Stick Together: Num 12-13

 

One of the things God hates more than anything is dissention.  In Moses's family squabble over his new wife God defends Moses personally.  God doesn't defend Moses' decision to marry a second wife, but he does defend Moses' authority.  It was her disrespectful attitude that caught God's attention and rightfully so.  Miriam and Aaron don't trust Moses' judgment about the woman he had married.  He saw a woman worth redeeming.  They saw a cursed people-group (remember the sons of Noah?).  The whole camp has to wait a week for the lesson to set in.

Then when the spies go up to search out the land they find a land with amazing abundance but they happen across several of their old enemies.  We saw the Amekelites earlier when they attacked the camp at a weak moment.  The Anakim were decendents of demons and were truly giants physically.  Goliath was one example of their decendents.

Those with eyes to see the natural circumstances saw only the barriers.  Those with eyes to see what God had spoken about them, these were enemies that God had already determined would be destroyed.  God had already said He would wipe out even the memory of the Amekelites in return for their treachery.  The children of Anak should never have been born and couldn't be blessed by God.  God had been waiting for the sin of the Canaanites to reach its full measure because He had already given the land to the children of Israel.  Joshua and Caleb saw themselves as tools in God's hand to do what He had already decided to do.  God had already taken down mighty Egypt.  In comparison, these enemies should be a cake walk for God, but for the Israelites that had come out of a lifetime of fending for themselves in abject terror, the thought of facing a new set of potential captors was just too much. 

We spent last weekend at a conference called Created to Connect.  It was focused on helping children from hard places like orphans and foster children overcome their fears and learn to trust and heal from the traumas of their past.  Their behavioral issues all stem from the terrors of their past and the coping mechanisms they created to protect themselves.  Even adopted children born into their new family's arms are affected in utero by the fear and trauma the mother is experiencing.  It leaves an imprint of fear that can last a lifetime if it isn't gently, patiently addressed by a caregiver that can reteach trust. In the groups they lead to help teach trust, there are three rules: 

1. Stick Together--no one gets left behind, left out or left behind
2. No Hurts--there's been enough hurt, don't let more hurt come from within
3. Have Fun--real learning happens most quickly in play.  It's how God designed us to learn

It's hard when a leader sees God's vision and his people can't see the way to get there.  That's when God takes a step back in His timing so that they can learn to trust Him.  Without that trust, they have no tools to obey with their whole hearts and things will go badly.  For those of us who are early acceptors and trust God well, it's hard to wait.  God loves both the bold and the timid.  He's not going to go forward knowing He's going to lose his children along the way.  In His profound compassion, He takes all the time they need, even if that means waiting for a funeral.  If you find yourself out of unity with your body (early or late) take time to see unity from God's perspective. 

So stick together...

Everyday Miracles: Num 8-9

Near the end of this passage is a description of something amazing.  The pillar of cloud and fire that God lived in stayed with the camp through their entire journey.  It lifted when they were to move and settled when they were to stay.  God Himself directed their journey every single day.  If anyone wondered whether they still had to obey God's commands, they could look out the front of their tent and see the pillar over the tabernacle.  There was no need to wonder where they had to go or what they had to do.  God directed them personally.  God gave them their roles and duties directly and provided them an immediate daily reminder that He was there and in charge. 

I wonder when it ceased to be a wonder...  When you see a miracle every day, does it become just an ordinary miracle?  Does it become like an image in a stained glass window--pretty to see but mundane?  Can you spend 25 years of your career working in the presence of an act of God and begin to see it as ordinary?  Probably. 

I say that because from an early age I was gifted with what others see as a special relationship with God.  I cannot remember a time in my life that I couldn't settle my heart, reach out to Him and speak with Him as a friend.  What would have been an unthinkable miracle even to the Israelites in the wilderness is a common occurance to me.  Granted, I can't live without Him.  If I forget to speak with Him, my life becomes barren and parched, like a dehydrated traveler adrift on an ocean with only salt water surrounding him.  Still, I can forget.  This intimate relationship with the Father is the birthright of all those who have been bought by His blood and sealed with His Holy Spirit. Yet it is easy to walk as if it isn't necessary to take advantage of the blessings He has so richly bestowed upon us.  He tells us that apart from Him we can do nothing and it is like the wind rustling in the tops of the trees.  We nod our heads and say, "That's nice..."  and move on as if nothing has happened.  I say "we" because I am just as guilty. 

The last few years, it has astounded me to talk with my son and hear him say, "But Mom, I can't hear Him like you do."  He has accepted Christ.  He is God's son, but he hasn't yet learned to hear God for himself.  I trust that God will do that for him when he is ready, but how often do I go on with my life and fail to seek God even though it is easy for me to find Him. 

This miraculous relationship was both a gift and a skill.  I have always heard Him but I have not always been able to distinguish Him from all the other voices coming at me, including the voice of my own heart.  I have studied the scriptures throughout my lifetime and that provides both balance for me and a wide vocabulary of scripture that God continually uses to speak into my life.  In the same way, for the Israelites, the cloud was a gift, but the following was a work.  Many of God's miraculous gifts are like that.  He does the miracle.  We work with Him in the natural things that we can do.  

Today, think about the miracles that God has given you.  Take time to worship Him for His miraculous activity in your life.  Don't miss out on the wonder just because they happen frequently.  Also think about the work you need to do to cultivate the power of that miracle in your own life. 

Num 5-6: Purity

My daughter Katherine's name means purity. What came to mind when we named her was the sweet innocence of childhood. What we didn't realize was that purity also means undiluted: full strength, intense, potent, 200 proof; perfume, not toilet water.   Katie is more of the latter than the former and it is delightful. She is sweet and sometimes innocent, but more than anything, she throws herself fully into all that she does and is. 

God desires intense devotion to Him alone that embodies this kind of purity. 

Purity needed to extend to people's interactions with each other.  Any impurity of action required restitution of what was lost plus another 1/5th, regardless of whether the person was even still alive.  God is honest in His dealings and expects us to be pure in our dealings as well.  Cheating taints and dilutes our ability to do business to the Glory of God.

Purity in marriage has always been an issue and women were particularly vulnerable to a jealous husband's accusations.  The process for dealing with it leaves the result up to God to reveal, but even in the process, the wife must reaffirm that her devotion to her husband is pure--for her husband alone.

The ultimate commitment of purity in devotion was the Nazarite vow.  It showed singleminded devotion to God about all. Giving up the fruit of the vine symbolized rejection of the pleasures of this life.  Not cutting their hair symbolized rejecting the vanity of outward appearances.  Avoiding defilement from dead things shows that your life is bound up in the eternal God and even death has no power over you. 

There were two major Old Testament figures that held lifelong Nazarite vows: Samson and Samuel. Nothing can be given up to God without a powerful response from Him. Both men lived under tremendous power from the Holy Spirit.  As far as we can tell, Samuel kept this vow throughout his lifetime without interruption.  God honored his words, "letting none of them fall to the ground" and providing him with an intimacy that is rare in both Old and New Testaments.  Samson was to be a Nazarite from birth, but he showed contempt for the commitment required of his parents.  He drank and partied, which got him into trouble frequently.  He used the jawbone of a donkey to kill hundreds and ate honey out of a lion's caracass.  Eventually, when his hair was shaved off, the full vow was broken and the Holy Spirit left him without him even noticing.  As we saw a few chapters ago, it's better not to vow at all if you aren't serious about keeping it. 

Numbers: Num 1-2

This is the book for accountants, and the first two chapters lead the way. Our God is a God of order and this section shows it clearly.

Before you can place a large group of people in a marching order, you need to understand how many people are in each group.  God may know that Himself, but He leaves it up to the people to count themselves.  He has a plan in mind, but for us to understand the plan, we need to understand the details that support the plan.  So Chapter 1 shows a census of all men over 20--all of those that can fight.  Then, in Chapter 2, He orders the camp in the shape of a cross and gives direction about how each division will move when they march.  Every group has its place and every group is in place. 

We talk about how God is orderly, but isn't it interesting that He expected them to order themselves.  He had a plan for how they were to be ordered, but it was the responsibility of each clan to make sure it was in the right place.  Again, this harkens back to Genesis 2 where God gave man authority over all the earth as His agent.  We order things according to God's plan, but it is we who work the plan.  That means that if my own house is disorderly, it's not God's fault.  It's mine.  He expects us to order our own lives consistently and with regularity. 

This is a place I struggle.  I live in my head and my thoughts are usually pretty orderly.  I also live in my home and it isn't.  I live within my days and I have come to realize that if I don't have a plan for those days from the beginning, then very little happens of any value.  Things change and flexibility is more often the rule than the exception, but if I fail to plan, I plan to fail.  Exercising dominion means creating order and ensuring that the order is maintained. 

What is it in your life that you have yet to take dominion over?  (Excuse me, I have to go clean...)

Keeping promises: Lev 26-27

There's basically two major topics for this week.  I'm going to skip over the blessings and cursings in Lev. 26.  We'll see it again.  For the moment, suffice it to say that all of what is predicted in this chapter actually happened in beautiful and gory detail. 

When I read through Lev. 27, the question occured to me that if God was going to be so serious about what we voluntarily vow to give Him, then why would someone vow anything to God at all?  We've all been in situations where we have tried to bargain with God.  It's a losing prospect and reveals a tragic distrust of Him.  We don't believe God is good enough to care for us just because we asked.  Somehow we must twist His arm and offer Him something special so He will do what He already wants to do.  God is so much bigger and better than that. 

Still, there are hints that God does hear and respond to our "bargaining," but not because we hold any power over Him.  Ps. 50:23 tells us: "He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God."   Our thanksgiving rightfully honors God and prepares us to see and recognize the salvation that He has already planned.  If we can't recognize His salvation, we can't receive it from His hands.  It may be there the whole time but we remain incapable of enjoying it. 

In that light, skimping on the offerings we've promised Him out of our desperation shows a lack of gratitude for what He has done and makes us less prepared to recognize and receive the salvation He has prepared for us next time.  We forget our gratitude and promises so quickly.  It's a matter of character that we need to keep our promises to God.  God has no need to lie or go back on His promises--is He going to run out of stuff to give?  Because of His protection and provision, we don't need to back out either so He makes sure we learn to keep our promises too.  It's part of trusting Him to be there with us the next time.

What have you promised God?  Do you need to go back and make it right?

God as Manager: Lev 24-25

As a community planner, I've often wondered what it would look like for God to order and manage a country.  This is what we see in these chapters:

Ownership:  The key to God's management style is in Lev. 25:23:  “The land must never be sold on a permanent basis, for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenant farmers working for me."  Since all land was owned by God and allotted to tribes, land couldn't be sold as if it belonged to the people.  It doesn't.  "Selling" property was actually a limited term lease and the cost of the lease had to be tied to the amount of time remaining until the Jubilee year.  The Israelites themselves were also owned by God and therefore couldn't be sold.  They could only be hired for a specific period of time.  The only exception was land within a walled city.  Later, after the captivity, people were assigned to cities by lottery and generally had land that was allotted to them by God elsewhere.  That land was not specific to any tribe (other than the Levitical cities which couldn't be sold at all). 

Patriotism:  God is the chief identity of the country.  Blaspheming Him carries a death sentence.  He warned them ahead of time.  His name is sacred and they treated it as sacred (at least from then on).

Principles:  Fairness is the primary guiding principle for all rules.  Losses must be restored or have an equivalent punishment. 

Management:  The beginning of ch. 24 shows part of the payments obligated to the Lord.  The bread is left for God but it is the priests that get to eat it--similar to taxes.  The priests are God's representatives to the community, just as government workers are representatives of their agency and ultimately their government.  The taxes paid support the management of the community.  (Puts a new spin on government work.)

Agricultural Management Principles:  In the south we discovered that crop rotation was absolutely necessary.  Without changing the crops, the nutrients in the soil would become depleted and later crops would yield less each year.  God understood this and incorporated it into the management plan for the land.  The 6th year's crops would provide for the people through the 9th year, but the 7th year, the land was not to be cultivated.  Wild plants would intersperse with the leftovers from previous years and renew the soil.  This principle was so important that after 490 years without sabbath rests, God required that the people be removed from the land so it could have its rest--70 years worth in Babylon.  Those in Babylon experienced great success and heartache.  Those in Israel were tormented and unsuccessful.  God made sure the land got its rest.  It makes me wonder since it's been over 60 years since Israel has been reinstated and it still hasn't had any rest years. 

God's management of the land shows great wisdom (no surprise).  What of His principles can you incorporate into your lives?

Lev 23--Taking a gratitude break...

This morning, I had a great text conversation with a friend that's really struggling with several recovery issues, (not that different than myself).

The root of my own codependency/idolotry was the realization as a teenager that God wasn't enough.  The problem with that realization was that it was only a half truth.  God wasn't enough because I didn't have enough of Him and He didn't have enough of me.  It's like learning a new language.  The kids that give themselves over to immerse themselves in the new culture have no trouble at all.  The adults who have "better" things to do struggle with grammar and never really become fluent. 

Jesus told us that He was the vine and we are the branches--apart from Him we can do nothing.  That sounds like immersion is needed.  We can't just come and go.  It has to be an ongoing part of our lives.  That's one of the reasons God established the festivals at regular intervals throughout the year.  Basically every seven weeks God established a festival to refocus their lives in a big way back on God and all He has done.  There were daily remembrances as well, but everything stopped about every 50 days for a God focused festival.  Those times of worship helped them stop to say thanks and worship Him for all He has done. 

That's one of the reasons Hebrews talks about Jesus being our sabbath rest.  We have the treasure of His Spirit within us so we can do better than taking breaks every 50 days.  We get to enjoy Him every day, all day.  Taking those opportunities consistently keeps the allure of idols from being attractive.  Failing to take them leaves us vulnerable--we seek to get our legitimate needs met by something other than Him--which is the core of idolotry. 

Take time to celebrate Him today.  He's worth it.