Month: February 2019

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Numbers 11 – 13

The people’s complaining displeased God; Moses’ complaining didn’t. What made the difference? Moses presented his complaints to God.

We don’t usually think of complaining when we think of consuming-fire-worthy sin, but let’s understand why it is so offensive to God. The Israelites’ complaining scorned God’s powerful and glorious rescue from Egypt and His miraculous provision of manna, and expressed lack of trust in Him to provide. It called into question His claims about who He is and disdained the privilege of their special relationship with Him. God had made it clear that their complaining displeased Him and that He took it personally, and yet they persisted; their complaining was rebellion and demonstrated a lack of respect and love for Him.

Moses, on the other hand took his issues to God. He didn’t actually request anything, simply laid out the situation before God, entrusting all to Him. That speaks to me about how I pray. Often I offer the solution to the problem as I pray, instead of laying the situation out before God and trusting in His higher ways and thoughts to work out a solution that is greater than I could even think of asking. Moses entrusted the situation to God and received “abundantly above all he could ask or think.”

We heard a powerful sermon Sunday about Israel’s complaining. Since they are an object lesson to us of our own human weaknesses, we need to realize that we as God’s New Covenant people share their same tendencies if we don’t let Jesus transform us and if we are not on our guards. The correction and preventative for our complaining problem is found in Philippians 4:4-7: rejoice, be gentle, and present our requests to God.

Their constant complaints became a habit until they rejected the Promised Land because of their complaints. That was a serious consequence for sure, for those who rejected it never saw the Promised Land, to their sorrow.

That Promised Land is an object lesson to us of Heaven. Can you imagine being refused Heaven because of a habit and character of complaining, being told “I never knew you” because you refuse to trust Him by taking your concerns to Him and instead grumble in a way He dislikes? If that frightens you, please make it right with God and ask Him to help you substitute rejoicing, gentleness and prayer for complaining.

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Numbers 7

Another dull passage, but let’s not miss the fact that the gift given by the twelfth tribe was as noteworthy to God as that given by the first tribe. Are you last? Do you feel obscure and forgotten, buried in the invisible middle of the line? God hasn’t missed you or your gifts; He values you as much as the first person in line, and treasures your contribution as much as that first guy’s.

A sad reality of life in our sin-cursed world is that not everyone can be first. That’s sad enough that our culture tries to convince us that it’s not so, so everyone gets a trophy. God doesn’t propagate that lie, but He does treasure each one of us as much as the first. If that doesn’t feel like enough to you today, please ask God to align your perception with the truth.

As monotonous as this reading is, isn’t it so much more effective a reminder of God’s esteem for the obscure than His simply saying so would be?

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Numbers 5 – 6

Sin makes us self-centered. Not only does that impact our relationship with God, but with others as well. God makes the latter ever so important in Numbers 5:6-7 when He equates wronging another “in any way” with unfaithfulness to Himself, and calls it sin for which He requires confession and restitution.

Modern culture normalizes and justifies self-centeredness so that it is hard for us to recognize it as wrong. This is just one way we become contaminated by living in this sin-cursed world, and why we need to be in God’s word daily – not simply reading it, but reflecting on what we read and how it applies to us. So please take the opportunity this reminder affords us to consider your relations with others. What do they reveal about your relationship with God?

Our culture and our enemy will also cause us to consider God unjust in seeming to promote a male-dominated culture that is unfair to women by offering a test for an unfaithful wife and not one for an unfaithful husband. I addressed that in last year’s post; you can click on the link in the underlined text here to go to that post and so gain a better understanding of why this was so. Because if you are offended by this it is due to lack of understanding, and that will result in missing the important point of this provision and causing you to have the mind of sinful man rather than the mind of Christ. Don’t play into Satan’s hands like that!

The principle behind the test for the unfaithful wife is that God does not want the weak suffering unjustly at the hands of the strong. What a good God.

An equally important truth in this provision is that God reveals the hidden truth if we ask Him. The “bitter water that brings a curse” would produce the outcome God directed. The ceremony offered here was a petition to God to reveal hidden truth. Please don’t miss this reminder. Questions about others can hinder our peace and joy; ask God to reveal the hidden truth, and trust Him to do so.

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Numbers 1 – 4

Do you notice how even the most routine tasks can take longer when the routine is broken? I was reminded of that when I was taking a shower while visiting my sister and brother-in-law last weekend. I had to get out from under the running water to get my soap, I got burned by the hot water, I used too much shampoo because I forgot that their soft water requires a fraction of the shampoo I normally use, and it seemed like a simple shower took much longer than usual. I felt like a comedy of errors doing something I am so used to doing every day that I usually don’t have to think about it!

How much more awkward is the forgetting, the overlooking, the confusion, chaos and time required to do something we’ve never done before. The Israelites had never set up camp, never broken camp and set out before they left Egypt, and moving that large amount of people was no small feat. Then they lingered at Mt. Sinai for a year setting up the Tabernacle and institutions of worship described in Exodus and Leviticus; at the end of that year those activities were even more complicated because they had the Tabernacle to manage as well. They didn’t want to make mistakes with that, considering what had happened to Nadab and Abihu.

Think how much the Israelites appreciated the details in these chapters.

If they followed these directions, each Levite performing his assigned task, there would be no chaos, not even the first time the Tabernacle was taken down. Nothing would have been overlooked, hopefully no goofs would have been made. None of the holy loaves of bread accidentally dropped to the ground prompting the responsible Levite to look around guiltily before snatching it up and dusting it off. There would be no opportunity for the holy to become common or ridiculous, no cause for humor in the handling of the Tabernacle. For what we laugh at we lose respect for.

I don’t enjoy these chapters, but I do appreciate what I learn about God in them. They remind me that God cares about and is involved in the affairs of our lives, even the dull details like logistics. I am a planner and thrive in an organized environment, and I appreciate that God provided that for His people living a nomadic lifestyle in the wilderness, on which their vast numbers would have imposed a heavy burden. Consider how good God is to give His people these guidelines!

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Leviticus 26 – 27

God may seem mean to basically coerce His people into doing things His way. He certainly knows how to make life miserable, doesn’t He? But He doesn’t use that misery to punish His people; rather, His intent is to compel them turn back to Him. His unwillingness that anyone should perish makes what appears to be meanness actually kindness.

God is good, but Satan doesn’t want us to believe that so he twists the truth and tries to deceive us into believing the lie. Many times we do believe it! God’s past dealings with His people are our reminders of the truth.

Perhaps right now God is bringing trials into your life to call you back to Him. Are you going to accept Satan’s lies and be hostile toward God for the difficulty, or are you going to turn to Him and be restored to peaceful relationship?

Of course, not every trial we suffer is because we need to be brought back to Him. He alone knows the reasons we suffer. Certainly our sufferings should always be accepted as God’s calls on our hearts to draw Him closer to Himself, whether in confession and repentance, or for strength and comfort. Let Him use your suffering for your good in greater intimacy with Him, rather than be duped by Satan!

Chapter 27 speaks mostly about redeeming – buying back – something one rashly devoted to God in religious zeal. It happens! Sometimes we allow our feelings to carry us farther than is reasonable, and we have to face that reality. Isn’t God good to understand the weaknesses of His people and provide for them?

Note that what was dedicated to God could be bought back, but what was devoted couldn’t. What was dedicated was promised to God. What was devoted to God was set aside for Him, forfeited. The sense was that the item was destroyed to its owner, a doomed object.

Think about the nature of our salvation. It is meant to be a covenant relationship between us and God: He gives us eternal life and we give Him our lives. We devote our lives to Him. Jesus used the idea of taking up a cross, which is a symbol of death. Paul used the term “living sacrifices.” We are dead to self. Is that how you see your life, or are you still living it for yourself? Do you see your covenant with God the same way He sees it?

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Leviticus 24 – 25

It may seem harsh that one who cursed God would be killed as punishment. However, recall that God is merciful to give us a way out of sin’s punishment at all; He doesn’t have to extend mercy for any violation of the Law. That He doesn’t extend mercy for violating this requirement should signal to us that it is very important to Him.

You may not curse Him, but do you consider Him less than how He presents Himself in Scripture? That demonstrates a lack of reverence for Him like the cursing demonstrated. Since God has preserved this account for us we need to use the opportunity the story gives us to assess our own condition.

The Law’s provisions for Sabbath and Year of Jubilee teach that the land and the wealth it produced did not belong to the people but to God. He has reasons for His requirements that are beyond our ability to comprehend, but we can discern why these requirements make sense despite the world’s calling them crazy. His people’s observance of them would curb materialistic values and build their trust in God. How do these principles apply to you? Do you demonstrate devotion for Him in the way you carry them out?

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Leviticus 19 – 20

These chapters are in the thick of what we think of when we think of the Law. Admittedly they don’t offer the most devotional reading, but let us understand what their significance is. Obviously, no law can cover every instance. Further, God doesn’t intend that His law be nothing more than items on a checklist that we can check off and consider our relationship good. Does that speak of devotion, of love, to you? If you need help answering that question, think about how you would like for your dearest love relationships to boil down to a checklist for your loved ones to follow. When they have all the items on the list done, they expect you to be satisfied; would you be?

The requirements in the Law gave principles by which God’s people would know how to please Him. In the Old Testament these were required by the covenant Israel had with God. Jesus came to fulfill the Law, and the New Testament teaches that we are no longer under the Law. However, if we love God we will want to please Him. If we love Him we will actively seek to please Him. We will want to understand the principles God puts before us in these requirements, and what that shows us about how we can better please Him. Think about what each requirement means, what it reveals of God’s heart, and how that principle applies to you today.

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Leviticus 16 – 18

On the heels of demonstrating His willingness to concern Himself with the baser aspects of our lives, God now reminds us that He is far above us, and we can come to Him only as He allows us. In the Old Testament access to God was severely limited: only the High Priest could come into God’s presence, only one day a year, and only under the conditions God specified. This was dangerous duty for the High Priest. If he failed to follow exactly the procedures for their atonement, God would strike Him dead as Nadab and Abihu had been suddenly stricken, and the nation’s sins would not be atoned for.

The concept of atonement is central to Scripture. Sin must be made right before God because He is just and because His holiness will not allow sin in His presence. If we are to enjoy relationship with Him, the sin must be paid for and cleansed. The method God has provided to do both is with blood – a life for a life -, and it’s called atonement. Atonement is cleansing for sin so that we can be made right with God and enjoy the intimacy with Him for which we were created. The animal sacrifices described in Leviticus 1 through 7, the sin and guilt offerings, were for unintentional sins; the rituals observed on the Day of Atonement were the only provision God made for all sin, intentional and otherwise.

We don’t have to have a priest accomplish this ritual for us every year because Jesus accomplished it for us once and for all on the cross. God preserved for us the commands regarding the Day of Atonement rituals for the same reason He preserved the descriptions of the other rituals: to help us understand the work that Messiah has done for us. Why not spend some time reflecting on what your Savior has done for you as revealed in the Old Testament object lesson of the Day of Atonement?

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Leviticus 11 – 15

Being unclean was not a measure of one’s character or personal value; it excluded one from participating in worship. One became unclean in ways that were beyond his control and in everyday living. Skin diseases and bodily discharges are unlovely consequences of living in a fallen world. God will not allow such contamination, brought into the world as a consequence of sin, to come into His presence. That seems reasonable, doesn’t it? He wasn’t the one who sinned, so why should He have to suffer contamination from the Fall?

God’s having the conversation about uncleanness was unpleasant and perhaps embarrassing, but how precious that He would rather deal with that ugly reality than turn His back on contaminated mankind. As funny as it seems, the talk about sores and discharges should help us understand how much God loves us.

This talk about uncleanness should lead us to recognize that we New Testament people of God are also contaminated by living in this fallen world, sometimes through no fault of our own. We need to be on our guard against that which can contaminate us. How would one do that effectively, do you think? We should also not be surprised or discouraged when we need to seek cleansing because we have become contaminated by living in a sin-cursed world.

But the idea of contamination and cleansing should also remind us of what a wonderful work Jesus did for us: He offers all we need for full restoration of relationship with God in His one awful sacrifice. I suspect that all of the requirements listed for cleansing and making atonement teach about Messiah’s work to effect our salvation, and that is why the record is preserved for us. It might offer a worthwhile study.

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Leviticus 8 – 10

In our culture we generally don’t appreciate ceremony, but hopefully we can accept that other cultures have different values and so do appreciate it. God may have used ceremony because it spoke to the people: the ceremony here was for the purpose of setting the priests apart, and likely was performed to instill in the people an understanding that the high priest was due their respect and submission.  The elements of the ceremony seem strange to us, but God doubtless had a purpose in mind for each. Since we are called priests (I Peter 2:5, 9), understanding the significance of every rite in this ceremony might be valuable to us.

Although Aaron and his sons did everything just as the Lord had commanded Moses, God struck them when they offered strange incense before Him. Their previous record didn’t save them from the consequences of their actions in offering what God didn’t authorize. Was it an act of rebellion? Testing God? A mistake? An attempt to honor God with the very best of their own creativity? Whatever it was, God saw their offering as dishonoring to Him. Whether or not they intended to do so didn’t matter; it dishonored Him. Does God seem harsh to you in this?

Given that God calls Himself good, what does this teach you about God? What lesson does this teach for people who draw near to God? It’s worth thinking about, because if He did this, it’s conceivable that He will one day say to those who also thought they could do whatever they felt like doing, or felt too special to suffer God’s stated consequences, or were ignorant about God’s requirements,  or preferred to be creative in approaching God, “I never knew you. Away from me.” We cannot presume on God’s mercy. C.S. Lewis was correct in saying of his allegorical lion/king/God character, “He’s not a time lion.” (The Last Battle)