And out comes the sun(glasses)!

This weekend was rather trying for us.  We know there is a reason for the trials we face, and at times we beg God to know what it/they is/are.  But it seems like part of His reason it to get us to trust Him more, without seeing the reason now.  We look back at what Piper calls bygone grace, and we see that, in 2003, when we left for our first term, we left much later than we wanted, and were spared many other hardships we would surely have found, had we followed our original plan.  But we can't see what's up ahead just now.
I went fishing On Saturday, and James and I each caught two fish. We came home, cleaned them up, and did a few other things around the house while everyone else was out.  Part of what I was doing was finishing prep for the two presentations I would make the following day.  Then the call came.  Kim was stranded 22 miles south on I-5 with a dead car (turns out it was only the transmission!), and the leisurely evening I had planned became a road trip, grabbing emergency drive-through on the way to pacify the natives (this was already the dinner hour when it happened). When we got home, we were told yet again how stressful our children are to our (very very gracious) hosts, and we stayed up late talking, realizing it was probably time to find other housing, rather than stress these people too much, and risk hurting our relationship with them.  So Sunday morning I babbled my way through a few stories, and we got home and all got a healthy 45 min nap before hitting the road again, this time an hour north.  More drive-through, and a hasty meal in a church courtyard.  This presentation went a lot more smoothly (though I messed up the instructions to the A/V people!), but it was hard to tell if anyone was touched.  We'll see.
All day Sunday, we're driving a 1982 Volvo we have been graciously loaned, with a car seat and two booster seats in the back, four-window AC, and sun visors that don't really block the sun.  But that's OK, since Kim got me these really cool sunglasses a couple months ago, that fit me well, and that I enjoy wearing.  Only I can't find them.  So I squint and groan, and ask God what His purpose in this is.
I had breakfast with a pastor last week, and we talked about this very question, that God doesn't always (ever?) show his purpose on our timeline, and sometimes God is just asking us to press on with what we know is right.  We don't see the dawn, but it does eventually come.  Plodding through this day, and the night that follows, another day does come.
So this morning, as we're rushing to get everyone out of the house for swimming lessons, Kim digs through the swim bag, and finds my sunglasses.  Apparently I left them there in the chaos of taking the boys on a swim picnic last Friday.  I don't know how to explain the joy I felt, though in putting them on (I didn't care that I was inside the house!)  It was like the dawn had finally come, and the sun was finally starting to shine.  I know it is such a silly thing to let such mundane things affect your outlook on life.  But it seems like our lives are so full of the mundane these days, that we've got to get it organized and put away, or it will kill us. 
So God puts my sunglasses away, and lets me struggle through a whole weekend of squinting, to show me that He is good even then, and that He does bring the sun out again.  Or, as the scriptures say, that His mercies are new every morning.  Even this morning.

Hezekiah and the Law

²For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover in the second month— ³for they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem— ⁴and the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly.

Interesting that the king would know that he is breaking the law here, but that it would seem right to him, anyway. Presumably that it is better to celebrate a month late than to miss the year entirely.

¹⁵And they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites were ashamed, so that they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of the LORD.

So apparently in addition to being late, the sacrifices weren't made by the priests and levites!

¹⁶They took their accustomed posts according to the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests threw the blood that they received from the hand of the Levites. ¹⁷For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves. Therefore the Levites had to slaughter the Passover lamb for everyone who was not clean, to consecrate it to the LORD.

Presumably some of those that made the priests and levites ashamed were those sacrificing without being clean, in addition to not being levites or priests.

¹⁸For a majority of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than as prescribed.

Even though some of them did not offer the sacrifices unclean, they still ate of the passover unclean.

So, to summarize the points of breaking the law,

1. The passover was held in the wrong month.
2. The lambs were sacrificed (initially) by ordinary people.
3. (Some of) the people sacrificing were not clean.
4. The majority of the people ate without being clean.

I'm not sure how big of a deal #2 is in the law, but the others seem to be emphasized fairly strongly. And yet, what is the outcome?

For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, "May the good LORD pardon everyone ¹⁹who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary's rules of cleanness." ²⁰And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

So seeking God, and asking forgiveness for the wrong ways we do it, brings healing.

And in the end, they broke/amended/added to the law one more time:

²³Then the whole assembly agreed together to keep the feast for another seven days. So they kept it for another seven days with gladness.

I trust this was covered by Hezekiah's earlier prayer.


Edit Aug 1 2010:
I just noticed, a chapter earlier, in 2 Chronicles 29:


³⁴But the priests were too few and could not flay all the burnt offerings, so until other priests had consecrated themselves, their brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was finished— for the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in consecrating themselves.

I guess this argues both for internships where people who aren't necessarily qualified for the work to it anyway, and for moving on with the work however you can.
In any case, I'm glad to see that there is Grace, and provision for our need.