823

I keep waking up at 8:23 AM.  On days when I don’t have an alarm set, I often roll over, tap my phone and it greets me with 8:23 AM.  This has been going on for several months.  It isn’t every morning, but it happens enough that I knew there was some message for me in that number.  For many weeks I’ve told myself that I’ll pray about it and research it.  

Enter life.  Life has a way of pushing things to the back of your mind as you focus on daily responsibilities and tasks.  Enter God.  The gentle nudging becomes stronger, like a toddler trying to get his mama’s attention.  “Listen to me.”

This happened to me once before and I searched the Bible for verses matching the number I kept seeing and God revealed a message to me that I needed to hear at that time.  So, I thought that would be a good place to start.  I prayed for God to reveal what He wanted me to know.  Then, I went through every book of the Bible looking for Chapter 8, vs. 23.  Of the Bible’s 66 books, 36 have at least 8 chapters.  And just like last time, I knew when I found the verse.

1 Kings 8:23 says, “Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below—you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way.”

Chapter 8 of I Kings details the dedication of the Temple.  The representatives of Israel were called together and held their first meeting at the Temple upon its completion.  The priests brought the ark of the covenant into the most holy place and God took possession of the temple by cloud.  Verse 23 is part of Solomon’s prayer asking God to accept all the prayers that would be made in or towards the Temple.  His prayer was that the Temple would not just be a house of sacrifice (not mentioned in prayer but taken for granted) but a house of prayer for all people.  Solomon surrendered the Temple to God.  

I then felt led to Strong’s which lists words by number.  I typed in 823 and the Greek for 823 is atomos, meaning not able to cut, indivisible, a moment of time that is too small to be measured, like a split second or an instant.

And just like that, I knew.  My gracious God had revealed to me the simple message He was trying to communicate all these months. The message that my stubborn heart and controlling mind had blocked.  The message that the enemy fought so hard to keep from me.

Rhonda, I am your God and there is none like me.  I will not break the covenant I have made with you.  But I need your wholehearted love.  Set aside your doubt.  Set aside your control.  Surrender your temple to me, the one who created You.

For months now I have been struggling with doubt about healings that I desperately want. I’ve written about it in a previous blog.  These aren’t life-threatening situations.  But rather ongoing struggles for not only someone I love, but myself as well.  But as hard as I pray, and as much as I pray, I am coming to the table with half an offering.  A heart divided.  Part of which is asking, expecting, and believing God to intervene while the other half sets guidelines and timetables for God to follow.  Rather than asking Him what we should be doing, I am telling Him what He should be doing.

I have not surrendered the Temple.

In this verse, wholeheartedly is the Hebrew lēb meaning heart and by extension the inner person, the seat of thought and emotion: conscience, courage, mind, understanding.  In other words, our very soul.  The one part of us that God will not take without our permission.  God will love us no matter what.  He will fight for us vehemently.  But He will not force us to surrender our soul to him; He waits for us to surrender willingly.

The verse ends with “who continue wholeheartedly in Your way.”  Way in this context is pāneh meaningface, appearance, presence; to “show one’s face” is a sign of favor; to “turn” or “hide one’s face” is a sign of rejection.   God is asking us to surrender ourselves to Him, to turn our face to him.  However, pāneh is attributed to God in this verse – “your way.”  I interpret that to mean that God is asking us to look upon Him and others in the same way He looks upon us – with favor.

I have been turning my face away.  At least part of it.  Rather than look unto my God with favor and full confidence that His covenant with me is unbreakable, I cloak myself in shades of doubt and frustration; immaturity and impatience.  I place worldly demands on an omnipotent God.  I pray with limits to a God who has unlimited power.  I pray directions to a God who set my path in place.  A God able to bless far beyond my feeble comprehension.

Despite all, my God is working.  My gracious God is showing me his covenant in progress and opportunities.  He is sending the right people into the right lives at the right time.  His time.  He is opening hearts and minds and binding the lies of the enemy.  

And I am surrendering the Temple.  I am trusting the covenant.  I am believing in an all-powerful God who cares about the little struggles as much as the life-altering ones.  A God who patiently waits for me to get out of His way so that He can demonstrate a power that will slay the enemy in a split-second.  

A God who is reminding me, through 823 that this season is just an instant.  And that He battles for me in ways I cannot comprehend with a love I am too immature to grasp.  A love that turns to me in favor and gently, but persistently reminds me, “I am YOUR God, Rhonda.  Surrender.”