The Great Commandment

Readings for today: Deuteronomy 4-7

Deuteronomy 6:4 contains the single most important prayer in all of Israel. “"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” It is the prayer known as the “Shema” (pronounced Sh’ma). Jews are required to recite this prayer twice a day. It is the first prayer they teach their children. It is the last prayer they pray before they die. It captures the essence of their monotheistic faith. Praying this prayer twice a day reminds the Jewish people of the personal relationship they have with God and His Kingdom. They are His chosen people. They are His royal priesthood. They are His holy nation. Set apart by God Himself to declare His glory to the nations of the earth. To fulfill the great promise once made to Abraham. "For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,” (Deut. ‭7:6-9‬)

Because God has chosen them. Because God has set His love on them. Because God has delivered them from bondage and slavery in Egypt. Israel is to return His love.  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deut. ‭6:5‬) This is the second part of the Shema. The commitment of the believer to honor God in every facet of their lives. We are to love God with all our heart. All our affections. All our feelings. He must love Him first above all other things. All other people. All of our accomplishments, dreams, and visions. We must love Him with our souls. Form the depths of our beings. From the deepest recesses of who we are. To love God with our “soul” is to literally love Him from our bowels. From our gut. From a place deeper than our minds. Deeper than our hearts. The very core of our beings. We must love God with all our might. All our physical strength and activity should be dedicated to the glory of God. All our work. All our play. All our relationships. All our physical labor. All of it is to bring glory to God. This is what the Apostle Paul is referring to in Colossians 3:17, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

There is a lot packed into today’s reading. So many reminders of God’s great faithfulness to His people. Despite their sin. Despite their grumbling. Despite their complaining. God remains steadfast. This is the essence of the covenant of grace God has made with His people. Fast forward a few thousand years to Jesus. A lawyer challenges him one day to identify the greatest of the commandments. Jesus goes right back to the Shema. “And Jesus said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (Matt. ‭22:37-40‬) Not only did Jesus place the Shema at the center of His life but He demands His followers do the same. 

How are you seeking to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength? What does that practically look for you in your life? If you do not know, let me challenge you to memorize Matthew 22:37 and ask God to give you the wisdom to know how to place the Shema at the center of your life like Jesus.  

Readings for tomorrow: Deuteronomy 8-10

One Last Sermon…

Readings for today: Deuteronomy 1-3

You finished Numbers! Great job! Another book down! Some would say you’ve just made it through one of the toughest stretches of the Bible. Pat yourself on the back as we dig into Deuteronomy.  

The Book of Deuteronomy is a sermon. In fact, it is Moses’ final sermon to God’s people. His last will and testament as it were. His final chance to encourage. Challenge. Confront. Comfort. He’s now led Israel for decades. And he was no spring chicken when he got started! He’s led them out of Egypt. Led them through the wilderness. Led them through the ups and downs of the wilderness journey. He has personally witnessed the miracles of God. Delivered the Ten Commandments. Issued the Law. Under the mighty hand of God, he has created a system of worship, governance, economics, and military organization that will long outlast him. It is a remarkable accomplishment. 

Now he’s at the end of his life. He’s not going over the Jordan. He will not set foot in the Promised Land. What would you say in Moses’ position? Given one last chance to address God’s people, what would be on your heart and mind? What would you want them to know moving forward? What lessons would you hope they learned?  

One of my favorite speeches of all time was delivered April 3, 1968 by Martin Luther King Jr. on the eve of his assassination. He sounds a lot like Moses in my mind. “Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like any man, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” I think at the end of the day Moses, like King, was happy. He knew he couldn’t go over to the Promised Land but he died knowing his great work was finished. He had witnessed the salvation of God’s people. He had seen the glory of the Lord. 

When you finish your life, how will you feel? When you look back at all you’ve experienced. All you’ve accomplished. All you set out to do. When you think about your family. Your children. Your grandchildren. What will you want them to know about you? Say about you? Remember about you? Will it have anything to do with your faith in Christ? 

Readings for tomorrow: Deuteronomy 4-7

The Rights of God

Readings for today: Numbers 33-36

I read a news report this morning out of St. Louis about a family who ignored a quarantine to go shopping, hit the gym, and get their nails done. It seems their daughter had recently returned from Italy where she was exposed to the coronavirus. But instead of following the directions of the CDC, this particular family believed they had the right to go where they pleased. The result is a potential outbreak that could result suffering and death for certain, immunocompromised members of their community.

Sounds about right, doesn’t it? Americans as a general rule believe we have been given certain freedoms. Inalienable rights. Guaranteed us by our Constitution. Among those are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The freedom of speech, assembly, press, and religion. In short, we believe no one has a right to tell us what to do or where to go or how to act. If we ever feel those rights are being threatened, we take action. We fight back. We sue. Nothing, it seems, will stop us from pursuing our own self-interest.

Can you imagine what would happen if God chose to do the same? After all, His rights were violated the moment Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. His rights are violated every time a human being engages in sin and breaks His law. His rights are violated when we worship idols and images of our own making. Ascribing to created things the glory due our Creator.

One of the real challenges in reading Scripture is to keep in mind the rights of God. God has the right to literally wipe out the entire universe and start over. God has the right to kill every man, woman, and child on the earth for their sin. God has the right to judge the nations and destroy them for their greed and lust for power. God has the right to do all this and more. So what stays God’s hand? His endless mercy. His amazing grace. His unconditional love. His great faithfulness.

We are nearing the end of the Torah. The great story of the formation of God’s people. The birth of a nation. God has rescued them from slavery in Egypt. He has exposed the emptiness of the idols of the greatest empire on earth. God has utterly broken Pharaoh who set himself up as a god. God is demonstrating His power and authority over all He has made and He is about to do the same as Israel enters the Promised Land. God is faithful. He will not let this world go. He will have His way among us. He will have the glory He deserves. He will make Himself known to the pagan nations of the earth. This is why God commands Israel to “drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places. And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.” (Numbers‬ ‭33:52-53)

God has a right to our worship. God has a right to our total allegiance. God has a right to our faithful obedience. He wants nothing more than our whole hearts. Nothing less than our full devotion. Nothing else but our very souls. Turn and embrace the God who loves you so much, friends! Give Him the glory He is due! Humble yourself before His throne! Submit yourself to His sovereign authority over your life! Trust Him with all that you are and all that you have! He is faithful. He is true. And He loves you with an everlasting love.

Readings for tomorrow: Deuteronomy 1-3

Holy War

Readings for today: Numbers 29-32

Holy War. Jihad. Violence sanctioned by God Himself. In Numbers 31, God directs Moses and Israel to attack Midian. “Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.” Who was Midian and what had they done to Israel to cause God’s judgment to fall on them in such an extreme fashion? 

Midian was a son of Abraham and his servant Keturah. While Abraham was still living, he sent Midian away so that there would be no competition for Isaac’s inheritance. Midian presumably thrived over the years becoming a great tribal nation. Abraham’s great-grandson Joseph was sold to Midianite traders as they made their way to Egypt. Moses fled to Midian to escape Egyptian justice and actually married a Midianite woman. As Moses learned to lead the nation of Israel, he leaned on his father-in-law, a Midianite priest, for advice but Israel’s close association with Midian would come back to haunt them as they began to intermarry with them and co-mingle their worship practices. This results in judgment as God pours out His wrath on Israel through a plague which is only stopped when Phinehas kills Cozbi, daughter of a Midianite chief named Zur, and her husband Zimri who was the son of a Simeonite chief. Furthermore, the Midianites had allied themselves with the Moabites, setting themselves in opposition to Israel, and called on one of their prophets - Balaam - to come and curse the people of God. 

You may remember the 2nd Commandment. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,” (Exodus‬ ‭20:4-5‬)‬‬ God is jealous for His divine name. Jealous for His divine glory. Jealous for His relationship with His people. He makes clear over and over again throughout the Scriptures that He will tolerate no rivals. So when Israel begins to worship the Midianite gods, God takes action. First, he punishes Israel as I mentioned above. Then He calls for holy war. He commands His people to attack Midian and “execute the Lord’s vengeance.” Vengeance not in the sense of God losing control and lashing out but vengeance in the sense of the righteous execution of God’s justice. Israel is successful. They kill all the males that come against them. They take the women and children hostage. They plunder their possessions. Then they go one step further. As an act of ritual purity, they kill all the male children and any women who is not a virgin. It is brutal. It is horrifying. It is judgment. The women were just as guilty as the Israelite men in the sin of idolatry at Peor and their guilt conveys to their male children as well who - if left alive - might seek their own revenge against Israel in the future. (Blood feuds between tribes and clans were common in ancient times and could last generations.)

This is scary stuff. Especially for the 21st century American reader. It doesn’t square with our culturally notions of a loving God who always shows mercy and grace to the sinner. When we read passages like this, we think of modern-day terrorists. Suicide bombers. Religious extremists like ISIS and we cannot understand how our God could ever act in such ways. This is where we come face to face with God’s holiness. God’s righteousness. God’s justice. The stark reality is this...evil makes God angry. Idolatry is an offense. He does not let it go. He does not overlook our sin. He does not turn a blind eye to our rebellion. This is why the cross is itself so brutal and horrifying. There God pours out the full measure of His righteous wrath and judgment on His Son. Satisfying the demands of divine justice through Jesus’ suffering and death. On the cross, the truly innocent One dies in our place.

So what is our response? Repentance. Repentance is the only appropriate response of the creature when confronted by the Creator and this is the lesson we must all take away. God will not be mocked. Not back then. Not now. Not in the future. God is a God of love and mercy and grace but He is also a God of holiness and righteousness and justice. He is quick to forgive the sin of those who repent but He is also faithful to judge those who persist in their rebellion. Humble yourself before the Lord before it is too late. Embrace the Son and what He has done for you. Give your life to Christ that you might be saved from the coming judgment.

Readings for today: Numbers 33-36

Whole-hearted Devotion

Readings for today: Numbers 25-28

Baal is the Canaanite fertility god. Worshipped by the tribes occupying the Promised Land, he will continue to entice the people of Israel to abandon the true worship of the Living God. The Moabites and the Midianites (nomadic tribesman who wandered frequently much like the Bedouin’s today) worshipped Baal through sex and gluttony. They would hold massive parties where they would eat and drink to excess. In the midst of the drunkenness, they would engage in all kinds of sexual activity. All in an effort to show Baal how faithful they were to him so he would make their crops grow and their flocks multiply and open the wombs of all the women so they would bear children. So when Numbers 25 talks about the people of Israel “whoring” with the daughters of Moab, it is speaking literally. They were engaging in the worship practices of Baal and this was an abomination before the Lord. One of them even took it as far as bringing a Midianite woman before the Tabernacle and having sex with her in front of Moses and the whole congregation. It was a brazen act of defiance against God. 

If we don’t learn anything else from this passage, we must understand how serious God is about worship. Not just what we do on Sunday mornings for an hour but the worship we give Him every single day. God demands our single-minded devotion. God will not tolerate us worshipping other gods. God will not allow our love to be divided. It’s black or white. You either love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength or you don’t. There really is no gray area. This doesn’t mean we will be perfect and God, in His graciousness, provides for our weaknesses. But the trajectory of our hearts must be set. God must be our North Star! God must be the sole object of our devotion! God alone is worthy to be praised! 

It is critical to think about this passage in context of what we read yesterday. Balaam was paid by the king of Moab to curse Israel. Several times, he makes the attempt only to have God intervene. God will not allow Israel’s enemies to curse her. He will protect and guard His people. But what about when Israel curses herself? What about when she brings judgment down on herself for her actions? What Balaam could not do, Israel did to herself by worshipping Baal at Peor and this incident becomes proverbial in the national life of Israel. It will show up again and again throughout the Old Testament. Deuteronomy, Joshua, Psalms, and Hosea all refer back to this moment in time when Israel broke the first commandment and abandoned her God. In fact, it shows up in the New Testament as well when the Apostle Paul references it in chapter ten of his first letter to the Corinthians.

We aren’t so different, are we? Over and over again, God protects us. Provides for us. Guards us and keeps us. He rescues us from the curse of sin. He breaks the power of the devil. He overthrows death itself. But then we chase after other gods. We pursue success. We pursue wealth. We pursue comfort. We pursue safety. We make idols out of our children. Out of our health. Out of our professional careers. We even bring these idols with us to worship and ask God’s blessing upon them! (I think of the picture that went viral a few years back of the religious cult in Pennsylvania asking God’s blessing on their AR-15’s! Craziness!) 

Unfortunately, this temptation is common to us all. I cannot tell you the number of people I have married over the years who engaged in premarital sex but then wanted God’s blessing on their relationship. I cannot tell you the number of people over the years who shared with me God told them to get divorced. I cannot tell you the number of people who told me they felt God blessed their adultery. And it’s not just sex. I’ve heard the same arguments from parents who try to justify putting their child’s activities above everything else in their life, including their marriage and the worship of God. I’ve heard the same arguments from individuals who justify their climb up the corporate ladder, no matter the cost to their family and friends. And I’ve heard similar arguments from addicts who justify their dependence on pills or alcohol or pot or some other drug that numbs all their pain. We seem so eager and willing to sacrifice everything on the altar of self-gratification, self-indulgence, and self-promotion. It’s like we’re still worshipping the Baal of Peor!

Friends, God will not be mocked! God will not tolerate our sin. We cannot pretend there won’t be consequences for our rebellion. It may not be Phineas with his spear but it could be much, much worse. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matt. ‭7:21‬) What sin are you indulging in your life right now? What thoughts do you entertain? What feelings are you holding onto? What activities are you engaging in that will bring down God’s judgment? A man by the name of H. Richard Niebuhr once argued that too many Christians want to believe in a “God without wrath bringing men without sin into a Kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a Cross.” If you have fallen for this lie, you need to repent. If words like “judgment”, “sin”, “wrath”, etc. have fallen out of your vocabulary, you are in danger of missing out on the heart of the gospel. Yes, God is love. But because God is love, He hates our sin. Because God is love, He sent His Son to die. Because God is love, He bore the wrath we deserved. Paid the price we owed. Satisfied the judgment we earned. God’s love is not some warm fuzzy. It is fierce. Jealous. Loyal. Steadfast. True. And it will not tolerate any rivals. 

The Donkey that Spoke

Readings for today: Numbers 21-24

When I was in college, I used to go to lunch at Daddy’s Bruce’s Pit BBQ. It was a little hole in the wall place near the campus run by one of the most godly men I have ever met. “Daddy Bruce” - as he was affectionately called - was a larger than life African-American man who loved Jesus with all his heart. His father - the original Daddy Bruce - had become famous in Denver for serving the homeless a turkey dinner each year for Thanksgiving. The Daddy Bruce I knew followed in his father’s footsteps, often serving those in need alongside paying customers. The first time I met Daddy Bruce, he found out I was a Christian. From that point forward, every time I showed up I had to have a Bible verse memorized in order to get my food. Daddy Bruce taught me to love the Scriptures. He told me story after story from the Bible. I am convinced he had most of it memorized. As I would sit at his little bar and eat my BBQ, he would get more and more wound up. He’d start preaching up a storm and the whole restaurant would stop to listen. It was amazing. Daddy Bruce had a way with words. He was a gifted orator. Steeped in the rich black preaching tradition, his preaching was verbal art. I still remember him introducing me to the story of Balaam. “Doug”, he said in his thick southern accent, “when you come in here I don’t want to hear no Footprints in the Sand. I don’t want to hear ‘bout some Prayer of Serenity. Tell me about the donkey that spoke! Now that’s in the Bible!” Oh, how I miss that man!

The story of Balaam is a significant one in Scripture. Believe it or not, it becomes a sort of cautionary tale that is referenced throughout the Old and New Testaments. Over and over again, God’s people are warned to avoid the sins of Balaam. And what are those sins? Divination. Sorcery. Fortune-telling. Balaam was a hired gun. He would bless or curse others for money. He was an ancient witch doctor with a powerful and fearsome reputation in that part of the world. So when Israel comes up out of Egypt and threatens Moab, the king sends for him. “Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed." (Numbers‬ ‭22:6‬) The idea being that Balaam will fire the first salvo in the coming battle and weaken Israel so Moab might prevail. Shockingly, the Lord speaks to Balaam through his pagan rituals, warning him off. But Balak knows Balaam’s greedy reputation so he sends more princes and more money and Balaam relents. This stirs the anger of the Lord. So He essentially tells Balaam, “Thy will be done” and sends him on his way. However, the Lord isn’t finished. He’s not going to let Balaam off the hook quite yet. Under no circumstances will Balaam be allowed to curse Israel. So God sends an angel to oppose Balaam. To stand in his way. To humble Balaam. And thus we have this strange conversation between Balaam, his donkey, and the angel of the Lord.

Sometimes God uses the “foolish things of this world to shame the wise.” I can think of many times over the course of my life where God has used my children to teach me things I was too proud to see. I can think of many times over the course of my life where the simple faith of desperately poor men and women showed me things about Jesus that I - a trained theologian - had forgotten. I can think of many times over the course of my life where God has confronted me in my pride, privilege, relative wealth and power. In each case, He used something simple. Something weak. Something the world might easily dismiss to show me the error of my ways. No, my dog has never spoken to me! But God forbid I ever get to the place where he would have to! Instead, I pray daily for the humility to not think more highly of myself than I ought or less of my self than I ought but simply to think of my “self” less.

Readings for tomorrow: Numbers 25-28

Blame Shift

Readings for today: Numbers 17-20

As a pastor, I do a lot of counseling. One of the most common issues I face is something called “blame shifting.” Basically, a person commits a wrong and when confronted on it, “shifts” the blame to someone else. This can be their spouse. Their children. Their parents. Even their pastor! ;-) I cannot tell you the number of times I have counseled a couple on their marriage only to have them blame me for their eventual separation and divorce. Nevermind the fact they were unwilling to put in the work. Unwilling to do the homework I assigned. Unwilling to change any of their unhealthy behaviors. Unwilling to engage each other at a different level. At the end of the day, because the counseling didn’t “work”, it must be my failure as a pastor. 

We see this same dynamic in play in Moses’ relationship with Israel. How many times do they accuse Moses of failing to lead them well? How many times do they blame him for not providing water, food, or getting them to the Promised Land? Nevermind their own sin. Their own lack of faith. Their own fear. Their worship of false gods.  “And the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink." (Num. ‭20:3-5‬) Over and over again, we hear this refrain. Let’s go back to Egypt. Let’s go back to slavery. You brought us out here to die. You brought us out here to suffer. It would be truly baffling if I didn’t see it everyday. 

Jesus addresses “blame-shifting” in the Sermon on the Mount. “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.” (Matt. ‭7:3-5‬) Essentially, we have to be humble enough to acknowledge our own fears and failures and struggles and sin before we dare to confront someone else on their issues. We have to be willing to look ourselves in the mirror and honestly confront our own faults before we point out to others where they fall short. In my experience, there is plenty of blame to go around in just about every broken relationship. It’s always a two-way street. 

We live in a highly critical world. A quick glance through Twitter or Facebook reveals how quick we are to blame others. We blame the system. We blame the government. We blame the church. We blame liberals. We blame conservatives. We blame Republicans. We blame Democrats. We blame our leaders. We blame teachers. We blame coaches. We blame absentee fathers. It’s like “blame-shifting” has become the national pastime. What you don’t see is anyone taking responsibility for why they find themselves in the position they’re in. You rarely find anyone acknowledging the ways they failed and how that contributed to their pain and suffering and heartache. No, it’s always someone else’s fault which makes us the “victim.” And there is great power in our culture today in casting ourselves as “victims” for it means we don’t have to take responsibility for our actions. We set ourselves beyond accountability. No one then gets to confront us and we are safe. Or so we think. The sad reality is when we avoid confrontation, accountability and responsibility; we never grow. And because we never grow, we tend to experience only more loneliness, pain, and heartache. It’s a vicious cycle. 

So where do you find yourself today? Are you the kind of person who takes responsibility for your failures? Is confessional prayer a regular part of your life? Do you find it easy to apologize and ask for forgiveness? When confronted, do you listen and receive what the other person is saying? Or do you get defensive? Do you blame shift? Do you take their criticism personally? In Christ, we are set free from the need to be perfect. In Christ, we are set free from the need to perform. In Christ, we have nothing to fear and no need to blame. In Christ, we can accept the reality that we are sinners in desperate need of grace.  

Readings for tomorrow: Numbers 21-24

Treason

Readings for today: Numbers 14-16, Psalm 95

One of the hardest ideas to get our minds around when we read Scripture is to remember our position before God. God is God. He is the Creator. The Ruler. The Sustainer of all things. He holds complete and total authority over life and death. His will is perfect. His character is holy and righteous. His desires are always pure. He is not a man that He should lie. He is not a man that He should change His mind. He is not given to fits of emotion nor is He ruled by His passions. He is not like us. He is wholly other. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. As far as the heavens are above the earth so far is God’s understanding beyond our own. He dwells in unapproachable light. He exists outside time and space. He lives in a dimension all His own. He cannot be questioned. He cannot be challenged. To disobey Him is to invite judgment. The very fact that He doesn’t just wipe out all creation and start over is an act of pure mercy and grace. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing else.

I love how pastor and theologian, Jonathan Edwards, once put it, “The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood.” It’s a sobering reality when we stop to think about it. It rightfully engenders fear in our hearts. The righteousness and holiness of God’s justice should cause us to fall on our faces before God in humble submission and deep gratitude for the mercy that stays His hand.

God is faithful. He delivered His people out of Egypt. He rescued them from slavery. He provided for them in the wilderness. He guided them right to the edge of the Promised Land. And there…standing on the brink of the fulfillment of all God’s promises…they rebelled. They turned away. They refused to go in. Not only did they refuse to go forward, they actually made a plan to go backwards. Back to Egypt. Back to slavery. Back to bondage. They rejected Moses. They rejected Aaron. They wanted a new leader. A new direction. A new vision that didn’t include God. It’s heartbreaking to read. And it rightfully stirs God to righteous anger. The reality is the people of Israel were walking the razor’s edge. Putting God to the test. Would He remain true to His nature and character in the face of their persistent and stubborn rebellion?

Thankfully, God proves faithful yet again. It’s critical to note that when Moses makes intercession, he makes no excuse for the people. Instead, he calls on God to be faithful to Himself. “And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, 'The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Numbers‬ ‭14:17-18‬) And God answers Moses’ prayer. He pardons His people but by no means clears the guilty. They will fall in the wilderness. None of them shall see the Promised Land. An entire generation shall die in judgment. But God is also merciful. He will take their children into the Land. They will possess it. They will see the fulfillment of God’s promise.

Friends, it is hard to come face to face with God’s righteous judgment. Hard to see His wrath on display. Hard to watch as His people suffer the consequences for their rebellion. Hard because it reminds us of the harsh reality of our sin. Sin is not just a small mistake. It is not just an error in judgment. It is not just a poor decision. To commit sin is to commit treason against our divine King and Master. And the penalty for treason is always death. This is the judgment all of us have earned by our action and inaction. None of us is righteous. All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. None of us is worthy of salvation. And yet God still loves us. He is steadfast. Loyal. Faithful. True. Nothing can separate us from His love and He seals this promise with His own blood. Returning to the Edwards quote above, God turns the arrow towards Himself. Shoots it into the heart of His only begotten Son. Jesus takes the punishment we deserved. Jesus endures the wrath we rightfully earned. Jesus pays the price for our treason. Thanks be to God for the gift of His Son!

Readings for tomorrow: Numbers 17-20

The Leadership Burden

Readings for today: Numbers 10-13, Psalm 90

A few days ago, an old article began reappearing in my Twitter feed. Written for Forbes, it lists the nine toughest leadership roles in our culture today. Pastors come in at #5. “Being a pastor is like death by a thousand paper cuts....You’re scrutinized and criticized from top to bottom, stem to stern. You work for an invisible, perfect Boss, and you’re supposed to lead a ragtag gaggle of volunteers towards God's coming future. It's like herding cats, but harder.” Now I am not sure my job is any harder than anyone else’s but I do sympathize with the sentiments of the article. Leadership is hard. The burden is heavy. The struggle is real. No matter what sphere of life you are called to lead in - and I truly believe all of us are “leaders” in one sphere or another - it comes with a lot of stress. How one responds to the stress often determines the success or failure of the leader. 

Moses felt the stress of leadership. Listen to what he says to the Lord after what seems like the umpteempth time the people of Israel complained. "Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,' to the land that you swore to give their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.' I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness." (Numbers‬ ‭11:11-15‬) Think about all Moses had accomplished up to this point. At eighty years of age, he had returned to Egypt where he was wanted for murder to confront Pharoah. After levying plague after plague, he successfully secured freedom for the people of Israel. He leads them out with great wealth and possessions. He parts the Red Sea. Feeds them in the wilderness. Brings water from a rock. He performs miracle after miracle and yet Israel remains so ungrateful. They continue to grumble and complain. At the first sign of hardship, they start whining about going back to Egypt. They criticize and attack his leadership. They come after his family. They question his ability. Can you imagine how frustrating this must have been? 

So Moses asks God to kill him. He’s tired. He’s weary. He’s depressed. He’s anxious. He’s come to the end of himself. He’s on empty. He’s got nothing left. Ever felt like that? Interestingly enough, the toughest job Forbes lists in its article is parenting. Staying at home to raise the kids. Anyone who’s ever been a parent knows the struggle of watching your kids grow up. The joy and the sorrow. The excitement and the anxiety. The pride and the fear. It’s quite a rollercoaster. Moses sees himself as a kind of parent to Israel. Like God put him in charge of raising hundreds of thousands of children. Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Did I nurse them as they grew? How am I going to feed them? How am I going to provide for them? How am I going to raise them to maturity? The burden is simply too great so he cries out in anguish and despair. 

Look at how God responds.  “Then the Lord said to Moses, "Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.” (Numbers‬ ‭11:16-17‬) God doesn’t leave Moses alone. He provides friends and colleagues to share the load. It is not up to Moses to do this on his own. This project doesn’t rise or fall with Moses. Seventy elders are raised up by God to help lead and guide the people. They are filled with the same Spirit. They are given some of the same gifts. They will lighten the load. 

Why is leadership so hard? Because we too often go it alone. I’ve known too many pastors who crash and burn because they have no friends. No colleagues to share their burdens with. I’ve known too many moms and dads who refuse to let others come alongside them and help. I’ve known too many business leaders who think their business cannot survive without them. Too many teachers who believe the success or failure of each child rests on them. 

Friends, leadership is a gift to be shared. I know I would not be where I am today without a phenomenal wife who stands by my side. Four great kids who are learning to take responsibility for themselves. Elders in our church who prayerfully seek the mind of Christ and are eager to share the burden. A staff team that truly loves and supports one another. It is awesome. Who has God put in your life to share the load? Who has God raised up to carry the burden with you? Don’t be afraid to ask God for help! Ask Him to do for you what He did for Moses. 

Readings for tomorrow: Numbers 14-16, Psalm 95

Waiting on God

Readings for today: Numbers 6-9

One of the hardest things to learn as a follower of Christ is how to wait. We are always in such a hurry. We rush around in the morning to get off to work and school. We rush around all day at work trying to get things done. We rush around in the evenings to different activities and events. Then we wake up the next day to do it all over again. Furthermore, we live in a world of instant gratification. We get what we want when we want it and woe to anyone who cannot deliver on our timeline! Patience is no longer a virtue in our world. Waiting is considered a waste of time. 

The Bible is clear that “waiting” is a key skill for any disciple. Patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives. Long-suffering is something God’s people know intimately. Consider what we read from Numbers today.  “On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped...At the command of the Lord they camped, and at the command of the Lord they set out. They kept the charge of the Lord, at the command of the Lord by Moses.” (Num. ‭9:15-17, 23‬) The passage tells us that sometimes they camped for days in one location. Sometimes for hours. The point is Israel didn’t move until God moved. Israel didn’t break camp until God broke camp. Israel was learning how to wait on God. 

I’ve been in ministry now for almost twenty years. Over that time, I’ve spent hundreds if not thousands of hours in my office counseling people through all sorts of different seasons in their lives. One of the most common issues I have to address is impatience. It makes total sense. People in crisis want out of crisis as soon as possible! So I get it. However, in their rush to get out of crisis they often jump from the frying pan into the fire. Refusing to wait on God, they prematurely end their marriage. Prematurely cut off a relationship. Prematurely make a professional decision. Prematurely rush into what they think is a solution only to find their supposed “cure” worse than their disease.  

God wants us to wait on Him. His time is not our time. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. So often when we wait on God, we don’t understand. I am sure there were moments when Israel looked around and said, “Really God? This is where you want us to camp? This is where you want us to settle down for a few days?” I’m sure there were other times when they found wonderful pasture and plentiful water only to have the pillar of cloud rise the next morning, taking them onward. They had never seen the Promised Land. They had no idea where they were headed or what it would look like when they got there. They simply had to trust God. They had to wait on God. They had to look to God.  

Where is God calling you to trust Him in your life today? Is it with a professional decision? Is it with your children’s future? Your marriage? Is it with you finances? Or perhaps your aging parent’s health? Maybe it’s your college choice? Or a career decision after you graduate? What does that look like for you and how are you learning to wait on God to reveal His will? 

Readings for tomorrow: Numbers 10-13, Psalms 90

Creation Mandate

Readings for today: Numbers 3-5

The first command given to human beings in the Bible comes from Genesis 1:28. “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Human beings were set up by God to serve as His priests and priestesses over all creation. To serve as His instruments of blessing and glory in the world. They were given His image and called to bear that image into all the earth. Essentially, they were called to lead all of creation in worship and praise of the Living God. As they cared for and cultivated and nurtured all God had made, each living thing would live in peace and harmony with one another and with the One who had created them. I love how the Westminster Confession puts it, “Human being’s chief end is to worship God and enjoy Him forever.” And I would simply add we are not just to do this for ourselves but to lead all God has made to this same chief end.

Fast forward several generations. Past the Fall. Past the Flood. Past the call of Abram and Sarai. Past the Exodus. Now God’s people stand on the cusp of the Promised Land. And God is revealing Himself to them once again. Reminding them of His claim on their lives. Reminding them of the role He has called them to play. It is so easy to read through Numbers and get lost in the weeds. Lost in all the genealogies and details over how many silver plates and how many animals to bring to sacrifice. But if one pauses and takes a step back, one can see how God has fulfilled His original command. Israel has been fruitful. Israel has multiplied. Israel is filling the earth. Israel is beginnng to exercise dominion. It’s remarkable! In fact, it’s miraculous what God has done. From one family, He is filling the earth. From one promised son, He has brought many descendants. They truly outnumber the stars and the sands on the seashore. Out of brokenness, God has brought redemption. Out of slavery, God has brought freedom. Out of despair, God has brought hope.

Why would God do all these things? Because God remains committed to His original mandate. God’s great desire is to fill the earth with His glory. He will have the worship He deserves and the worship He demands. So He sends us - His people - out to the ends of the earth. To bear His image. To bear His likeness. To give the world a picture of what life looks like in the Kingdom. He sends us out to fulfill our original calling. To serve as priests and priestesses for the world. To lead the earth and all that is in it - every living creature - in praise of the One who created us. God wants us to enjoy Him! God wants us to delight in Him! God wants us to treasure Him above all else! This is why were created. This is why we were called. This is why we were saved. To declare His praises among the nations.

Friends, how are you fulfilling your priestly calling? Do you intercede in prayer regularly for those God has put in your life? Do you encourage them and lift them up? Do you lead them to worship God in spirit and in truth? Do you invite them into a relationship with Jesus Christ? And how are you cultivating your own relationship with God? Do you delight in Him? Do you enjoy being in His presence? Do you seek His face? Do you believe God wants to make you fruitful? Multiply your influence? Send you out to proclaim His gospel to all the earth? Give you dominion over all He has placed in your care? It’s a sacred trust. The implications are enormous. It means everything you do carries eternal weight and significance. God wants to use you right where He has you for His glory in the world. Believe this! And trust His grace to see you through!

The Purpose of the Law

Readings for today: Leviticus 26-Numbers 2

You’ve just finished Leviticus! Congratulations! Way to go! It’s one of the hardest books in all the Bible to get through! But you persevered! You pushed through! Even if you are a little behind, you’re going to make it! Well done!  

One big question a lot of folks are afraid to ask is this...what is the purpose behind all these laws? Or big picture, what is the purpose behind God’s Law? The late, great R.C. Sproul described it this way...

“The first purpose of the law is to be a mirror. On the one hand, the law of God reflects and mirrors the perfect righteousness of God. The law tells us much about who God is. Perhaps more important, the law illumines human sinfulness. Augustine wrote, “The law orders, that we, after attempting to do what is ordered, and so feeling our weakness under the law, may learn to implore the help of grace.” The law highlights our weakness so that we might seek the strength found in Christ. Here the law acts as a severe schoolmaster who drives us to Christ.

A second purpose for the law is the restraint of evil. The law, in and of itself, cannot change human hearts. It can, however, serve to protect the righteous from the unjust. Calvin says this purpose is “by means of its fearful denunciations and the consequent dread of punishment, to curb those who, unless forced, have no regard for rectitude and justice.” The law allows for a limited measure of justice on this earth, until the last judgment is realized. 

The third purpose of the law is to reveal what is pleasing to God. As born-again children of God, the law enlightens us as to what is pleasing to our Father, whom we seek to serve. The Christian delights in the law as God Himself delights in it. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). This is the highest function of the law, to serve as an instrument for the people of God to give Him honor and glory.”

We see these three purposes at work in Leviticus 26. In verses 1-13, God clearly lays out the blessings of obedience. If God’s people will live in a way that is pleasing to God, they will bring Him honor and glory. God will dwell with them and walk with them. And they will be blessed. This is the third purpose of the Law. Then, in verses 14-39, God clearly lays out what will happen if God’s people don’t follow His Law. God Himself will become their adversary. He will fight against them. He will walk contrary to them in wrath and fury. He will punish them. They will suffer. This is the second purpose of the Law which is to restrain evil. Finally, in verses 40-46, we see the first purpose of the law come into play. Repentance. The reality is God’s people will not be able to fulfill God’s Holy Law and this is by design. It’s to teach us that righteousness and holiness are beyond us. It’s to bring us to our knees in what I call “holy despair.” It’s to drive us to the end of ourselves. Our strength. Our ability. Our self-sufficiency. So we get to a place where we cry out to God for mercy and grace! We look to Christ to take our place! We glorify Christ for doing what we could not! We surrender to Christ and exchange His righteousness for our own. It’s a beautiful exchange!

So here’s the most important question as you finish Leviticus...do you find yourself resenting the Law of God? Dismissing the Law of God? Or do you find yourself overwhelmed by a deep sense of inadequacy before the Lord? If it’s the former, I would encourage you to go to prayer and ask God to soften your heart towards Him. If it’s the latter, be encouraged that you are drawing ever closer to Christ and He stands ready to take your place! 

Readings for tomorrow: Numbers 3-5

Speed Bumps

Readings for today: Leviticus 23-25

We had some neighbors over for dinner a few years back. A young couple with two young children. We had a delightful time getting to know them. We laughed. We shared. We ate good food. Our kids played well together. But in the course of our conversation they let us know they had NEVER been over to another person’s house for dinner. Crazy, right? So we started asking them about their lives. The husband travelled almost 300 days a year for work. The wife woke up early every morning to take her daughter to softball training. Dropped her son off at before care at his school. Went back to get her daughter to take her to school. Went to her job. Had her parents pick up both kids after school. Dropped by her parent’s house to get the kids on her way home from work around 6 pm. Took them to their softball and baseball practices respectively. Tried to grab a quick bite to eat and some quick snatches of conversation along the way with her kids. Finally got home around 9 pm every night. This was their life in some form seven days a week. 52 weeks a year. Occasionally, they would get a vacation here and there but always in and around their kids’ sports schedules. It was brutal. Unsurprisingly, they didn’t make it. They got divorced about a year later.

Sadly, this is normal life for a lot of people. They work hard. They play hard. They drive their kids hard. They barely get enough sleep. Barely get enough to eat. Barely get enough time together. Their relationships fracture. Their friendships are non-existent. They suffer from anxiety and depression. But rather than slow down. Rather than pump the brakes on life. They medicate. They act out sexually. They crash and burn. It’s heartbreaking.

Contrast this way of life with God’s ways in Leviticus 23. Sabbath. One day out of every seven where we refrain from work. One day out of every seven where we slow down. Focus on worship. Focus on each other. Focus on the relationships that are most important. Passover. An annual celebration intentionally focused on the salvation of God. Firstfruits. An annual celebration intentionally focused on God’s abundant provision. Weeks. An annual celebration of God’s revelation of Himself to His people though His Word. Trumpets. Another celebration of God’s provision at harvest time. Day of Atonement. One day set aside each year for national and individual confession and repentance of sin. Booths. An annual celebration designed to remind God’s people of their utter dependence on God as they wandered in the wilderness. Taken together, these weekly and annual feasts serve to slow God’s people down. They act as spiritual speed bumps in life. They remind us life is more than what we produce. Life is more than what we achieve. Life does not depend on us and our strength and our willpower. Life is God’s. He gives. He takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Friends, we must face reality. The American way of life is killing us. Literally. It is bad for our mental, physical, and emotional health. We were not built for the pace we’re trying to keep. We were not designed for the race we’re trying to run. We were not created for the life we’re trying to live. We were made for a different world. A different life. An eternal existence. Something so deep and meaningful and purposeful, the garlands of this world come off withered by comparison. In the face of all God has planned for us, the trophies of this world lose their shine. As the old hymn says so well, “the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.”

Readings for tomorrow: Leviticus 26-Numbers 2

Life Together

Readings for today: Leviticus 19-22

Raise your hand if you knew the Golden Rule came from Leviticus? Now repent because you broke the 8th Commandment! :-) Most associate the Golden Rule with Jesus and rightfully so. After all, Jesus repeats it as part of His teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. (Matthew 7:12) However, very few people realize that God first enshrined this rule in law in Leviticus. Lost in all the conversation about sacrifices and priestly garments and what one should eat or wear is this beautiful picture of community life in Leviticus 19:9-18.

We see God’s heart for the poor and less fortunate...“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.” 

We see God’s concern for honesty and transparency..."You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.”

We see God’s compassion, especially for the less abled in our midst..."You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.” 

We see God’s desire for justice and righteousness and truth..."You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.” 

And finally, we see God’s admonition against hate, anger, rage, contempt, and most of all, vengeance..."You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” 

This are massively applicable in our world today! Could you imagine a community of people who sought to put these into practice? On a daily basis? Who gave generously? Dealt honestly? Showed compassion? Fought for truth? Laid aside anger and rage and malice and hate in the name of love? Hopefully you can! It’s called the Church! Now I know no church is perfect. After all, it’s full of imperfect sinners like me who struggle to keep God’s law faithfully. However, as we seek God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we can expect to see some of these same behaviors break loose in our lives! We can expect to bear this kind of fruit for the Kingdom! And as brothers and sisters called into community together, we can make a HUGE difference in the world today! That’s the call! That’s the challenge! That was God’s plan for Israel and it’s still God’s plan for His people today!

Readings for tomorrow: Leviticus 23-25

Sexual Purity

Readings for today: Leviticus 15-18

Today’s reading includes a very important section on sexual purity. These regulations will sound somewhat foreign and somewhat familiar to our ears as they have provided the foundation for the Western legal system for centuries. Incest, bestiality, adultery, and homosexuality are all considered “abominations” before the Lord. Engaging in such activity comes with a heavy price. One would be cut off from his or her people. “Vomited” out of the Promised Land. 

We struggle to understand this section of Scripture. Some dismiss it as ceremonial law much like the restrictions on what we can eat or wear. The problem with that approach is that we do affirm such things as bestiality and incest as abhorrent practices even in our time. Some argue these passages are culturally bound. Their argument is that such regulations were designed just for ancient Israel and therefore have no bearing on how we regulate our sexual activity today. Proponents of this argument believe in the primacy of love. As long as two people love one another, to deny them sexual fulfillment is cruel and harsh. Therefore, even adultery is justifiable in most cases as are same-sex relationships. The problem with this approach is that it misunderstands the nature of love. It trades on the erotic almost exclusively and dismisses any notion that sexuality and holiness are inextricably linked. A final argument is made - particularly from our LGBTQ Christian friends - that the authors of Leviticus didn’t understand the nature of same-sex attraction and had no experience with loving, committed, monogamous same-sex relationships. This argument asserts that same-sex relationships in the ancient world were always exploitative, oppressive, violent, etc. and therefore the prohibitions in Leviticus 18 do not apply to a 21st century context. The problem with this approach is it simply is not true. Pioneers in Queer Studies like Louis Crompton and New Testament scholars like William Loader (neither of whom are evangelical Christians and both of whom affirm same-sex relationships) are among many who have demonstrated that loving, non-exploitative, same-sex relationships have existed since antiquity. The reality is the Bible is univocal in its condemnation of any sexual expression outside of marriage between a man and a woman and to claim otherwise is not being honest.

So what’s the big deal about sex? Is God a prude? Is He simply trying to squash our natural desires and affections? We can’t help how we feel, right? The key is to remember the context. You and I are born in sin. Our bodies. Our minds. Our hearts. All are warped and broken. This includes our sexual desires. We are “naturally” going to want to rebel against God’s will. We are “naturally” going to want to pursue unholiness. Our hearts are bent towards evil and corruption and this prevents us from being able to enter into God’s presence. And God wants to dwell with us! God wants to be with us! So God commands us to “be holy as He is holy” and this call covers every area of our lives, including our sexuality. Sexuality is not an end in itself. It is a powerful drive created by God for the main purpose of the procreation of our species as well as to give physical expression to the kind of “oneness” God desires men and women to have in this life. The joining together of man and woman in sexual intimacy within the context of the covenant of marriage is literally designed to give us a foretaste of the joy and freedom and transparency we will enjoy with one another in the Kingdom of Heaven. This is why sex is such a powerful drive within us. And it is why God has placed such strong boundaries around it’s expression. To keep us safe sexually. To keep our sexual lives pure and free from corruption so we can experience all God has for us. 

All one has to do is look around our culture today to see the consequences of unfettered sexual freedom. Sexually transmitted disease. Sexual abuse and assault. Unwanted pregnancies. The objectification of the female and male bodies. Rampant divorce and infidelity. The breakdown of families. Depression and anxiety and fear surrounding every potential sexual encounter and/or its aftermath. It’s heartbreaking. God’s desire is for us to repent and commit ourselves to holiness. Holy sexuality is expressed in celibacy in singleness and intimacy in marriage between a man and a woman. I realize taking a traditional, Biblical position on sexuality in our world today will draw scorn and even accusations of bigotry. However, I believe when one takes a step back and looks objectively at the empirical data surrounding the consequences of pursuing a sexual ethic divorced from the Bible, one can easily conclude God probably knows better. We would do well to trust Him in this area of our lives and submit our sexuality to His Will as revealed in His Word. 

Readings for tomorrow: Leviticus 19-22

The Miracle of Healing

Readings for today: Leviticus 11-14

One of humanity’s deepest fears is disease. Pestilence. Plague. Something unseen that steals life. We’ve all felt it. We’ve all struggled with it. If not personally then with those we love. Unseen proteins build up in the brain, robbing us of our memory. Unseen plaque builds up in our arteries, causing our hearts to fail. Unseen blood clots break loose, laying us low with a stroke. Unseen cells go haywire and we’ve got cancer.

I think of the rising anxiety and panic in the gay community in the early 1980’s as a mysterious disease began appear in different clusters around Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco. A new epidemic had been born that seemingly attacked the human immune system. As gay men began to die in ever-increasing numbers, the reaction was tragic. Preachers called it God’s judgment on immorality. The government put quarantines in place and began stopping the infected at the border. Those exposed to the disease were isolated and ostracized as our society gave into her homophobic instincts. Thankfully, there were many who fought their fear and took action. Raising awareness and funds for research. Lobbying the government to institute more humane public policy. Developing more effective treatments that allowed those with the disease to live relatively normal lives and put an end to the stigma that isolated them from society.

More recently, consider the H1N1 scare a few years back. This one hit us personally. One of our twins contracted it when she was four years old. The doctors told us to keep her hydrated and at home. The health clinics and hospitals didn’t want the infection spreading so they asked people to be cautious and treat themselves. I remember watching my daughter get sicker and sicker and finally took her to our doctor and demanded she be seen. She was admitted to the hospital with life-threatening double pneumonia. Ugh. Now, I don’t blame our doctors or healthcare professionals for what happened and thankfully our daughter made a full recovery. However, the fear that almost kept her from getting the care she needed continues to this day. Just look at the current global response to the coronavirus. There is something primordial about our fear of disease.

The ancient Israelites were no different. They too struggled with all kinds of anxiety over disease. They feared what they could not see. What they could not understand. They had firsthand experience watching a plague burn through an entire village. They knew what could happen should disease be left unchecked. So they were meticulous. When someone’s skin erupted, they were sent to the priest. When someone’s home showed signs of mildew or rot, they were quick to respond. When mold started to grow on clothing, they wasted no time. Please note the goal was never to marginalize the sick. Never to tear down a home or burn a garment. The hope was always to restore. To trust God for healing and provision. However, there were times when extreme measures had to be taken to protect the rest of the village or community.

Thankfully we live in a time where medical miracles have become the norm. Modern medicine. Surgical techniques. Treatment options. These are signs of God’s Kingdom breaking into our world. It is part of the dominion God originally intended for human beings. We were designed to be healers. To care for all creation. To mend that which is torn. To restore that which is ruined. To make the broken whole. This is why so much of Jesus’ own ministry was one of healing. One of restoration. One of purifying the unclean. God desires that all should be saved and salvation impacts the whole person. God desires our healing from disease. Our healing from isolation and loneliness. Our healing from marginalization and ostracism. Yes, such healing may not come this side of heaven but it is always what God is working towards. It is what we should be working towards as well. This is the heart that beats behind the words of Leviticus.

Readings for tomorrow: Leviticus 15-18

Strange Fire

Readings for today: Leviticus 8-10

I love this quote from Annie Dillard. “On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it?” I tend to agree. We do not have any appreciation for the sheer power and utter holiness of the One we approach Sunday after Sunday. We treat Him far too casually. We get far too wrapped up in musical preference, liturgical style, the personality of the preacher, or “getting something out of the sermon.”

Worship for the Israelites was a dangerous proposition. Not because God is capricious or reckless or mentally unstable. But because God is holy. Pure. Dwelling eternally in unapproachable light and glory. His presence is a consuming, purifying fire. It separates gold from dross, wheat from chaff, clean from unclean by its very nature. It’s a double-edged sword. Piercing to the deepest recesses of our souls and joints and marrow. Cutting away all that is rotten and septic within us. Every time we invoke His name. Every time we enter His presence. Every time we come before Him in worship, we are literally entering the Most Holy Place. And this is why Dillard challenges us to become more aware of our surroundings. More aware of gulf that exists between an unholy people and a Holy God. More aware of the nature of the One we approach and to take the necessary precautions when we come to worship.  

The Israelites knew all this, of course. But even they could become far too casual about worship. “Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the Lord has said: 'Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.'" And Aaron held his peace.” (Lev. 10:1-3) I cannot imagine watching my children die in worship. I cannot imagine watching them burn to death before the Lord. I cannot imagine the fear and anger and frustration I would feel. But then again, I have not seen God face to face. I’ve not had to endure His fiery presence. I’ve not felt the fear the Israelites experienced when they approached God in His sanctuary. Christ, thankfully, saves me from His righteous wrath. Christ, thankfully, turns aside the Father’s burning anger and takes it on Himself. Christ, thankfully, satisfies all the demands of God’s justice and because of His shed blood, I am made pure. I am made clean. I am made holy. Aaron and his sons had none of these benefits. They had to tread very carefully in the presence of God. They had to perform their duties with devotion and carefully do all God commanded. 

We do not understand the nature of sin. We tend to think of sin in rational terms. Errors in judgment. Honest mistakes. Poor choices. Leviticus uses completely different categories. Sin is impure. Unclean. Unholy. It is rotten. Decaying. Festering. Decomposing. Corruption. In order to really grasp the nature of sin, we have to leave the rational behind and think in Biblical terms. The other day, my children took our dog on a walk. Along the way, he found the corpse of a rabbit that had been dead a while. He naturally grabbed it and my kids were disgusted. How many of us have been hiking in the mountains and have come upon the worm-filled, decomposing corpse of some animal and been similarly repulsed? I think of the clean up work we did in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the smell of rot and decay we had to put up with as we gutted homes and cleaned out refrigerators. It was nasty work that made us routinely gag.  That’s the stench of sin and it’s why sacrifices had to be burned continually before the Lord. 

How seriously do you take your sin? How seriously do you take your thoughts, attitudes, and actions before the Lord? How seriously do you take your worship? Do you take Christ’s sacrifice for granted? Are you, as the Book of Hebrews warns, “sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth?” If so, hear very clearly these sobering words, “there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume...” (Heb. 10:26-27) We will never be perfect, of course. But to continue to sin deliberately. To continue to pursue a lifestyle that offends God. To continue to refuse to give God the glory and honor He deserves is to wallow in filth. It’s to “trample underfoot the Son of God and profane the blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified and outrage the Spirit of grace.” (Heb. 10:29) And this, my friends, is a dangerous thing. Just ask Nadab and Abihu. 

Gravity

Readings for today: Leviticus 5-7

Gravity. It’s the force that holds all things together. It’s the attraction between two bodies. It’s what keeps our feet on the ground. It’s what holds the planets in orbit around the sun. The more massive an object, the stronger it’s gravitational pull. Now think about God. He is the most massive being in the universe. He is the creator. The author. The sustainer of all things. As powerful as our sun is sitting at the center of our solar system. Keeping planets in their orbit. Extending it’s will throughout the galaxy. It simply cannot compare to God. God holds the universe together. God holds every star. Every planet. Every comet. Every living thing. All of it in the palm of His hand.

What does any of this have to do with the sacrifices we’re reading about in Leviticus? I’m glad you asked! :-) Just as God designed our solar system with the sun at its center, so God designs human life with Himself at the center. Everything we say and do should revolve around God. Everything we say and do should be oriented around God. Everything we say and do should flow from God. The Exodus from Egypt represented a new birth for Israel. Before God delivered them, they had no identity. No national consciousness. No idea who they were and - more importantly - whose they were. They were lost. Wandering. A nation without a god. But then God saves them. Rescues them. Baptizes them as His people in the Red Sea. Provides for them like newborns with manna and water in the desert. And now He begins to teach them His way of life. He begins to show them what life looks like when it revolves around Him. It’s a life of worship. A life of sacrifice. A life of almost daily covenant renewal. It’s a life designed to exert a gravitational pull on their hearts so they feel constantly drawn back to Him.

Sin offerings. Grain offerings. Peace offerings. Guilt offerings. The fires at the Temple would have been burning day and night. The smell would have drifted over the entire camp. The reminder that everything Israel possessed belonged to the Lord. Everything they had achieved was made possible by God. They had been bought with a price. They had been purchased. God had set His love upon them and they were now His chosen people. As such, their entire way of life would now revolve around Him. No detail would be too small to escape His notice.

The same is true for us. Just as the planets in our solar system revolve around the sun so our lives are designed by God to revolve around His Son. Christ exerts a will and a force all His own. He pulls us into His orbit. He refuses to let us go. Once He’s captured us, we cannot escape. And this is a good thing! We were not made to be the center of our own little worlds. We were not designed to carry the weight of a god. We are not strong enough. We are not wise enough. Left to our own devices, we will spin out of orbit and drift aimlessly through life like a rock drifting aimlessly through space. Sure, we may have some fun along the way. Sure, we may do some good things. We may make somewhat of an impact. After all, our lives do exert some measure of gravitational pull on those around us. But we will not find the peace we all long for. We will not experience the depth of love we were made for. We will not share the joy God intends for us to experience. Not without Him at the center.

Christianity is as much a way of life as it is a belief system. Centering your life on Christ requires the practice of certain spiritual disciplines that will orient and re-orient your heart every single day. Just as the Israelites brought sacrifices to God, so we should bring sacrifices of praise. Daily. Weekly. Annually. This is why spending time with God each day is essential. Worshipping with God’s people each week a must. Celebrating the great feasts of our faith on Easter and Christmas vitally important as we seek to remain in Christ’s orbit. Frankly, it’s why we feel that pull on our hearts. That tug on our souls. It’s not guilt that drives us to worship God. It’s His Spirit. Calling to us. Reaching out for us. Exerting a gravitational pull on our lives to draw us in.

Readings for tomorrow: Leviticus 8-10

Surviving Leviticus

Readings for today: Leviticus 1-4

Today is our first day in Leviticus. One of the hardest books for Christians to read and stay engaged with in the Bible. And yet, if we are willing to put in the work, we’ll learn some amazing things about God’s relationship with His people.  

The first thing we need to understand as we approach this book is that much of what it talks about has to do with the different kinds of law that governed Israel. There were the ceremonial laws. Laws governing sacrifice. Laws governing worship. Laws governing what is holy and unholy, clean and unclean. Most of these laws were fulfilled once and for all by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. (In fact, all of the sacrifices we’ll read about in Leviticus foreshadow the sacrifice of the Messiah.) Because the ceremonial laws were fulfilled, Christians no longer are required to keep them. Another set of laws contained in Leviticus had to do with the national life of Israel. Taxation. Property. Commerce. That kind of thing. Because those laws were tailored to the theocratic rule of ancient Israel, they are no longer binding on Christians today. Because the bulk of Leviticus has to do with ceremonial and national laws, it is tempting to dismiss the book as some antiquated piece of history not worth our time. That would be a mistake! For embedded in this book are important tenets of what we call the “moral” law which IS still instructive and binding on us today. The key is to know which is which and how to discern between the three types of law.

The second thing we need to remember as we approach this book is where it falls in the narrative. The people have just been saved from Egypt. They are standing at the foot of Mt. Sinai. God is still speaking to Moses. And the burning question that is on everyone’s minds is this...How can a holy God dwell with an unholy people? If God is literally going to live among them, how will they survive? The answer is sacrifice. The first seven chapters of this book describe in great detail the sacrifices that were necessary to purify the people. Animal sacrifices. Bulls. Sheep. Goats. Birds. Grain offerings. Always with oil and salt. Peace offerings. Sin offerings. Blood being thrown against the altar. Animals dissected into little pieces. It must have been hard and fairly gruesome work. The fires must have burned continually. The smoke from the sacrifices rising into the heavens in a continual stream. (It must have smelled like Greeley...all the time! How that’s pleasing to the Lord, I’ll never know!)

What’s the point of it all? To remind us every hour of every day that the penalty for our sin is death. To remind us that as bad as the stench of sacrifice may be, the stench of our sin is much, much worse. The reality is we don’t take our sin seriously enough. We don’t take God’s holiness seriously enough. We like to think we aren’t all that bad. The baseline for many of us is that we’re pretty good people. Flawed? Yes. Imperfect? Sure. Sinner? Okay. Antiquated term but we’ll go with it. God sees us - absent Christ - much differently. He sees creatures utterly deformed by their sin. Barely resembling the glory He initially created in them. He sees creatures living in complete and total rebellion against His perfect will. Creatures who are so full of selfish, prideful ambition and deceit. He sees creatures who are enslaved. Under bondage. Creatures with a terminal illness. Weak and emancipated by their sin. When He looks down from heaven on the earth, all He sees is death. Decay. Destruction. Our lives are a shell of what He intended. And for Him to enter into this world. Dwell with His people. In the perfection of His holiness and glory is to risk destroying them utterly. For God is a consuming fire. (Deut. 4:24) So God institutes the sacrificial system in order to give God’s people an opportunity to purify themselves so they may live their lives before the Lord without fear. And because the sacrifices are animals, they have to be repeated with regularity in order to maintain the people’s purity before God. 

All this changes with the coming of Jesus. All this changes when Jesus - the perfect sacrifice - goes to the cross. Once and for all, He satisfies God’s holy justice. Once and for all, He purifies God’s people. Once and for all, He pays the penalty for the people’s sin. I love how the Book of Hebrews puts it, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.” (Heb. ‭9:11-15‬)

Readings for tomorrow: Leviticus 5-7

Staying in our Lane

Readings for today: Exodus 37-40

“Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.” (Exodus‬ ‭40:34-38‬)

An atheist accidentally broke Twitter the other day when he/she posted, “Christianity is a belief that one God created a universe 13.79 billion years old, 93 billion light years in diameter (1 light year = approx 6 trillion miles), consisting of over 200 billion galaxies, each containing an average of 200 billion stars, all to have a personal relationship with you.” What they intended for snark, Christians naturally picked up and retweeted like crazy as a great description of what our faith believes. It’s truly astounding to consider. The God who created all things. The universe and all that is in it. The earth and all that is in it. The God who knit each of us together in our mother’s wombs. Who calls each star by name. Who sets the planets in motion. Who governs the universe by His Word. This same God desires to have a relationship with us. Desires to dwell with us. Desires to have a people to call His very own.

Perhaps this puts everything we’re reading into proper perspective. I know it’s easy to get lost in all the details of the tabernacle. It’s easy to wonder why God cares so much about the furnishings of the place where He will dwell. It’s tempting to project on God our own issues of greed, jealousy, envy, etc. (Why does God need all the gold and opulence?) Sometimes we even take the step of placing ourselves in judgment over God as we question His motives, doubt His intentions, and challenge His authority. But then we have to take a step back and remember who it is we are talking about. We are talking about the same God who created everything listed in that atheist’s tweet above. So perhaps His ways are higher than our ways? Perhaps His thoughts are higher than our thoughts? Perhaps He is under no obligation to explain Himself to us? Perhaps He doesn’t answer to us? Perhaps He is so far above and beyond us and we should remember our place?

Sally McFague once defined sin as a “refusal to remain in our place.” We aspire to be gods. We aspire to be like God. We refuse to stay in the role of a servant. We refuse to remain in our place as God’s instruments of blessing in this world. We want more. We want it all. We want to reign and rule and exercise our own dominion over all God has made. In our pride, we believe we should be the masters of our own destinies and the captains of our own souls. In our ignorance, we believe we have the right and the standing to challenge God on His terms. We are fools.

What’s the answer? Humility. Submission. Giving God the worship He deserves and the worship He demands. Trusting God’s character. Knowledge. Wisdom. Understanding. Ultimately, it’s about knowing our role. Staying in our lane. Remaining in our place. As we do that, we find incredible freedom. Perfect peace. Surpassing joy. All because we are embracing the role God designed us to play within the context of His larger creative purposes.

Readings for tomorrow: Leviticus 1-4