Another Branch on the Tree, Week 9 Day 5, Ruth 4

Another Branch on the Tree, Week 9 Day 5, Ruth 4

So after a whirl wind romance / business negotiation, it’s decided that Boaz and Ruth will be married.  Doesn’t seem like much of a romance story by modern standards.  But by the standards of their day, it was pretty darn romantic.

Boaz finds the man in line ahead of him to marry Ruth.  Together they meet with ten elders.  He calls out the man and explains to him the situation.  Naomi is selling the land and but the rules of kinsman redeemer it’s up to him to buy them and “redeem” Naomi and Ruth in the process.  Yeah, the women and the property are a package deal in the rules of their day.  Not exactly how we do things today, but they don’t live today.  They live then. 

The guy who is first in line balks at the deal.  He would have to marry Ruth and provide an heir to continue that family name.  Concerned with how this would impact his current estate, he offers the land and the women to Boaz, by taking off his sandal.  Like I said, different times, different customs.

So Boaz completes the deal and announces to all the he has bought the property and with it will take Ruth the Moabitess was his wife.  This will assure that the family name will continue.  Not only that, the elders and all gathered proclaim, “We are witnesses.  May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel.”  That is a high blessing. 

And what a blessing.  Boaz and Ruth have a son, Obed.  Obed will be the father of Jesse.  And Jesse will be the father of David, King David!”  And Ruth, the Moabite is remembered forever.  In Matthew 1:5 she is listed in genealogy of Jesus.  Ruth, the foreigner.  Ruth a woman.  Ruth is listed in the genealogy of the Savior.   All because she said, “Your God will be my God.” And because a man named Boaz took on the role of kinsman redeemer.  Oh, and Boaz’s mother was Rahab, not a Israelite by birth, but another women who decided to follow God.

God keeps taking those who aren’t a part of the story and bringing them in.  Both these women were from the enemies of Israel.  But that doesn’t matter.  Once again, it isn’t where you’re from.  It isn’t about where you were born or your nationality.  It’s all about who is your god.  Who do you follow?  What god do you commit your life to?  These women decide to follow God.  And God brought them in with opens arms.

God, it’s exciting to see how reach out to those who aren’t a part of Your story.  A simple choice to follow You.  A decision to give a life to You.  And those making that choice become a part of Your family.  It’s not about having the right parents.  It’s not about being born in the right place.  It’s not about living the right kind of life.  It’s about a choice, a decision to claim You as our God.  A decision and a choice to follow You.  Then just like Rahab, Just like Ruth, we can become a part of Your family.  Thanks for inviting us all to join.  Amen

Leonard

Two Ways to Read This One, Week 9 Day 4, Ruth 3

Two Ways to Read This One, Week 9 Day 4, Ruth 3

There are a couple of different ways that you can read or interpret this passage.  I don’t think which interpretation you choose really changes what happens in the story.  But it might change how you feel about characters.

 So, I’ll be blunt, and you children may want to leave the room for a moment.  One school of thought is that Naomi is telling Ruth to sleep with Boaz.  And that is what Ruth does.  Basically, men would have gone to the threshing floor during the harvest.  Prostitutes would know this and would go there to sleep with the men.  Naomi is basically telling Ruth to take advantage of that social convention and catch herself a Boaz as it were.

The another possible interpretation is that Naomi is telling Ruth to quit mourning the death of her husband and to make sure that Boaz knows that she is now available for marriage.  The idea is that she should clean herself up, take off her clothes of mourning, put on her best everyday clothes, and meet with Boaz. She’s not presenting herself to him for sex, but instead she is demonstrating that she is now once again ready for marriage.  I lean towards this interpretation, but I’m really not enough of an Old Testament scholar to give a definitive statement.  Since there’s disagreement on how to interpret this part of the story, perhaps no one can give a definitive answer.

There seems to be two very different interpretations.  And honestly there are a few other possible interpretations too.  How can I say that it doesn’t really matter?

In the last chapter it seems that Boaz at least has a favorable view of Ruth.  He thinks well of her.  He provides for her physical safety and financial well being.  And perhaps he is interested in her.  But their customs for meeting and engagements are so different from ours, we need to be careful to not project our modern dating, engagement and marriage customs onto their story.  Their relationship is guided and ruled by the time and society in which they live, not ours.

When Ruth goes to Boaz he is clearly taken with her.  It seems as though she a fair bit younger than him.  He is flattered that she would present herself to him and not a younger man. And apparently, whatever did or didn’t happen that night, they find the relationship mutually agreeable.  And for that time this is a romance story worthy of note.  A man and women’s marriage would generally be arranged by the parents and not left to something as “silly” and romance and personal choice.  Or it would be decided by the rules of kinsman redeemer.  And under those rules Ruth should marry another man.  There is another man who is first in line to marry Ruth.  So Boaz has some work to do.  Boaz goes off to see if that man will let Boaz take his place.

In Old Testament terms this is a story of great romance, but it’s a bit hard to see that with the eyes or our culture.  Ruth chooses Boaz.  Boaz chooses Ruth.

Again with the choosing.   Apparently God is big on choosing.  How can a God who is sovereign, a God who knows everything that has happened and will happen, how can that God create a world where a widow and an older man can choose each other?  I don’t know. But here it is.  They get to choose, or at least they will get to choose if they figure out how to get around the guy who is first in line for Ruth’s hand in marriage.

Sometimes we don’t have a choice.  Sometimes we do.  Ruth and Boaz had a choice.  They choose each other going against the conventions of their day.  We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see how it all works out.

God, thank You that You give us choices.  Sometimes You let us chose even when society says that we shouldn’t.  Sometimes You insist, but not all the time.  That messes with my theology.  That messes with my preconceived notions of who and what You are.  But I’m glad.  I’m glad because You’ve left room for Ruth and Boaz to chose each other.   And You’ve given me the greatest choice, the ability to choose You.  Amen

Leonard

Kinsman Redeemer - Ohana, Week 9 Day 3, Ruth 2

Kinsman Redeemer - Ohana, Week 9 Day 3, Ruth 2

You won’t catch me saying this very often but on occasion, every very once in a while, Disney gets downright Biblical.  And in the oddest places, like Lilo & Stitch.  “Ohana means family, and family means nobody gets left behind, or forgotten”

Some things from the cultures of Old Testament days really don’t have a modern day equivalent.  Kinsman redeemer would definitely be one of those.  But “Ohana” comes pretty close.

Basically it means that the family, or in this case, the extended family or clan takes care of their own.  If a woman from the clan is widowed and without sons to take care of her, the closest relative to her deceased husband from the family or clan is supposed to marry her and provide an heir to take care of her and preserve the family name.  If someone from the clan has sold themselves into slavery and is unable to work their way out, the closest relative is supposed to pay for their freedom.  If their property has been lost and they can’t afford to buy it back, the closest relative is supposed to pay to get it back.

Kinsman redeemer means family, and family means nobody gets left behind, or forgotten.

Some people are better at keeping their family obligations than others.  In this case a man by the name of Boaz steps up to the plate.  Well find out later that it really isn’t even his responsibility because he isn’t the closest relative.  Sorry, I cheated and read ahead so I know what’s going to happen.  Kind of hard to un-know something once you know it.  Yeah, Boaz steps up to the plate to take care of the family.  Let’s run down what he does in Chapter 2 of Ruth.

First, he’s checking out the harvesters in his field.  It sounds like he’s a pretty good boss.  He wants to know who the new girl is, Ruth.  When he learns who she is, daughter-in-law of his kinsman, he meets with her, insists that she gleans in his fields, grants her protection from his men and access to water.  None of these is inconsequential.  Gleaning was a sort of support for the poor.  A part of the harvest missed or fallen on the ground and left behind for the less fortunate to pickup and eat or sell.  Protection by staying with his men and servant girls would have meant safety in a very unsafe world.  And water that we take for granted was hard to come by and fiercely protected.  Here Ruth is given it freely.  Boaz, a good boss and a good kinsman.

Then he eats a meal with her.  Finally, he instructs his men to watch her.  He instructs his men to make sure that they leave an abundance of good stalks of grain for her to find.  And because of Boaz’s kindness, Ruth gathers a great deal of grain. 

All of this from Boaz treating his kinsman with the respect, generosity, and consideration that would should give to a “daughter.”  Except that Ruth really isn’t a daughter.  She’s not an Israelite.  She’s a Moabite.  Strictly speaking, Ruth is a foreign woman and would not be considered a kinsman, or kinswoman if you prefer.  She’s technically isn’t a relation at all by the standard of the day.   So why does he do it?  Why does he treat her like she is a part of the family, a kinswoman?  He does it because he has heard of Ruth’s faithfulness to Naomi.  He does it because she has left her family and her people behind, to live with people she did not know.  And he says, “May the Lord repay your for what you have done.  May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”

As Ruth said in chapter 1, “Your God is my God.”  And another branch is grated onto the tree of God’s people.  It’s grafted not by birth but by decision and faith.  It’s grafted by a conscious decision to follow God.  And now, Ruth is part of the family with a kinsman redeemer.  And a kinsman redeemer means family, and family means nobody gets left behind, or forgotten.

.Ruth didn’t forget Naomi.  And now Ruth won’t be forgotten either. 

I suspect that if God is a pet “person” that he would favor dogs. That’s just a theory on my part and not Gospel, so you cat folks are free to disagree.  I’m just projecting a bit of myself onto God’s personality since I’m more of a dog person myself.   No offense meant and hopefully none taken. And I think God would have at least two dogs.  One would be the purest of pedigree.  The other is most definitely a shelter dog of unknown parentage (yeah, I know God knows everything, but work with me here) and confused pedigree.  A mutt if ever there was one.  But that mutt is every bit as much a part of God’s family as the purest of pedigree.  God doesn’t judge you by where you’re from. God doesn’t judge you by your parents. God judges you by your choice to follow Him and be a part of His family. 

I find great comfort in that, being a mutt myself.  But I’m God’s mutt.  And there ain’t no better Master to serve.  He makes you part of His family.  And I hope you’ll forgive all the mixed metaphors in this post.  And one final thought, Ohana!

God, You have a way of picking up strays.  You find those in need of a home.  You find those in need of someone to care for them.  And when You find us You welcome us.  You take us in.  You make us a part of Your family.  And all we have to do is choose to be a part of You and a part of Your family.  And once we’re in, we’re in for good.  We’re in Your goodness, Your loving, Your grace.  It’s good to be a part of Your family, because someone in Your family never gets left behind, or forgotten.  Thanks Lord.  Amen

Leonard

Not So Social Security, Week 9 Day 1, Ruth 1

Not So Social Security, Week 9 Day 1, Ruth 1

One of the hardest things about reading the Bible is understanding the culture in which it was written.  There are two major reasons understanding the culture is important.  The first is that it gives context to the story, perspective.  The second is that it can help us from projecting our own bias into the story.

We live in the day and age of the single parent families.  We live in an age of social programs that provide a lot of support to those in need.  Not my intent to argue or discuss how effective those programs are.  But surely there is more aid today in our culture then there was in the time of  Naomi.  No social security back in Naomi’s day.

In Ruth’s day the basic social support structure was the family and the extended family.  When Naomi’s husband died, if she had been living in Bethlehem it would have been the responsibility of her husband’s brother to marry her, and then work out through a wide circle of relatives that would have been responsible for her.  But Naomi is not in Bethlehem.  So the responsibility would fall to her son-in-laws.  But they are dead too.  She’s is truly between the rock and the hard place.  So she decides to go back to her home land, having heard that the famine that originally caused them to go to Moab is over.

But what about Naomi’s daughter-in-laws?  They are from Moab.  Ruth’s son’s have married “foreign women”.  And isn’t that one of the things that got Israel into trouble so many times before?  Isn’t that what got Sampson into so much trouble?  So we’ve got no relatives and some foreign women as daughter-in-laws.  Socially, given the time in which they lived, that’s a pretty bad hand to be dealt.  And not much prospect of it getting any better.

So Namoi decides to head back home.  She encourages her daughter-in-laws to stay on Moab, maybe they can find new husbands among their own people.  One returns.  The other, Ruth decides to go with Naomi back to Bethlehem.  And she makes a startling pronouncement.

“Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you.  Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.  Your people will be my people and your God my God.”  Your God, my God. 

We’ll have to read the rest of the story in the days ahead to see how this all ends, but Ruth’s proclamation is truly amazing.  Your God is my God.  As we read through the Old Testament it’s easy to see God as a harsh God.  There’s a lot of killing, and much of it in the name of the Lord.  You really can’t deny that.  And so much of it is along ethnic and nationalist lines that it would seem that God must either be a bigot or nationalist to the extreme.  But Ruth and her story will show us that isn’t entirely true. 

What is most important is if you acknowledge that God is God, that God is The God.  Ruth, in this passage leaves her people and her god behind to follow the God Abraham, the God is Isaac, the God of Jacob, and the God of Naomi.  And honestly, it’s not entirely clear why.   It certainly isn’t Naomi’s good fortune that causes Ruth to follow God.  We could speculate, but we really don’t know why.

But from God’s perspective what is important is that Ruth has decided to follow God.  And that makes Ruth one of God’s people.  It doesn’t matter what her ethnicity is.  It doesn’t matter what her nationality is.   It only matters where her heart is.  And she has given her heart to God.  Yeah, God always pledges to keep His promise to Israel.  And even when they stray He remains faithful and brings Israel back.  But God always has room in His Kingdom for anyone who will follow Him, no matter where they come from, no matter where they were born, no matter what they use believe, no matter who they use to follow.

This is something that will take the Jewish people many generations to understand.  Not sure they or the rest of us fully understand it even now.  The Israel was blessed to be a blessing.  And the greatest part of that blessing is that everyone from anywhere is welcome to join God’s People, join God’s Kingdom.  They just have to declare, God is my God.  God is my God.

It’s hard for us to appreciate how radical a concept that was in Naomi’s day.  They’ve seen it happen with Rahab from Jericho.  This isn’t the first time someone’s faith has brought them into a relationship with God and His people.  But we Christians need to always remember, Our God does not want to exclude anyone.  He wants us to invite everyone we meet to make God their God.  There’s always room in God’s Kingdom for one more, even that person that you interact with today. 

God, there was a time when I didn’t know You.  And then there was a time where You brought me to the place that I was able to say, “God is my God.”  Lord, I know so many that don’t say that yet, that don’t know that yet.  Lord, do whatever it takes in my life to be the person that can invite them into Your presence.  Make me, make my life an invitation to all I meet to come into Your presence.  To make you their God.  Lord, they’re lost without You just as I once was.  Lord, use me  in whatever way You need to so that others could be drawn into a relationship with You.  Amen

Leonard

Not a Fan, Week 8 Day 5, Judges 13-16

Not a Fan, Week 8 Day 5, Judges 13-16

I remember hearing the story of Sampson as a kid.  He was portrayed as a heroic figure, taking on the enemies of Israel.  Fight the Philistines with his great strength against huge odds.  He killed a lion with his bare hands.  Killing thirty, then a thousand, and in the end, his strength lost and blinded by his enemies, one last blaze of glory his strength returns and he destroys the temple killing all who were in it.

But somewhere along the way Sampson and his story lost their appeal, and for a number of reasons.  Eating honey from the carcass of lion is one thing.  But feeding it to your parents without telling them where it came from, yuck!  I’ve never been an adventurous eater so that’s one against Sampson.

Then there’s his choice in women.  He marries outside his own people, a foreign woman, which was against the rules of his day.  But the passage tells us that this was from the Lord.  So I’ve got to give Sampson a pass on that.  And just for the record, I’m not against mixed race or mixed ethnic marriage.  I’m just noting that it was forbidden in Sampson’s time.  But the women that he picks don’t exactly seem committed to making the relationship work.  At the wedding feast she pesters him for the answer to his riddle.  Then she betrays him giving the answer away and causing him to lose a bet.  Not the best choices of a life partner.  In the lady’s defense, Sampson doesn’t always seem to be the best one could hope for in a mate either.

When he loses a bet because of the betrayal by his wife, he kills thirty men to acquire the thirty sets of clothes he needs to pay off the bet.  Sure he was tricked but that seems at least a tad excessive to me.  And then Sampson’s wife is given to one of his friends from the wedding.  When Sampson finds out he uses three hundred foxes with torches tied to their tails and sets the Philistines crops on fire.  The Philistines are understandably upset and seek to punish Sampson.  That doesn’t work out too well for the Philistines as he ends up killing one thousand of them.  Granted they were trying to kill him, but if Sampson were in today’s society I could just hear someone telling him, “Now Sampson.  You don’t have to be violent.  Use your words.”  Yeah, he wouldn’t do to well in today’s western culture.  We’ve got definite trust issues, relationship issues, gambling problem, definite issues with aggression, and at least a small dose of animal cruelty. 

And yet he leads Israel for the next twenty years.  Right up until the whole Delilah incident.  Again he’s with a foreign woman.  Now I don’t think the real point here is that foreign women are bad.  Back in Sampson’s day, saying don’t marry a foreign woman was a way of saying you need to marry someone who has that same commitment to God that you do.  Because if you both don’t have the same commitment to God and you are really dedicated to following God, there are going to be problems.  Same reason Paul says that believers shouldn’t marry unbelievers in the New Testament.  If one of the partners isn’t a believer, there are going to be some problems with one’s commitment to God or at least some friction in the marriage.

She wants to learn the secret of his strength so she can betray Sampson.  He keeps lying to her.  I think this “relationship” might have a few issues.  Finally, after much back and forth Sampson tells Delilah the true source of his strength, his hair.  And she immediately betrays him.  Sampson is captured and blinded.  Game over, except that God gives him one last burst of strength.  Down comes the temple along with Sampson and a whole lot of Philistines.

Sampson, a hot head with violent tendencies and relationship issues, this is the person that God chose to lead Israel for twenty years?  Seriously God, You couldn’t find anyone better qualified.  You know, a guy or a gal with one loving supportive spouse, a couple of cute kids and a dog who lived a respectable life in the suburbs.  What kind of a God would pick a guy with all of Sampson’s issues?

Maybe the same kind of God that would pick me.  If you go just a layer or two between the surface I’m not exactly mister perfect either.  Done better in the relationship department, sure.  And I can’t even remember the last time I got mad and killed a thousand people.  I’m a bit better a keeping a secret.  But then again, I’m sure not perfect either.  I let my temper get the better of me at times.  I can look back on my parenting and see any number of major screw ups.  I’ve been faithful to Kathy but there sure have been times when I’ve not been as supportive or loving as I should have been.  And there have been times when I’ve ignored God long enough that it was kind of shocking once I realized it. 

Yet God picked me.  He picked me to follow Him.  He picked me to save my soul.  He picked me to love.  He even picked me to serve Him and share His love with others.  He didn’t pick me because I was so great.  He picked me because He created me and loves me.  He picked me not because of what I’d done.  He picked because of who He could make me.  He picked me because He’s God and God gets to pick whoever he wants.  And in this case I don’t’ think I argue with His choice.  I’ll just accept it and say “Thanks!”

And if all that’s true, I guess I’d better accept His choice of Sampson too.  Even if Sampson doesn’t fit what I think are the qualifications for a leader.  And it might be a good idea for me to focus a little less on others faults and more on God’s choosing.  Because if I want to just focus on peoples failings, it’s going to be awfully hard to accept the fact that He chose me.  And if God can change me, I’m pretty sure He can love, accept and change others too.

God, help me to see more of what You see in others.  I confess that is so easy to see other shortcomings, their faults, their issues.  Perhaps that’s my way of making my self feel better about my self.  Maybe it’s just human nature.  But that’s not how You see me or anyone else.  Yeah, I’m sure You’re aware of my faults.  But You don’t just see our faults.  You see how You are changing us.  You see the kind of people that You are making us into.  Help me to see others with Your eyes that see not just who we are, but eyes that see what we can become once You’ve gotten a hold of us.  Give me Your eyes Lord, so I can truly see.  Amen

Leonard

Go In the Strength That You Have, Week 8 Day 3, Judges 5-7

Go In the Strength That You Have, Week 8 Day 3, Judges 5-7

This morning I tied my shoes.  Pretty impressive, huh!  Yeah, maybe not.  Do I get extra points when I tell you that while slicing veggies for dinner last night I also sliced off a small sliver from the tip of my right thumb?  Not a big deal except it keeps bleeding so it’s all bandaged up and I’m basically down to one usable thumb for a day or so.  I can get the rabbit to go around the tree okay but having a tough time getting him to go into the hole with only one usable thumb.  I managed.  But it reminded me that there was a time way, way back when that tying my shoes was a note worthy achievement.  Ok, way, way, way, way back.

Today at work I’ll be writhing quotes for technical products with relative ease.  I’ll get quotes and negotiate with software and hardware vendors for an upcoming server upgraded.  I’ll review our returns and RMA processes for some improvements and automation that will happen once our server and software upgrades are completed.  Not working on my resume or anything.  Just want to point out that I’m doing these things as a matter of my daily routine.  But there was a time when I didn’t know how to do any of them.

But I learned.  Somewhere along my career path a supervisor said, “I want you to look at this process.” or “I want you to work on this project.”  I’d never done it before.  I really didn’t know how to do it.  But I did it.  Maybe not perfect, but I did it.  And I learned.  I got a little experience which lead to more experience and learning more new things. 

Most of the time this was all helped along by a boss, a supervisor or a mentor who believed I could do it, who guided me through it, helped me when I had questions, and relied on me to do the job.  Those people were with me, guiding me, directing me, encouraging me all along the way.  Good bosses, good supervisors push our limits and help us to learn to do things that we’ve never done before.

Yet somehow when it comes to doing new things in our Christina walk we think that the God who created us, the God who loves us, the God who saved us, is going to throw us out of the boat into deep water without any swimming lessons or even water wings.  “Good luck!” God calls as He rows away.  Leaving us there in the deep water to either sink or swim, alone.  That’s not how it works.

In today’s passage an angel appears to Gideon and tells him, “The Lord is with you mighty warrior.”  Gideon is not convinced, to put it mildly.  The people have been under the Midianites for seven years, oppressed, hiding.  So Gideon asks, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?  Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us about when the said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”

God’s reply is classic.  “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out the Midian’s hand.  Am I not sending you?”  Gideon counters that his clan of Manasseh is the weakest and he is the least in his family.  “How can I save Israel?”  The Lord’s answer, “I will be with you.”  There still some negotiations, the wet fleece dry fleece thing.  But God’s really already answered the question.

“I’ve given you the strength that you need.  And I will be with you.”

I think back on my Christian walk and service.  There were a lot of firsts.  There was the first time I led a Bible study.  There was the first time I taught a class at church.  There was the first time I shared my faith with another.  There was the first time I trained people to visit others who had visited our church and how to share their faith.  There was that first sermon that ever I preached.  And most of this was done under the loving and firm mentoring of Pastor Allen Newman.  That man made a huge difference in my life. 

By the grace of God Pastor Allen was able to not only see what I could do, he was able to see what I would do.  And he was with me every step for the way.  He shared in my successes.  He shared in my failures.  He encouraged me to try new things and grow.  He was by side of me every step of the way.

Gideon was successful.  He didn’t have a large army.  He started with thirty two thousand.  God whittled that down in short order.  First twenty two thousand left, down to ten thousand.  Then He cuts another nine thousand seven hundred based on how they drink water.  (Sounds like some of the aptitude tests I took in high school.)   With those three hundred men and following God’s direction, Gideon leads them to victory.  Not because Gideon was the strongest.  Not because Gideon came from the best family.  Not because Gideon was a great hero.  Not because Gideon was a great general. 

Gideon was successful because God was with him and he followed God’s direction.  Sometimes you may hear God directly.  Sometimes He will give you direction through His Word.  Sometimes He’ll bring you your own Pastor Allen Newman to guide and direct you.  However He guides you, when you walk with God and go where He calls you to go, your strength will always be enough. 

God, You’ve been with me every step on my Christian walk.  I’ll confess that there have been times that I haven’t paid attention to You, Your Presence, Your direction.  Sometimes I was scared thinking You’d asked too much of me.  Honestly, often I just got distracted by my things in my life.  But You’ve always been there.  And my strength, the strength that You gave me, has always been sufficient.  At least when I was with You and following You direction.  As You’ve said in Your Word, “I’ve given you the strength that you need.  And I will be with you.”  Amen

Leonard

Hodge Podge, Week 8 Day 2, Joshua 3-4

Hodge Podge, Week 8 Day 2, Joshua 3-4

Don’t know that today’s blog will have a point (and that would be different how?) or just be a collection of observations.  Here goes.

First, Israel is once again doing “evil in the eyes of the Lord.”  And the Lord hands of Cushan-Rishathaim, then Jabin the king of Cannan.  Israel is on a cycle of follow God when you need Him, don’t when you think you don’t need Him.  I say “think they don’t need Him” because they always need Him but when things are going well Israel forgets that.  Sort of foul weather followers as it were.  They see God as kind of  umbrella they pull out when it’s a rainy day but forget about when the sun is shining. 

Sometimes we Christians have the same problem.  We pray when we need help.  Study His Word when we feel lost.  Ask for His guidance only when things aren’t going well.  Turns out that isn’t any better way to live as a Christian than it is to live as a Jew.

Next, and I’m struggling with finding a non-offensive way to say this, God is very much into true diversity.  Deborah, the next judge is a woman.  She was leading Israel and holding court setting Israel’s disputes.  Not bad for a time when patriarchy was norm.  And remember, He used Rahab, a non-Jewish woman just a little back.  And later in today’s reading the woman Jael kills there enemy Sisera by driving a tent peg through his temple and into the ground.  Not sure where Israel and even many Christians got off track in terms of women leaders, but clearly God is more concerned with if you follow Him than He is with your gender.  Not saying He doesn’t care about gender.  But I am saying that there is something that is more important than anything else.

So while God is diverse in who He uses, He is singular in the requirement that His followers follow Him and Him alone.  And He’s pretty big on obedience.  Two non-negotiables when it comes to following God.   So important are these two rules that someone should write some Commandments that cover those rules.  “And God spoke all these words: ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.’”  (Exodus 20:1-3)

Finally, God is going to do what He wants to do, even if you don’t agree to play along.  Deborah tells Barak to take a thousand men and fight Sisera’s forces.  Barak balks and refuses to go unless Deborah goes with him, a kind of leader luck charm.  Because of his reluctance Deborah tells Barak that he won’t get credit for the victory.  Instead that distinction will go to a woman.  And so it does, the aforementioned Jael who kills Sisera with a tent peg.  Again, here’s that whole obedience thing.  Yeah, obedience is important to God.  Hum, maybe it should be important to us too.

So, three things.  First, follow God even when things are going well.  Second, God is more concerned that we follow Him an Him lone than He is about what we are and who we are.  He cares about those things because He cares about us.  But what matters most is following Him.  Finally, if we don’t follow Him He will still accomplish His purpose, be we will miss out.

And all this keeps coming back to following Him and being obedient.  So maybe this blog has a point after all.

God, help me to follow You in the bad times and the good.  Today let me more obedient to You than yesterday.  As You have been faithful, I give my heart and mind to You and the leading of Your Spirit to remain faithful to You.  Amen

Leonard

Second Hand Faith, Week 8 Day 1 Joshua 2-3

“Another generation grew up, who knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for Israel.”  Then Israel kind of went off the rails.  They “did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals.”  The Baals, another way of saying they severed other gods.  Which gods?  Well whatever gods happened to be in the neighborhood.  Kind of a recurring case of “the god is always greener in the other temple.”

“They followed and worshiped the various gods of the peoples around them.  The provoked the Lord to anger.  How did they get so off track?  Just a little while back we had them crossing the Jordan and gathering twelve stones to serve as a monument.  To help them remember.  “When your children see them tell them about what God has done.  Tell them how God delivered you from Egypt.  Tell how God care for you in the desert.  Tell them how God brought you into the Promised Land.”  (Leonard Paraphrase Translation) 

But it turns out that telling by itself isn’t enough.  Listening to the stories of what God has done in the past isn’t enough.  The faith of your parents isn’t enough.  Second had faith doesn’t stick.  You need your own history.  You need your own firsthand faith.

But if you don’t have your own faith, how do you build a history with God?  It’s kind of a Catch 22.  For your faith to stick you need some of your own history with God.  Buy how do you build a history with God when you don’t have faith in God? 

“Then the Lord raised up judges who saved them…”  Judges weren’t like our judges today.  They were mostly military leaders who rose up to lead the Israelites when they were facing an enemy.  Israel would follow the judge until they prevailed over their enemies.  But then they would fall away from following God.  They went into a pattern of serial and generational lapses in faith.

“Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the Lord’s commands. Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord had compassion on them as they groaned under those who oppressed and afflicted them.  But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their fathers, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.”  Judges 2:17-19   

My first car was a 1960 Ford Falcon which was 15 years old when I acquired it while in high school.  It had, shall we say, character.  The manual gear shift was 3 on the column and there was so much play in the linkage that you didn’t shift it so much as play hide and seek with the gear that you wanted.  The defrosters didn’t work but that was okay because it had wing windows.  The rear passenger side door would fall off if you opened it.  Okay, maybe “character” is an over statement.  But it ran, it was cheap, and it was mine.  One other trait was the manual steering that had linkage soooooo loose that it rivaled the gear shift.  You had to constantly adjust your steering if you wanted to stay in your lane.  And you constantly had to pay attention.  You couldn’t rely on the steering to keep you relatively straight because it wouldn’t.  It was a constant back and forth on the steering wheel like some kid driving a bumper car.

Israel’s faith stayed on course about as well as my old Ford Falcon.  A moments in attention and they were off track, in the next lane and following others gods.  Which gods?  Pretty much whatever god happened to be in the neighborhood.  When it came to being faithful to god Israel had the attention span of a toddler in a toy store.

And this is a problem that will plague Israel for generations. And I think it still plagues believers today.  For Israel the answer is a new judge when one is needed.  For us the answer is… well, we’ll get to that answer later on as we work through The Story, as we work through the Bible.  But there is one thing which I find greatly encouraging in Israel’s constant falling off the path of faith.

While Israel may have a problem with faithfulness, God does not.  God is always there with whatever is needed to bring them back on track.  Right now it’s a new Judge.  Later there will be a better answer, a more permanent solution.  But as history unfolds, God will reveal ways that we can stay close to Him and we can stay on the path of faith.  We are moving from relying on the faith of a patriarch, the faith of a leader, the faith of judge.  We are moving towards a time when faith becomes personal for everyone.  We are slowly moving from second hand faith to a firsthand faith.  And that’s the only kind of faith that can really last.

God, I’m glad that I’ve had a walk of faith with You.  You’ve taught me a lot about following You and remaining faithful.  I don’t have it completely figured out yet.  I get distracted.  I get off track.  But just like Israel, you come up with ways to bring me back on track.  And while I’m glad I’ve got a firsthand faith in You, I’m especially glad for Your faithfulness.  Thanks for always bring me back on track when I need it.  Amen

Leonard

Choose, Choose Wisely, Week 7 Day 5, Joshua 11, 23 and 24

Choose, Choose Wisely, Week 7 Day 5, Joshua 11, 23 and 24

First we start with the history lesson.  Apparently God is pretty big on history.  Sometimes it seems like half of the Old Testament is repeating thing things that happened in the Old Testament.  Remember is a important word in the vocabulary of God. 

Joshua passes on the history lesson from God.  It starts with Abraham, Father Abraham who received the promise to become the Father of a nation and a blessing.  Then there’s Isaac, Jacob and Esau.  The Aaron and Moses, leaving Egypt, the Red Sea, wandering the desert, crossing the Jordan and conquering all the people of living in the Promised Land.

The there are the final instructions.  “Now fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.  But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, the choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefather served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

We kind of think of Israel as always following God.  Apparently while they were in Egypt the Israelites had  turned and worshiped the gods of Egypt.  I guess that’s not too surprising.  They spent over 400 years in Egypt, most of that time as slaves.  When in Rome, or I guess when in Egypt, do as the Egyptians do.  So they had that to remember.  400 years following other gods.

But then they had the plagues, the Red Sea, mana and quail, water from the rock, 40 years in the desert, God conquering their enemies, and crossing the Jordan.  And now it’s time to choose.

Joshua made his choice.  “But as for me and my household we will serve the Lord.”  And so the people choose.  “No! We will serve the Lord.”  Joshua asks them if they are sure, they will be witnesses against themselves.  “Yes, we are witnesses.”  Translation, “Yes were sure.” 

But it turns out that the choice has a cost.  Joshua tells them, “Now then, throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your heats to the Lord, the God of Israel.”  40 plus year of miracles, 40 plus years of God freeing them, leading them, feeding them, fighting for them, and they’re still carrying around idols, other gods.  After 40 plus years of God leading them, they still are following other gods.  How can they possibly keep their promise?

And were back to rocks.  What is this thing with God and rocks?  First Joshua makes covenant, an agreement between the people and God.  The people agree that they will follow God and only God.  And then Joshua places a large stone under an oak near the holy place of the Lord.  And that rock is a witness.  A witness against the people if they don’t live up to their choice, if they are untrue to God.

But the rock, the rock can also help serve as a witness to God’s faithfulness.  A God who remembers His promise to a man called Abraham.  A witness to a God who saves His people even when the people are slaves and worshipping other gods.  A God who feeds his people even when they grumble.  A God who gives them water when they are thirsty.  A God who conquers their enemies.  A God who brought them into the Promised Land.

The rock is a part of their history lesson.  It can remind the people of who God is and what God has done.  And the rock can remind the people of the promise that they have made to serve God and only God.  Choose.  Choose and remember.  Choose and be faithful.  Choose and be faithful to the God who is faithful.  God has chosen us.  We need to forsake all other gods and choose Him.  Yeah, choose God and remember.

God, You’ve been present throughout history.  And You’ve been present throughout my life.  Help me to always remember what You have done in my life.  Help me to remember the choice that I made to give my life to You.  Place rocks throughout my life as a witness of Your faithfulness.  Place rocks throughout my life as a witness of my choice to follow You.  Amen

Leonard

Even the Boring Parts, Week 7 Day 3, Joshua 7-10

Even the Boring Parts, Week 7 Day 3, Joshua 7-10

God is in the details.

So there’s this Old Testament thing, when God gives a direction you’re supposed to follow that direction.  Some of the men of Israel took “devoted things”, or plunder that God had commanded them to destroy.  In Joshua 7:11 God tells Joshua, “Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep.  They have taken some the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions.”  Basically God told Israel to not keep any plunder, to destroy everything.  But they didn’t follow God’s direction.  They kept some of the goodies. 

So, they now have a choice, consecrate themselves, get rid of their plunder or face the consequences.  They all do this, everyone except Achan who hides a robe, some silver and some gold.  And for this continued disobedience Achan is put to death.  He receives a harsh punishment for his continued disobedience.   

In their next battle they attack the city of Ai.  They destroy Ai and all its people.  This time God allows them to keep the livestock and the plunder.  Why was plunder okay this time and not before?  I honestly don’t know.  The only answer I have is in the first case God prohibited it.  In the second case He allowed it.  Not a great answer from a human standpoint I’ll admit.  But that’s all I’ve got.

And then Joshua reads “ALL the WORDS of the Law, the blessings and the curses- just as it is written in the Book of the Law.  There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the aliens who lived among them.”

Read all the words, all of them.  He didn’t pick or choose.  He didn’t just give the highlights.  He didn’t just read his favorite passages.  Read all the words, all of them.

Read all the words, all of them.  That’s why I shared the story of Achan and his punishment.  That’s why I shared the story of the city of Ai.  And that’s why I shared where plunder was prohibited in one case and allowed in the next.  Because we need to read all of the Bible, all the Words.  Not read just the parts we like.  Not read just the parts that we understand.  Not read just the parts we agree with.  We need to read the parts that we don’t like.  We need to read the parts that we don’t understand.  We even need to read the boring parts. 

We don’t get to pick and choose our God.  God can allow plunder in one case and not another.  God can be angry and He can be loving.  God can punish and God can forgive.  God can be harsh and God can be compassionate.  Sometimes I can understand God, at least a little.  And sometimes I am totally confused and bewilder. 

We live in an age where we can pick and choose what we believe.  An a-la-cart world of selective morals, religious beliefs and philosophy where we pick the things we want to believe and discard or ignore the rest.  But if we are to begin to understand God, then we need to grapple and come to grips with all of His Word.  I’m not saying that we can’t have our favorite Bible verses or theological foundations that ground us.  But we can’t pretend that the other stuff doesn’t exist.  God is more complex than the pieces I may pick and choose for Him to be.

Some of what we don’t like about His Word provides us with context.  God can’t be forgiving without there being law and judgment.  God can’t give us a Savior unless we are first lost.  And even love doesn’t completely make sense without at least the possibility of anger.  And I’ll never be able to completely reconcile the ideas of a God who is completely sovereign and us being asked to choose to follow Him.  Sovereignty and free will make strange theological bedfellows.

God is in the details, even the details that I don’t like, even in the details I don’t understand.

God, there are things that I love about You.  But there is also much that I don’t understand.  In the Old Testament You can seem so harsh.  Then in the very next passage I see where Your forgiveness and love shine through.  Achan faced a harsh and horrible punishment.  But when I focus on that it’s easy forget that You forgave all the others who took the plunder.  They were forgiven when they admitted their sin and consecrated themselves.  Some of Your Word is hard.  Some of Your Word is bloody.  And most of it is filled with Your compassion, with Your forgiveness, with Your love.  All of it teaches me about You God.  And it’s good for me to read it all and learn as much as I can about You.  Amen

Leonard

Scarlet Ribbon, Week 7 Day 3, Joshua 2-8

Scarlet Ribbon, Week 7 Day 3, Joshua 2-8

God keeps using the wrong people.  We would think that God would want to use the best, the brightest, the most faithful, the person who knows scripture the best, or the “somethingest bestest” among us.  In the New Testament it tells us that “the last will be first.” And Jesus is always hanging out with, well with people that you weren't supposed to hang out with.  He’s hanging out with women, tax collectors, the sick, the unclean, adulteress, the prostitutes, the sinners.  Kind of like He’s hanging out with the Who’s Who of Not Who’s Who.  When we read this in the New Testament it seems to be some new and radical concept. 

But maybe it wasn't all that radical an idea at all, not for God anyway.

The spies from Israel are hidden by a prostitute name Rahab.  I’m not completely up on the customs of her day. It could have been an ok and respected profession back then, perhaps connected with some sort of temple worship.  Don’t really know.  But generally throughout history prostitue hasn’t been a coveted position.  Certainly there's a double standard that the prostitute gets mentioned but not the guys that used her.  Double standards have been around for a long time, a sad commentary on the nature of human society.

Yet here we have Rahab figuring prominently in a pivotal event in the history of Israel.  Is she elevated to this pivotal position because of her faithfulness to God?  Has she decided to repent and ask forgiveness for all her sins?  Did she promise to turn over a new leaf, change her profession and follow God?  No.  She’s just practical.

She tells the spies that she knows the Lord has given the land to Israel.  Pretty good faith in the outcome considering Israel hasn't exactly completed their move into the Promise Land.  Why?  Well, apparently that whole Red Sea incident left quite an impression.  And remember, this is happening some 40 years after the Red Sea.  She also knows about the other kings and people that the Israelites have conquered.  Okay, Israel hasn’t completed moving into the Promised Land but they seem to be making pretty good progress.  And frankly, she’s scared.  Everyone is scared.

So she is smart enough to see the hand writing on the wall, “Don’t mess with Israel.”  So she makes a simple and practical deal.  “I saved your lives.  Please save my life and the lives of my family.”  She let’s down a rope from her window outside the city walls so the spies can escape.  And she ties a scarlet cord in the window to identify her as a friend of Israel.  And her family is saved.  When Israel sees the ribbon they will spare Rahab and her family.

Hebrews 11:31 tells us, “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.”  A practical lady making a practical deal, that counts as faith?  Really? 

But it turns out that she did have faith in the right God.  And she knows that only by aligning herself with God can she be saved.  And when I think about this story, maybe Rahab knows more about faith than me.  I could think of lots of reasons why I’m not “last”.  And I may not be on top of the list of the Who’s Who of Faith, but I’m pretty sure that I’m not at the bottom.  And sure, I needed to be saved but I wasn’t that bad, was I?  I can give a pretty good account of my faith.  And there it is, my equivocating, my pride, my arrogance all on display for me and everyone else to see.

The reality is that I was just as lost as Rahab until the grace and forgiveness of God came into my life.  I wasn’t in a position to bargain.  I had nothing to offer accept the plea, “God, I need You.  God I’m lost without You.  Please God, save my life, save my soul.”  

The truth is that is there is no last or first.  There is no better or worse.  There are just all of us equally in need of the forgiveness of God.  And for each of us there is a scarlet ribbon to hang in the windows of our hearts.  We just need to ask.

God, forgive my pride and arrogance.  There are times when I think I’m better off than others.  There are times when I think I have a special place before You.  But the only reason I can come before You at all is Your grace and mercy through the death of Your Son Jesus Christ.  And I am special, but only because You have made me that way by Your grace.  Just as You have make all who accept Christ special.  I am not last.  I am not first.  I am simply Your’s because You saved me.  Thanks for that scarlet ribbon at the window of my soul.  Amen

Leonard

Row, Row, Row Your Faith, Week 7 Day 1, Joshua 1-4

Row, Row, Row Your Faith, Week 7 Day 1, Joshua 1-4

How do you steer a row boat?  I mean you’re facing the wrong way.  You’re look backwards.  How can you keep yourself going in a straight line?

There’s a simple trick.  Not really a trick.  You just need to know the right way to do it.  First you look over your shoulder to get yourself lined up, to make sure the bow or front of the boat is pointed in the direction that you want to go.  Then you look straight back over the stern or the back of the boat.  You look for a point, or better yet a couple of points lined up with the center of the stern.  Then you keep that point lined up on the center of the stern and row.

Every once in awhile you need to take a peek over your shoulder to make sure that your still heading in the right direct.  Yeah, you keep your bearings, keep going straight by looking backwards.

“ When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua,  ‘Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe,  and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.’"  

“So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, ‘Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?'  tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever." ( Joshua 4:1-7)

How do you know what God is going to do?  How do you know that God is faithful?  You look back.  You look back at what He’s done in the past.  You can read what He’s done in the Bible.  You can read about stories of believers throughout history.  You can hear the stories of how God has worked in the lives of people you know.  And you can remember how God has worked in your life.

You look backwards.  You row the boat of faith.  And by His faithfulness in the past God can guide you through the present and into the future that lays ahead.

God, help me to remember.  Place stones of remembrance in my life.  Let me see the stones, the markers of Your working in the lives of other.  Let that past keep me on course.  Let that past keep me going in the right direction.  I need glimpses of where I going, but it’s Your faithfulness through history that keeps me on course.  Amen

Leonard

Choose Life, Week 6 Day 5, Deuteronomy 9-34

Choose Life, Week 6 Day 5, Deuteronomy 9-34

Way back in Genesis we started with Adam and Eve.  They didn't have a lot of rules.  Take care of the garden.  Name the animals.  Be fruitful and multiply.  Do “not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."  Basically one rule, one don’t.  And they did.  And in making that choice they chose death.

Now, with all the commandments, all the decrees, all the rules, Moses gives the people of Israel his final instructions.  It starts off with a kind of a challenge.  “Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.”  No excuses.  And what is that challenge?  The challenge is to make a simple choice.

“See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction.  For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the lad you are entering to possess.”

But there is another choice that can be made.  “But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed.”

I suspect that my view of the world is much too black and white for many.  We live in a world gone grey.  We live a world full of unclear choices and moral relativism.  We live in a world faced with choices that someone from back in Moses’ couldn't have even imagined. 

We have choices in medicine that people decades or just years ago didn't face.  We have entertainment choices to numerous to count.  Choices of life style and dress are off the charts.  We have legal and business possibilities that are hard to keep up with.  And I could go on.

But the words of Moses take all of life’s choices and narrow them down to just two.  Choose life or choose death.  Choose prosperity or choose destruction.  Love God and His commandments or turn your heart away and be disobedient.  Choose God or choose other gods.  And he encourages them to choose life.  Choose God.

Can it really be that simple?  The world is so much more complex now than in the past.  There’s so much more to consider.  There are so many more options.  We know so much more.  We understand more about our world today than we even have before.

But if the choice is God or not God, then there are and always have been only two choices.  We have a lot more ways to do not God today than we did in years past.  We have so many more options today.  But from a Biblical point of view, a lot of those new options are just another way of make the same bad choice, Not God.

I’ll admit that it can often be hard in a given circumstance to determine if a choice is God or Not God.  Many choices aren't really that kind of choice at all.  No real moral dilemma in choosing a bagel for breakfast or sausage and eggs.  So I don’t think we need to go crazy on everything being God or Not God.  But I don’t think the world is quite as gray was we might like it to be.

And I hope, I pray that you choose life.

God, only You are God.  Keep my heart fixed on You.  Help me remember Your faithfulness in the past.  Help me remember how You have worked in my life.  Lord, I choose You.  I choose Life.  I pray that all that I know would make the same choice.  Amen

Leonard

Daughters and Sons of God Week 6, Day 4 Deuteronomy 1-7

Daughters and Sons of God Week 6, Day 4 Deuteronomy 1-7

Discipline.  Discipline has a lot of different meanings. 

I like to cycle and occasionally do long distance events.  I might do a two day event riding 40 miles one day and 75 the next.  I’ve done century rides which are 100 miles.  For a causal athlete that requires a certain amount of self disciple.  You need a plan for progressively longer rides leading up to the event so that you’ll be ready and able to finish.  If you don’t plan and follow your plan you might finish the event.  But you probably won’t enjoy it.

Then there’s punishment, another form of discipline.  You do something, you get punished, disciplined.  Children might be disciplined at school.  Adults can receive disciplinary action at work or from the courts.  Most people who receive the sort of discipline don’t like it.  It can feel punitive.  We tend to think of punishment as bad, coming out of anger.

Then there’s a parent disciplining their child.  When this is at its best the purpose isn’t punishment but correction and training. 

So now we find that all that wandering in the desert was God disciplining His people as a man disciplines his son.  Why does a parent discipline a child?  They discipline their child so they will learn how to do what’s right.  The discipline their child so they’ll learn to not do things that are wrong.  They disciple their child so the child will become strong, strong enough to live in the right way.

But the real reason a parent disciplines their child is that they love them.  They care about their child.  They want their child to be able to prosper.  They want their child to know right from wrong.  All these things are meant so that the child will be able to have the best life possible.

But the main message here is that God sees the people if Israel as His daughters and sons, as His family, as His children.  The implication of that is truly staggering.  It’s unlike anything the world has seen before.  And it will remain unique to God and His people. 

And again I’m struck at the consistency in the character of God.  In the New Testament we can read about being brothers and sisters with Christ.  And the audacity of that statement can shock us.  But here we have the same sentiment coming for the same God.  We are not God’s subjects.  We are not just some play thing.  We are children of God.  We are daughters and sons of God.  And this is incredible.  That is unique.  That is an incredible privilege.  It means that God loves us.  It means that God calls us His own.  It’s not the disciple that makes us His children.  He disciplines us because we are His children.  And that’s true even when we don’t like the discipline.

God, thank You for Your love.  Thank You for calling us Your daughters and sons.  And I even thank You for Your disciple because that is a sign of Your love.   Amen

Leonard

Why Won’t Men Ever Read the Directions? Week 6 Day 3, Numbers 20-27

Why Won’t Men Ever Read the Directions?  Week 6 Day 3, Numbers 20-27

There is an urban legend that men will never read directions.  I Goggled the topic and came up with the following:

-         Why men don’t ask for directions
-         Real men don’t read instructions
-         Why men don’t listen and women can’t read maps (Don’t get mad at me ladies, that was just one of the items that showed up.  Sorry!)
-         Why people don’t follow directions (At last, a little “affirmative action.”)
-         How to get a man to ask for directions: 10 easy step (10 steps, how can that be easy?)

Most the time I actually read the directions, especially if I’m considering the purchase of electronics.  I’ll normally download the directions before my purchase so I can find out that the item really does, not just the marketing hype.

Moses apparently doesn't always read (or listen to) the directions.  God clearly told him to speak to the rock.  Instead Moses struck the rock twice with his staff.  Water water everywhere, more than enough to drink.  Hum, wonder if that trick would work in California.  We could really use the water.  So everything is great.  Right?

Not really. It turns out that God is angry.   He's angry at Moses and Aaron, and what a punishment.  Both are told they won't get to lead the people into the Promised Land!  That must have been a bitter and hard pill to swallow.  Really God!  After all that time together in the desert, crossing the Red Sea, the plagues, going back to Egypt when he could punished for killing an Egyptian.  All THAT and one lapse leads to such a harsh punishment.  You got to be kidding God.  That's just way out of line.

I've often heard people question God in this story.  They wonder at how small Moses infraction was.  They question the severity of the punishment.  I thought Moses was friends with God? This doesn’t seem like the way you should treat a friend.  Moses whole goal was to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land and now he won't get to enter himself.  Some thirty states have a three strikes law.  Moses hits the rock twice and he's gone, or doesn't get to "enter in."  I thought God was forgiving?  With forgiveness like this, not, who needs accusers?

But while I've often heard people question God, I don't know if I've ever heard them question Moses, Hey Moses, dude, why did you hit the rock? Why didn't you follow the directions?  Well dah!  He's a guy. And everyone knows guys don't follow directions. But why?  Why do we have so many problems following directions?  I mean if Moses, God’s buddy couldn’t follow God then what chance have I got?

Maybe Moses is just tired of always following directions.  Just once he’d like to do it his way.

Maybe Moses forgot what he was supposed to do, a simple mistake.

Maybe Moses was angry at the stiff necked people that constantly gave him grief and he struck the rock in anger.

Maybe, maybe, maybe.  The reality is that Moses didn’t do what God wanted him to do the way that God wanted him to do it.  That’s called sin.  We tend to rate sins.  Really bad sins like murder.  Not so bad sins like speeding.  But sin is sin.  Disobedience is disobedience.  Moses who is described earlier in Numbers as “a very humble man, more humble that anyone else on the face of the earth” did things his way, not God’s.  And sin leaves its mark, on us, on those around us, on the world.  Yes, there is forgiveness but there is also consequence.

Sometimes those consequences can hardly be perceived.  Other times the consequences are horrific, like Moses missing the Promised Land here on earth. 

We think we can do wrong with no ill effects.  But even what to us seems to be the most minor offense can have dire consequences.

God, I really don’t understand how much I effect the world around me.  I look at my life and it seems so small, so trivial.  But only You know the impact that I have on me and the world around me.  So Lord, I need to learn how to better listen to You.  I need to learn the to better follow You.  Let me only speak whey You want me to speak.  Let me strike only when You want me to strike.  I know I have Your forgiveness.  Now create in me a constant obedience to You.  Amen

Leonard 

ROI – Risk Analysis – Opportunity Cost, Week 6 Day 2, Numbers 12-14

ROI – Risk Analysis – Opportunity Cost,  Week 6 Day 2, Numbers 12-14

I tend to be more of a realist.  You may not believe that if you’ve been reading my blog, but it’s true.  Facts are facts.  People tend to behave or misbehave in certain ways.  Life has a certain pattern or flow to it.  And generally if you work hard you see the results of that work.

I guess that the men (spies) that were sent to scope out to explore Canaan were realists too.  After traveling in the desert to for a number of months they finally have their destination in sight, Canaan, the Promised Land.  God tells Moses to “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I (God) am giving to the Israelites.  Sounds like a good idea.  Get the lay of the land before you go.  The former project manager in me likes this.  Figure out the potential ROI, return on investment.  Do a little risk / reward analysis. 

So off go the spies.  They spend forty days exploring the land.  And they return with a mix of good news and bad news.  In the plus column there’s some great produce including grapes so good that it takes two men to carry a single cluster.  It’s flowing with milk and honey!  In the minus column there large fortified cities, lots of people, giant sized people. 

Caleb tries to convince the people, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”  That Caleb is quite the motivational speaker.  The other spies were realists too. They  vote “No”.  They point out the large fortified cities, all the people that live there, and how the current inhabitants are stronger that the Israelites and as big as giants.  They don’t see much opportunity for a return on investment and a high risk if they enter the Promised Land.

And so, once again the people grumble against Moses and Aaron.  Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb do their best to convince the Israelites.  And for their efforts the Israelites decide that they want choose a new leader and go back to Egypt, again.  They even talk about stoning Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb.  Once again they’ve got a bad case of Godzheimer’s.  They forgot what God has done.  They forgot how God had delivered them.  They’ve even forgotten what it was like to be slave back in Egypt.  Godzheimer’s.

Once again God is angry at the people.  And once again Moses pleads for the people.  And once again God forgives them.  But their rebellion comes with a great price.  They could have entered the Promised Land.  They could have left the desert behind.  But instead, because of their rebellion, none of men who had seen the signs that God had performed in Egypt and the desert will get to enter the Promised Land.  Only Caleb who argued to follow God’s command will get to enter the Promised Land.

There’s another business concept that can apply here.  ROI and risk analysis are good.  Then there’s opportunity cost.  Opportunity cost is the value of what you didn’t do.  You have a choice of two investments.  You pick investment A.  It turns out that investment B would have yielded a 100% percent profit.  But choosing A you missed out on the 100% profit you would have had if you had picked B.  But you can’t do both.  Basically you try to look at all your choices and pick the one that will give the best result.  But to do that you have to guess at what gain your other choices would realized.

So, what was the opportunity cost of not entering the Promised Land?  Don’t know the dollar value, but basically it was forty years of living in the Promised Land.  And their ROI for going against God’s directions was forty years in the desert.  Forty years of Promised Land versus forty years of desert.  They chose poorly.  Very poorly.  And they lost the opportunity to enter the Promised Land.

The cost of the choices that we make in our Christian lives can be hard to measure.  I feel God prompting me to share my faith with another, but I don’t do it.  Life just seems to go on, no harm, no foul.  But what about the opportunity cost.  Perhaps the person has forty years of life without God.  Hey, that’s doesn’t sound very fair.  Why should they suffer for my lack of vision, my lack of obedience?  I feel God calling me to serve in some way, but it’s not really what I want to do.  Do I miss out in the growth of my faith and relationship with God because of my choice?  Do others miss out because of my reluctance to serve?

We want the freedom to say “no” along with freedom from the consequences.  As Israel has just found out, followers of God, especially reluctant followers of God, bear a heavy burden in terms of opportunity costs.  Adventures with God not experienced.  The joy of fellowship with others remains unknown.  Perhaps even welcoming a new sister or brother into the Kingdom of God, postponed, perhaps never even happening.

Some of you might be saying, “God wouldn’t let others miss out on His kingdom just because I won’t obey when He called me to share.”  But that strikes me as a weird sort of logic that says I have free will to do whatever I want, but someone else will be forced to “pick up the slack” of my choice to not serve.  We relish the times when we can see God use us to minister to or bless others.  But it never occurs to us ask, if we choose not to serve is that same potential ministry and blessing lost?

I would guess that those who were born during the forty years of Israel’s wandering in the desert would much rather have been born in the Promised Land.  But they were not.  They were born in the wanderings of the desert.  Hardly fair.  How could God be so mean?  But time and time again the Bible tells us that the sins of the parents visit their children.  Why should God punish them?  But it’s not God punishing them.  It’s simply the children having to live with the choices of their parents.  And only God can break that cycle.  He doesn’t cause it.  But can redeem us and save us from it. 

So, what’s it gonna be, do what God wants you to do today or miss out on the blessings the come from entering the Promised Land in exchange for a lengthy stroll in the desert?

God, I want to be able to choose where, when and how I serve You.  And I know that when I choose You I can often see how the result of Your working in their lives and my life.  But It’s harder to see what happens when I say “No”.  I miss out on Your blessings.  And they miss out too.  So God, give me a heat ready and willing to serve, even when there are giants.  Amen

Leonard