«So Eleazar the priest collected the 250 bronze incense burners that had been used by the men who died in the fire, and the bronze was hammered into a thin sheet to overlay the altar» (Numbers 16:39, NLT).
In Numbers chapter 16 we find one of the most terrifying Bible stories. During Korah’s rebellion, two hundred fifty princes and leaders of the congregation went to the door of the tabernacle and offered incense (which only priests were allowed to do). Because of their audacity, fire came out from the Lord and consumed them. Then God instructed Moses saying, «Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to pull all the incense burners from the fire, for they are holy» (Numbers 16:37, NLT). Can you imagine the scene? Eleazar had to walk among the corpses, gathering the two hundred fifty censers. Then he had to hammer the metal to create a sheet and overlay the altar with it. Why would God ask him to do such a strange thing?
We often try to keep our past locked away. We think that it is not worthwhile to analyze its hardest, most traumatic chapters. However, paraphrasing Richard Rohr, pain that is not transformed, is transmitted. In order to grow, we need to recover the bronze from among the corpses and hammer it to create something different. As American psychologist and theologian, Dan Allender, writes in Wounded Heart: «Confronting the past allows us to see the present more clearly.» When we do not do that, «the past clings to the present like an invisible anchor that hinders the vessel’s progress.» In the process of recovering and hammering the bronze, extracting the good from among the bad, God gave the children of Israel the opportunity to change their story and redeem their pain.
Considering how the two hundred fifty men had dishonored the censers, God could have instructed that the bronze sheet be used for secular purposes. However, God said it should be used to overlay the altar, as a reminder. That part of the story is so moving and meaningful to me! After the difficult work of hammering the bronze by hand, the sheet is used in the tabernacle’s sacred service. The past, when processed, is not trash: it is sacred. God can use it for His honor!
Dear Lord, thank You because You can redeem my story.
You can free me from the pain and trauma of the past and transform it into something useful and holy.
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Take From: Devotional Thoughts for Women 2022
«NO FEARS»
BY: VANEZA PISSUTO
Collaborators: Alexandra Perez & Angelica Cuate
