Sunday, 3/1/2015

“That's why they call it the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it.” ~ George Carlin

NUMBERS 23-27

Balaak again is pushed by Balaam to curse the Israelites.  He again tells him that it is impossible for him to do this no matter how much wealth he promises...

“May those who bless you be blessed

and those who curse you be cursed!”

10Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam. He struck his hands together and said to him, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times. 11Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the Lord has kept you from being rewarded.”

12Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell the messengers you sent me, 13‘Even if Balak gave me all the silver and gold in his palace, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord—and I must say only what the Lord says’? 14Now I am going back to my people, but come, let me warn you of what this people will do to your people in days to come.”

Chapter 25 then begins with the Israelites being seduced by Moabite women and falling prey to worshiping their Gods.  God causes a plague to sweep through the camp and in the end 24,000 Israelites die as a result of their rebellion.

Chapter 26 and 27 contain the numbers of a second census and finally at the end of chapter 27 Moses passes the leadership to Joshua

18So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership,^a and lay your hand on him. 19Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. 20Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him. 21He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the Lord. At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in.”22Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. 23Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the Lord instructed through Moses.

MARK 8

Jesus again has compassion on the crowds that are following him...since they have nothing to eat he again takes seven loaves and a few fish and feeds all 5000.  From there Jesus is confronted by a blind man whom he heals.  Then Jesus tells predicts his death and Peter takes him aside and rebukes him and tells him he will never let this happen.

33But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Jesus then tells them the way of the Kingdom

34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save their life^b will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

JOURNAL

Here we find the Israelites being tempted and indulging in the women of another kingdom.  Balaak thought that sending down curses on the Israelites was the way to defeat them.  Little did he realize that all he had to do was expose them to his it's women.  This will continue to haunt the Israelites and all mankind.  Our entire culture is consumed with the promises and lies that all that we are looking for is found outside of the blessings God has given.  We continually wax and wane over what we don't have and thereby dismiss all that we do.

Jesus confronted this head on with Peter...even calling him Satan.  Peter's only concern is the here and now and ensuring that earthly pleasures, position and power are achieved.  Yet Jesus knows that this is a distraction and is completely missing the point of his life and ministry.

A good friend of mine sent me the following clip...it is a tough message and one that puts me in the position of Peter...blind to my own sin and how I often miss the point of it all!

15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father^d is not in them. 16For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17)

Saturday, 2/28/2015

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” ~ Socrates 

NUMBERS 21, 22

The Israelites are attacked by Canaan.  They cry out to God and they defeat the Canaanites.  Then again they complain...

4They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea,^c to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!”

God then sends snakes that begin to bite them.  The Israelites cry out to God and he has Moses make a bronze snake so that every time they are bitten they look at the snake and then they are healed.

The Israelites continue to be on the move and along the way they are attacked several times and in each case they completely destroy the kingdoms that attack.

Chapter 20 begins the story of Balaam and Balaak and the ultimate downfall of Israel.  Balaak was King of the Moabites and after hearing of the success of Israel he was afraid.  So he summoned Balaam a well known prophet to put curses on the Israelites.  Balaam consults God and God tells him that the people are blessed and cannot be cursed. 

Balaak then offers great wealth if he will curse them to which Balaam still refuses.  However Balaam does agree to meet and on the way God warns him by appearing to his donkey on the road.  Balaam beats him severely at which time the donkey begins to speak and tells Balaam of the Angel that has appeared.  Balaam heeds the warning and although Balaak offers immense gold and silver Balaam refuses to call down curses on the Israelites.

MARK 7:14-36 

17After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)20He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.23All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

 After this Jesus heals a Syrophonecian woman  and a deaf man.  

36Jesus commanded them not to tell anyone. But the more he did so, the more they kept talking about it. 37People were overwhelmed with amazement. “He has done everything well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

JOURNAL

It's hearts that God is after.

23Above all else, guard your heart,

for everything you do flows from it. (Proverbs 4:23)

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)

Thursday, 2/26/2015

“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”  ~ Augustine of Hippo

NUMBERS 16, 17

1Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent^a 2and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. 3They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the Lord’s assembly?”

Moses and Aaron cry out to God and ask him not to destroy all the Israelites as a result of the rebellion of these few. God accepts and as a result causes an earthquake that swallows just these families and then a plague that takes out the 250 scouts sent into Canaan.

MARK 6:33-56

30The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. 31Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

Crowds follow them and thousands come to be healed and hear him preach.   He turns a few loaves and fish into enough to feed all.  He then instructs the disciples to get into a boat and go to the other side of the lake.

45Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray.

JOURNAL

Jesus understands the need for rest and to hear from God.  It is a call that so often is easy to ignore.  I know it is because I many times don't want to hear from God.  I want rest on my terms not on his.  I want to indulge in things that make me "happy" rather than indulge in God and his love for me.

This is just another case of my rebellious flesh and how I so often don't really know what will bring me the rest and joy I need.  I tend to trust my own internal maps which...upon deeper inspection...are very flawed.  These maps and truths are a result of hurts, deceptions and lies that I have internalized as truth.  The only truth is found in scripture and in honest conversation with God.

28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Wednesday, 2/25/2015

““There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human's mind against the Enemy. He wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them.” 

~ C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters 

NUMBERS 14, 15

The people freak out.  They begin to moan and wail and are terrified.

“If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! 3Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

They even begin to discuss stoning Aaron and Moses.  God has had enough and tells Moses that he is going to wipe them all out except for a select few.  

 11The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them? 12I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”

Moses appeals to God and begs for him to reconsider.  God honors moses however he strikes down all the men who went on the scouting mission except Caleb and Joshua.   

37The Lord said to Moses, 38“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. 39You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. 40Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. 41I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.’ ”

MARK 6:1-32

Jesus goes back to Nazareth and begins to teach in the synagogue.  He then begins to be questioned because the people know his family. They can't believe that Jesus could do all that he was doing and actually be one of them. 

4Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6He was amazed at their lack of faith.

Jesus sends out his disciples in groups of two.  

 8These were his instructions: “Take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. 9Wear sandals but not an extra shirt. 10Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town. 11And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

They then went out and preached that people should repent, they drove out demons and healed many that were sick.

JOURNAL

Fear of change and the future is a cruel taskmaster.  It is one of the ways we are continually shamed by the enemy and refuse to trust God.  When I become comfortable in my current circumstance then I tend to want to preserve it at all cost.  I then tend to rationalize that God would never want me to experience pain, suffering and or even death.  It is a lie, designed to keep me moving further and further away from God and deeper and deeper into realizing my worst fears. 

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:16-18)