Beautiful Inheritance {Hope Mommies 2017 Retreat Theme}

Please tell me I am not the only one that has ever skimmed over a word they didn’t know the meaning of in the Bible?  Miktam.  That was my word.  Read it.  Didn’t understand it.  Moved on.  But one day, several years ago, I sat in church as my pastor read Psalm 16 aloud.  “Psalm 16.  You Will Not Abandon My Soul.  A Miktam of David.”  But then he paused and looked up.  He asked if anyone knew what the word Miktam meant.  I sat in my chair hoping that no one else knew the meaning either so that I would finally be able to learn about this mysterious word.  No one in the congregation raised their hand or spoke up.  (Yes!)  My pastor proceeded to explain that the word Miktam is the idea of something really precious, like gold or a jewel, and that Psalm 16 has oft been referred to as The Golden Psalm or David’s Jewel.  That was nice, but then he said something that captivated me, he said that Miktam can also literally mean precious secret.  A precious secret!  How cool is that definition?  A precious secret between me and my God.  And what a precious secret this Psalm holds; it foretells the story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

 

Psalm 16 is so rich and a favorite of so many of us on the Leadership Team.  It was quite an easy pick for our retreat theme this year.  You know the verse, “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.  The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.”  A Beautiful Inheritance.  What kind of images does this conjure up for you?  I know it kind of gives me the warm fuzzies; I imagine lush land and waters and sky and treasures in abundance.  It makes me feel loved and safe.  It makes me long for the day I will receive my beautiful inheritance from my God.  But when our babies die, how can our hearts feel content?  How can we be thankful for our chosen portion?  This is a portion we didn’t ask for.  These lines don’t feel as if they have fallen in pleasant places.  Can our inheritance really still be beautiful?

 

I would have to resoundingly answer, YES!  If we believe, with our whole heart that Jesus died to save us from our sin, and if we are Christians who are living redeemed and on our way to Heaven—then goodness, we truly do have a Beautiful Inheritance.  Because our inheritance is not based on our earthly circumstances.  Those can seem dire, even hopeless, in the aftermath of our children’s deaths.  But sweet sisters, with Christ in us, our circumstances and our inheritance are neither dire nor hopeless.

 

I feel that for you to deeply understand the meaning of a beautiful inheritance, I must first tell you another story.  Most of you will know this story, and for the sake of time and word count this is my feeble attempt at paraphrasing so many books of the Bible, so bear with me.  Here we go…

 

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  And so He makes this garden, and in this garden He created man.  And then He created a woman.  And Scripture states that God is walking in their midst in the cool of the day.  This shows us that in the beginning, God had an intimate relationship with Adam and Eve.  But then they sin, which brings the fall and sin sweeps through the whole world. Because God said that they would surely die if they ate from that tree, death seeped into the human experience. Then a guy named Abraham comes into the picture and God says to him, and I am paraphrasing, “Go and I will bless you.”  To which, Abraham replied, “Why me?”  And God says, “I want to bless you because that’s how I am.  I am a God that blesses people because they don’t deserve it.  I will give you many nations and bless the world through your offspring.”  Then comes David.  He becomes king.  He becomes an example—though still only a shadow—of what the Christ would be.  Then all goes wrong in Israel and, basically, they are all awaiting a new king.  A king who will be like David, but far better still.  Then comes Jesus.  And He is the King.  Son of the Living God.  He lives a perfect life.  Dies on the cross carrying the weight of our sin, shame and guilt.  Then He rises from the dead 3 days later and leaves again after 40 days of walking around and showing Himself to many people.  After that, the Lord pours out the Holy Spirit onto the churches.  And now the church is going, moving and active.  And we are a part of that—in this part of the story.  So why do we, as believers, meet, share meals, gather, sing, worship, cry, laugh, learn His Word,  eat and drink His supper, and share the gospel?  I will tell you why.  Because in the end of this story Jesus is coming back!

 

Friends, I am no Bible scholar, but one theme I can see in the Bible is this…the people of Israel were to be holy because God who dwelled with them was holy.  In the story of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was being poured out on His people, creating the church, which showed that God was with His people.  At the end of The Great Commission Jesus states, “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). And Revelation tells us about our future, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Rev. 21:3).  Can you see where I am going with this?  The word with.  It is all about a relationship WITH God.  There isn’t distance between us and God.  Jesus, through His flesh and perfect sacrifice, has made a way for us to have an intimate relationship with our God.  The same king David who pointed to Christ’s Kingship, in Psalm 16, is telling us not to settle for less.  He is telling us to let God be our chosen portion.  Let God be our Beautiful Inheritance!

 

In Joshua, it explains that when they came into the land of Canaan, they did a survey after they conquered the land and then began divvying up the land into portions.  They were told to be content, however the land was divided up for them, and however the lines would fall.  Every tribe was given their due inheritance (portion of the land).  But Levi was left out…he got no inheritance in the land.  You see, God was the inheritance of Levi, who was called to serve God in a different way—a line of holy priests in God’s tabernacle.  The inheritance of the priestly tribe were the good things God has given to them.  So friends, in a sense, like the tribe of Levi we don’t get the land. We don’t get what we expected and as much as it hurts, we don’t get to see our children grow old on this earth.  But, sisters, we get the Lord.  Do you hear that, we get the LORD!  Not this sinful, fallen, broken world.  We get Him!  And He has called us to serve Him in a different way than we expected.

 

I have to be content.  God has to be enough.  When I put my faith in the Lord and I recognize what I have in Him.  Who He is for me.  And what He is to me.  And what He has done for me.  And everything about Him.  My flesh dwells secure.  It doesn’t mean that I have a carefree attitude about life, but it means that whatever takes place, that even in the stillbirth of my only daughter, I can rest secure, knowing that God is God.  And that makes my heart filled with fullness of joy.  He will not abandon me or my daughter, even in death.  Because, He who lives is able to completely save me, and my daughter forever!  We can have no true good apart from Him.  He is our deliverer, our counselor, and we can be in this relationship with Him through grace alone.  And in this relationship our hearts will be glad.  And full forevermore.

 

So, we are in on this rich, precious secret, this Miktam—that the risen Christ is our resurrection: “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:5-7). And this my friends, is our Beautiful Inheritance.

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You are invited! At the 2017 Hope Mommies Retreat, we will share together in the rich truths of our Beautiful Inheritance. Early Registration (August 29th – September 30th) = $290. Learn more –> HERE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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