we are not being content and at ease in Zion; rather, we are being poured out, poured from vessel to vessel

In the recent Crystallization study of Isaiah (1) I enjoyed message 12 entitled The reigning in the Tent of David – Christ comes into us as life with the goal of bringing His kingdom in us. We are utterly rebellious – we were living unde the authority of darkness, but we were transferred into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Col. 1:13)!

He courted us in love, came to us and died for us, captured our heart, and we accepted Him. Now as He is making His home in our heart (Eph. 3:16-19), He is bringing in His kingdom in our personal universe. As we enjoy Him, we are being more and more brought under His rule, His gracious and loving ruling in God’s kingdom.

He does not just rule as “David the king”, but He rules in us as “David in the tent of David” – Christ in His kingdom. He’s the “king”, we are His kingdom, being brought more into the reality of His Kingdom.

More specifically, I was so touched after God judges Moab, THEN His restoration and kingdom comes. Moab needs to be judged in order for the restoration to come in. What is Moab representing? On the one hand we see that Moab is proud, Moab rejoiced when there was no separation between the worldly things (the nations / Gentiles) and the people of Israel, and Moab even bring is worldly things (the nations/Gentiles) into the people of God (the church).

Even more, we see in Jeremiah 48:11 we see that,

Moab has been at ease from his youth; And he is settled on his lees And has not been emptied from vessel to vessel; Nor has he gone into exile. Therefore his taste remains in him, And his scent is not changed.

Lees here refer to the “dregs”, the sediment that stick to the bottom of the vessel when the wine is fermenting. The pure wine stays at the top, while the lees remain on the bottom. In the old times they used to pour the wine from one vessel into another, so that there would be no more lees/dregs, obtaining thus a pure wine. The more a wine is poured from one vessel into another, the more purer it is, the better it is.

What about us? Are we willing to be “poured from vessel to vessel”? Are we those who are at ease in Zion? Even in the church life, we can be at ease, comfortable, acquiring and maintaining a certain “scent” – a specific smell.

When people/saints meet us, they can smell something about us… NO! We need to be willing and open to the Lord to be poured out! He arranges situations and circumstances – we don’t need to prefer a life of ease but rather cooperate with the Lord to be poured out, so that we may be purified!

Once the Lord pours us out, the lees/dregs (things of ourselves, our natural man, our natural scent, our self) remain behind and are no longer with us! Don’t “protect” yourself or your children/your family! It is not a blessing to have a life of ease, a life of comfort! Rather, it is a real blessing to be poured out, where the lees remain behind, and Christ is being formed in you more!

Paul was such a person – he was willing to be poured out (Phil. 2:17). He rejoiced in being poured out over the saints’ sacrifice, over the saints’ faith – it was pleasing to him. He even encouraged the saints “present your bodies as a living sacrifice…” (Rom. 12:1-2).

He didn’t earn any “medals of honor” for his “service in the Lord”, he did not receive any human appreciation in his life for being poured out again and again on behalf of the saints… but God has rewarded him with the crown of life, even the crown of righteousness!

Let us come again to the Lord – to be poured out for Him, for His saints! Lord, save us from a life of ease in Zion! We don’t want to presumptiously pray “Pour Us Out”, Lord – You know how to do it and when to do it, even how much we need it! We just pray,

Lord, have a way in us! Don’t let us remain the same as we are now, or be at ease! We want to be transformed and conformed to match You, even match Your need today!