Category Archives: Bible

March 14; Listen, Learn, Labor

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Deuteronomy 3-5

The history lesson is over. Now Moses goes on to lay down the Law for the Jewish people ready to cross the Jordan into the Promised Land. But before he does, he says this:

Hear, O Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them. Follow them. (5:1, emphasis mine)

Hear them. Learn them. Follow them. I believe God would have us do the same.

We’ve got to be a people who hear what God says. I pray your pastor is faithful to the Truth of Scripture, that you are faithful to attend church and Bible studies, and that you read God’s Word for yourself every day. And I pray that when you hear God’s Word, you really hear Him. Pay attention. Meditate on what you hear. Discern the truth and reject the lies. God’s Word is alive. Let it speak to you. Listen when God speaks.

I pray that you are memorizing Scripture, digging into God’s Word to really learn the Truths it contains. Don’t just listen to a sermon, or read a chapter, then walk away and forget it. Every time you listen to God’s Word you have an opportunity to learn something. I pray that you will listen with understanding. That you won’t just be a hearer of God’s Word, but a student of God’s Word as well.

I pray that you are using what you’ve learned. I pray that your time in God’s Word translates into action. What does your relationship with Jesus LOOK like? Do you base your decisions, your actions, your relationships on what you have read and learned from God’s Word? As you serve God, does your labor come from obedience to His Word?

The thing is, some of us are good at one, maybe even two of the three. We can listen intently on Sunday morning, pat the preacher on the back and tell him how good the sermon was – and mean it. But we walk out of those doors and never give it another thought.

Some of us can quote entire chapters of God’s Word. We can tell you the names of every disciple, and can quote the Ten Commandments in order. But we never hear God’s voice, and our lives are no different than the unbeliever. I am reminded Satan can quote Scripture, too.

Some of us are good people. We volunteer at soup kitchens, give generously, attend church, and serve on committees. We don’t drink or smoke, we don’t use vulgar language, and we love everyone. I know a lot of really good people who have nothing to do with God. And if God isn’t in it, we labor in vain.

Moses suggests we can’t do one without the other two, and please God. Being a child of God takes intention. Listen. Learn. Labor. In that order.

March 13; No Admittance

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Deuteronomy 1-2

God inspired Moses to give a history lesson to the Israelites poised and ready to take the Promised Land. None of these Jews remembered the Exodus from Egypt forty years earlier. Most of them hadn’t been born when their parents and grandparents crossed the Red Sea on dry ground. Many of them weren’t even born when their parents refused to take the Promised Land forty years earlier.  So Moses wanted to be sure this generation knew the truth, knew exactly why their parents had turned about a two week walk from Egypt to Canaan into forty years of bouncing around in the wilderness.

Their parents were whiners. But it wasn’t their persistent complaining that caused God to shut the door on the Promise.

Their parents were disobedient. But their disobedience wasn’t the reason they were kept out of Canaan.

Their parents worshiped idols. But it wasn’t even their idolatry that caused them to die in the wilderness.

Moses wanted this generation – and ours – to know that the reason none of their parents and grandparents stepped foot into the Promised Land was because of unbelief. They closed the door themselves when they refused to trust God.

And that’s still true today. The only thing standing between an unsaved person and God is unbelief.

Do you believe God when He says Jesus is His Son, and the ONLY way to God? You may be a liar. God can forgive that. You may be an adulterer or a homosexual. God can forgive that. You might be angry, hateful, jealous, dishonest… All forgivable. You might even consider yourself agnostic, atheistic, Muslim, Mormon, Buddhist… all of which God can forgive…

if you believe. If you repent while your heart is still beating.

I John 1:9 If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.

But, friend, you will not see God or know what it’s like to walk with Him in this lifetime if you don’t believe in Jesus, if you don’t accept God’s forgiveness bought for you when Jesus died on the cross. The truth of Scripture as seen in the Old Testament and the New is that there is a “No Admittance” sign on the gate of heaven for anyone who has not believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Your past doesn’t matter. But what you do with Jesus really does.

March 12; A Small Share

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Numbers 34-36

The Israelites were on the verge of receiving what God had promised Abraham centuries before. The Promised Land! Here in Numbers we are given the actual square footage this massive congregation would occupy. I was a bit surprised.

Matthew Henry, on page 175 of “Commentary in One Volume,” tells us it was 160 miles long, and about 50 miles wide, or 8,000 square miles. (The US state of New Hampshire is a little over 9,000 square miles). But that tiny piece of real estate in the Middle East was the part of the world where God “was known, and His name was great.” (Psalm 76:1)

God, who created everything there is, who has dominion over billions and trillions of square miles of real estate, could have given His people so much more land. Instead, He gave them 8,000 square miles. Does that say anything to me today in 2019?

I had to stop and think about something else Matthew Henry said:  “How small a share of the world God often gives to his own people.” (Commentary in One Volume; Zondervan; 1961; page 175) But so many of us put so much emphasis on that tiny bit of the world God gives us.

So many of us spend an inordinate amount of time pruning, expanding, enjoying our own material possessions, while that which lasts for eternity suffers from neglect. We have heard, and most of us agree, that this world is not our home. But do we live like it is?

Today God is asking me to check my priorities. I believe He wants me to be a good steward of the material blessings which are mine. But I need to put it in perspective. God could give me the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine. But He hasn’t. What He has given me is the Truth, the Gospel, Himself, riches beyond the material. How much time to I spend pruning, expanding, and enjoying those?

The small share of this world which has been given me, is enough. I thank God for it. But if I lost it all today, I’d still have the most precious thing of all. I pray you can say the same.

 

March 11; Good Enough

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Numbers 32-33

The land was good. It offered everything they needed for their families and livestock. Oh, they didn’t blame others for wanting to cross the Jordan. In fact, they’d help them move. But the two and a half tribes let immediate material gain outweigh the promise of what God had waiting for them in Canaan.

Why would they wander forty years in the desert, only to be satisfied with living almost in the Promised Land? Why would they be ok with living on the banks of the Jordan, without taking those few final steps to cross it to get to everything God had promised?

Makes me wonder if I have fully crossed over, myself. Makes me wonder if I’m holding on to a piece of “good enough” instead of embracing everything God has for me. Why would I want my relationship with God to be just “good enough,” when He offers so much more?

March 10; The Seriousness of Vows

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Numbers 30-31

When  my first niece was born in the early ’80’s I held that tiny, beautiful baby and made a vow. I said, with her parents and grandparents in the room, “If your first words are ‘Aunt Connie,’ I’ll buy you a car.”

Everyone laughed, and like most babies, she said “Mommy” and “Daddy” long before she said my name. I made the same vow 18 months later when her little brother was born, and for the next ten years whenever one of my sisters had a baby I’d make the same vow. “Say ‘Aunt Connie’ first. I’ll buy you a car.”

I knew I was pretty safe, that I’d never really have to buy a car. Until my oldest niece was 15, and my sister had her fourth child. I, of course, made my silly vow, but this time in front of three teenage siblings who immediately began coaxing their baby brother to say, “Aunt Connie.” I will admit, I was a bit worried. But thankfully, “Mommy” won out.

I was off the hook. That is, until my nieces and nephews began having their own children. You’d think I’d learn. Not so much! Just last year one of my nieces had a baby boy, and Great-Aunt Connie made her silly vow. This time his teenage step-brothers began coaxing him to say my name. (I’m pretty sure I distinctly heard him say, “Dada” last time I was home.)

I share all that as I think about the Scripture I read today. It addresses the seriousness of our vows to God.

“This is what the Lord commands; When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.” (30:1-2)

Now Moses goes on and gives instructions how a vow might be annulled. But those circumstances are few and far between. The seriousness of vow-making is not lost on me.

I want to be a woman of my word. That means I need to speak thoughtfully, not making rash promises. Like when I promise to pray for someone, then immediately forget that I promised to pray. Like when I promise to call a friend, and then not pick up the phone. I know these are not the same kinds of promises we read about here in Numbers. But if I represent God, and I do, I want my word to mean something for His sake.

And when I promise God to turn from a sin, to change behavior that doesn’t please Him, to obey Him with all my heart, I want Him to know I mean it. The cool thing about God is, when I do make those vows, He Himself gives me the ability to follow through. I love that about Him!

I take my relationship with God seriously. I want to please Him in all ways, including the vows I make.

 

March 9; I Got Nothing

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Numbers 27-29

Have you ever heard someone say, “I didn’t get anything out of that sermon?” I confess I’ve said it myself a time or two, always intended to put the blame on the preacher. But I wonder.

It occurs to me, as I read these chapters, that God must place a high value on daily routine. Every day the priests were to offer a sacrifice, an orderly expression of worship. It’s the routine that spoke to me today.

How important is it that I spend a time of focused worship of God every morning? How important is it that I offer my body as a living sacrifice to God every day? How important is it that my time alone with God is my number one priority from the moment I wake up?

I think this picture I’m looking at here in Numbers indicates it’s extremely important.

Warren Wiersbe says, “The way to become more spiritual is to strengthen the regular worship day after day, and then the special times of worship will do us more good.” (With The Word; Thomas Nelson Press; 1991; page 102)

So the next time I’m tempted to think I didn’t get anything from a sermon, I need to review my routine. Am I in the habit of worshiping? Or is that something I reserve for Sunday mornings? Because, God can certainly speak to me through the poorest of sermons, if I’m used to hearing His voice.

 

March 8; Defending God’s Honor

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Numbers 25-26; I Chronicles 7:14-29

God said this about Phinehas, a priest and a grandson of Aaron: “… he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them…” (Numbers 25:11) Phinehas obeyed God and eradicated sin from among the Jews. And his actions were brutal.

Phinehas was zealous for God’s honor.

God is asking me to consider whether or not I even give a thought about His honor among my friends, my community, our nation, and the world. And if I do, what does defending His honor look like?

I can’t tell you the number of times as a middle school counselor, that I had to deal with fighting children over what one said about another’s mother. That mother’s child would often defend their mother’s honor by punching the child who would dare say anything against her. And the mother’s child would absolutely declare their right to do so.

Is God honored in our world today? Are we defending Him? Are we as zealous about defending His honor as a middle schooler is zealous about defending his mother? Are we as zealous about God’s honor as He is? Would we fight for His honor if it came to that?

I know Scripture tells us the meek inherit the earth, that we are to turn the other cheek, love our enemies, and live at peace with everyone. And I think we mistake that for tolerance. How do we balance that, and also defend God’s honor?

For me, it might mean I need to start mentioning it when a friend uses God’s Name as a punctuation mark. I need to speak up when someone attributes something to God that’s not consistent with Scripture. (which means I need to know what Scripture says)

I need to be, with Paul, “not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ.” (Romans 1:16) And I need to zealously defend God’s honor, with an attitude of love. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.

Although, Phinehas ran a spear through the couple who were dishonoring God. Please don’t do that.

But maybe eradicating sin for me means ending relationships with those who turn a deaf ear when I defend God’s honor. Maybe it means turning off certain TV shows, and writing the network a civil letter telling them why I did. It might mean doing my homework before I buy something to see what the company supports. I don’t know. I’m just brainstorming with myself here. I hope you’ll do the same and consider how you can defend God’s honor today.

That is, if you want to defend His honor, or if you see the need to. But don’t miss what else this passage of Scripture tells us. God made a covenant of peace with Phinehas for defending His honor. I believe our efforts, no matter how insignificant we think they might be, do not go unnoticed by the One whose honor we defend.

God, I want to honor you with every breath I take. I want to be aware when you are dishonored in my hearing, and I ask you to give me the courage to speak up. I want to honor you with the choices I make, and the words I say. I want to honor You because You deserve honor, now and forever.

March 7; Stand Strong

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Numbers 22-24

I love this story. I confess I laugh out-loud nearly every time. I get to where the donkey speaks, and Balaam answers it as though it was the most natural thing in the world to be having a conversation with a donkey, and I just can’t help myself. It cracks me up.

Today, however, my heart is heavy after reading these chapters. It’s not just a story about a talking donkey. It’s a message for us in 2019.

Balak wanted the Israelites gone, so he sent a delegation of men to Balaam, a prophet of God, and asked him to put a curse on the Jews. God, of course, told Balaam not to do such a thing, and Balaam made that clear to Balak’s men.

But Balak wouldn’t take “No” for an answer. He sent another delegation, this one more impressive than the first. They, too, asked on behalf of Balak for Balaam to curse Israel. Again, Balaam said he would not go against God, but then he agreed to go to talk to Balak in person.

It occurs to me Balaam had two chances to nip this in the bud. Twice he could have (should have) said “No” and stood strong. But he gave in just a little. And that put him in a tough situation. Now he was face to face with a very persistent Balak.

We read that Balaam goes through the motions of doing what Balak is asking of him, getting right up to the actual curse on Israel, but instead pronouncing a blessing on the Jews. Not what Balak wanted to hear.

But Balak is not easily swayed. He suggests they move to a different spot. Maybe Balaam could curse God’s people from over there instead. Balaam follows Balak, but ends up blessing Israel for the second time.

I love what Balak says next: “IF YOU CAN’T SAY ANYTHING BAD, DON’T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL.” (23:25) Doesn’t sound like he was too pleased with Balaam at this point. But not displeased enough to give up on what he wanted.

So, (I’m shaking my head as I write this) Balak leads Balaam to a third spot. Again, Balaam goes through the motions to appease Balak, and ends up not only blessing Israel a third time, but he goes on to spell out what was ahead for Balak and company. And it wasn’t good.

When I read this I find myself asking, why on earth didn’t Balaam stick to his original “No” and not even entertain Balak’s men, much less go with them? Why would Balaam build altars, sacrifice animals, after God told him “No.” And why would he follow Balak around like a lost puppy, doing what Balak told him to do, instead of what God said? Did Balaam want Balak to like him? Did he think he could change God’s mind, or catch God off-guard? Did Balaam find himself wanting to fit in to Balak’s world?

Ok, Church, this one is for us. God has given His Word to us as plainly as He gave it to Balaam. The Bible you have on your nightstand is the Truth. Period. So why do so many of us want to tweak it, or only hold on to the fun stuff while ignoring the Truth that breaks us?

Why, when Satan sends his delegates to ask us to compromise, do we even entertain the notion? Why do we follow the world, even if from a distance? Do we think we will change God’s mind, or catch Him off-guard? Is it more important for us to be accepted by the world than to stand for God’s Truth?

Satan’s delegates sound spiritual, loving, tolerant, enlightened, progressive, even philanthropic. But, friend, they are still Satan’s delegates.

Balak wanted the Jews gone. And he did not give up easily. His persistence wore Balaam down, and because Balaam didn’t stand by what he knew to be true, Balaam found himself in increasingly more difficult situations.

And, friend, Satan wants the Church gone, too. Don’t think for a minute he will give up easily. He is infinitely more persistent than Balak ever was.

This is why my heart is heavy. I see so much of Balaam in us. I think that because we Christians have not done a very good job standing firm on the Word of God, we’ve put ourselves in a very difficult situation. We have followed the world, we’ve entertained the lies, we’ve decided it’s important for us to blend in, and we are finding it harder and harder not only to stand on the Truth, but to even recognize the Truth.

I believe it’s because we Christians haven’t done a good job of standing for God’s Truth that babies are being murdered, that blatant sin has become the norm, that our world is where it is today. Oh, we can blame non-Christians all we want. We can contribute it all to Satan. But, I’m not so sure we don’t have a great deal of responsibility ourselves. We’ve put ourselves in a pretty tough spot because, like Balaam, we didn’t nip this in the bud right at the beginning.

It would have been so much better for Balaam if he had said the original “No” and meant it. It would have been easier for us if we had done the same. But we are in a delicate situation these days, put there by our own doing. What are we going to do about it?

God help us stand for His Truth starting today. I still believe God is greater than all the evil in this world. I believe that He is not ok with anyone dying without knowing Jesus as their Savior. And I believe God not only can, but wants to turn things around in this country and in the world. Come on, Church. Do we believe God’s Word or not?

Then let’s act like it. Let our “No” be “No” and our “Yes” be “Yes.” Let’s stand strong.

March 6; It Might Be Contagious

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Numbers 19-21

Jacob’s descendants, the Israelites, went to Esau’s descendants, the Edomites, to ask permission to cut through their property on their way to the Promised Land. When last we saw the brothers they were reunited, their past differences seemingly forgiven. But here we are hundreds of years later, and the bad feelings seem to have resurfaced. The king of Edom threatened to go to war with his cousins if they stepped foot on his land.

I don’t know why the Edomites reacted so strongly against Israel, why they didn’t trust them to walk through the land and keep their word not to disturb anything. Was it because Esau didn’t trust Jacob so many years ago? Was that something the Edomites grew up believing? “Never trust a son of Jacob.”

Was it because of jealousy? “Why are Jacob’s descendants so blessed by God? We’re Abraham’s sons, too.” Was their refusal to allow the Israelites to cut through their land just meanness toward people they envied?

It has me thinking about the things we say, the attitudes we display, the prejudices and opinions we express in our homes and in front of our children. Many people are able to break away from toxic parenting, and allow God to shape their attitudes instead of simply adopting their parents’ attitudes. Many are not able to do that, and live their lives with the same destructive thoughts and actions as their parents and, often, their grandparents.

But there is a flip side. If peace, and love, and holiness, patience, kindness, and joy are lived in your home, just maybe your children will follow your lead when they are old enough to choose their own attitudes. Just maybe they will learn from you to base their view of the world on God’s Word instead of the nightly news, to love instead of hate, to be holy instead of blending in with the world.

Which gets me thinking about something else. What kind of attitudes and opinions are rubbing off me and onto the people with whom I have contact? I represent God, or religion, or the Church, or Christianity when I wear Christ’s name, when I profess to be a Christian. Do I want people to adopt my opinion of God, my view of the world, my attitude toward sin and forgiveness?

I believe our attitudes and our beliefs are contagious. What are others catching from us?

March 5; God Gives

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Numbers 16-18

All the Levites had jobs to do in caring for the Tabernacle. But only Aaron and sons were priests. Yes, priests were the most visible, their duties often performed before thousands, while the Levites got stuck packing up the spoons. And, as often happens, jealousy broke out like a plague.

As I read this portion of Scripture, I’m reminded God has jobs for all of us to do in caring for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Some are preachers and song leaders who fulfill their responsibilities before thousands, and some change diapers in the nursery, pull weeds on the church property, and wash spoons after the church’s covered dish dinner.

As children of God, He gives us all tasks He wants us to do. Can we do it without jealousy? Read these chapters in Numbers about what happened to the Levites who complained.

I’m also reminded that when God gives us a job to do, He also gives us what we need to get it done. I love how God provided for the day-to-day needs of the priests, as recorded in chapter 18.

I also love how Scripture tells us how God gives gifts to His children to be used for His work. I Corinthians 12 tells us the using of our God-given gifts is like a healthy body with fingers AND toes, ears AND eyes. When God gives us a job to do, He gives us exactly what we need to do it.

But the thing I love most as described here in Numbers is this: God gives us HIMSELF! The priests and Levites were not to receive any real estate in the Promised Land. Why?

I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites. (18:20b)

Let that sink in. God is our inheritance. The Creator. The Sustainer of life. The Savior of mankind. God is all mine! (and yours if you know Him).

And God is all I need to do what He asks me to do, to be the woman He intends for me to be. God gives.

And gives.