Uprising and Selection (March 5)

Today's reading deals with God showing his power, selection for Israel's leader, and provides instruction for Levites and Priests. 

Moses is confronted with 250 men of stature in the community who challenge his leadership.  God advises Moses to separate himself from these 250 men "so that I can put an end to them at once."  The Lord opened up the ground and swallowed them with all their housholds and all Korah's men and all their posessions.

Incense was offered in the men's censers.  thoses censers were to be hammered into sheets to overlay the altar, as a sign to the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron was to burn incense before the Lord.

Despite this measure, there was still opposition to Moses.  The glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud and God advised Moses to get away from the assembly so he could put an end to it at once.  Moses instructed Aaron that the plague had started and to put incense and fire from the altar to atone for the sin.  Aaron stood between the living and the dead.  The plague stopped. 

Think of Christ's work standing to give us life and take away death.  "He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive." Luke 20:38 NIV

God show his selection of Aaron by having his staff blossom and bear almonds overnight.

Where do you look for guidance when you face opposition?

How do you separate yourself from grumbling?  How do you work to promote fruits of the spirit?

Have you accepted Christ to stand for you between life and death?

Pray for the Spirit to guide you, guide church leadership, guide government leaders to discern the correct path?

Years in the Desert (March 4)

Israel grumbles to Moses and complains about where they have been in the past, expressing wishes about Egypt!

God ponders the relationship with Israel, wondering how long He will be treated with contempt?  How long will Israel refuse to believe in Him.  God expresses wishes of starting over from Moses.

Moses in response, reasons with God, honors God by restating promises and what others will think if Israel is destroyed.  The action of destruction of Israel would not bring honor or glory to God.

God as a measured response, states that all will wander in the desert, one year for each day the spies surveyed the promised land.  Joshua and Caleb, for their faith and spirit, were promised to enter the land.

Thoughts:

How often do we grumble?

How often do we look back, rather than looking ahead to promises?

How do you show your faith and spirit?

Pray for smooth operation, safe travel, strong attendance and participation in worship this weekend.

In Christ,

David P

Complaints

Here's a picture of our dog:

She's a miniature dachshund named Tessa, and almost eight years old. We got her because I lost a bet with my younger daughter, the dog has a pretty poor attitude and a general dislike toward anyone other than the four of us, demands to be fed at 9:00 am (not 9:05) and barks at anything that moves (birds, squirrels, the sun, etc.). 

She's gotten the same food every day for her whole life. She repeatedly asks for more and usually wants to eat with us (and is occasionally successful, as some of Alison's friends can attest), but is content to eat the same thing. In fact, it's the highlight of her day, after which she schedules some power sleeping time. I've often wondered if she doesn't have it right--she has the faith that we'll take care of her and  satisfied with what she has instead of constantly striving for more.

Of course, we're not animals, and with consciousness comes awareness. The funny thing is, we're not that far removed from living like the Israelites did, eating the same food over and over. Indeed, except for the wealthy, the concept of a varied diet was almost unheard of as recently as 100 years ago, and just having food was enough. As is usual, we've become spoiled with the abundance that our society in particular has, and the common contempt of the familiar begins.

It would be nice to confidently state that we've learned our lesson and don't complain like the Israelites did, but we're no different. We constantly complain about the "manna" that God has given us in our lives and yearn constantly for the "cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic" instead of being thankful that we have the manna in the first place. Paul will state quite clearly what we should do about complaining on December 15th in what are two of my favorite Bible verses. My dog gets her one meal a day, a warm place to hang out and two girls who love her and doesn't ask for more (often). Is there any reason why we can't be just as satisfied with what God gives us each and every day?

Scott

Grumbling Day (March 3)

"When they received it,they began to grumble against the landowner.  These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said,' and you have made the equal to us who have born the burden of the work and the heat of the day." Matthew 20:11-12-NIV

Grumbling has been a challenge for humanity for a very long time.  I suspect grumbling began shortly after the fall of man in the garden of eden.  We have read about Cain and Able with grumbling between the brothers.  The word grumble has many definitions, perhaps the most appropriate one today is to show one's unhappiness of critical attitude; complain, kick, sound off, quetch and kvetch are listed as more general words for grumble.

Here we read about discontented people, "the rabble with them," complaining about no meat to eat.  The rabble look back to Egypt and compare the present situation with the 'better' prior situation.  Notice the Lord heard the complaining first, not Moses.  God knows what is on our hearts.

"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."  Psalm 51:10 NIV

Moses asks God for death if God is planning on to continue to treat him the way that Moses has been treated.  In response, God gives seventy of Israel's elders to help with the burdens.  This is the formation of the Sanhedrin. 

Two of the called elders, Eldad and Medad, had the Spirit put on them in the camp.  Notice, If God calls, God equips.

God also provided an abundance of quail.  People gathered much and ate.  These people died with quil in their mouths.  These people went for food that would not last. 

Miriam and Aaron complained against Moses for having a Cushite wife,  God punished Miriam with Leprosey.  Moses interceeded, God removed the punishment, however the progress of Israel was delayed for seven days due to Miriam's grumbling. 

Spies were selected to explore the land that "I am giving to the Isralites."  The spies returned with a bad news report.  Only Caleb and Joshua had faith to go and take possession of the land.  The other spies, grumbled.  Remember, unbelief caused doubt and undermines God's promises to you.  This would be a good place to turn to Hebrews 11 and see how important faith is.

Thoughts:

What do you do with your discontent?  Do you take it to the Lord in prayer? Do you talk with your brother?  Do you gossip?  Do you realize how harmful grumbling is?

Do you look for the fruits of the Spirit, and pray for a pure heart?

Have you seen your grumbling slow down progress?


Pray for wisdom and discernment for church leadership.

In Christ,


David P

Gracing Us With His Presence.

Most of the time in modern usage, if you hear the phrase, “gracing us with your presence,” it is immediately preceded by a thick, sarcastic “thanks for…” when someone is late to an appointment. But in a very real way we’re reminded in our readings how God graces us with His presence.

Today in the readings we are finally getting on the move again. We’ve been sitting at the base of Mount Sinai for quite some time now, hearing about various rules and regulations. We’ve counted the numbers of the various clans. We’ve learned the numerous tasks of the Levites in caring for the many artifacts that make up the tabernacle, the portable church that the Levites literally carry with them as they travel. (Thanks, sea cows, for giving your hides for the protection of these holy bowls, utensils, and poles! Pg. 225)

I’ve spent a lot of time lately setting up spaces and taking them down with the help of willing volunteers at Trinity. Each week the gym needs to be set up and taken down again in order to make the ‘activity center’ one that accommodates the needs of a Sunday morning bible study class. Roll out the mats. Pull out the carts for tables and chairs. Set up the tables. Place 8 chairs around each one. Often it’s high school boys that put in time on their Saturdays to move furniture. Then, each bible study ends with willing volunteers from class staying after to pick up what has been used. Thank you, willing servants! We benefit from and appreciate your work!

I think this is a faint reflection of what it would have looked like to have a whole sector of the Israelite people, families working together, each with their items to carry. It’s a beautiful sight to see people doing such a simple act of service together.

It only becomes an ugly or undesirable thing when one person is tasked with carry all of it. God well understood the need to share the burden. (No one person could have carried all that stuff!) That’s why the Kohathites, the Merarites, and the Gershonites were each given jobs: “Assign to each man the specific things he is to carry, (pg. 228)” Everyone had some corner of the church that they needed to lift up and carry with them. Imagine what it would have looked like the community got on the move and then came to rest. Thousands of people unpacking their respective bowls and utensils and assembling them all into a worship space. Whenever the cloud of God’s presence rested, they rested. Whenever it moved, they followed God’s lead, “whether two days, or a month or a year… (pg. 235).”

The key thing here: God went with them! The blessings at the end of today’s readings remind us of this movement of God’s presence. When they moved Moses said, “Rise up, O Lord! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you.” When they rested, Moses called out, “Return, O Lord, to the countless thousands of Israel.”

No small thing. God’s presence was the distinguishing mark of the Israelite community among the surrounding nations. Remember back to how Moses pleaded with God in Exodus 33:15 (pg. 172) “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here… What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

God didn’t want to do it. He was going to stay true to His covenant with Israel at Sinai. The problem was Israel didn’t hold up their end of the deal, they didn’t obey. They made a Golden Calf. Therefore, they deserve death and the permanent departure of the Lord’s presence. God was bound by the Sinai covenant to scrap the Israelite people and to start over with Moses and his family.

BUT Moses pleaded with God. He interceded on behalf of the people in Exodus 32. He asked God to look with favor on the Israelites, but he didn’t plead on the basis of the Sinai covenant. He begged on the basis of the covenant with Abraham. “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.” What’s more, God “relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened,” (pg. 170). God RELENTED. He, we could say, REPENTED. He changed his mind. Though God is a God of order and justice and judgment, He will turn that aside in favor of his greater qualities: GRACE. MERCY. To be sure there were consequences of their actions: a plague swept through the people, they had to drink water with the dust of the golden calf they had cast. But the greater evil was avoided because God did not remove his presence from them. He continued with these stiff-necked people.

In the same way today, God graces us with His presence. We are sinful and don’t hold up our end of the deal. Yet God continues to stick with us; He’s committed with a steadfast, undying love. A love that is willing to experience death for us, death on a cross. I hope that you may live out your days being reminded of how God graces us with His presence. If moving some chairs or setting up tables or refilling candles, or laying down ice melt helps to keep that in the forefront of your mind, jump in and be of service. You may just find that carrying your corner of the church is as much a grace and blessing to you as it is to those whom you are serving. 

As always, thanks for reading. 

Pastor Karl

The Two Trumpets

I'm going to put in a picture completely without attribution. Those of you who know what it is, well, good for you:

Whenever a trumpet blows in the Bible, something HUGE is about to happen. We've already seen trumpets calling Moses to climb Mt. Sinai to receive the law, had the Festival of Trumpets (modern-day Rosh Hashanah) described, and in total, the word "trumpet" appears in the Bible 114 times, and the second-to-last time is a pretty important one we'll come across on December 29th.

So what was so important here? In Numbers 10:11-12, the people leave Mt. Sinai, after spending around 14 months there. This is a big deal--they left Egypt with the promise of a Promised Land, and after God prepares them to inhabit the land by giving them the law, as well as common sense instruction on how to live, they're prepared to make the final move. They know all they need to know, they've promised to listen to God and follow his instructions, and the time has come for them to re-inhabit the land of their ancestors.

I've always loved this image because it speaks directly to me that something important is about to happen, and nothing can be more important than a message from the Lord. I also love the description of how they moved in Numbers 10:33-34, with the Ark of the Covenant going before them and the cloud of the Lord with them. I won't belabor the point, but I'm sure many of us wish we had similar visible and tangible evidence of the Lord being among us like the Israelites had, but then we wouldn't need faith. As Paul will tell us on December 6th, hope that is seen is no hope at all. Our job is to be ready when that trumpet blows, like the people of Israel were.

Lights, Actions and Sounds (March 2)

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." Psalm 119:105 NIV


"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12 NIV



Like Christ; being the light of the world, the lamps are to light up the area in front of the lamp stand; being a substitutionary atonement, the Levites are substituted for the firstborn males of Israel.


We are given the concept of retirement here.


"This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the Tent of Meeting, but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer." Numbers 8:24-25


Instructions are given for the second passover, who is to receive the meal and who is not to receive the meal.  We can consider our instructions about who is and who is not appropriate to commune at the Lord's table.


God provides for communication and instructions regarding setting out from camp with the blasting of the silver trumpets.  Communication is important in leading such a large group of people, probably numbering in the millions.


Thoughts:


How are you being led by the Spirit and being a light to the world?


How do you prepare for communion?  How do you attempt to resolve issues between your brothers before you commune?


How do you communicate your faith to others, so that they can look for the Spirit's call?


Pray for the pastors; wisdom, discernment, energy, patience, safety and strength as they carry out their ministry


In Christ,


David P