Community First

(I've finished Leviticus and am now reading my way through Numbers. Today I've read Numbers chapters 1-2. How about you join me in reading the Bible today?)

Numbers 1:1-4 NLT

A year after Israel’s departure from Egypt, the Lord spoke to Moses in the Tabernacle in the wilderness of Sinai. On the first day of the second month of that year he said, “From the whole community of Israel, record the names of all the warriors by their clans and families. List all the men twenty years old or older who are able to go to war. You and Aaron must register the troops, and you will be assisted by one family leader from each tribe.

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First things first, I'm convinced that for the most part the Bible should be read as God's autobiographical manifesto. As Jesus said from Genesis through Malachi the scripture is about Him.

So when I read any portion of the whole I have to be careful to interpret the details with reference to God's plan.

For instance God's grace in salvation achieved in the death of Jesus is the guiding principle of God's strategy . So since grace is the protocol works and law must serve to expand our understanding of grace.

It is the prioritisation of God's value system that differentiates it from all of the other cheap and easily breakable pound store copies of God's program.

A simple understanding that grace always trumps over works clears up many misunderstandings and domineering false teachings.

I'm going to suggest that God's family always comes before the individual and the community is greater than the single person.

Jesus sets this example as he lays down his rights for the good of humanity. The last humanitarian thing an individual can do is be selfish.

Immigration reform needed in the home and heart

Think about your attitude to immigration, asylum seekers, and refugees. How does your practice and opinion compare to God's?

Schedule it

Today I read Leviticus chapters 21-23, why not read them today with me?
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Leviticus 23:2-4 NLT

“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. These are the Lord’s appointed festivals, which you are to proclaim as official days for holy assembly. “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly. It is the Lord’s Sabbath day, and it must be observed wherever you live. “In addition to the Sabbath, these are the Lord’s appointed festivals, the official days for holy assembly that are to be celebrated at their proper times each year.

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I'm a big one for putting it on the calendar. I like a plan. Oh to be sure I like spontaneity but I think being flexible works best in a framework or a structure. Alongside the details of plans, diaries and expectations I love to see the big picture. I like a good overview.

Life benefits from both a healthy analysis as well as a synthesis. Look at the parts and how each part works individually and from very limited perspectives. Then look at the whole, the trends the big picture and see the parts with in the whole.

Leviticus contains instructions about the details of seven national annual festivals or holidays (Holy Days). These days were in addition to the weekly Sabbath days.

So a Jewish community calendar would have a lot to look forward to. But also there was the expectation that like western Christmas lots of money went into these festivals. Nearly each one required specific sacrifices. Since the real daily commodity of life is food and nearly all the required festival sacrifices were food a family would have to plan.

No holiday is complete without a big meal so it was more than a double consideration that a portion of the best food would be taken to the tabernacle /temple as a sacrifice and then there were the hungry families to feed.

These regular frequent privileges and equally obligations required planning.

But ultimately God was teaching his people to be careful and regular about recognising him as thier provider,  protector, defender and rescuer.

I can see how the whole system might become rather expensive and difficult to keep up with. But God said he'd provide.

By giving up a portion of the best regularly and then celebrating lavishly God's people had inbuilt systems to keep them dependant on God.

Do you see God's provision? Are you completely dependant on him? Do you have in your life specific times to celebrate? Are you preparing to honour God with your first fruits and remembering his rescues?

How about putting it on a calendar?

Controversial and of another time?

Leviticus 18:1-5 NLT

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. I am the Lord your God. So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life. You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees, for I am the Lord your God. If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the Lord.

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"I am the Lord, " and" for I am the Lord your God. " are two constantly repeated phrases throughout what maybe arguably some of the most distasteful verses in the Bible. I say that it is distasteful for many reasons but to the uninitiated these three chapters of Leviticus refer to the actual sacrifice of humans. And not just any human sacrifice but the sacrifice of children by burning to death. Historical records from sources other than the Bible describe events where hundreds of children were killed at one time.

But to be fair, child sacrifice may be the most detestable reference in Leviticus chapters 18,19 and 20 but they are currently not the most controversial.

I want to really encourage you to read these chapters for yourself. But mostly to see the context and associations.

Ultimately my purpose today is to draw your attention to the overriding theme that underlines and punctuates these detestable and controversial behaviours.

Over and over God simply reminds his people that he is the Lord. He is adamant that as he lays out these prohibitions his people are clear He is God. There is not a lot of explanation, as to why particular behaviour is forbidden. What is crystal clear is that God is large and in charge.

This world is run by the Lord's agenda. He is God. God is making sure everyone knows the rules come from him.

God needs no other reason than he is. Are we God? No!

Who is God? The Lord is. So whatever has become of these commands for today and if you've not read them carefully you'll not be able to easily pick and choose what is still detestable out, from what is not currently relevant.

These three chapters are part of a whole. And the overriding and inescapable fact is that God is the author of these words.

You've got to ask yourself," What does God expect of me today?" How do I emphasis that I get He is Lord and God?

Forsaken

Mark 15:34 And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

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York Minister

Why would God the Father forsake Jesus, the Son of God? 

I find it interesting that today I published a blog consisting of a passage that's been sitting in my drafts from reading Exodus. The interesting thing is the contrast with this passage in Mark. Many have noted over the years that in every way Jesus is the perfect Israel. Jesus is the obedient son. Jesus kept the law fully as no man or woman had ever done and he did this without stumbling once. He is faultless in all ways. 

Yet here on the cross he is forsaken by the Father. Here on the cross Jesus assumes the position of the guilty. Jesus is suffering the full wrath of God. He faces death, mocking, torture rejection. But further, where we can not observe, Jesus is carrying the weight of our sin. All the evil of humanity past, present, and future is crushing Jesus. All the guilt, all the fear, all the pain is rending God's soul. 

Somehow Jesus the God man is actually suffering so that we can be made free. He is punished so we can be accepted and more than accepted we are imputed, attributed and blessed with the merit of his righteousness. 

Till the moment he dies it seems all humanity is hurling upon Jesus scorn, mocking, and abuse because he had made himself vulnerable. 

When in fact he is the all powerful, all knowing, compassionate, merciful, gracious, exacting, just judge of all mankind. 

And after he dies there on the cross people say he must be the Son of God. 

Why this change? 

Maybe we see it partially in Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph it says was looking for the Kingdom of God. This small commentary on the man who buries Jesus I believe is meant to say he found what he was looking for in Jesus. Joseph wasn't running away like the disciples earlier, nor standing at a distance like the women. Joseph found courage on Jesus' death. We too can find courage in the obedient son's ultimate act of courage. We can identify and let Jesus' death in fact be our own. When Joseph places Jesus in his tomb could it be he is saying this man died in my place so I have nothing to fear and no need to further prepare for my own death. 

Jesus had done it all. 

Mark 15

The Crucifixion

21And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. 22And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull).23And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. 24And they crucified him and divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. 25And it was the third hour when they crucified him. 26And the inscription of the charge against him read, "The King of the Jews." 27And with him they crucified two robbers, one on his right and one on his left. 29And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, 30save yourself, and come down from the cross!" 31So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we maysee and believe." Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.

The Death of Jesus

33And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. 34And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" 35And some of the bystanders hearing it said, "Behold, he is calling Elijah." 36And someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down." 37And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. 38And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God!"

40There were also women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. 41When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ministered to him, and there were also many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.

Jesus Is Buried

42And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, 43Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the Council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.44Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. 45And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. 46And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. 47Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

Lavish Love

Exodus 20:1-6 NLT

Then God gave the people all these instructions : “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. “You must not have any other god but me. “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.

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Jesus was obedient Israel but on the cross he was forsaken.

Creed of the Modern Thinker - Steve Turner From Matt Falzon's Facebook Status

Copied from my Friend Matt Falzon's Facebook Status today.

Creed of the Modern Thinker - Steve Turner

Matt Falzon

We believe in Marx, Freud,and Darwin We believe everything is OK as long as you don’t hurt anyone to the best of your definition of hurt, and to the best of your knowledge.

We believe in sex before, during, and after marriage. We believe in the therapy of sin. We believe that adultery is fun. We believe that sodomy’s OK. We believe that taboos are taboo.

We believe that everything’s getting better despite evidence to the contrary. The evidence must be investigated And you can prove anything with evidence.

We believe there’s something in horoscopes UFO’s and bent spoons. Jesus was a good man just like Buddha, Muhammed, and ourselves. He was a good moral teacher though we think His good morals were bad.

We believe that all religions are basically the same-at least the one that we read was. They all believe in love and goodness. They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

We believe that after death comes the Nothing Because when you ask the dead what happens they say nothing. If death is not the end, if the dead have lied, then its compulsory heaven for all excepting perhaps Hitler, Stalin, and Genghis Kahn

We believe in Masters and Johnson What’s selected is average. What’s average is normal. What’s normal is good.

We believe in total disarmament. We believe there are direct links between warfare and bloodshed. Americans should beat their guns into tractors. And the Russians would be sure to follow.

We believe that man is essentially good. It’s only his behavior that lets him down. This is the fault of society. Society is the fault of conditions. Conditions are the fault of society.

We believe that each man must find the truth that is right for him. Reality will adapt accordingly. The universe will readjust. History will alter. We believe that there is no absolute truth excepting the truth that there is no absolute truth.

We believe in the rejection of creeds, And the flowering of individual thought.

If chance be the Father of all flesh, disaster is his rainbow in the sky and when you hear

State of Emergency! Sniper Kills Ten! Troops on Rampage! Whites go Looting! Bomb Blasts School! It is but the sound of man worshiping his maker.

Life or death in God's presence!

Leviticus 16:1-2 NLT

1 The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron’s two sons, who died after they entered the Lord’s presence and burned the wrong kind of fire before him. 2 The Lord said to Moses, “Warn your brother, Aaron, not to enter the Most Holy Place behind the inner curtain whenever he chooses; if he does, he will die. For the Ark’s cover—the place of atonement—is there, and I myself am present in the cloud above the atonement cover.

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See why I worry about my children?
Emily Bode, Amy Westlake,
 Gwendolyn Bode, and Bethany Bode

I can't imagine How Aaron must have felt at the death of his two sons. We read in chapter 10 of Leviticus that Aaron remained silent when Moses explained God's reason for his two sons being consumed with fire from God's presence. I'm not sure you caught it but although the rest of the Israelites were allowed to mourn officially for the death of Nadab and Abihu, Aaron and the rest of his family and the Levites were not allowed to mourn.

The death of a child must be devastating. I worry nearly every day for the last 24 years about my children! And I've seen the grief parents have at the loss of their child up close and personal. Grief is important. Aaron was denied the normal outward signs involved in this process.

Now his brother, Moses is asked by God to speak to Aaron and warn him about his own vulnerability in the presence of God.

Leviticus is all about being able to have God's presence in the midst of his people! The presence of God is special. It is not ordinary. And for sinful people to be allowed to be in God's presence they have to be reminded they are sinful! They have to know all the ways in which they offend God. The people have to see that being close to God is a matter of life and death.

Ever since the garden of Eden, all men have been under a death sentence. And every sin confirms that they can not live in the presence of God. Something has to be done to turn around the reign of death over each and every person.

In the next chapter, God says that the only way that anyone can be made clean enough to be with him is to have someone or something give it's life in their place.

Leviticus 17:11 NLT ...for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible. 

Blood given in exchange for a life, All the dead animals in the sacrificial system, and  all the barbecues for God alone, were meant to demonstrate the serious life or death situation between God and man!

Your sin offends God. It stinks to him. It amounts to treason. Your rebellion is an affront to him. Your willful cocky disobedience deserves death! But God wants to be close to you. He wants you in his family. He made you to know him. He is worthy of being known. There is nothing other than you being in his presence and worshiping him that matters. And for God sake, get over yourself. He is holy. He is pure. He is righteous in everything he does. He is the all knowing one. He is the all seeing one. He is the all powerful one. He created you. How for a millisecond can you even think you know better? What makes you imagine for a moment that you are more righteous? How can you judge God? What makes you think you have all the information? Really you know very little. You are weak. You are not very clever. You are easily deceived and you need help.

So God has a plan to bring you into his presence eternally. And his plan involved Jesus blood, given in exchange for your life. 

So he warns you as Moses warned Aaron; Don't come into God's presence without an invitation, don't come at the wrong time and don't come without being made pure by the sacrifice of someone's blood or you will loose your life.

But you can come, safely and boldly because of Jesus.

Look at what Jude says more than a thousand years later:

Jude 1:24-25

New Living Translation (NLT)

A Prayer of Praise

24 Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. 25 All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.

And we can further see that although Aaron, the high priest had to be very careful and Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu lost their lives for their carelessness, We can come into god's presence boldly because of Jesus.

Hebrews 4:14-16 NLT Christ Is Our High Priest

14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Mildew from God

Leviticus 14:33-34 NLT (with a more complete passage below)

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “When you arrive in Canaan, the land I am giving you as your own possession, I may contaminate some of the houses in your land with mildew. 
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A problem with the bathroom plaster.

Leviticus has a lot of instructions in it. I've been reading through the book and finished chapter 14 this morning. So far there have been been rules about sacrifices, rules about blood, rules about sex, rules about eating and rules about skin diseases. In each case there are two considerations. One, how does this effect my me and others practically? What do I need to do to do the right thing or remedy the situation?

Two, how does this affect my relationship with God? What do I need to do to make sure ceremonially I can participate among God's people so I can be close to God and right before him.

As I was reading along it really stuck out to me, that God said he would give some people's houses mildew.

Now from experience, I can tell you mildew is not nice and I've pasted below more of God's instructions concerning mildew. But suffice it to say mildew can wreck your home.

So, I was a bit surprised that God so clearly took credit for this unexpected 'gift' of mildew. I think it is important to note this in no way appears to be a curse for sin. It is not connected with other commands or disobedience. Mildew isn't a reminder of an event in the people’s history. Mildew may or may not be easily recoverable from, but since you always have to remove all your belongings from your house it is always going to be an imposition.

Strangely there is no clever explanation, there isn't any lesson to be learned on the subtext.

Simply, some people will have mildew of varying degrees and it comes from God. It will always be an imposition and it could result in having to tear down the house and build a new one.

I want you to understand this is a rule that for the most part won't come into play for at least another 40 years since they'll wander living in tents for four more decades. So, this is a rule for the Promised Land.

In the animated classic film, An American Tale, Fival Mousekawitz's family and whole European Jewish 'cat'  ghetto sings that 'there are no cats in America'. But after many trials along the way the promised land of America turns out to have cats. Promised lands on this earth and in this time still have problems.

God sends mildew on people.

We're not ever going to be completely comfortable in this world. We are meant to look forward to another home, another city whose builder and maker is God.

A problem with the bathroom plaster.

Then we'll live mildew free.

Hebrews 11:9-10 NLT

And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.

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Leviticus 14:33-48 NLT

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “When you arrive in Canaan, the land I am giving you as your own possession, I may contaminate some of the houses in your land with mildew.  The owner of such a house must then go to the priest and say, ‘It appears that my house has some kind of mildew.’ Before the priest goes in to inspect the house, he must have the house emptied so nothing inside will be pronounced ceremonially unclean. Then the priest will go in and examine the mildew on the walls. If he finds greenish or reddish streaks and the contamination appears to go deeper than the wall’s surface, the priest will step outside the door and put the house in quarantine for seven days. On the seventh day the priest must return for another inspection. If he finds that the mildew on the walls of the house has spread, the priest must order that the stones from those areas be removed. The contaminated material will then be taken outside the town to an area designated as ceremonially unclean. Next the inside walls of the entire house must be scraped thoroughly and the scrapings dumped in the unclean place outside the town. Other stones will be brought in to replace the ones that were removed, and the walls will be replastered. “But if the mildew reappears after all the stones have been replaced and the house has been scraped and replastered, the priest must return and inspect the house again. If he finds that the mildew has spread, the walls are clearly contaminated with a serious mildew, and the house is defiled. It must be torn down, and all its stones, timbers, and plaster must be carried out of town to the place designated as ceremonially unclean. Those who enter the house during the period of quarantine will be ceremonially unclean until evening, and all who sleep or eat in the house must wash their clothing. “But if the priest returns for his inspection and finds that the mildew has not reappeared in the house after the fresh plastering, he will pronounce it clean because the mildew is clearly gone.

Two Sons Lost in Silence

 Leviticus 10:1-3 ESV

Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it and laid incense on it and offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, "This is what the Lord has said, "Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified." And Aaron held his peace.

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Are you ready for yours? (Picture taken at University of Sheffield Student Union)

Nadab and Abihu were consumed by fire that came out from the presence of the Lord. Two men died in the brand new tabernacle. Aaron's two oldest sons were chosen by God to work in a privileged position near to the very presence of God. But along with the highly exalted position came a life and death seriousness.

We all far too readily dismiss death. Nadab and his brother had witnessed God's rescue of his people from the Egyptians. They escaped the death angel in Egypt because of their obedience. They walked through the Red Sea on dry land. Nadab and Abihu drank the water of gold dust from the ground golden calf. Nadab and his brother were among the Levites who killed 3,000 Israelites at the Lord's command because of wrath at the golden calf incident. These two men had participated in the preparations of the tabernacle all according to God's plan, and they had been purified for seven days previous. We need to see that these two men would have been considered good men up until this event. In fact they were really leaders numbers three and four, right under Moses and Aaron. Also considering the age of Moses and Aaron and the number of children they had and the fact these guys were Aaron's oldest, we can guess they were mature adult men well along in life.

Are you seeing the picture? Nadab and Abihu are two respected important older men with a track record of doing serious good and seeing God's amazing acts and exacting holiness. Furthermore they were very near the presence of God. And on the surface it appears as though they are at least trying to do something to honour God.

But the passage had some clues as to why they were struck down dead.

Firstly, Leviticus outlines for us the sacrificial system that God had laid out for the people to be holy. Animals died in great numbers to remind the people that death is the result of sin.

And every time another step in the new system was revealed to Moses and carried out by Moses, Aaron, the priests and the people, it is punctuated by the phrase, 'as the Lord commanded.' God had a plan, and it was important, deathly imperative, that things were done God's way. Any other way was sin.

Nadab and Abihu did something that was not according to God's instructions. They were in the presence of God and they were presuming to somehow add to God's plan. Or they possibly had too much to drink and their judgment had been impaired.

That's possibly implied by the following verses a little later,

Leviticus 10:8-11 ESV

And the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, "Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them by Moses."

All too often I'm afraid we are guilty of making it up!  We've not been very careful about keeping our desires and opinion clear from God's command.

Interestingly there is a pattern of God's severity when setting things up. Later when the spies return from Canaan and ten of them give a bad report, all ten die. During David's kingship when they are setting up the temple again by moving the ark of God's covenant, Uzzah reaches out to steady the ark while being transported on a cart, and he is struck dead. Much later as the church is just getting started and we become a living temple, Ananias and Sapphira lie about their gift and God strikes them down dead.

Every day God wants to do a new thing in you. Your Father in heaven chooses to dwell in you, and together with other Christians, you are the temple of God.

But unlike the first tabernacle, we have the once and for all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. But this is the only way to be safe in the presence of God. Oh friends, do not be lax in trusting Jesus alone.
Don't invent your own way. 

Don't come under the under the influence of any spirit but God's Holy Spirit.

We must see God as holy. He is wholly other. He is pure. Only His ways are acceptable. This is a life or death issue.

When I Wait On You

This track by the Daughters of Davis really inspires hope in me. I hope it does in you too.

http://open.spotify.com/track/4iaKBTC4QcQY94YCdKhL65

Pain

Pain gets your attention! I've had a tooth ache for the last few days. This morning the pain volume is at a deafening level. Pain drowns out all the other voices that usually cry out for attention each day. I got up and applied every remedy I thought might bring relief. There is the anti sensitive tooth mouthwash, the oragel for the gums, clove oil fit the tooth, and co-codamal for the brain. But until the counter attack of anti pain barrage takes affect the tooth is sapping my sanity. I'm asking for relief, I'm praying for a rescue.

LEV 1:14-17 NIV

“ ‘If the offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, you are to offer a dove or a young pigeon. The priest shall bring it to the altar, wring off the head and burn it on the altar; its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar. He is to remove the crop and the feathers and throw them down east of the altar where the ashes are. He shall tear it open by the wings, not dividing it completely, and then the priest shall burn it on the wood that is burning on the altar. It is a burnt offering, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

Recentred

(selected verses from Psalm 119)

Psalm119:72-74, 81-84, 89-92, 96 NLT

Your instructions are more valuable to me than millions in gold and silver. You made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands. May all who fear you find in me a cause for joy, for I have put my hope in your word. I am worn out waiting for your rescue, but I have put my hope in your word. My eyes are straining to see your promises come true. When will you comfort me? I am shriveled like a wineskin in the smoke, but I have not forgotten to obey your decrees. How long must I wait? When will you punish those who persecute me? Your eternal word, O Lord, stands firm in heaven. Your faithfulness extends to every generation, as enduring as the earth you created. Your regulations remain true to this day, for everything serves your plans. If your instructions hadn’t sustained me with joy, I would have died in my misery. Even perfection has its limits, but your commands have no limit.

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In G. K. Chesterton's brief but pithy book, Orthodoxy I've often found sanity. Chesterton illustrates the rationality of common faith in God. Through stories or elaborate senerios the book convinced me to centre my reason outside myself. Ultimately I am a poor starting point for my reality.

The author of Psalm 119 is convinced of many things. Primarily the Psalmist is sure of the absolute necessity of God's word but he quite rightly doubts himself.

As I read this passage I'm reminded of the rock solid things and caused to doubt the insecure.

For instance God is the creator isn't up for grabs. It is a given! Or the shakiness of our own personal faith is set against the clarity of God's unmoveable word.

Psalm 119 really casts into question nearly all the supposed givens of this world. Money isn't as valuable as God's word. There is no debate or lack of clarity on this point. But the writer's own faith is expressed as needing assistance. People of 'faith' are often offended if you question thier faith and even respond with strong emotion when they are questioned. We don't need to defend ourselves, especially when the truth is we are the least sure thing there is.

But that isn't too say we don't have a role as people who are convinced of God's word and it's absolute surety. The penman of Psalm 119 knew he could bring others joy through his faith in God's word. We all to often are prone to protecting the indefeasible and then throwing the baby out with the bath water. Just because we see the frailties of our self and our own faith we don't have to assume God is not there nor that we have no role. We can both view ourselves with healthy scepticism and be at once confident of God's ability. We can be sure of His ability to rescue and still cry out in anguish intensely in need of the rescue.

According to Psalm 119 the pain of life does not negate the sovereignty of God's plan. And the complexity of need did not unseat God as creator and sustainer.

I really resonate with this portion of the Bible. I highly recommend that you read the whole of this Psalm. I'd be very encouraged to hear from you what you make of it. I wonder if you too find the logic of  this author refreshing and surprisingly lucid but markedly different from what we hear so readily from the world around us. It can be very reassuring to be different.

Are you ready to remove yourself from the centre of your logic.

The greatest hidden miracle?

Exodus 39:32-43 NIV

So all the work on the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, was completed. The Israelites did everything just as the Lord commanded Moses. Then they brought the tabernacle to Moses: the tent and all its furnishings, its clasps, frames, crossbars, posts and bases; the covering of ram skins dyed red and the covering of another durable leather and the shielding curtain; the ark of the covenant law with its poles and the atonement cover; the table with all its articles and the bread of the Presence; the pure gold lampstand with its row of lamps and all its accessories, and the olive oil for the light; the gold altar, the anointing oil, the fragrant incense, and the curtain for the entrance to the tent; the bronze altar with its bronze grating, its poles and all its utensils; the basin with its stand; the curtains of the courtyard with its posts and bases, and the curtain for the entrance to the courtyard; the ropes and tent pegs for the courtyard; all the furnishings for the tabernacle, the tent of meeting; and the woven garments worn for ministering in the sanctuary, both the sacred garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons when serving as priests.  The Israelites had done all the work just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Moses inspected the work and saw that they had done it just as the Lord had commanded. So Moses blessed them.

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People prize things.

Crossing the Red Sea was quite the miracle. But I'm inclined to see the building of the tabernacle as an even greater miracle.

To be sure there were a lot of people (maybe  more than a million) and since they were facing a wet wide deep sea they had their proverbial backs against the wall. There were ducks, cows, sheep, horses, chickens, and all manner of livestock. Then there was the large load of swag. Everybody had a looters paradise of booty. Wonderful to possess but a pig to transport. And lastly there was an army with horses and chariots in hot pursuit intent on getting back the contents of the of their mattresses, closets and safety deposit boxes. So the Israelites had a big motivation to exit stage left and make like a tree and leave.
The rest of the story is well known rehearsed and sung about for many millenia. Dry crossing was provided by God for the Israelites as a trap to bury Pharaoh's army, horses, chariots and at the bottom of the sea in Davy Jones' locker.

But think about it everyone was highly motivated by survival and treasure! A combination that has kept the laziest focused and active.

Now consider the tabernacle. First miracle is that God's people give so much by way of  building materials the workers have to ask Moses to stop the people. Unbridled generosity is rare in an individual and then to see a band of refugees give up more than a ton of gold, and absolutely train loads of other materials willingly is unprecedented and unparalleled. Take for instance the bronze basin recorded for us and paraphrased by Eugene Peterson in the Message (Exodus 38:8 MSG)

He made the Bronze Washbasin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the women's work group who were assigned to serve at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

Thier mirrors would have been highly valued items, often used and greatly desirable.

Then there's the fact the tabernacle was finished exactly according to plan, on time and with a budget surplus.

There were no overruns, nothing over budget, all the required skill was procured in house nothing had to be subbed out to another nation.

With so many people working on a project in the middle of no where makes the US Navy sea bees look like complete armatures.
And everything fit. And worked together. Neither the function nor the artistry was compromised. Every detail was finely crafted.

And why? These people complained about food, water, wandering, Moses' extended quiet time and they made the golden calf idol to worship thereby breaking the first simple rule they were given.

The tabernacle didn't feed them, it didn't increase their wealth. Most of them would never see the pretty parts of the tabernacle.

On every level this tabernacle project defies logic and human nature.

Truly this was one of the most extraordinary miracles ever recorded in human history.

Oh and it wasn't completed by taxing the people nor by commanding or coercion.

Exodus 35:29 NLT

So the people of Israel—every man and woman who was eager to help in the work the Lord had given them through Moses—brought their gifts and gave them freely to the Lord .

This could be the greatest miracle in all of Exodus.

Has God done anything like this in your heart, or in your church?

Hate bribes

Exodus 18:20-22 NLT

Teach them God’s decrees, and give them his instructions. Show them how to conduct their lives. But select from all the people some capable, honest men who fear God and hate bribes. Appoint them as leaders over groups of one thousand, one hundred, fifty, and ten. They should always be available to solve the people’s common disputes, but have them bring the major cases to you. Let the leaders decide the smaller matters themselves. They will help you carry the load, making the task easier for you.

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Disputes come with the territory. People, even God's people, maybe especially God's people, have a keen sense of injustice. Everyone knows when they have been wronged. Well at least everyone knows when they feel like fairness hasn't been observed in their behalf. Seems one of the first phrases a child declares with passion is, 'that's not fair'.
And who do we imagine will right the wrong? At first it is our parents. But then it is innate that we appeal to leaders for justice.
"Billy took my toy!, " we cry expecting our toy to be returned and maybe Billy will get a good thrashing so he'll not take my toy again.
We long for mediators who will dispense fair, considered, impartial, wise justice.

I think one of the first interesting things in this passage is that this was not a particularly democratic process. Moses chooses these intermediaries. Next I've observed that as Moses chooses he determines the level of responsibility each leader will have from a handful of people to a thousand.

But what stands out most to me is the relativity short list of relevant criteria.

• Capable 
• Honest 
• Fear God 
• Hate bribes

Dispensing justice requires capability. There is a skill or talent that enables some persons as capable.

Then next in the list is a character trait, possibly a reputation of honesty. A person in leadership whose role it is to dispense justice has to love the truth, they must be without a practice of lying. It is interesting that the primary character trait of arguably one of the greatest presidents in American history was honesty. It has been passed down through the years that he was even known for the practice of honesty so much that he was nicknamed, 'Honest Abe.'
I wonder could it be that actually there are only two requirements on this list stated first positively and then reiterated negatively.

Cable = fear God
Honest  = hate bribes

It was not an uncommon literary device of Moses' people or time to emphasis by restating the points in opposite ways, or by building the point.

We'd do well to consider the possibly that real capability in leadership, particularly in dispensing justice, comes from the humility of  knowing your place before God. The Fear of God the Bible says is the starting blocks of wisdom.

And valuing the truth over personal gain is foundational. I've once heard it said that leadership requires an insight into the trajectory of truth. I'd heartily agree, that a person that sees the tangled web that is woven through deception will at all cost avoid the peril of entrapment and the demise of entanglements with bribes and lies.

For ultimately God knows exactly what has happened. God has seen both the action and the intent of your heart. Nothing has escaped God's view and God will ultimately dispense justice. The capable leader will be acutely aware that justice is not some subjective abstract concept but rather is deeply rooted in the person of God. And further that it has been imprinted on the human heart with the image of God given at creation.

First trust God to give you justice.
Secondly, pray for mercy!