Week of 5/26/19 - Pages 213-226

One of the most beautiful blessings in the Bible is on page 214, (Numbers 6:24-26) given to Moses to give to Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel.

 “May the Lord bless you and protect you

 May the Lord smile on you

 And be gracious to you.

 May the Lord show you his favor

 And give you peace.”

Whenever I hear this passage I imagine God lavishing His blessing on me, as my protector, my friend and partner and generous provider.  I have read this verse many times but as I began to write this blog the context of this verse in the story of Moses and the Israelites is what struck me.

Before this blessing is given, the children of Israel are assembled, getting ready to leave on a dangerous journey across the desert. Many of them were going to die in the wilderness. They were going to be assaulted by enemies. They were going to face thirst and starvation. They were going to face division and disention, and before they begin this arduous, dangerous, adventurous journey, God goes before them with a blessing, and one would think nothing would have been more comforting to them than the guarantee of God's sovereign blessing. That in and of itself plays into the whole story of Numbers, because over and over what will the people of God doubt in the wilderness? They will doubt God's purpose to bless them. Isn't it ironic? Before they ever set out, God says to them through Aaron ‘Let Me just make one thing perfectly clear’…. And He pronounces this blessing, and if they could have just believed that, how different the story of Numbers would have been. It would have been an entirely different book if they had believed what God said in this passage. 

These pages go on to chronicle the journey and the many complaints the Israelites had about the hardships they endured and the food provided them.  If they had only trusted God and His blessing and provision.

 Sound at all familiar??  Perhaps we are not too different than the people in this story.   If we truly believed that the Lord loves to bless us then how dramatically different our lives would be.  We go through life so often thinking that our satisfaction will come from this pleasure, that job, these possessions or people liking us.  We run around trying to stuff our hearts full of life and satisfy our longings somewhere else other than the blessing of Almighty God.  If we could simply understand that God is the giver, He is the source, He is the author of the only blessing worth having and so only God can fill us up, it would dramatically change our lives. 

I am convicted by these passages to show more trust in the Lord’s provision than the people of Israel in this story. To lean on, trust, and be confident in the Lord with all my heart and mind.  I hope you be blessed as well.

Week of 5/19/19 - Pages 201-212

The book is called “Numbers” for a reason – lots of numbers and lots of names, many of which I have difficulty pronouncing.  But, what’s in a name?  A name provides identity and a sense of belonging.  Imagine growing up in ancient Israel and reading the name of your great, great, great grandfather in the Bible.  What a sense of pride and connection that would bring.

Growing up, I didn’t like my name; I wanted one that was more common.  I guess I could be glad that I didn’t have a name like Zurishaddai (Numbers 1:6).  But, names have meaning, and Zurishaddai means “The Almighty is a rock”.  The name would be a continual reminder of God’s strength, stability, and protection.

Jesus, the cornerstone (i.e., the rock) on whom we can build our lives, also referred to himself as the good shepherd (John 10:11), and to us as sheep.  He said in John 10:3, “the sheep listen to his voice.  He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”  He knows us individually and cares deeply about us.  In fact, Jesus said in Luke 12:7 that, “the very hairs of your head are all numbered”, which brings us back to Numbers.

The bottom line: People are important to God.  He calls us not simply to be a number in His kingdom, but to belong in His family as His dearly loved children and have an intimate relationship with Him and with others.

Week of 5/12/19 - Pages 185-199

God gave his decrees and commands and told the people of Israel to be careful to obey them so that they might experience peace, victory, and overflowing of crops.  And above all the presence of God with His people.  There were blessings for obedience and serious consequences for being disobedient.  God gave direct instruction to the Israelites for everyday life to deal with sin and rebellion.  God did not expect his people to be sinless, he asked them to be honest.  This is something that still applies to this day. God gave specific instructions on how to draw near to Him. He gave these instructions in order for our benefit in this life and eternally with Him. He constantly reminds the Israelites that He has saved them in the past and will not forsake His promises with them. God declared “I will live among you and not despise you, I will walk among you, I will be your God, and you will be my people I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high.”  We can be encouraged that the Lord will show favor to us when we walk in obedience to Him and that the ultimate blessing is walking with God in His presence.

Week of 5/5/19 - Pages 171-184

Ok, this is kind of humorous. Giving the rule follower (me) the opportunity to blog about the ultimate rulebook of rulebooks.

I’ve read Leviticus a few times in my life, and the results have been mostly the same for me. Why all the rules? I get it the rules set out by God for his people in those days pretty much kept His people alive. One thing that I am still amazed and reminded of is Gods detail in the smallest of things and the gravity of not following His directives especially when it came to His temple and the Holy of Holies. Or when His people were to move into a new land that God deemed defiled.

But something hit me this time, and I am sure that it’s because we came off of the New Testament Challenge last year, but this time I found Jesus here. For example when Jesus cured the leper in Luke 17:14 he told the one healed to “Go and let the priest examine you.” Can you imagine the priest when the leper showed up? I’m pretty sure that he had to scratch his head wondering why there was this rush in leaper examinations and cures.

Yes, I confess that Leviticus is not on par with a Tom Clancy novel and will never be made into a blockbuster movie but, Leviticus is still profoundly relevant the way it deals with sin and the results of sin. 

Week of 4/28/19 - Pages 151-170

When I read Leviticus I was struct with a new thought. If you take a loftier view of the detailed instructions to make offerings to God and the various roles,  I saw a language of relationship.  How do I, the one created, stay in relationship with a Perfect Holy God. This was unique to the Old Testament times. 

It is the key idea that gets expressed. It is easy to read this book and just get lost in the details of this offering and that offering, for correcting different states a person, a leader, a community, or a people have done or not done. It is strange to me, a person living in a predominately, information/technology rich world, to think of all the animal and grain sacrifices required in this language of relationship.  I did not grow up on a farm!

It was the Old Testament that really introduced to me to the essential idea of a Perfect Holy God.  A superior being that cannot be in the same space as anything evil.  God crushes anything evil, sinful, or unrighteous. It is not comfortable to know this. Nor do I fully understand it. Why it has to be this way.  The grand narrative does hang together for me.  I see how the OT and NT support each other.  Jesus is the glue between the two.

The cost for NOT being in good relationship with God is high. Justice is swift when any sinful creature breaks the protocol when serving a Perfect Holy God. Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Aliha, were set on fire for a simple mistake that was egregious to God. God’s grace is revealed in the dialog between Moses and Aaron when Aaron responds on behalf of his other two son’s mistakes when they failed to eat a certain sacrifice.

‘ “Today my sons presented both their sin offering and their burnt offering to the LORD.  And yet this tragedy   has happened to me. If I had eaten the people’s sin offering on such a tragic day as this, would the LORD have  been pleased?” And when Moses heard this, he was satisfied.’

The ritual language maintains a dialog between humankind and God through the ‘ aroma ‘. The visible smoke and smells God senses from these offerings.    The verbs or actions of this ritual relationship language are:

1. Burnt Offering

2. Sin offering 

3. Guilt Offering 

4. Voluntary Offering

5. Peace Offering

6. Ordination Offering

7. Special Offering 

There is tremendous symbolism in what parts are for God, for the priests, for the people, and what needs to be kept away from a Perfect Holy God. The Israelites lived in a nomadic and then an agrarian society. There is tremendous ongoing cost in terms of giving to God my defect free animals/grains for sacrifice (wealth), my attention,  my time, and self-awareness of how to be ‘righteous’ and ‘clean’ before God in the world that is unrighteous and unclean before God.  The OT presents a never ending set of rituals!

Week of 4/21/19 - Pages 144-150

Exiting Exodus.

As we exit the book of Exodus, let us pause to ponder the marvelous manifestations of our awesome, Almighty God! 

This is history that only God could have orchestrated.

Could anyone conceive the improbable rise to leadership of the magnanimous Moses? How about a burning bush, productive plagues, a protected Passover, a split sea, miraculous manna (free food), colossal commandments, and a traveling Tabernacle?

This is history that only God could have orchestrated.

In the final scenes of Exodus, the people of Israel listened intently to Moses as he conveyed God’s call for the construction of the Tabernacle. Men and women contributed skills and material wealth, so much so that Moses stopped them, saying: 

“Men and women, don’t prepare any more gifts for the sanctuary. We have enough!”

Can you imagine being in a desert with minimal resources, tasked with an elaborate construction project, and then somehow having more provisions than you need?!

This is history that only God could have orchestrated.

God’s specifications for the Tabernacle were precise, from the sturdiest structural supports to the subtle stitching on the priests’ garments. And the Israelites listened. The catalog of project milestones completed “… just as the LORD commanded Moses” is nearly exhausting to read.

“Just as the LORD commanded…” – the phrase appears so often it must be of intense importance, but we are talking about history, right? Is that relevant for me, in today’s world? Scripture is a gift from God, full of His instructions (or commandments) for us. The Word of the LORD guides us today, much like a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

“Seek the LORD while you can find him.” Today, will you be obedient to the prodding of the Holy Spirit? If so, you will:

Be an active part of this history that only God is orchestrating!

Week of 4/14/19 - Pages 131-143

It struck me how detailed God’s instructions for life were to Moses and Israel. And after giving the instructions, on page 138 The Lord said to Moses “Write down all these instructions, for they represent the terms of the covenant I am making with you and with Israel.”

Covenant means “agreement”, so we are getting into the meat of the old covenant or “old agreement”.

We Christians believe that God has since made a new agreement or new covenant as documented in the New Testament. While not completely doing away with the old covenant, the new covenant states that the main value of the old covenant and guidance therein is to make us realize that we cannot possibly be obedient enough or good enough to be acceptable to God. History has taught us that no matter how hard we try we cannot live up to the standards that God is laying out in this old covenant (the pages we just read or are about to read). Trying to live up to those laws led our ancestors/Israel to constantly ask for forgiveness and atonement for their shortcomings.

The new covenant that God makes with us is really good news. It says that we no longer have to constantly ask for forgiveness, and we are no longer subject to the penalty (death-or eternal separation from God) for not being obedient to all of God’s very specific instructions. God’s new covenant, which seems very generous to me, says, that once and for all the penalty for our errors or failures to obey Him, were paid when His perfect Son, Jesus, was tortured and put to death. As a result, if we accept that Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice for our transgressions, we are forgiven. Completely forgiving, and made completely acceptable to God. 

Week of 4/7/19 - Pages 118-130

I admit that I have been mostly a New Testament Christian, meaning that I mostly avoid reading the Old Testament except for Psalms and Proverbs.  The truth is I’ve been afraid to read about an Old Testament God who seems very different than New Testament Jesus, a God whose ways seem violent and primitive.  However, as I read the Old Testament, I’m finding something different.  I don’t need to be afraid of the Old Testament because God really is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.  By not reading the Old Testament in the same way I read the New Testament I’ve been missing out on a lot of good stuff.

Here are some headlines from pages 118 – 130, which is roughly Exodus 22 – 29.  Funny how all of these observations sound very much like of Jesus:

·      God is practical – he gave sensible laws to help his people live in peace and harmony.

·      God is jealous – he won’t tolerate idols and sorcerers amongst his people.

·      God is compassionate – he protects foreigners, orphans and widows.

·      God is just – he calls his people to honesty, fairness and to care for the poor.

·      God gives renewal – he says to take a day off each week, and even gives the land rest every seventh year.

·      God loves parties – he requires his people to celebrate three festivals every year.

·      God is covenantal – he makes promises and wants to bless his people with good things.

·      God is relational – he wants to live amongst his people and asks them to build him a house.

·      God leads – he gives detailed instructions for his house, ordination and atonement.

·      God is holy – to be with him, atonement is required.

As I read the Old Testament and this section, I’m struck by God’s holiness and the cost of forgiveness. The detailed instructions he gave the Israelites regarding the tabernacle, ordination of priests and daily sacrifices for sin were emphatic, bloody reminders of his holiness and that sin is death.  For me, with my modern sensibilities, even though I understand these concepts in a theological sense, they feel ancient and primitive.  Reading the Old Testament is breaking through some of my modern bias, and helping me to see and feel God’s holiness and the cost of forgiveness. And feeling it is much more powerful than just understanding it.

Father, please forgive me for overlooking this part of your Word.  Forgive me for my modern arrogance.  As I continue to read the Old Testament, I know there will be hard parts I don’t understand.  I ask for perseverance to finish it, wisdom to understand it, and faith to trust it. In Jesus name I pray, Amen. 

Week of 3/31/19 - Pages 105-117

Choosing to Worship and NOT Complain    

In our reading this week, the Israelites observe countless miracles from God (daily food provisions, pillars of fire, water from a rock, parting of the Red Sea etc.) and yet they continually gripe whenever life got a little tough.  Moses and Aaron caught the brunt of it all and took the peoples complaints to God on their behalf… and every time, God answered with another miracle.

When we read the story, it appears as everything happened back to back and in quick succession, however, in reality, these events occurred over 40 years. That's a LONG time. This year I celebrate my 40th birthday… and it's fair to say, a LOT has happened within my last 40 years! I’ve reached many milestones, had great success and endured my fair share of epic failures. But like the Israelites, I’m often quick to forget the miracles God has done throughout my life and often resort to complaining about my current circumstances.

In our reading, God commanded the Israelites to “build an altar wherever I cause My name to be remembered, and I will come to you and bless you”. In other words, God is saying, “Build something to remember Me by, whenever I turn up and perform a miracle in your life. That way you can return to this place, remind yourself of what I’ve done and you’ll receive faith to trust Me for the future.” 

Of course!! Makes total sense right?

So why don’t we do it?

Why do we forget to journal an event or build something creative and put it in a place we traffic regularly that reminds us of what God has done in our lives? Why do we get so busy and forget to do this vitally important thing God has commanded us? Especially when God promises to bless us every time we return and remember what He did!

The encouragement I received from our reading this week is to go back to those memories in the past where God has provided, where He performed a miracle in my life and create mementos or something that will cause me to remember His goodness whenever I see it. I want the blessings God promises when we remember Him in worship.

When I worship, it's amazing how quickly the complaints disappear! 

Week of 3/24/19 - Pages 92-104

On Page 92 Moses is having a dialog with God.  I can’t imagine what that would be like today with all the craziness that is going on in this world.   And frankly I probably would be as reluctant as Moses to follow God’s instructions based on my inability to to perform up to God’s standards.  Which, of course, are my own imposed standards that make me feel inadequate or not up to the task.  But in this case, God used Aaron to be the speaker in Mose’s stead.  This reassures me that God really knows what’s best for me and He will make a way for me to accomplish His will.  If I listen and really understand His will.  Which is not always crystal clear.  The real wonder is that Moses actually could have a dialog with God and hear exactly the words God spoke and have a clear understanding of the steps that God wanted him to take to free the Israelites.

Imagine how Moses would have felt being told by God “Pay close attention to this.  I will make you seem like God to Pharaoh and your brother Aaron will be your prophet…” and  “I will make Pharaoh’s heart stubborn so I can multiply my miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt.” (Pg 93)  Then God proceeded to use Moses and Aaron as his instrument to show Pharaoh “...you will know that there is no one like me in all the earth.  By now I could have lifted my hand and struck you and your people with a plague to wipe you off the face of the earth.  But I have spared you for a purpose—to show you my power and to spread my fame throughout the earth”.

No wonder the Egyptians had become favorable toward Moses and the Israelites.  I think I would have been very upset about all the hardship and loss the Egyptians faced through all the plagues.  Especially knowing that Pharaoh was the one bringing it all upon them.  (Can we see a parallel with what is going on in our government today?  And feeling hopeless to do anything about it.  Leaving our elected officials to do the right thing and having no control over what that is).  But the final straw came when God instituted the instructions for the Lord’s Passover.  “Remember these instructions are a permanent law that you and your descendants must observe forever….  Then your children will ask, “What does this ceremony mean?  And you will reply, “It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt.  And though he struck the Egyptians, he spared our families.” (Pg 102). Now I understand better why the Passover celebration is still being celebrated today.  It was a huge deal to the Israelites and their descendants!

Be blessed!