God

(Not) Having All The Answers

I’ll just say it… 2 Samuel says that God told David to take a census (then punished him for it), whereas 1 Chronicles says that Satan led David to take a census and then God punished him for it. I find the theories online quite unsatisfying and I find it frustrating that I don’t have anything to put in the place of these theories. I was deep-diving into the Hebrew and looking at sentence structure and asking my wife what she thought of this or that observation. Then she said something wonderful in its simplicity. Sometimes we don’t have the answers. That’s not to say that the answer is un-findable (because I fully intend to find it and yeah, I will update you all when I do!), but rather that these secondary issues are not ones on which we need to get hung-up. The cross of Christ is primary and all these other items are grow, learn, discuss, and deepen our faith, but we don’t need to be afraid of not having a solution or a perfect understanding immediately.

If you ever find yourself unsure about something when reading the Bible… that’s okay. You don’t need to be afraid of it. God is still God. Jesus is still Jesus. And in time, with study and dedication these answers will come. At the very least we will be satisfied when we stand before the Lord with unveiled faces.

Be blessed tonight my friends.

2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21, 22 | 122/365

Recognition & Hope

Today’s reading featured two copies of a song David wrote. Despite all that’s gone on in David’s life to this point, he still lifts the name of God and recognizes all that the Lord has done for him and to deliver him. I made a non-exhaustive list who David says God is, and what David says God is bigger than. Perhaps you’ll find it as encouraging as I did.

God is my • Rock • Fortress • Saviour • Protection • Shield • Power • Safety • Refuge • Hearer • Support • Leader • Reward-giver • Restorer • Seer • Lamp • Light • Strength • Perfector • Trainer • Victory • Object of Praise

God is bigger than • Death • Destruction • Grave • Enemies • Deep Waters • Hate • The strong • Sin • Darkness • Armies • Walls • Battles • Mountains • My accusers • Those who wish me harm • My opponents

What else would you add to either of these lists?

2 Samuel 22; Psalm 18 | 121/365

God’s Hatred of Yeast

Ever since the Passover we have been reading about unleavened bread. Yeast is not allowed! If you’re like me, you have likely been wondering why God has such an irrational abhorrence toward leaven.

Well, if you Google that you are likely to end up with several folks telling you that it is because of Paul’s teaching in Galations 5:9 that, “a little leaven, leavens the whole lump.” But in the words of Kevin McAllister… I don’t think so. I find it extremely unlikely that God was pointing to leaven as a metaphor for sin without ever explaining that metaphor for hundreds of years… long after these people who started the practice were dead.

Another — better — explanation you will get is that the Egyptians chased them out so quickly that the Israelites didn’t have time to leaven their bread and so the practice points back to the Passover in that way. (cf. Exodus 12:31) And this sounds reasonable, until you realize that just a few verses earlier God told the Israelites that they would need to observe the coming passover with unleavened bread before the Egyptians ever chased them off. So this always seemed unlikely to me.

I was stumped

But as I was talking with my wife about this, she casually suggested that God probably just wanted the bread to be a special symbol. Talk about a lightbulb moment! The bread was set apart!

Think about it. You know that Passover is coming, so you are going to make a special, unleavened loaf. A loaf that was, from its inception, always meant for a sacred purpose. You were not going to grab a loaf off the shelf that was already made for something else and repurpose it! This bread would be set aside for God.

God doesn’t deserve our “sloppy seconds”. He deserves forethought and intentionality. Ponder that thought as you consider what you offer to God in terms of your time, talent, and resources.

Levitius 9-11 | 050/365

Making It Right

There is much todo about sin throughout the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). And much of it is sin against God. The things we do that are an affront to Him and His law. But God isn’t simply worried about how we treat Him, but also how we treat each other.

In Leviticus 6 God gives Moses specific instruction regarding the mistreatment of each other. The Lord specifically cites cheating, security deposits, stealing, fraud, lost property, and lying under oath. Then He hits Moses with that catchall of “or any other such sin”. God was deeply concerned that we deal fairly with each other.

But what’s interesting is not that God says these things are sins, but rather what He says we are expected to do about it. The pattern so far has been sin:offering, sin:offering, sin:offering. So naturally that’s what we expect to see here, but it is not. Because there is a crucial difference. We are not committing a sin against God that ONLY requires an offering, we are committing a sin against a fellow image-bearer of God, a member of our community of faith. We cannot simply give an offering to God and dust our hands of the situation.

God says explicitly that we have to make it right first. Give back what you stole, took, found, or obtained. AND THEN add 20% on top. It is not enough that we seek to get right with God while there is still a matter outstanding with our sisters and brothers. We are called to go over and above to make it right, and only THEN do we go to God for the final forgiveness.

This is an act of contrition, repentance, and reconciliation. How can we stand before God and claim to be sorry while the person we wronged is left hurting? It isn’t possible. We need to make it right before we can make it right.

Leviticus 4-6 | 048/365

The Stand-In

Just a quick note today; It is fascinating to me that when God visits destruction upon the land of Egypt by sending an angel of death to take the lives of all the firstborn sons, He told the Israelites how to avoid this fate. By marking their doorposts. And so these firstborn sons were spared.

And after this, the Lord said that all firstborn sons were to be offered to Him (and obviously purchased back with another offering), recognizing that the most valuable “first fruits” were the Lord’s.

On an apologetic note, this isn’t because God finds males to be more valuable than females, it’s merely because the PEOPLE at that time (and for a great many years to follow, sadly) valued the males more than the females, and the firstborn were the elite of that group as well.

Anyhow, here again we see foreshadowing of Jesus, as the Lord no longer requires the firstborn male of each family be offered to Him. Instead the Levites (the priests) will stand in for the firstborns.

Hmmm… a firstborn priest who will stand in our place. Very interesting!

Don’t take for granted the price paid to purchase you! God loves you very much. And go share that love with someone else this weekend!

Numbers 8:1-9:14, Leviticus 1:1-3:17 | 047/365

Digging Deeper

Leviticus often gets a bad rap for being “boring”. Disagree. Leviticus is drastically underrated. Numbers, however, I am fully ready to admit can seem like a slog at times. Today’s passage is a prime example of just that. Upon first reading this can be a dry, repetitive list seemingly without any purpose. But I think there are several things we can pull out of today’s chunk. This is sort of a potpourri, but next year I’ll go deeper on one of them. haha

1) The Tabernacle and its furnishings have been set aside for the Lord, but now they are anointed for that purpose. Much like the Levites themselves are anointed before the people for service to the Lord, so too are the instruments of that service. Why would this ceremony be necessary?

2) When God speaks to Moses, He speaks from the Place of Atonement, the Mercy Seat atop the Ark. This underscores not God’s holiness, justice, or provision… but His mercy. Why is that what He chooses to highlight?

3) All 12 tribes come on consecutive days to bring the exact same offering. And each is counted out in meticulous detail. Why is it important that all members of the community of faith are contributing to the work of the faith with the same devotion and giving?

4) The tribes of Judah, Issachar, Zubulun, Reuben, and Simeon are the first to bring their offerings. These presentations do not follow birth order… so what (if anything) is the significance to this order? Perhaps worth noting that the first 5 tribes are all the direct descendants of Jacob’s first wife, Leah. What does this signal about marriage?

5) Of all the tribes, Judah is first to offer. What do we know about the future of the tribe of Judah that might make this noteworthy?

We could still look at the animals, ages, genders, weights, materials, contents, etc. What I’m saying is: don’t settle for a surface reading. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training to equip us for every good work.

Numbers 7 | 046/365

Black Sabbath

Exodus 35:2 (NET) says, “In six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there must be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of complete rest to the Lord. Anyone who does work on it will be put to death.”

Woah, coming in strong there!

Why?

Well, God is continually exhorting the Israelites not to make treaties and negotiate with other nations. Typically such treaties were sealed with marriages where a daughter from one side would marry a son on the other. This made a family bond. And families will be influenced by their members in both directions. This is just how it works.

And the Israelites seemed to be a special case. They did not even need any more outside influences. Moses was gone for 40 days and in that time they invented a new god to worship! Exceptional. So they have this Sabbath day, a weekly reminder of their covenant with God Almighty. And anyone who decides that they want to break covenant with God and the people of Israel is to be put to death. This — shocking as it might appear to us today — was for self-preservation. Israel had a difficult-enough time staying faithful to God with outside distractions and wandering minds, let alone if one of their own members was actively breaking the faith.

And while Sabbath adherence is not required under the New Covenant, it is still a good, valuable, and highly recommended practice. Work can become an idol. It can become our identity. That is a danger, and a real one, but simply having a day off will not protect our spiritual lives. Shopping, errands, kids sports and camps, birthday parties, and other commitments can eat up that day off to the point where we no longer “have time” for God. And our day of rest for the Lord become a day of service to ourselves.

Protect your time with God. As you press into the Lord, you will find clarity and direction in other areas of your life. And if you don’t, your heart will grow cold towards Him and ultimately you will turn away from Him and your path to the grave will be set. And in that way if we do not set aside time for the Lord, we will be put to death — ironically enough — by our own hand.

Exodus 35-36 | 043/365

Made For A Purpose

God has given Moses a long, heavily detailed description of the alter, ark, tabernacle, garments, incense, and other items (Did Moses have a notebook? iPhone? Palm Pilot?) that each require a significant amount of skill. And this is where the story gets interesting:

In Exodus 31 God tells Moses (not the other way around) that He has specially equipped a couple of guys for some of these specific tasks. Highly capable craftsmen. This would have been a skill they had possessed and developed all through their lives. But wait, it gets better! Exodus 31:6b says:

“Moreover, I have given special skill to all the gifted craftsmen so they can make all the things I have commanded you to make”

As a youth pastor I would often deal with students who were insecure and dealt with identity and confidence issues. “I’m not good enough” was such a common phrase that I wish I had been paid to hear it. But I became fond of telling these students — and I think it applies to all of us — that God has made you the way He needs you to be to accomplish His purposes. Let me say that again so you don’t let it go too quickly…

God has made you the way He needs you to be to accomplish His purposes.

Don’t measure yourself against a someone else who has an ability you wish you had. All that does is make you feel poorly about yourself. Rather, develop the gifts and skills that God HAS given you, so that when you get the call to use those skills you are ready to roll.

“[Because God has] given [you] special skill to [… do] all the things [He has] commanded you to [do].

Be blessed, walking in the confidence of a God who made you fearfully and wonderfully.

Exodus 29-31 | 041/365

Weak Leadership

Intro

Today I want to share a few quick, but important thoughts about the commissioning of Moses in the book of Exodus. Please turn to Exodus 3 in your Bibles. We will be reading selected portions from chapters 3 & 4.

Objection #1 | Exodus 3:9–12 NKJV

9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

12 So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

The first thing that jumps out at me in this section is that it’s recorded that God hears and God sees. God is not unaware of what is happening, He recognizes that action is needed, but God also isn’t going to poorly execute some half-baked plan just to get it done now! We can get rushy-rushy sometimes. And that can come back to burn us later. In fact, we’ll stick that in our pockets because it’ll matter in a little bit.

But before we get to that, this is where we see Moses’ first objection to being sent. He essentially says Pharaoh is too important for me to talk to. You should probably get another head of state to take care of this. I’m probably not your guy, says Moses.

So what was God’s response? The same as his response is today, I am with you. He doesn’t puff Moses up with some nonsense about finding the power inside you or whatever new-age nonsense the world likes to conjure up these days. God says that He is with Moses, and if he’ll trust God, he’ll return to this very mountain with all the Israelites to worship the Lord after they are freed from Egypt!

Objection #2 | Exodus 3:13–14 NKJV

13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”

14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

Well, Moses responds, how will the Israelites know which God I am referring to? There are so many. This whole thing is just too confusing. Maybe we should call this off.

God’s reply is so direct and powerful that it still hits hard to this very day. He replies tell them that I AM WHO I AM has sent you. This phrase in the Hebrew is actually tenseless. It means not merely “I Am”, but also “I was” and “I will be”. God it not merely saying that He is the God who is, but the God who was, who is, and who ever will be. Long before these other gods were invented by man, and long after they die with their worshippers, the God who was from eternity past and will be forevermore continues to stand. The One, True, Only God. THAT is who sends you!

Objection #3 | Exodus 4:1–8 NKJV

1 Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ”

2 So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

He said, “A rod.”

3 And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), 5 “that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

6 Furthermore the Lord said to him, “Now put your hand in your bosom.” And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow. 7 And He said, “Put your hand in your bosom again.” So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh. 8 “Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign.

Moses now switches to the Israelites; You know, that sounds great and all… and I totally get it, but they’re not going to buy it. They’re a skeptical people, Lord. Maybe someone with a little more gravitas should tackle this project!

Moses essentially telling God that He might be guessing wrong on this one. Now, it’s easy to point the finger at Moses and say he’s a big, dumb, stupid-head for this, but have you ever felt like God was calling you to do something, only to question if it could really be like He says. Do we ever push back on God saying, well, Lord, did you consider this thing or that thing? We’re not so different from Moses.

And again, how does God respond? A simple question: What do you have in your hand?

A rod. A simple shepherd’s staff. We always think we need something else before we can do what God is calling us into. If we were pressed to say what that thing was we probably couldn’t solidly define it, but we would know for sure that whatever it is, we don’t currently have it. I had a dear brother come to me not so long ago, concerned about a character trait of his, saying that this thing was a hindrance to his effectiveness for the Lord. BALDERDASH! Just because you’re too trusting, or too skeptical, or too emotional, or too emotionless, or whatever that does not mean that the Lord can’t work through you! Maybe He wants to change that trait, or maybe He has equipped you with that because there is a need you will be able to meet that someone else wont. Our God is not so weak that He can only work through perfect vessels! If that was true we would never get to participate in anything!

And that simple shepherd’s staff — by the way — would win over the Israelites, demonstrate God’s power to the Egyptian Royal Court, call down God’s wrath on the Egyptian nation, provide deliverance through the Red Sea for God’s people, bring water from a stone, and preside over military victories for the Israelites. The tool isn’t nearly as important as whose hands it is in!

Objection #4 | Exodus 4:10–12 NKJV

10 Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

11 So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

Moses’ next attempt is to say, well, Lord, it occurs to me in this moment that perhaps my eloquence is insufficient to the task at hand and my rhetorical skills are found lacking when compared to the present need. Seriously. Moses tries to tell God that he ain’t so good on words. The same man who Stephen describes like this in Acts 7:22, “Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds”. This, by the way, was 40 YEARS before the events we are now reading about in Exodus 4. Moses must have really lost a step during that span.

But even so, what is God’s response? He says, “I made you and every other person that walks the face of the earth! I made you the way you are, so I know exactly how you work! Besides, even if you were Oscar Wilde, it would only be because I made you that way!”

God made you who you need to be to accomplish what He has called you to. The important part is submission to the commission.

Objection #5 | Exodus 4:13–17 NKJV

13 But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”

14 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. 16 So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. 17 And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”

Finally Moses voices his actual objection. Lord… I just don’t want to. We see that Moses was not ruled and let by the Lord, but by fear. Not by the spirit, but by the flesh. But the question is why? He has seen, just in the last several minutes, miracles performed by God. Why the hesitation? Why decline the blessing of God, just because you don’t want the responsibility that comes with it?

Remember we put the the rushy-rushy tendency in our pockets earlier? Let’s bring it back out a we bring this plane in for a landing. When we feel like we can do something under our own power, we often do. We don’t consult God or ask for His help because we’ve got this one.

This is what Moses did. He stepped in to help a fellow Israelite 40 years ago and it lead to the death of an Egyptian man. This led to Moses fleeing Egypt for his life, despite being the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. It’s no wonder he felt gun-shy about going down that road again. But what was the difference? God was not with Him the first time. Moses was out there trying to ‘make it happen’ on his own. We need to be reliant on God and have our plans held loosely, so He can take them from us if that is His desire.

Conclusion

Make no mistake. You are called into places of leadership. Even if it is just within your family. That being the case, what can we learn from this conversation between Moses and God?

There are a great many ways we can feel inadequate. 1) I’m not qualified 2) I’m not authorized 3) People won’t accept me 4) I’m not perfect 5) I’m scared.

But what does God do in each case? Does He slap Moses in the back of the head and kick Him our the door? No, God equips Moses!

1) Not qualified? I’ll equip you! 2) No authorized? I’ve sent you! 3) People won’t accept you? I’ll open the doors! 4) Not perfect? I made you who you are! 5) Scared? I will bring people to support you.

So then, let’s cast our burden unto the Lord and step out into the roles He has called us to full of faith and confidence in the Lord who was, is, and ever will be to carry us through. If you bring your fears and insecurities to God He won’t yell at you, He won’t belittle you, He will equip you for the work ahead. Let God equip you rather than bearing your stuggles and burdens alone! Now I’ll open the floor. Let’s go around and see what hit each of us from today’s passage.

The sermon was originally preached at Mountain Springs Calvary Chapel in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on Tuesday, February 6, 2024.

Not a Hoof!

The temptation to compromise can be a strong one. We feel that God has called us to do something and we push toward that goal, ultimately settling for most of it. That’s pretty good, right? Close enough.

Growing up, my mother often said (and I often quote her), “‘Good enough’ never is.”

We see that in the… negotiation between Moses and Pharaoh. Moses wants all everyone to go. Pharaoh says “No.” Moses pushes as the Lord instructs him to and Pharaoh says, “Ok, but just the men”. Moses pushes as the Lord instructs him to and Pharaoh says, “Ok, but no livestock!”. Finally, GOD pushes and Pharaoh (and the Egyptians) say(s), “Go! Oh, and also take our silver and gold!”

The first Passover didn’t involved Moses or Aaron waving their staffs or smacking the water, this one was all God. Moses, empowered and emboldened by the call of God took the ball to the 10 yard line (to use a football analogy), but it was God Himself who carried it in for a touchdown.

We often feel like we need to do it. We can accept that God tells us where He wants us to be, but we need to get there under our own power and strength. And when we feel like it’s on us, that’s when the temptation to compromise seeps in. We got so close, let’s just leave the livestock behind! Take the exit presented to us!

But Moses staunchly refuses. He knows God is going to see this thing through and fulfill His promise 100%. We need to have the same trust. God wouldn’t call you to go 100 miles if He really wanted you to go 93 miles. When you come to the end of yourself, that’s when the power, and strength, and glory of the Lord shines through. That’s when He carries us. So the next time you feel tempted to throw in the towel and settle for less than God has called you into… don’t deprive yourself of the fullness of His blessing, instead resolutely stand up and say, “Not a hoof can be left behind!”

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