A Serious Threat?

Deuteronomy 7-8; Psalm 69:1-18; Proverbs 12:1

 

If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God. – Deuteronomy 8:19-20

 

This was a serious threat for OT believers.

 

But is it still a serious threat now?

 

Two major theological positions exist, and they grapple with a certain question in different ways. The question is this: “If someone puts his faith in Jesus Christ, but then dies living a blatantly rebellious and sinful life, is that person saved?”

 

One theological branch responds: “Probably not. He may have had faith in Jesus Christ, but by rebelliously turning his back on Jesus this person lost his salvation.”

 

Another theological branch says: “If his faith was actually in Jesus, then he is saved. True saints will persevere to the end and be redeemed in spite of their sins. But it is very possible that this person merely deceived himself and others into thinking he had put his faith in Jesus. If he was living such a rebellious, sinful life, he probably never put his faith in Jesus. He was probably never saved.”

 

Moral of the story? Both sides look at those who forget God and rebel against Him as people who will probably be sent to hell for their rebellion. One side thinks he may have once experienced salvation; the other side says he could never have experienced salvation. But both sides agree that those without faith in the Lord will be judged and destroyed in hell for their disobedience.

 

So, is Deuteronomy 8:19-20 a serious threat for the people who fill our churches today? You tell me.

 

Chilling Righteousness

A week ago I had just come back from a trip to Rome. Flying miles up in the air, one of the thoughts that crossed my mind was, “How do I know the engineers did a good job building this plane?” What would it take for a plane to fall apart? Could a plane fall out of the sky if someone made just one mistake? How big a mistake would it have to be?

 

The proof that the engineers did their job well is that the plane flew all the way from Rome to Amsterdam and then from Amsterdam to Newark. It achieved its purpose.

 

It’s one thing to get from Rome to Newark. It’s another thing entirely to get from Louisville to heaven. There’s a way to do it. It’s called righteousness. But the plane of righteousness requires flawless construction with precision far beyond that required for a plane from Rome to Newark. If one bolt falls out, the plane of righteousness goes down.

 

When the Israelites first received the law, the responsibility for making sure of their righteousness was based on their faithful obedience: And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness. – Deut. 6:25.

 

The chilling phrase here is “if we are careful to obey all this law.” All. Not some, much of, or most. All. No margin for error. Paul writes that the Israelites made the mistake of believing they were up to the challenge of establishing their own righteousness (Romans 9:31-32). No one can live up to that challenge (Romans 3:10)!

 

The good news is that no one needs to build his own plane of righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. – Romans 10:4. He lived without sin and died a cursed death so that we could be righteous (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus Christ has become our flawless way to heaven, a righteousness that will not fall out of the sky on the way there. We can set aside the chilling thought of building our own righteousness and replace it with the amazing realization that Christ has built it already!

 

Father, thank You for sending Jesus to be my righteousness, and not just mine, but my family’s, my friends’, my co-workers’, my neighbors’, and the whole world’s—the righteousness of all who trust in Him!

 

Trusting the God Who Leads

Numbers 36—Deut. 1; Psalm 66; Proverbs 11:24-26

 

Has God been leading you through some harrowing places? Trust Him. The circumstances may be painful, but God will take care of You through them all. Do not be like the Israelites, the first generation to escape Egypt. They experienced God’s deliverance from Egypt, His protection through the Red Sea, His provision of clean water and sustaining food in the desert, His guidance in a visible pillar by day and by night. They made it through all these painful trials by following God, but when they came to the last great difficult test of their faith, they shrank back. Do not allow what was said of them to be said of you:

 

In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go. – Deut. 1:32-33

 

Father, bring us safely through every trial. May every painful circumstance You allow us to experience, but then bring us through, strengthen our resolve to trust You in other discomforts, pains, and struggles. May we trust You forever. You are God!

 

Husbands, Protect Your Wives

Numbers 30-31; Psalm 63; Proverbs 11:20-21

 

Did you realize that husbands are responsible to guard their wives not just physically, but even in their relationships with God (and fathers are to protect their daughters in the same way)?

 

These are the regulations the LORD gave Moses concerning relationships between a man and his wife, and between a father and his young daughter still living in his house. – Numbers 30:16

 

What are these regulations? What do they say?

 

These regulations tell fathers and husbands to be responsible for the ladies in their homes. When a man makes a vow to God, there’s no way out of it, even if he later realizes that he promised too much. But when a woman makes a vow to God, her father or husband can protect her if he thinks the vow will cost her too much (or perhaps if it will cost him and the family too much). He can cancel the vow. And God will not hold it against her.

 

Fathers and husbands are the heads of the home. They are the ones upon whose shoulders God has laid the responsibility not just for their own lives, but for their families. This command is grace—grace to the women, who may be freed from their vows and not have to bear the burden of fulfilling them, and grace to their fathers and husbands, to whom God gave the right to say No when someone they’re responsible for over-commits.

 

Father, thank You that the privilege You gave us husbands and fathers is the privilege of protecting our wives and daughters from commitments they can’t keep, or that we don’t want them to keep. Thank You that we don’t have to sit back and watch while our women bear burdens that are too heavy for them and for our families, but that You have given us a way to lift burdens from their shoulders, to ease their work, to give them relief and rest. Thank You for Your ministry of giving us relief and rest. Thank You that Christ, the church’s bridegroom, has died and risen to give us relief and rest from our works! We need Your rest, and You graciously give it!

 

Is God Father or Boss?

Numbers 28:16-29:40; Psalm 62; Proverbs 11:18-19

 

Do we look at God like an employer or like the father He is?

 

An employer gives you commands to obey before you love him at all. Your initial service to him is for profit, for money, for a living.

 

A father invests his life in you before you’re even capable of serving him. You spend years growing from infancy into childhood, youth, and adulthood, and all that time a father is serving you and loving you. By the time you’re capable of obeying a father in any sort of helpful way (cleaning the dishes, for instance), you’ve already been trying to please him for a while by asking him to play with you and that sort of thing.

 

God wants us to treat Him like a father. He wants our hearts to come before our service, although too often we see it the other way around: In addition to what you vow and your freewill offerings, prepare these for the LORD at your appointed feasts: your burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings and fellowship offerings. – Numbers 29:39. God’s commands follow our love-initiated vows and freewill offerings. And our love-initiated vows and freewill offerings follow God’s deliverance.

 

Love is the foundation for obedience.

 

Father, forgive me for serving You begrudgingly rather than lovingly. Help me to be so eager to serve You and please You that I seek out opportunities to honor You. And when You give Your commands, my heart will be ready to lovingly obey.

 

Faithfulness

Numbers 22:31-23:30; Psalm 58; Proverbs 11:12-13

 

The angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only what I tell you.” So Balaam went with the princes of Balak. – Numbers 22:35

 

[Balaam] answered, “Must I not speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?” – Numbers 23:12

 

Isn’t this striking? Balaam is not an Israelite, and he is working face-to-face with one of their enemies, Balak king of Moab. The only way that God would allow him to even get together with Balak was if Balaam agreed to say speak only God’s words. But isn’t this striking that someone who was not one of the Israelites would seek to be faithful to God’s words?

 

Yes, we know the faithfulness to God’s words was temporary. We know Balaam was practicing sorcery (see 24:1). But even outsiders who have been given the rule, “Say only what God says,” know what that looks like and how to apply it.

 

How much more should we, God’s people, who have received the words of God from the Word of God and who have been filled with His Spirit to be commissioned as Christ’s witnesses—how much more should we be faithful to say only what God tells us? We know the power of God. We know His goodness. We know His words are truth. And we want to see His victory, because His wins are our wins. Why would we ever deviate from what He’s told us? Why would we ever be unfaithful to His words? Why would we ever spout off our own ideas?

 

Father, make me a faithful man, a faithful servant, a faithful prophet. May I watch and listen to You. May I say what You say, do what You do, work where You work, love as You love. May I faithfully represent You (to the extremely limited extent of my abilities) so that a watching world will know Your will through me.

 

Blasphemy

Numbers 15:17-16:40; Psalm 54; Proverbs 11:5-6

 

I sent my thoughts from today’s reading to be published on Sojourn’s travelblog. I’ll update this later with a link to those thoughts. For here, I’ve only included my concluding prayer.

 

Father, guard my heart for You. Guard me from temptation. Deliver me from evil. Make me pure and faithful to You. I need You, and You have forgiven me not only my unintentional sins, but also my blasphemies! Thank You for being so gracious that You continue to forgive my unintentional sins. But please, Father, fill my heart with a love for You that makes me hate the thought of hurting You. May my sins never be deliberate, but may my heart and mind always honor You.

 

The Kiss of Death: Grumbling and Complaining

Numbers 14:1-15:16; Psalm 53; Proverbs 11:4

 

If you murder someone, you might get the electric chair for it. If you commit adultery, a jealous husband might blow your brains out in his rage. And if you complain or grumble… What happens? Are these really all that serious?

 

Romans 6:23 says that “the wages of sin is death.” With sins like murder and adultery, it’s pretty easy to see how sin brings death. But we don’t really believe, sometimes, that the wages of complaining is death.

 

But complaining brings death. Take a look at God’s response to the Israelites’ complaining:

 

How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. So tell them, `As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: In this desert your bodies will fall--every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. – Numbers 14:27-29

 

By grumbling and complaining, the Israelites essentially told God, “We don’t want You and Your promises. We don’t trust You. You’re going to fail us. We’d rather have a normal life and a normal death, even if life is hard, than follow You into Your promises because You’re going to get us killed in war!” When they grumbled and complained, they basically told God that they would be better off dead without Him than alive with Him.

 

And God granted their wish. They died in the desert, never receiving the promises of God.

 

Father, life may be hard, but please remind me and all Your children that You are our Father. Remind us that You are good. May we trust You. May we not complain and not grumble against life in Your hands. May the thoughts in our heads and hearts stop being, “There has to be a better way than God’s to go through my life,” and start being, “If God is allowing this, this must be the best way, even if it is hard. Jesus Christ is good, loving and faithful. I will trust Him, no matter what.” May we echo Job’s words, “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in Him” (Job 13:15). Forgive our complaining and grumbling, but more than that, help us to trust in You and continue to walk with us. Bring us safely home to be with You.

 

Moses' Wish-Numbers 11:24-13:33; Psalm 52; Proverbs 11:1-3

But Moses replied, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD's people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!" – Numbers 11:29

 

Moses did not want to be the only one, or even one of a mere handful of people, who spoke for God. He wanted all God’s people to be Spirit-guided prophets! How amazing would that be?

 

Over one thousand years later, Moses’ wish came true on the day of Pentecost:

 

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. – Acts 2:4

 

No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: "In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy." – Acts 2:16-18

 

All those who have put their hope and faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord, have been given the Holy Spirit, and all believers are now prophets! Are we prophesying? Are we declaring the wonders of God and of Jesus Christ to our family, neighbors, and co-workers? There is no reason not to speak out—we have the Holy Spirit in us and God’s Word in our hands! Let’s gently, kindly, compassionately tell people about their true and rightful King!

 

Father, too often we who claim to be Yours do not take advantage of the blessings You have given us! The Israelites had only one man for a while, and then some elders, too, who had the Holy Spirit to guide them. And through those men the Spirit was expected to guide their whole nation! How much more should we now, who have had the Spirit poured out on us by Jesus Christ and are all prophets, follow Your lead, obey Your will in our actions, and speak Your words out loud? May we live by the Spirit, as Moses wished all the Israelites could do!

 

Memories Can Be Deceptive - Numbers 10:1-11:23; Psalm 51; Proverbs 10:31-32

Do you tend to remember things in a way that justifies how you’re feeling at the moment? The Israelites did:

 

"If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost--also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!" – Numbers 11:4b-6

 

These were the same people who had been slaves in Egypt for 400 years. These are the people God had set free. These are the people whose firstborn sons God had spared when he wiped out the firstborn sons of the Egyptians. These are the people for whom God had plundered the Egyptians. These are the people who had walked through the Red Sea on dry ground, and had watched God drown the Egyptian army. These are the people to whom God spoke on Mt. Sinai, but who sinned and created an idol and whose brothers, sisters, moms and dads died as a result. These are the people for whom God has provided water in the desert and food in the wilderness.

 

But they were not happy. God’s food didn’t come with much variety. It really was just their daily bread, and there were only so many ways to cook manna.

 

So they grumbled and complained. And they justified their complaints by their memories of what they ate in Egypt: fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But they added one very significant lie to this memory. In their memories, they ate fish at no cost.

 

The Israelites were claiming that their situation as slaves in Egypt with free fish was better than their situation as God’s freed people in the wilderness with free bread. They would rather have fish and slavery than bread and freedom… and God!

 

Father, forgive our ungrateful hearts and our lousy, foolish memories! We tend to let our stomachs and taste buds tell us whether our circumstances are good, without looking at who is providing for us and how. We magnify the minor details and shrink what’s really important all the way until we feel justified complaining against You! Forgive us! Change us! Give us mouths and stomachs, hearts and minds that take the time to remember and honestly compare our lives with You to our lives without You. You are so good to us! Life without You was empty and meaningless as we served those who could give us no lasting reward and who cut us down for every failure. Life with You is full of goodness and purpose; it is glorious because we serve You, the giver of life forever and the Refresher and Restorer of our tired, painful bodies. Thank You for Your goodness. Give us memories that grapple with reality well.

 

Every Part Matters-Numbers 6-7; Psalm 49; Proverbs 10:27-28

We don’t like repetition very much. We don’t like writing repetitively, and we don’t like reading anything that’s repetitive. If I write out a detailed description of a process, I only write it once. For instance, if I were to describe how my kids play on the slide at the playground, and I wanted to be really detailed, I would tell you that Emma ran up to the stairs at the base of the playground. She climbed them. She turned to the right, followed the platform, climbed another set of stairs, turned to the left, crossed a bridge, sat down at the top of the slide, and pushed herself forward. From there, gravity pulled her down to the end of the slide, and then she ran back to the stairs at the base of the playground.

 

I wouldn’t write this whole process out every time Emma played on the slide. And I wouldn’t repeat it to describe how Michael played on the slide, too. I would just say, “Michael did the same thing,” or, “And then Emma did it over and over.” You would get the point, right?

 

Well, today I read this description repeatedly in Numbers 7. By repeatedly, I mean that I read it twelve times:

The offering he brought was one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense; one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; one male goat for a sin offering; and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering. – Numbers 7, many times

 

Why did they write this out 12 times? Who would want to write it out twelve times? Why didn’t they just say, “and he gave the same thing,” “and he gave the same thing,” “and he gave the same thing…”? I mean, this was written out by hand. There were no word processors. There was no copying and pasting.

 

I think the answer is found in the introduction to each of these descriptions. These offerings were presented by twelve men: Nahshon (v. 12), Nethanel (v. 18), Eliab (v. 24), Elizur (v. 30), Shelumiel (v. 36), Eliasaph (v. 42), Elishama (v. 48), Gamaliel (v. 54), Abidan (v. 60), Ahiezer (v. 66), Pagiel (v. 72) and Ahira (v. 78). And these twelve men represented, respectively, the twelve tribes of Israel: Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Reuben, Simeon, Gad, Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, Dan, Asher and Naphtali (same verses). Furthermore, the offerings they brought were not for just any occasion. These were the offerings to dedicate the Tabernacle of God! So what does this all mean for the repetition?

 

1. The repetition underscores how important this occasion was. God’s tabernacle was being dedicated, and the repetition of the sacrifices over a course of twelve days helps us, as we read, to realize in 15 minutes of time that this event went on and on and on. It was huge! And it was important. This was the dedication of God’s tabernacle!
2. The repetition reminds us that everyone was equally involved. No one tribe had more of a share in their God than the others. Each tribe and all their leaders were participating together as a nation in bringing these sacrifices to the LORD.
3. Finally, no one’s sacrifices were more important than other people’s sacrifices. By repeating the exact same description twelve times, it becomes clear that everyone’s sacrifice is appreciated. There’s no idea that says, “Nahshon offered this amazing sacrifice. And then Nethanel, Eliab, Elizur and the rest kind of did the same thing.” There are no copycats. There is no insincerity. God accepts each man’s and each tribe’s offerings as sincere, original, heart-felt acts of love and devotion. God appreciates them all equally. God honors them all the same.

 

We come before God as equals. He does not show favoritism. He accepts us all equally. What is important is that we dedicate ourselves to God and His service. These gifts were given in obedience to Him—and every tribe was a part of it!

 

Father, thank You that You graciously accept us—all of us. You invite us all to participate in Your service as equals. You value us all. And you honor us all for our efforts, though ultimately the honor goes to you for even allowing us to come before Your throne! You do not overlook any of us. Thank You for this picture of You and Your appreciation for Your people. May we seek Your favor side-by-side, as they did.

 

Wrong a Human; Be Found Unfaithful - Numbers 4-5; Psalm 48; Proverbs 10:26

The LORD said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: `When a man or woman wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the LORD, that person is guilty…” – Numbers 5:5-6

 

What shows that we are guilty of unfaithfulness to the LORD? How can you tell if your heart has run after other things besides Jesus Christ?

 

According to our God, “When a man or woman wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the LORD, that person is guilty.” How are we unfaithful to the LORD? When we wrong each other.

 

A heart that sins against a brother or sister is a heart that has run away from God after other, lesser gods—gods of pleasure, comfort, wealth, satisfaction, health, self-preservation, ease, access, esteem—the list could go on and on. When we put anything above other people so much that we wrong them, our hearts have turned away from God. We have become guilty of unfaithfulness.

 

Father, I haven’t seriously looked at faithfulness and unfaithfulness to You this way, at least not in a while. It’s easy to think that I’m faithful to You if I read my Bible regularly, pray daily, and think about You and Your mission throughout the day. But the way I treat people reflects my faithfulness to You more clearly than any of my disciplined and scheduled activities. Help me to be faithful to You, taking advantage of every time I meet someone and using it as an opportunity to show kindness and love.

 

Rocky Relationships-Leviticus 25:47-27:13; Psalm 45; Proverbs 10:22

If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands,…

But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands,…

But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers--their treachery against me and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies--then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. – Leviticus 26:3, 14, 40-42

 

No human relationship is perfect. No human is perfect, and so as we live together and work side-by-side, inevitably we step on each other’s toes. Even in a covenanted marriage relationship (perhaps especially!), we find ourselves from time to time at odds with each other. And we gripe. We argue. We may even yell and scream at each other. Sometimes our relationships never get beyond the harm we have done to one another. Such relationships result in murders, betrayals, divorces, court battles, kidnappings, and of course, enmity.

 

God made us. He knows how incapable we are of having a perfectly peaceful relationship. But rather than destroying us, He enters into covenant relationships with us. In Israel, that relationship was based on His laws. Today that relationship is based on Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. The amazing thing is that in this relationship, part of God’s covenant with us is that forgiveness and reconciliation are always available to us if we confess our sins against Him.

 

Father, thank You that You do not give up on Your people who humble themselves before You. Despite our failures, You accept our apologies and forgive our sins. You would be justified to reject us entirely. But You are good to us. And You are faithful to Your own goodness. So Your love never fails. Thank You!!!

 

Freedom! Provision! Continual, Ongoing Renewal! Leviticus 24:1-25:46; Psalm 44:9-26; Proverbs 10:20-21

Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. – Leviticus 25:10

 

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. – Leviticus 25:38

 

Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. – Leviticus 25:42

 

Even if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee, for the Israelites belong to me as servants. – Leviticus 25:54-55a

 

Our world is cursed, and we, its inhabitants, are riddled with weaknesses and sins. There is plenty for all, but there is not enough for anyone. And so the rich get richer while the poor get poorer, and no one does anything about it.

 

Enter God.

 

As the LORD was setting out the laws for Israel, He instituted the year of Jubilee. This was a sacred year of resting from work and trusting in God. It was a year of freedom, blessing, and renewal. The land itself was to be left unplanted, at rest to produce whatever it could. And the Israelites were promised that they would have enough to eat; God would provide. Also, whatever had happened to an Israelites in the course of time—whether he’d had to sell his property, or whether he’d been forced to commit himself to another man’s service just to make ends meet—in the year of Jubilee, it was supposed to be erased! Property was to be returned. People and their children were to go free from their service—and they would have land to return to!

 

Why? Who does these things? Who can afford them? Only God.

 

It was God who had initially freed the Israelites. He had brought them out of Egypt, setting them free from their bonds of slavery to be His servants, free of tyranny! It was God who had initially provided for the Israelites. He had caused the Egyptians to send them away wealthy, and then He had provided food and water for them while they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years! It was God who had initially renewed the Israelites. He had taken these men, women and children who had no hope, no nation of their own, and had breathed His life into them to set them in their own land where they could all enjoy His blessing!

 

The year of Jubilee was God saying, “My mighty acts for you were not just a one-time event! I am still Your God. I can still give you freedom. I can still meet your needs. I can still renew your lives!” In the year of Jubilee, every 50 years, God intended to fulfill His promise of salvation all over again. The poor and the weak would never be forgotten by Him.

 

Father, if that was Your message for the Israelites when You had not yet sent Jesus to die for sins, how much more I ought to realize that You will never forsake me or any of your people! You are not just the God who saved. You are the God who saves. Every day I can trust You. You give freedom. You provide. You renew me! You are God, and You will always be God! You never stop doing good to Your people. Thank You! I praise You for Your unlimited compassion for us!

 

Year-Round Celebration! Leviticus 22:17-23:44; Psalm 44:1-8; Proverbs 10:19

The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. – Leviticus 23:1-2

 

God wanted His people to remember Him, and He wanted to spend time with them. So He set aside days and weeks throughout the year when they could get together and have a potluck!

 

Father, thank You that a relationship with You brings feasts and rest! I’m looking forward to the day when Your people feast with You at the wedding supper of Jesus Christ! You are a God worth celebrating, and You give Your people reasons to celebrate!