Day 5- The White House

Is this white house a metaphor for my love, stained and empty? There are no occupants- just a futile testimony of what could have been.  When I first walked this hill, I thought nothing of what God could do, but what I would lose. When God brought two friends to visit me, they talked about accountability: accountability for my emotions and my promise to be faithful.  Negative emotions assailed me; how could I be free of frustration, disappointment, and sadness?  How can I sit in this empty house filled with just me? If I can't keep covenant with friends, family, how can God trust me with even a greater gift? If I can't be trustworthy, I may just sit alone for quite some time until I learn the lesson.

Like the abandoned building, empty without residents, is any relationship without love. People often love to quote Ruth's words to Naomi, but covenant-loyalty is hard. For better or worse, in sickness and health, till death do us part. What is covenant loyalty? When people get married, they expect sunrises and blue skies, not the sun beating down on their heads. The dusty roads dirty our feet- our sweat-stained garments testament to our suffering. Ruth, gathered all her courage, and headed down the hilly road to Bethlehem. Even when Naomi threw her faith aside,  Ruth remained faithful.

Covenant can only be made through sacrifice.  In the Old Testament, the breaking of a covenant was death. When people 'cut covenant,' they literally walked between the slain bodies of the sacrifice, symbolically declaring may my life be as these, if I break my covenant. In Genesis 15:9, God instructs Abraham to, "Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon."When he brought the animals, God instructed him to cut them in two in the middle except the birds." Because the promise was so great for Abraham and his descendants, God walked between the sacrifice and 'cut covenant' by Himself. In Jeremiah 34:17, the Lord declares that, "Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, everyone to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD[;] I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof, and walked out that covenant." God takes covenant seriously; even the New Testament (Matt. 5:37; James 5:12) deals with vows; we are instructed to let our 'yes' by 'yes' and our 'no' be 'no'- that anything else is sin. We are instructed not make vows rashly.  Something to chew on.

Ruth's covenant was not spoken lightly, with little regard for her promise. I wonder when we promise to love, honor, and obey God just how serious we actually are? Do we consider our vows life-long covenants to our families? Thankfully, Ruth did.  As a result of her covenant obedience, from her womb came the ancestors of Y'shua.

Signing off,
M.J.