tammy Priest. All rights reserved.
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