Plow to Build

In Exodus 28, the writer of Exodus is telling us about the breastplate that the priests would wear as they entered the tabernacle. Contained within the breastplate were twelve stones or pearls. These pearls were “engraved” with the names of the twelve tribes so the priests bore them perpetually before the Lord as a memorial. The word “engrave” carries significant connotations in this passage. The word itself in Hebrew means “plow.” Coincidence?? I think not. A well known christian author by the name of Dutch Sheets wrote a book called “Intercessory Prayer,” essentially a guide for how to be an intercessor. In this context the intercessors are the priests perpetually carrying the twelve tribes before the Lord.

I recently wrote my final exam for my insurance course. I felt somewhat unprepared as there was material I was unable to cover. This was my weakness. My strength is knowing how to praise and pray before God. I am a pentecostal (priest), you know. I prayed and praised my way into the exam. I did so not only for myself but for my other classmates as well.

Referring back to the paragraph previous to the last one I said the word “engrave” means “plow.” Our friend, the Apostle Paul, wrote that we are to put on the armor of God everyday. This armor includes a breastplate (hint hint..). Remembering this morning, there were 13 people in my class including me. That means that I carried “twelve” names in my “breastplate” while praying and praising the Lord just as the priest did. I “plowed” the names before the Lord. As I prayed and praised the names of my classmates were “plowed” before the Lord. Get the picture? It is no coincidence that Jesus while speaking before his disciples to several men says, “He who puts his hand to the ‘plow’ and turns back is fit for the kingdom of God. How does that fit? It fits like this.

If I had stopped praying and praising for my classmates I would have taken my hand off the plow, my prayer and praise would have been self-centered. Rabbi Ralph Messer says this, “Everything God has put in us is not for us it is for someone else.” As priests, we are always looking to build up the Kingdom of God and not tear it down. Jesus says, “The Kingdom is neither here it is nor there it is, the Kingdom is within.”

Exodus 28; Ephesians 6; Luke 9:62