BibleScribbler

Moses Left the Women & Children at Home

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Exodus 18:6-8

6 He said to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you, along with your wife and her two sons with her.” 7 Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him; they each asked about the other’s welfare, and then they went into the tent. 8 Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to Egypt for Israel’s sake, and all the hardship that had come on them along the way, and how the Lord had delivered them.

I just realized for the first time that Moses had left his wife and kids behind when he went to confront Pharaoh and lead God’s people out of Egypt. That seems like a kind of big deal.

 

Pure Levites

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Exodus 32:25-29

And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.”

And all the sons of Levi gathered around him.

And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’” And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell.

And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”

I preached on this last night at chapel and talked about how in any crowd of people, some are going to follow God whole-heartedly and some aren’t going to give a rip about Him at all.

I talked about how God chose the Levites from then-on to be His servant tribe–the ones that would handle all of the sacrifices and religious duties in the new nation.

But there was one thing I left out.  [Read more…]

They Did It All Wrong and God Loved It

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2 Chronicles 30:18-20

The majority of the many people from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun were ceremonially unclean, yet they ate the Passover in violation of what is prescribed in the law. For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying: “May the Lord, who is good, forgive everyone who has determined to follow God, the Lord God of his ancestors, even if he is not ceremonially clean according to the standards of the temple.”
The Lord responded favorably to Hezekiah and forgave the people.

Here is a great spot in the Old Testament showing people getting close to God–not by following the Law but by being sincere and turning to Him with all of their hearts.

Hezekiah called the whole nation to celebrate the Passover. The priests weren’t properly prepared, the people weren’t properly prepared, but since it hadn’t been done in so long, they had to start somewhere.

God accepted them and they were so delighted in the Passover they continued it for another 7 days beyond the amount of time the Law required. The chapter ends with God listening and being pleased with all they had to offer Him.

This makes me think about all of the pickiness we bring when we go to church on Sunday. Here is God, overlooking some blatant screw-ups during one of His most important holy days:

  • Celebrated in the wrong month
  • Celebrated by unprepared priests & Levites (should have only been priests that were clean)
  • Celebrated by people that were unclean
  • Celebrated by many people that weren’t even Jewish!
  • Celebrated longer than God ever ordered it to be
  • Celebrated in ways God never intended (with sacrifices from the king in addition to being from the people)

Next time you are at church (if you know me, you know I’m the “you” in this sentence) and you want to gripe or be critical about the way things are being done, look at this hot mess in 2 Chronicles 30. Very little went according to God’s plan, and look what happened:

The Lord responded favorably to them as their prayers reached his holy dwelling place in heaven. 2 Chronicles 30:27

2 Chronicles 30:1 New English Translation (NET)

Joseph paid their debt

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Genesis 43:23 “Everything is fine,”t the man in charge of Joseph’s household told them. “Don’t be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks.s I had your money.”t Then he brought Simeon out to them.

“I had your money,” is also “I got the money for your grain.”
The guard got his money for their grain, which means that when Joseph had his men put money back in their bags when they were there last, he put money from his own account in there. He stayed right with the accounting of Pharaoh and didn’t steal any grain, he just paid for their grain himself!

Losing Yourself in God's Multi-Generational Plan

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When David had settled into his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I am living in a palace made from cedar, while the ark of the Lord’s covenant is under a tent.” (1 Chronicles 17:1 NET)

David wants to build a house for God. God says no. “I raised you to be a king, to expand the land and build a kingdom. You’ll die and leave it to your son and he’ll build the temple.”
When the time comes for you to die, I will raise up your descendant, one of your own sons, to succeed you, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build me a house, and I will make his dynasty permanent. (1 Chronicles 17:11, 12 NET)

God tells David what He was appointed for. His calling and his time were for his generation, but what God is doing is too much for one generation.

God used David to expand the kingdom and the dominion of Israel so that when Solomon went to build the temple, Israel had forests, quarries, mines, and more.

When God wanted to build a tabernacle in the desert, He planned ahead.

The Ark of the Covenant was made with the golden earrings of Egyptian royalty! God prepared the Egyptians generations ahead of the Exodus to have plenty of gold and animal skins (sea cow, etc.) for the Hebrews to take with them when they left.

The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and they gave them whatever they wanted, and so they plundered Egypt. (Exodus 12:36 NET)

How many generations of Hebrews toiled and died in Pharoah’s gold mines thinking they were digging up jewelry for a vain king when they were really digging up the dwelling place of the authority of mercy?!

All over the scriptures God does things that don’t seem like a big deal, but later on they become ESSENTIAL to His glorious plan. Most of the time they aren’t mentioned, but you have to read between the lines to see that God did something BEFORE the events that are described.

Shepherd-boy David killed Goliath and they put Goliath’s sword away like a museum token. Years later, when there were only 2 swords in the entire country and David needed a sword, Goliath’s sword was waiting for him.( 1 Samuel 21:9)

Caesar Augustus called a census of the people, and so Joseph and Mary have to travel to Bethlehem in a most unopportune time – Just so Jesus could be born in Bethlehem.

The Apostle Paul’s dad was a Greek Jew, making Paul a Greek citizen and completely altering the way the Gospel was spread. If Paul would have not been a legal Greek citizen, the book of Acts and half of the New Testament would have been radically different.

Self-centered idea that we should accomplish something amazing.

Is it movies? Is it selfish pride? “You americans left Europe, explored America, and that wasn’t enough for you so you just keep going all over the world!” – British missionary friend

What if the amazing thing that God wants us to accomplish is more relational than memorial?

Hosea 6:6 For I desire steadfast love (Hesed) and not sacrifice, the knowledge (discernment, understanding, skills) of God rather than burnt offerings. (Hosea 6:6 ESV)

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15 ESV)

God wants to be close to us and THAT is what He is longing to accomplish!

THAT is His main goal in each of us.
God is not passive and we shouldn’t be either. Out of the overflow of our friendship with Him we act.
God’s work is multi-generational. It is too much for one generation!

Solomon became king when he was about 18. He shared kingship with his father for 3 years before David died.
Take that clear calling and pass it on.

My Jedi Council
K.H. is in his 80s and can’t spend his time with homeless men and travel to Asia
J.L. can’t lead mission trips forever! “Pay attention, next year you’re coming out here without me!”
John Perkins marched with MLK Jr. and now has breakfast with people that come on week-long mission trips to Jackson Mississippi
R.U. is 50 and runs a camp near Murray Kentucky but for a year before I left for Asia he poured into me the amazing phenomenon of house churches!
Proverbs 2 – Take your relationship with God and pass it on to another generation. If you are young, track down some white-hairs and shut up and listen.

Global Leadership Summit 2011, Part 5: Steven Furtick

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Day one (good grief I’m just now ending day one‽) ended with Steve Furtick. His talk was really good.

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After a day of some religious and worldly wisdom it was really good to focus on the fact that the most important things in this world can only be done by God.

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It’s worth it to read this passage from 2 Kings 3:9-20

The whole bit about Elisha and the harpist was pretty funny. I’m not sure what the point of it was, but the whole bit about background music making us more passionate was pretty funny. I think it had something to do with us keeping our inspiration even after we left the conference. It’s easy to feel called by God when you’re in a crowd full of people with loud music and programmable lights. Not so much when you’re sitting alone in a soup kitchen with more ketchup on their burger than hope in their hearts.

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This part is great, but if you read the section yourself, you can ask God for your own application. It is a good point that God didn’t lay out the entire plan to these guys. SO MANY places in the scriptures God just gives us 1 or 2 of the next steps, not the whole plan in detail.

Philip in Acts 8 only got two bits of direction and the rest he had to fill in on his own. Go to this road and go over by that chariot. Beyond that Philip had to wing it! We look at other peoples’ success and wonder why it doesn’t work out for us. We wonder why things are so hard or misleading or unclear, but most of the time we’re comparing our behind the scenes with other peoples’ highlight reel.

This whole event from 2 Kings is even a bigger deal if you read through the whole chapter. Read it and you’ll see that God provides a lot more than just the thing we ask for and He fights our fights for us in ways that we would have never even imagined!

The Hand Carried Ark of the Covenant

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Yesterday we heard a sermon about God striking Uzzah dead when he reached out and touched the Ark of the Covenant.

David was bringing it back to Jerusalem and had a new cart built and two oxen to pull it. One of the oxen stumbled and Uzzah reached out and steadied the Ark as it wobbled on the cart.

http://bible.us/1Chr13.10.NET

The thing is, that Ark was never intended to be carried by a cart pulled by oxen. That was how the Philistines returned it to Israel, but that was not the way God told Israel to carry it.

The Ark was built with gold rings on the side for some wooden poles to fit into and then be carried. The poles weren’t even supposed to be removed!

http://bible.us/Exod25.14.NET

So here are these guys, somehow they got it onto this cart without dying, but then once it starts rolling Uzzah touches it and dies. Maybe there were some accidental Levites that loaded it up?

There are so many different things here it’s hard to talk about them all!

For one, their intentions were good. They were sincere about what they were doing. They respected God, they loved God, they wanted to do His will. Somebody just missed the directions God gave back in Exodus.

There is a warning there for us! It doesn’t matter how nice your cart (brand new, commissioned by the king, baby!) or how big your party (David had 30,000 men there to celebrate!), it doesn’t matter how valuable the thing you’re dealing with (The Ark of the Covenant was THE #1 Possession of Israel), it doesn’t matter who told you to do it (David himself gave these guys orders to bring up the Ark), If you do it against God’s directive on how to do it, you’re doing it wrong!

God wanted the emblem and container of His covenant with mankind to be carried by men, not by oxcarts.

Why is that such a big deal?

The Ark of the Covenant is a shadow of things to come. One day, a century later, Jesus would come and BE the covenant between mankind and God. The emblem and container of God’s covenant would be carried by a man to the altar of God in Heaven! THEN the emblem, seal, memorial, token, embodiment of God’s NEW and everlasting covenant would be carried by men in the form of the Holy Spirit!

God doesn’t need a home on an oxcart. God wants to be carried around by you in your daily life! (and yes, I’ll even say that He wants you to take the lid off at the right time and melt some faces off with His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.)

When you are carrying Him, you don’t have to worry about dropping Him off of a cart! You don’t have to worry about sin (yours or other people’s!) You don’t have to gather a party to celebrate Him because a party of celebration will follow in His wake. You don’t have to build a new cart to carry Him (or a new church or have a new car or a new house or a new job) because you realize that the value is all about what is in the covenant, not in the style of the container!

When you carry The Everlasting Covenant, all of life changes. Look it up, read about it, ask God to prove it! He will!

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God's Eager Hospitality

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I’ve been reading “The Trouble With Grace” by O. Keith Hueftle and it is really really good. Keith shows a real depth for God’s hospitality as it shows His character. It’s not just a hospitality of “if you come, I’ll take care of you” but a pursuing, hungry hospitality that tracks you down and then cares for you where you are.

It really is the parable of the Good Samaritan blown into global proportions.

The other aspect of God’s grace shown by hospitality is the continuing sacrifices that a host makes for their guest throughout the Bible. Abram kills some of his flock and prepares the best wheat for dinner in Genesis 18 http://bible.us/Gen18.1.NET for the 3 guests that visit him on their way to Sodom.

Lot protects the guests from the townspeople even to the level of offering his own daughters to them when they want the guests thrown out his front door. http://bible.us/Gen19.8.NET

All of this (and there are many more events like this in the life of Elijah, David, etc.) points to God sending His son to pursue us, and then protecting us from the evil one by a great sacrifice on our behalf.

Malachi and Broken Donations

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Malachi 1:8 For when you offer blind animals as a sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you offer the lame and sick, is that not wrong as well? Indeed, try offering them to your governor! Will he be pleased with you or show you favor?” asks the Lord who rules over all.

Whenever I read this I thought it was talking about how the governor would reject a sacrifice that was lame or blind, but the NET Bible note explains that the phrase “offering” is more like choices on a menu at a sit-down feast. Would you offer a respected house guest some nasty meat for dinner? Of course not! That is what God is asking through Malachi.

This fits right in line with what John says in 1 John 4:20

1John 4:20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

If you aren’t going to treat God with the respect and honor that is due Him, AT LEAST show him the respect you would show a public official that would visit your house. On the flip side, if you can’t love somebody that is tangible and visible, don’t say that you love God, because your love for God will show in how you care for the people around you.

Malachi is basically saying, “You wouldn’t serve this garbage to a house guest, so why in the world do you think God wants it?”

That would be a great plaque to hang up over the door at a Goodwill. It’s one thing to give out a hand-me-down because you don’t need it and you don’t want it to go to waste. It’s entirely different to give out a broken item, call it an act of religious righteousness, and then go buy yourself a brand new one.

May we never think too highly of ourselves as we show our charity by donating a 3-wheeled stroller to the orphanage.