Beth Moore - Minding The Store - Part 2
Go with me to Luke 2, to perhaps the most familiar story in all of New Testament scripture to people because it is going to be the birth narrative. We're gonna go to the point in the narrative where the baby has been born, the angels have already proclaimed the Messiah's birth to the shepherds, they have made haste to go and see this one that has been born in Bethlehem, that has been laid in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes, and they've just been amazed by it. I want you to pick up with me when it says a certain thing about Mary.
So I want you to pick up in verse 15, "When the angels had left them," and this is the shepherds, "and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let's go straight to Bethlehem and see what's happened, which the Lord has made known to us.' They hurried off and they found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger. After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary," verse 19, "Mary was treasuring up all of these things in her heart and meditating on that". She pondered them, as the way one of the translations says it. Treasured them by, it's a word of, the basic lexical form of the word would be "suntereo" and it is a word that means to preserve, but it is a word that means, that S-U-N on the first, that prefix, it means for things to be put together.
And you see it in the word sympathy. It is to feel the same passion as someone else feels. It's to put together, so what she's doing is she's taking all the parts of this. So I just throw out to you. Perhaps she's taking, she's remembering when the angel Gabriel first came to her and said, "You who are highly favored, you will give birth to the Son of the Most High". Maybe she's thinking about when she ran to Elizabeth, instead of running home, and she was taken in, and she walks in the door and Elizabeth goes, "How could I be so blessed that the mother of my Lord has come into my home"? Maybe she's doing the whole thing, how she first meets with Joseph, finds out he's not going to divorce her, he's not going to shame her. That trip to Bethlehem, and you know if you've given birth, she's thinking through that birth. Because she's thinking will I live to mother this child?
And so all of it she puts together and I wonder when she treasured it, she stored it, she kept it. And don't you know when Jesus was arrested, and beaten, and crucified, that she had to go back to her store over and over again. Do what, do I know for certain what I saw? Oh, I know for certain what I saw. You don't mistake Gabriel. What did I hear? What do I know? I know I had never been with anyone. I know if anybody knows, that the Holy Spirit came over me and conceived this child. All of these things treasured up right there, preserved, protected. Now, this is gonna be a huge relief to all of us. And it's point number three, all have a mix of good and bad boxed up in storage. Is that a relief to anybody? And we'll think to ourselves, I wonder if she's got more bad in her stories. It's gonna be super hard for us at times to stick with our own business.
But in order, in order for God to do what I believe he's come to do, we're gonna have to let him deal with us, because listen to me, you cannot get anything out of anybody else's storage. Nothing. Oh, you're gonna want to, oh, you're gonna, right now you're thinking, why is my husband not here? Because God brought you and not him, you understand what I'm saying? He brought us. He brought us, because he wants us to hear this, because we can't deal with anybody else's storage. We go home, we can try to preach the lesson to them. They're still probably not gonna do it, but we get to decide what boxes we want to keep and what really is worthless to us, and really is harmless to us, and really is destructive to us, because here's what we've come to find out, Lord before you, before whom I am completely loved, unconditionally loved, and completely known, Lord, you who loved me, tell me, what's in my store? What's in my store? It's gonna be a mixture of good and bad. When I throw out a couple of examples to get us going.
We found out from scripture that one of the things that stores up is anxiety, anxiety and we know it. We know this instinctively. It says in Psalm 13:2, "How long will I store up anxious concerns within me"? How long will I store up anxious concerns within me? So we know anxiety stores up. We know that it does, because here's what happens. If you're like me, then what happens is, that I have anxious thoughts, that build on anxious thoughts, that build on anxious thoughts, and then I'm all the way nearly into an anxiety attack. Anybody else? Because what's happened? I've gotten stressed, and more stressed, and more stressed, and more stressed. Something will make me anxious and then everything makes me anxious. Someone will text me, hey, do you have a minute? I need to tell you something. I'm already like someone's dead. I'm already in black. Anybody else do that?
Where it's just like this catastrophic fantasies. Because why? Because probably you've been building up and you already know, one more thing and I'm down and out. I mean, I cannot handle another thing because there's so much anxiety in this world and we're just absorbing it. Another thing that scripture will tell us stores up is wrath. Wrath gets stored up. We know that instinctively. We know how mad we can... that it builds, and it builds, and it builds. We know that offenses definitely store up. We want to get some of these offenses. We can do something about that. We honestly can lay down some of our offenses at people and we can just go, you know what, it has not had any impact on them thus far. Would that be fair? But it is having a terrible impact on me. I'm gonna move it out of my store. Resentment is the result of stored up anger and envy. It's feeling like someone has done you wrong and then, and or me wrong, and that we've just stored it up, and stored it up, and stored it up, and stored it up.
I thought of another one that's been on my mind so much here lately, because I've spent so much time in Philippians recently, and that is that the Apostle Paul says toward the end of Philippians chapter 2, he's talking about his coworker Epaphroditus and he's sending him back. He's one of the Philippians. They've sent him with a gift to the Apostle Paul from the Philippians saints. And so he, Epaphroditus, gets really, really, really super sick. And so the Philippians hear how sick he is and they get all worried, and Epaphroditus gets all upset because they're so worried that he is so sick. And Paul says, "But God had mercy on him," talking about Epaphroditus. "He had mercy on him, but not only on him but also on me, that I might not have sorrow upon sorrow".
Sorrow, upon sorrow. In other words, sorrow can just like, doesn't it store up? I give, I'm gonna give you an example out of my own life right now. This is gonna sound so silly to you people who are not dog people or pet people. So I need you to zone out for a minute. Need you to take a mental praise break, go somewhere and praise with God and leave the rest of us in here for just a moment. But I have just come out of a time of really serious grief. I mean, just serious grief. I've had a change in denomination and I'm talking about in my church denomination. And it nearly killed me. It nearly killed me. I loved my denomination. I would never have wanted to leave it, never, but I came to a point where because of what I knew in the situation that I was in, God brought me to a place where it was like, move! I have many, many, many loved ones, most of my dearest friends and associates are still in that world.
And so it was a death to me. I mean, a death, and I have grieved it like, not only like someone has died because I feel like part of me, like I mean, I was just like, I don't even, I don't even know who I am. I don't even, I don't know what to do with this. I've lost my whole sense of belonging. I don't even know, I don't know what to do with this is. Does anybody, can anybody relate to that on any level where this, like your place of belonging, you no longer belong? It's so disturbing to lose your community, especially with so many loved ones still there. And, you know, a lot of our relationships have made it, and I praise God for that, but I'm just now coming out from under it, where I feel like, okay, I'm not just an open wound all the time, but my dog, I'm hardly gonna be able to talk about this. I'm gonna make it real quick because my heart is so tender about it.
My dog, my Queen Esther that I named because I got her while I was writing the Esther Bible Study 14 1/2 years ago, she is getting really old. I don't, I just don't understand it. I just don't understand it. I, our last dog that was like her lived to be 18 and I just keep telling her over and over. You still got a lot of life in you, still got a life, but she can hardly stand up on all four of her legs anymore. Cause they just won't hold and so I've got runners all over the house for her to walk on, because she can't get on the hardwood. She can't stand up, and she's just, she's almost completely deaf, and she's going blind, and she just loves me and I mean, no one in the world loves me like this dog. No one, she just like, if I'm where she is, I mean, she's almost on my person. She's right there constantly. I just, I love this dog.
I love this dog. I just love this dog. It's a perfect dog. And I'm just, I told Keith, I said, but not now. No. He's gonna take her back to the vet. We've done everything. I know I'm gonna hear from a bunch of you. Believe me, we take good care of our dogs. We take ridiculous care of our dogs. They are well cared for by the vet. We are doing everything, that dog is doing everything short of smoking a joint. I don't know if that was appropriate. Was that inappropriate? Now, I don't, I don't smoke joints, so I need you, I need you to get that straight. I'm just simply saying we're trying, I bet that was inappropriate. I'm just simply saying we're trying to get her to feel better. Is that fair to say? No brownies, no nothing. Maybe treats. CBD treats maybe, unless you don't approve of them. And then she's never ever had one. Reel that baby back in, reel that baby back in.
Okay, you're like a jury, you'll have to strike that from the record, strike it from the record. Okay, now let's see. Where are we? Oh, so what I'm saying is, I told Keith because he's taking her Monday. I said, I wanna tell you something. We're not putting that dog down right now. I'm just now recovering. I, my heart is so, how can I say this, when you have just been really depressed, it's very easy to go right back. And I feel like I, listen, I need, I need to go forward and get some strength back before I have something happen that sends me back into tears, because of course I can handle it. That's not the question. But I'm gonna cry my eyes out. I'm with her all the time. I'm gonna cry my eyes out, and not just for two days. So sorrow, upon sorrow just builds. It just builds. But let me tell you this, make no mistake, my sisters and few brothers, so does love, love stores up. Love stores up.
I'm gonna tell you something. My husband and I have been through it. We were a train wreck, a train wreck because both of us had so many problems. We came from such difficult backgrounds and all of that came into one household, and we were just like, it was just explosive, explosive. And we have had such a difficult time and lots of good times, but lots and lots of hard times. But I hold that man's hand and I looked down at it and I no longer just see my mother's hands. You'd start doing that when you're about 40. I'm now beginning to see my grandmother's hands, and I'm definitely seeing my husband's grandfather's hands. I know every mark on it. I've grown old with him. And sometimes I'm so frustrated with him, I don't think I can bear it another five minutes.
But see, this is a thing. We stored up so much together. We got so much stored up in there, just like. I have a very close relative that's got a severe drinking problem, and when she is off the wagon, oh, she can say and do such hurtful things. But we were like this, we were like this, and I just can't stop loving her, because it's just, it's stored up. I'm not blind where she's concerned, but I just, I keep making space because good grief, we have a lifetime of memories stored up together under the same roof. Love stores up, compassion stores up. You got that compassion for people because of all you've been through. I want to show you something before we leave this place tonight, so interesting, I think it's so interesting.
2 Kings 20, I hope it's there. I always get so scared if I didn't double check, that I didn't write down the right reference. And then you know, I'm just forever wanting God to move it there if I'm wrong. I mean because I'll feel all this stress in my heart, because I know I'm turning y'all to some place. I'm doing it confidently. Please turn with me to 2 Kings chapter 20, inside I'm going, I hope it is 2 Kings chapter 20. I don't know if it is or not, but God, you can put it there for one evening. That's nothing for you. That's nothing for you. It's your Word. Move it around. I mean for crying out loud, put it where we're looking, "Seek and you shall find". We're seeking it right here.
Okay, so 2 Kings chapter 20, thank you, God. It's at least there for now. Hezekiah's illness and his recovery. Okay, so I wanna go down to the part where he's been so sick and the Lord has given him these extra years. Well, when there's a ruler that's that sick, well, other rulers around that part of the world know that ruler is sick and such, and what. So it says I want you to pick up with me in verse 12, "At that time, Merodach-baladon son of Baladon, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah since he heard that he had been sick. Hezekiah listened to the letters and showed the," so listened to the letters, of course, they're being read to him, "listened to the letters and showed the envoys," so the ones that brought the letters, "showed the envoys his whole treasure house".
Well, I don't have to tell you why this makes a connection, because he's bringing them in the Babylonian envoy into his palace, into the treasury, and he is showing him everything, "...the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, everything was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace and in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, 'Where did these men come from and what did they say to you?'" Because you see, Isaiah already knows because he's a prophet. He has already been prophesying the captivity that is going to come upon them. I'm gonna tell you something, God does not deal well with idolatry. He considers it to be spiritual adultery.
And he said, I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna paraphrase this in my own words. I can put up with a lot, but you turn to worshiping other gods after I have been faithful to you, and called you as my treasure possession, and called you out and made you my own, made you different than any other people on the face of the earth, after I have been this good to you, and I've done miracle after miracle for you, and I am the God of the heavens and the one and only true God, you keep messing around with other gods. And I'm telling you, I'm gonna let them take you captive. He had already said it. He'd already said it. He'd already said it. They had seen the crisis with the Assyrian kingdom. So here comes Babylon. So Hezekiah answers. He says this, "Hezekiah says, well, 'They came from a distant country, from Babylon.'" Well, here's Isaiah, and he says to him, "'What have they seen in your palace?' Hezekiah answered, 'Oh, they've seen everything in my palace. There isn't anything in my treasuries that I didn't show them".
And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, "Hear the word of the LORD: 'Look, the days are coming when everything in your palace and all that your fathers have stored up,'" there's your keyword. Gonna be different, it's gonna be Hebrew in the Old Testament. But there's the idea, there's the concept, "That your fathers have stored up until today will be carried off to Babylon; nothing will be left". You did not spare them seeing anything and nothing will be left, because they already know to come back for it. "'Some of your descendants, whom will come from you, whom you father, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.' Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, 'The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good,' for he thought to himself, 'Why not, if there will be peace and security during my lifetime"? There is nothing more spiritually irresponsible than going, listen, If it's gonna be the next generation or the next, that's gonna deal with this mess that we've made, so what. We'll be gone. Those early followers of Jesus stored up a legacy for us.
A legacy of courage, a legacy of a clear Gospel of Salvation in one name and one name only, the sinless, crucified Son of God raised from the dead and ascended to the right hand of God and returning, they left us a legacy of truth and of grace and of great boldness teeming with joy. Let me tell you something, our enemy wants to take every bit of what has been stored up by our fathers, and mothers in the faith, everything. And the more we show it off, and take credit for it, the more we are set up for captivity. We are living in a day when we are seeing one occasion after another of exploiting God, to give ourselves credit. To show it all, using God to get what we want and he's onto it. There is nothing that will lead us more quickly to the oppressive than us trying to be impressive. And that's exactly what he done. Come in, see how rich I am. Did you happen to say, Hezekiah, listen, I got nothing except for God. Nothing. I will take none of this with me to the grave.