Denying History

Today’s Reading:

• Psalms 98-100; 102; 104

Faith-Stretching Verse(s):

• He spoke to Israel from the pillar of cloud, and they followed the laws and decrees he gave them. – Psalm 99:7, NLT

Thoughts:
History is history.

It’s fairly easy to question the Bible. There are lots of accounts that talk about individuals hearing from God and speaking for God and other spiritual experiences like that. When people today claim to be speaking for God, we’re at least a little skeptical, especially when their messages don’t match up with the kinds of messages that the Bible depicts God speaking throughout history. If we just apply our skepticism to the Bible, all these claims about spiritual experiences sound a little bit sketchy.

We want something more tangible. A common suggestion I’ve heard is, “If only God would write a message for me in the clouds…” Clouds are visible. Clouds are able to be experienced by multiple people at the same time, so multiple witnesses can corroborate one another’s testimony if something strange happens up there in the sky. If five people came and told you that they had all seen the same message in the sky, and they seemed to be fairly sane people apart from this claim, and if they never changed their story and it impacted their lives, wouldn’t that be a pretty strong reason to believe their claim to receiving a message from God (especially before the ability to write cloudy messages with airplanes was developed)?

Ok, so let’s go back a few thousand years to the story found in Exodus—the story of how God rescued Israel from Egypt and led them through the desert. I seem to remember a cloud. Oh, yes! Here we go. Exodus 13:21: “By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people” (NIV). From a cloud, God protected Israel (Exod. 14:19-24), demonstrated His presence (Exod. 16:10; 40:34-35), spoke to Moses in the nation’s hearing (Exod. 19:9, 16; 24:15-18; 33:9-10), covenanted with the people (Exod. 34:5-28) and guided them in all their travels (Exod. 40:36-38).

This is history! And it’s history that is very difficult to refute. The Israelites experienced this cloud for at least forty years (Exodus 40:36-38; Num. 9:16-22; 32:13; Deut. 2:7; 8:2). And not just Moses—they all experienced it, all the millions of them that were there (Exod. 12:37; 33:10; 40:38)! That’s a lot of witnesses! That’s a lot of time! It changed their lives and the course of their history forever! And if this weren’t true, why on earth would the millions of people who finally entered the promised land after starting off as teenagers and children in Egypt and traveling through a desert for forty years ever allow Moses and Joshua to write such a blatant lie into their history? Why would they agree that it was true? Why would they allow such lies to become their holy Scriptures?

Only one good reason exists for including this forty year cloud in Israel’s history. This cloud is history. Not fantasy. Not myth. Not just a good story. It’s history. And as much as our modern world has a hard time understanding the kind of phenomenon described in Exodus, history is history. It happened. Really. Those who deny it are denying the shared claim of millions of people who shared the same visible, tangible history.

Personally, I can’t do that. Can you?

For an overview of this year’s blog, please see http://threequartertank.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-do-believers-believe.html.

The Family that ... Together

ALL – Psalm 36:1-12
ALL – Proverbs 21:21-22
OT – Esther 4:1-7:10
NT – 1 Corinthians 12:1-26

Interesting passage for the day: If one part suffers, all parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. – 1 Corinthians 12:26, The Living Bible

Thought: Have you ever tried to send just a part of your body to play a game or do a job?

“Hey, feet, go play soccer for me.”

“I don’t want to stay up late tonight. Hands, do you mind just typing out this paper for me?”

We don’t say, “My feet played soccer today,” or, “My hands were on the computer all day.” We say, “I played soccer,” and, “I was on the computer.” Why? Because if one part of our body is involved, we ourselves are involved. Our entire body shares life’s experiences, even if different limbs get used more than others. When I’m typing at the computer, it means my fingers are working wildly. But it also means that my feet are resting, my back and stomach are working to keep me sitting upright, my heart and lungs are working to keep me alive, my eyes are watching the computer screen, and my brain is directing my thoughts through the whole process.

Christ’s church is Christ’s body. We are one. We share life. One life. Jesus Christ’s life. If one of us gets a promotion at work, we are all happy. If one of us falls into sin, it shames and hurts all of us. If one of us introduces a friend to Jesus, all of us share in the celebration and all of us feel like we’ve succeeded in making progress towards fulfilling Christ’s Great Commission. You can pretend to be a loner Christian, but the truth is that you’re a part of a community—like it or not. And even your attempts to disassociate yourself from the church affect the rest of God’s people. You’re simply that connected because of Jesus Christ.

Question: Since Jesus has joined all us believers together, what could you do to make our experience as a family, community and body the best possible experience on earth?

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

Weekly Sermons in Swanton: Experience Life to the Full

The message, preached on January 10th, 2010, covered 1 John 1:1-4, and it can be heard via streaming audio at http://www.swantonalliance.org. As John begins to write, he wants his readers to know what’s coming. He’s experienced life, and John invites his readers into his experience of life, urging them to be part of God’s family. John wants more and more readers to share in the joyous life he has in community with God the Father and the Son. Note: Past sermons can be accessed through the resources page.

To review the Bible reading plan options, please visit http://tinyurl.com/yj2o7jz.

$103.00

So tonight I earned $103 at the Old Spaghetti Factory, working from 5:15 to 12:00 midnight. 6 hrs 45 minutes. A little over $15 per hour. Better than usual. Why am I writing about it? Because nights like this are the reason people are willing to work at jobs where the pay is inconsistent and depends primarily on people's gracious giving. Also, because I did not feel like I did a very good job tonight. I felt bad for my customers.

And yet they provided. That is, God provided. Through them. And it turned into one of the best nights I've ever had, earnings-wise.

Ironic. And yet another example in this life of grace, and of our inability/failures not determining our course, but God's grace ultimately weighing in as the decisive factor.

Why do we always think we're so great? Why do we think we deserve good things? Somebody remind me, please.