Who is God?

Deut 4-6 God is…

The world shouts out: who is God? The world questions: who is God? They might say God is love and He is, but Moses said God is the Lord. He revealed Himself to the pagan Egyptians and to the Israelites as one who is not a man that he should change his mind. He revealed Himself in signs and wonders such as at Baal-Peor where He eradicated from their midst everyone who followed that false god. Moses asked them this question: “what other great nation has a god so near to them like the Lord our God whenever we call on him?” And God is asking us the very same question and to that he asks: Do you know me?

Peter reminded the sojourners just as Moses was reminding the people: “You do not see him now but you believe in him, and so you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy.” Even though they did not “see” him they heard his voice saying: “This is the correct way, walk in it,” whether you are heading to the right or the left. [Is 30]And again, if we seek Him, we will find Him; if we seek Him with all our heart and soul.

 

Who is God? He is the Lord God and there is no other besides him. Our obligation: Love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole being and all your strength. In this way we affirm we serve Him and only Him.”

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God honors courage and humility

Numbers 26 & 27 Louis May Alcott wrote a classic called Little Women, which captivated audiences and still does today. But here in an obscure passage, we read about, not four, but five little women and the problem they faced. As Moses recorded the male inheritances of the children of Israel, he listed the names of men—not women–from 20 yrs. old and up. In the middle, we read: Zelophehad had no sons, only five daughters. He had stood firm against those who had tested the Lord and was found faithful. But, male hierarchy and the law said only males could inherit the land. So these five daughters wondered what happens to our father’s inheritance. What about us? They wanted their faithful father’s legacy to continue.

Bravely, but graciously, these five women entered the men’s arena to seek a change in the rules.  They entered a patriarchal society to claim their father’s inheritance rights, and all eyes rolled! Moses was in a quandary! What do I do? Wisely Moses went straight to God and heard they were right teaching us that God honors courage and humility. These five little women gained the rights to inheritance and preservation of their father’s legacy!  Women of today take heart! You, too, can be wise, tenacious, brave, and courageous.

Zelophehad raised five courageous women, and fathers can do the same today. These five little women sought to honor their deceased father, and God honored their request. These five little women are excellent role models for women today don’t you think?

What are your takeaways from this post?

Waiting…easy or hard?

Exodus 32 Do you have trouble waiting–especially for God to act, to speak, or “fill in the blank?”

Do you become impatient? Do you want to wait, but circumstances take over, and you decide to take matters into your own hands? The Israelites had just said, ‘we will obey.’ Yet when a test came into their lives to wait, their commitment was shallow.  When the people “saw” that Moses still had not returned, they made a decision: Moses’ God wasn’t working on their time table. It won’t be the last time these Israelites have a problem with waiting. They became impatient with Samuel and said you are old and your sons don’t follow, so appoint us a king. King David’s prayer life reveals that he must have had trouble with waiting too, for he wrote three times for God to help him in ‘waiting.’ [Ps 17:14; 37:7, 62:5]

Why do we have a problem with waiting? We misperceive time. The drama of leaving Egypt was still fresh in their minds, and they were anxious to get to the Promised Land, yet God knew that they needed the skill of waiting because time had always been determined for them. Now they were being tested to see if their commitment was real. Sometimes as we wait, we yearn for routine, and we get bored. Without a routine, we get lazy, and we become discontented; we lack a commitment to the cause. Like the Israelites, we do not have perseverance. We think we have the plan all figured out, and we want God to do it ‘now.’ One author put it this way; Waiting reveals the best and the worst in us and also reveals our lack of understanding that God doesn’t work on our time table.

Are you having trouble waiting? Cultivate this skill through prayerful meditation and study.

Grumbling or Trusting?

Exodus 5 to 7 When God calls us to His work do we immediately respond or are we like Moses with his many excuses: I can’t speak eloquently; send someone else or why me? God wants us to trust He will equip us for the task. For Moses, God gave him his brother Aaron to walk beside him. For us, He has given us the Holy Spirit.

Forty yrs. had passed and we find Moses sharing God’s plan to release the Israelites from slavery and the people bowed in reverence forgetting to ask: when will this happen. And so when the sticky-wicket Pharaoh exclaimed:  “I don’t know the Lord!” they were dumbfounded to hear not deliverance but: slave masters increase the workload of the Israelites!

They said: What happened to our deliverance? “You have made us stink in the opinion of Pharaoh and his servants!”  Like us, they had a mindset that it would happen right then and when it didn’t, they complained. Moses wasn’t much better at hearing this news either. “Lord, why have you caused trouble for these people? You have not rescued them!”

When things don’t go as we think they should, we find ourselves wallowing in the pit of grumbling. The Israelites and Moses fell into that trap and we do as well because we are an instant gratification people.

There is an important lesson here for us: God does not work on our timetable! He only asks us to trust in Him with all of our heart and not rely on our own understanding. How are we doing?

God is a God of Order

Numbers 1 to 3 ‘God is a God of Order’

The theme of Leviticus is holiness; the theme of Numbers is obedience. The study note in the NET Bible study tool says: “It provides a record of the experience of the Israelites during the wilderness wanderings, and records the laws for the camp as they traveled from place to place. The book focuses on the difficulties of the Israelites due to their lack of faith, rebellion, and apostasy. It also records God’s protection of his people from opposition from without. The book makes a fitting contribution to the collection of holy writings as it shows the spiritual and physical progression of the company of the redeemed toward the promised land.” And so we begin our journey with them today.

These first three chapters guide us to see the order that God required of the infant nation of Israel because they had just come from servitude in Egypt. Therefore, God instructed Moses to do such and such. The end of each chapter reads:  They did all that God commanded Moses; that is what they did.

As Paul wrote to the Corinthians he told them:   These things…were written for our instruction, on whom the ends of the ages have come.[ 1Co 10:11] And again he wrote:  for God is not characterized by disorder but by peace [1Co 14:33]

The God who is not the author of confusion wants to be your God as well. He wants to guide you and bless you. Do you know Him?

Thanks to Pinterest for this photo.

Jeremiah 1 “What’s Your Excuse?”

In chapter 18 of Jeremiah we read that the Master Potter forms and uses the clay to form perfect vessels, of whom we are. You are God’s chosen vessel. God is a promise keeper to equip us for the task.  But, like Jeremiah and Moses (see Exodus 4) we come up with all kinds of excuses to not obey God’s call.

Remember Moses first excuse and now Jeremiah. “I can’t speak eloquently.” Beloved remember this, God doesn’t bless the silver tongued orator but the tongue that has been touched by the coals of the fire of His kiln. He has been forging His kiln to cleanse you, perfect you and prepare you as we said yesterday “for such a time as this.” This is the first of the many “deadly d’s” to keep us from obedience.

Second excuse is that “I am inadequate.” I am young or I am too old. “our Lord Jesus Christ equip you with every good thing to do His will.” If God calls He will spiritually enable you to do His work (2Tim 3:17). “I will most assuredly give you the words you are to speak for me.”

Third excuse is “fear of the unknown or fear of failure.” Beloved remember this truth: we haven’t been given a spirit of fear but of love, power and a sound mind. “I will be with you to protect you.”

Fourth excuse; it’s a dangerous world out there. Is this world more dangerous or is Hell waiting for the lost a more powerful reason to step out into the world? This world is filled with the women at the well who are seeking to alleviate their thirst.

Fifth reason; do I have to do it now? The answer is “YES!”

So what is your excuse? You might go and read the account of Moses whom God called. God finally in His mercy allowed Aaron to assist him. If you read the accounts in Numbers you will find that this was not the best choice. Aaron may have been Moses helpmate but he was “flaky” and truly not committed to the task of leadership. God used him but it was not God’s first choice. Will you be God’s first choice?

 

Are You Between a Rock and a Hard Place?

Hebrews 3 is a reminder that because of the faithfulness of Jesus, we who have believed all he has said and done are now given a new distinction. We are now called partners and holy brethren. This is amazing!  Jesus said, follow me and now we find that we also family members of the Apostle and High Priest, the Son of the Most High God!

The initial Hebrew readers were facing a challenge. We might say they caught between a ‘ROCK’ (pun intended) and a hard place because they did not want to dishonor Moses and yet wanted to follow Jesus.  Therefore, the author reminds them that Moses was God’s servant not God’s Son. Moses was a faithful servant “in” the house but Christ was faithful “over” the house. Moses faithfully cared for God’s house, the children of Israel, but he did it as a servant. Christ is faithful as the Son over the house, that is we who are now called holy brethren.

Therefore, holy brethren, beware of drifting or falling away just as the Israelites had done in the desert and ended up doing a wilderness walk for 40 yrs. Beware of hardened hearts and unbelief as a consequence of  unbelief.  A scary thought straight from God! He swore they would die in the desert and lose the promise of eternal rest. It is vital that we remain steadfast and also to encourage other holy brethren who may be wavering and seeking to return to their old ways–the past. We must reassure each other day after day so that hearts remain teachable and soft.

The consequences of unbelief are eternal.

The Power of Words

According to statistical studies women speak far more than men. In fact a study revealed that women speak an average of 20,000 words while men only speak 7000 words in a day. Paul encouraged Titus to “speak (to older men, to older women, to younger men and bondslaves) the things fitting for sound doctrine…speak and exhort and reprove with all authority” This is appropriate for us as well for we are to be about sharing the gospel message of the one who “redeemed us from every lawless deed to purify for Himself” a people for Himself.

As we speak do we speak with all authority? Both Moses and Jeremiah were aware of their weakness in this area: “Oh, Lord God, I really do not know how to speak well enough” God reminded them both:  “Who gave a mouth to man, or who makes a person mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” [Exo 4:11] God reached out and touched the mouth of both that they would have the words to speak for Him. The psalmist wrote: “My mouth will speak wisdom, And the meditation of my heart will be understanding” which only can come when we take time to meditate upon His Word and as Paul told the Philippians to “think about whatever is true, respectful, just, pure, lovely, commendable” and to “practice” it moment by moment. [Phil 4]

May this be our prayer today  “You must let no unwholesome word come out of your mouth, but only what is beneficial for the building up of the one in need, that it would give grace to those who hear. “[Eph 4:29]

Acts 7 “I Surrender All”

The hymn “I Surrender All” is a testimony of one, who in obedience to the Holy Spirit, discovered that when we yield, God opens the fount of blessing that had been hidden in the cleft of the rock but shielded from view by our faltering steps. When God calls you to His side, one of the first things he does is ask you to step out in obedience to Him and then provides a test to see if we are worthy to be called his disciple.  He calls you just as he did Abraham, Joseph, and Moses which was the text of Stephen’s message before the religious council. All of these biblical heroes of the faith stepped out in faith and yet each was tested that they might be found pure and holy in His sight. Where is God testing you at this moment in time? In what area has he called you to be a part of his work and you have yet to totally surrender?

The fruit does not fall far from the tree is an old saying that reflects the truth that even though we deny it,  we more often than not are mimicking the examples of our forefathers and this was true of the religious leaders. Three false charges leads to one message: you are unbelieving rejecting Israelites just as of old. These religious leaders had the Promised Messiah in their very midst “Jesus the Nazarene, a man clearly attested to you by God with powerful deeds, wonders, and miraculous signs that God performed among you through him, just as you yourselves know –“ [Acts]. With great power and miracles before their eyes still the Pharisees and Sadducees came to test Jesus and asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He rightly answered “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.”

After the death of Jesus, three times now these religious leaders have had the extended hand of mercy from God as they have witnessed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit of which they had not received, through the healing of the lame man and the power of the Word in Peter and John and now in Stephen. This will be God’s extended hand of mercy yet again as anointed Stephen revealed their true uncircumcised heart and ears as they continued to resist the Holy Spirit just as their ancestors did.

Beloved, when God presents opportunities to be His witness are we as anointed, prepared and courageous as Stephen? Are we ready to be a martyr for Jesus? But even more importantly, when and if we are called to stand for Christ are we not only willing but able to say: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!”?

Beloved, are you totally surrendered to Jesus?