Friday, 2/27/2015

“A man who can't bear to share his habits is a man who needs to quit them.” 

 ~ Stephen King 

NUMBERS 18-20 

5“You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelites again. 6I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the Lord to do the work at the tent of meeting. 7But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.” 

God gives further instructions to Aaron as to procedures for the duties of priests.  The Israelites then move to the desert of Zin

2Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord! 4Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? 5Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!”

So Moses goes before them and instead of speaking to the rock...he strikes it twice. Water gushes out, but God is not pleased.

12But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

MARK 7:1-13

Jesus and his disciples are eating and the Pharisees observe that they have done so without taking part in the ceremonial cleansing.  They then confront Jesus and he responds. 

 6He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:“ ‘These people honor me with their lips,but their hearts are far from me.7They worship me in vain;their teachings are merely human rules.’^b8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” 

JOURNAL

Reading through the trials and travails of the Israelites, it is easy to become self-righteous in judgment of their stupidity and rebelliousness.  They continually question and disobey God.  They are constantly questioning Moses and constantly wishing they could go back to being slaves. 

Yet I don't have to look to far into my own heart to realize the same rebelliousness exists. I continually tend to seek things outside of dependence on God.  Just as the pharisees...I tend to trust in human traditions...my own habits and hangups...rather than God.

22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24)