regularity

Read Exodus 29 and Hebrews 10

Now this is what you shall offer on the alter: two lambs a year old, day by day regularly. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. Exodus 29:38 &39.

I definitely recommend marriage. Besides its other benefits, marriage put regularity in my life. Every morning from 6:30 am to 7 Roxanne and I read the Scriptures together. And every evening around 9 pm she says to me, “I suppose you want to walk.” It’s the same 1 ½ mile route we always take. Then at 10:10 I head to bed. Five minutes later I hear her brushing her teeth and I know she will be joining me.

Curiously, when we go on vacation, after the first day, we become regular. We go to the same coffee shop each morning. There we decide on the day’s activities, which we begin and conclude at about the same time each day until we head for our hotel room.

A distinctive quality of the Israelites in the wilderness was their regularity. Every morning they woke up to manna that needed to be gathered. Every evening the quail would come in. Every seventh day they rested. At regularly scheduled intervals they celebrated feasts. Among the Levites, each person had their own job that they did every day.

Health experts tell us that our bodies do best with a regular schedule. If one eats, sleep, works, exercises the same time every day, our bodies know what to expect; and our level of stress and our tendency towards obesity are reduced considerably.

I started my regularity in college. Every night at exactly 9 pm I would go to the snack shop to buy a malt (with double malt). If I saw a friend there, I would also order French fries which I would dip in mustard. One evening my good friend George Farber was at the snack shop. We decided we would play ping pong every night. We would play until one person won two out of three games. Much to my chagrin, George figured out I had a weak backhand. Though I was definitely the better player (just ask me if you don’t believe me) George would persistently place the ball to land on the extreme left hand side of the table. One night while getting thoroughly trounced by George because of his “trick,” my ping pong paddle went flying out of my hand and headed straight to his head. George said, “that’s enough,” and we never played again. That hurt. It still hurts today. George remains my good friend. He’s one of our regular speakers at Story Book so I see him every summer. But we’ve never played ping pong together again.

I get the impression from Genesis 3:8, that every night as the sun was going down, God would come by the Garden of Eden and have a chat with Adam and Eve. But one night, because of their deliberate disobedience, when God came by, Adam and Eve hid themselves. Their wonderfully regular relationship with God was broken.

Back to Exodus: The 2 lambs that were slain every morning and every night remind me of the ongoing effects of the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world. This one slain Lamb insured that my regular, day by day relationship with my Lord would never be broken.

Question: What regular habits have you established to keep your relationship with the Lord fresh and new every day? Regularity is good for our bodies as well as our spirits.