1 Kings 15:1-24; Acts 10:24-33; Psalms 133:3; Proverbs 28:19-20
Psalms: “How delightfully good when brothers live together in harmony! …It is like the dew of Hermon falling on the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord has appointed the blessing — life forevermore.” (Psalms 133:1, 3 CSB)
When God’s people… His family life together in harmonious unity, it is like the dew of Hermon. Mount Hermon is in the northern-most area of Israel and is the tallest mountain in the region. It stands over 9,000 feet high is snow-capped for much of the year. Israel is in a very arid, desert-like area of the world. However, the water vapor in the air condensates around the peak of Mt Hermon, and in the cool of the early morning, the mist surrounding Mt Hermon’s peak descends its slopes and saturates the entire area with dew. That refreshing and life-giving moisture forms the headwaters of the Jordan river, which fills the Sea of Galilee and brings water and life to the entire nation. Were it not for the dew of Hermon, much of Israel would be an uninhabitable desert, but instead, it is a land full of fruitfulness. It is in the midst of a unified people that God appoints the blessing of life. The Hebrew word that is translated in this version as ‘appointed’ means to command or to give orders. God commands His harmoniously unified people to be blessed with everlasting, abundant, and vibrant life. How important it is, in the challenging and uncertain times we find ourselves in now, for God’s people to live in unity instead of in disagreement and bickering. Just as Israel is a fruitful land in the midst of a desert, God’s church could be a vibrant and everlasting source of life to the lost and dying world around us… if we would just live in unity… if we would set aside our differences and come under and submit to what unifies us: the Lordship of King Jesus, the authority of His word, and the leading and empowering of the Holy Spirit.
Jamie Hicks 