To be truthful, I don’t ever remember telling anyone that my house was the LORD’s--even though I believed it was. There were times in the early BIBLE FOR TODAY days that I didn’t want shipping boxes in the front hall all the time. How could one make a "Home" with stuff all about that had nothing whatsoever to do with "homemaking"?

I must confess, at the time that woman declared her house the LORD’S, I did not want just anyone wandering about our rooms and seeing all my mess. ( I still feel that way. Oh, I didn’t care if God saw it, for He knows my heart.)

Sometimes--or maybe often-during the Old Testament times--a person who loved the LORD with all his heart and mind would give his house to the LORD. (This of course, would mean the priests and Levites would have the house.) It would be like giving your house to your church. This is very interesting to me.

Giving of one’s substance to the cause of Christ is a good work. It is a wonderful thing. But then later, in verse 15, it seemed that the giver could ask for his house back. If so, he paid the priests the original price of the property, plus one fifth more. I am not sure if that meant the property owner’s dedication had waned, or if this was a normal thing in those days.

I remember when a man in one of my husband’s churches gave my husband beautiful office furniture. It was lovely. We have never had anything like it since. The man got mad at my husband and took all the furniture back. That didn’t seem like a "normal" giving to me. It was for that giver.

One day I was telling another woman, who had a lovely house and no children, about the woman in Maine. I had forgotten that she, too--some months before--had said the same thing to me about her house belonging to the LORD. I told her that I had never said this about my house to anyone, but I guess I had given mine to Him without any big statement!

It sounds all glorious to say and hear, but it’s another thing to actually turn your house over to God. We have church in our living room. Our dining room has become a parlor with the dining room furniture stored and scattered here and there. It is nothing to have it filled with recording equipment. Our sun room, or family room, is an office full of old desks, books, tapes, equipment, and people helping our ministry. Our basement is crowded with computers and stock for people to order, as well as a man down there filling orders. One bedroom is my husband’s office and another is mine.

The UPS truck comes at least once a day, if not more, picking up and leaving packages. The third floor is a spare office and a storage place for books, tapes and videos. People come at any hour of the day, dropping in for Bibles, books, or counsel. Workers in our ministry work in our house during the day and into the early evenings.

The phone rings for everyone but me most of the time. Our garage is full of books and storage for the ministry. Big semi-trucks back into our driveway delivering books and Bibles. Yet, I never made a big deal to people that I’ve given my house to the LORD. We just did it!

Often I’ve wondered about those women and others who have said, "This is the Lord’s house." What would they do if God took them at their word and actually took their house for His work and His purposes? Would they take it back from God again? What would they really do? "But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15) (ysw)

"TRUST IS THE ANSWER TO FEAR"