Bible Reading Challenge Blog

The mundane of the offerings rears its ugly face once again. The devotion, and the enormity of it, struck me this time. That’s a lot of cows and sheep and grain, and we struggle to give God 5 minutes a day in prayer! The disposition of the booty of war should be troubling as it seems very barbaric and not something that the God of love whom we worship would ever allow, but it happens.

When we get to I Corinthians we find Paul making an argument for payment to the pastors as they find themselves in the work of the Lord. It is obviously not a self-serving argument because he and Barnabas were tent makers, meaning that they had another occupation besides preaching the Gospel. If you look at 9:22b you can see a bit of the theme that I try to run on, which is: “I have become all things to all people, by which I might save some.” I love that image of being in the world and yet not of it and yet enough in it that people notice that you are a servant of the Lord and want a part of that. This falls into line with what he saysin 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do for the glory of God.” What a great driving statement.

We find ourselves with Balaam still, I thought he was gone.  But now he is looking at the Israelites with the encouragement of Balak the king, once again.  This time Balaam clearly blesses the Israelites, without any hesitation.  As you can imagine Balak, the enemy of the Israelites, is furious and refuses to give him any of the recompense that he promised when Balaam came to him on his donkey. 

Things then turn on a dime for the Israelites.  We see them begin to worship Baal, and it really got bad.  God commands that each of the Israelite chiefs were to be impaled in order to quench his fury.  As often happens, Moses talks him off the cliff and he commands that each person who is in the act of worshipping Baal be killed.  As they are trying to figure out what to do a Jewish man takes a Midianite woman into his tent to, well, you know.  This was done in plain sight of everyone even as they were figuring out how to calm God down.  One of the sons of Aaron goes into the tent and impales both the man and the woman in that moment, and as a result God was good.  The son of Aaron saved the Israelites, at least those who were worshipping Baal, by his spontaneous act. 

A census is taken of all the tribes and in the midst of that account we find the daughters of a man who died and whose name would be lost forever appeal to Moses in order to claim his land.  God agrees and says that if a man dies and only leaves behind daughters they are entitled to his land.  That was huge, daughters were only going to get what their husbands got, but now it all changes, especially for girl dads. 

Lastly we see that Joshua is given the reins to take over after Moses.  I love 27:22ff where Joshua is taken, they lay hands on him and he is commissioned for this task.  Commissioning is so important, which is why we do it at the church.

In I Corinthians Paul gives the argument that since Jesus is about to come at any moment, we should all stay as we are.  If we are married, stay married, if we are single, stay single, if we are engaged, stay engaged.  This has to do, of course, with marital relations.  He also says, very wisely, that God is okay if you did not want to stay as you are because your passion for each other is overwhelming, then you better get married.  Interesting the word love never comes into the picture.  For Paul the necessity of getting married had to do with controlling your passions, your ardor, your insatiable desire for the other person that just needs to be acted upon.  In that case, you better get married.

So yesterday I read one chapter too long and we spoke about the death of Miriam and of Aaron which actually happens in chapter 20, which is today’s reading. But that’s okay, doesn’t hurt you to read it twice. Now for the other chapters we read in Numbers a strange conflagration of Israelites who obey God and gentiles who look for help from prophets of God to curse Israelites as they make their way through the land. God remains with Israel and provides the victory time after time. But then we have this story of Balaam and Balak.

It is clear to me that Balaam is a prophet of the Lord who is asked by Balak, a king in the region, to curse the Israelites so that his army could win the battle as they come up against him. Balaam does what the Lord commands, rides his donkey to see Balak, but then the next verse we see an angel of God come as an adversary to him because he is going to see Balak. It is here where his donkey speaks. I love that, a talking donkey which reminds him that he has to stay focused on God’s work which means keeping his eyes open to the signs that God puts in his path. We may be so focused on doing that which God has asked us to do that we miss ways in God is communicating to us as we go about doing God’s business.

In Corinthians we have Paul speaking out against immorality within the church community. I love the line that we read in 6:12ff – “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial.” We do not have a list of rules that God commands us to follow. We follow God’s law of loving Him and loving neighbor. That gives us a wide range of freedom, but within that freedom we have to ask whether our actions are for the sake of the kingdom or just for our sake. It isn’t always self-evident, but it is helpful to use that as a measuring stick.

Another helpful verse is 6:19 which reminds us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and they are not our own. I love that image, that our body is a temple of God and not our own. It really resonated with me.

It was getting old marching across the wilderness, especially since God had just discolosed to them that they were not going to enter the promised land, but their children would. So, it is time to find a new leader, similar to what is happening right now in the house of representatives, and it seems like that decision to find a new leader met with a similar fate as to what is happening right now. Moses and Aaron twice lay on their faces to protect the people from the wrath of God, and God responds and only takes out those who created the disturbance. But boy what a scene was made from earthquakes swallowing up the tents of the rebel rousers to a plague that begins to take out the people. The next few chapters we see Moses work to consolidate his and Aaron’s calling as God’s chosen ones to lead the people.

Then Moses does something that excludes him from entering the promised land. Earlier it was the people of that generation who were excluded, but now Moses is. He tries to show his own power, especially in the face of all these doubts, by striking the rock as if his stricking the rock would bring water as opposed to God’s Word. God wanted the people to see that only by Moses speaking would water come, but Moses wanted to show that he had a role as well. That puts Moses and Aaron on the outs with God and they are not allowed to enter the promised land as a result. Miriam dies, Aarong dies, and a new day begins.

In I Corinthians Paul is also explaining how he has the right to be called an Apostle and the right to be considered as one chosen by God to carry out his purposes. It seems like a lot of people are looking to consolidate their calling and are trying to boost their pedigree as someone whom God can not only use but has chosen for this time and this place. Paul is one, although he says it does not matter whether it is him or Apollos, or any of the other Apostles. The key is that God is building but the individuals that he uses is not as important.

Let’s give a brief overview of what we saw this today and then try to add some significance to it. We begin with the giving of the quail to the people of Israel because they were complaining that they were not eating meat. Yeah, I probably would have been complaining in that crowd with the non-meat diet. God provided, but notice that he wasn’t exactly pleased with the people of Israel in His provision. Why do they complain so much? Moses’ statement in 11:29 where he wishes that God would put his Spirit on all people comes to fruition on the day of Pentecost.

Chapter 12 is a fun story of Moses’ siblings being jealous about him and the punishment of Miriam because of that. We then move into the spies who look at the land and see it flowing with milk and honey but 10 out of twelve are afraid and say that we should not enter the land because it is filled with scary people. This next chapter is crucial because it is the first time that we see that the people lose their promised entry into the, well, promised land. Because they were afraid and refused to go into the land God tells them that they will wander in the wilderness for 40 years. We them move into the traditional sacrifices and what they are good for.

Moses continues to remain faithful to the Lord and yet the people remain unfaithful. Moses’ patience is tested as he cries out to God and asks God am I the one who birthed all of these people, and since I did not, why am I responsible for their action and why do I have to hold them by the hand and lead them to righteousness. It is a fair question.

When we get to I Corinthians we see right from the beginning that the Apostle Paul is upset with them because there were divisions within the community. Paul is not a fan of divisions because he says that they are caused by factions who want to take the credit for people’s experience with God. It is God who should take all the credit. We will see more from Corinthians.

There are a couple of chapters that literally repeat the same phrase over and over again. If you take Numbers 7 you will find the offerings that each tribe presented is identical to what the others tribes have given, and yet it is repeated 12 times. That reminds us that what the Lord requires, he requires of all of us. There is not a generational pass that goes with those who have served longer or those who have served shorter. The Lord requires devotion, full devotion, from all of us.

Don’t get lost in the details and miss the beauty of Numbers 6:24-26. The priestly blessing is very applicable to us today and is not something that we can relegate to the past. Probably if I had to do it over again, I would close all of my services with this benediction, but as it is I close with the benediction that my father used and which we can find in the New Testament. But this one is definitely solid. At the end of Numbers we see the people of Israel moving out for the first time after the Lord has given them the tabernacle and all of the instructions on how to move and how to take care of it. They begin moving and they begin to leave Sinai. This is before God becomes angry with Moses and relegates the entire nation of Israel to the wilderness for 40 years. That is coming up.

What can we say about Jude? It is a warning to beware of those within the church who are imbuing the community with false teachings. They can be hard to distinguish. There are false teachings on both side of the political aisle. There are those who would completely separate the authority of Scripture and say that our experience has the power to overrule Scripture. There are also those who see safety and security within our nation as the overriding goal and so seem to silo their faith from their patriotism and the two shall never meet. It is quite an old sin to establish gods within our lives that seem more important than our relationship with God and that relationship which is based up on the Scripture that we read.

This is arguably the most difficult section so far of what we have read. It is the beginning of the listing of names which God commanded Moses to number. But keep in mind that he only counted those who were of military age, which made sense because you needed to know who was going to be able to defend the people when war came, and was was bound to come. There were over 600,000 fighting age men which was not an insignificant number. I can’t help but think of the 360,000 who have been mobilized over these past few days in these hostilities that we see taking place over this past week. But it really isn’t much of a war, it will be more of a slaughter, a classic eye for eye and tooth for tooth. Jesus had a different way.

When we get to III John we see the words of It is Well repeated in vs.2. What does it mean when we say that it is well with our soul? I see it as a defiant statement that no matter what is surrounding us, no matter the difficulties and the trials and the tragedies that we may face, it is well with our soul because we know that Jesus will carry us through no matter what. That is an encouraging statement to me.

Are there any more powerful five chaptes in the Bible than what we find in I John. It all comes down to one idea: Love one another. There is absolutely no excuse for us to hate, there is absolutely no excuse for us to hold a grudge, there is absolutely no excuse for us to target people with our scorn or look down on them as if God somehow has placed us on a higher category than others. Love one another simply put means that we would treat a person exactly as we would treat our sons and our daughters. What a tragedy is happening in Israel because people on both sides are not able to love one another. For generations this has been true and for generations Israelies and Palestinians have been killing each other. None of this is an example of the commandments that we see in this Scripture.

The author’s goal is that our joy would be complete. Our joy can only be complete in Jesus Christ. He makes that very clear. We cannot experience the full joy of life without Jesus as our Savior. Jesus allows us to live without sin, and yet if we say we are without sin then we are liars. Wow, what a powerful statement that applies to all of us. We are all sinners. As a result we need Jesus. Look at I John 3:18 where we read: Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. Doesn’t this fit into our PSA? What a great phrase.

Focus on I John 4:16b where we read: “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” What a reminder for us that not only is God love, but we are called to abide in God and so abide in love. There is no stronger common denominator among Christians other than we are called to live in love. There is no wiggle room there and no what ifs like what if someone doesn’t love me back? Well, that is addressed. You are to love them, period. I hope we are able to keep this on the forefront of our minds as we decide what actions to take in life.

We have to start with the last words of Psalm 19.  We see in 19:14 – “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”  This is how I pray before every sermon as I begin.  This is a real prayer that God would take my Words and make them His words so that what I might say would not only track with what God would want me to say, but that it is actually consistent with God’s Word in every way shape or form. 

There is more in Leviticus that should be discussed, such as the year of Jubilee.  Did you catch that?  Every 50 years the land is to go fallow, the slaves are to be set free, and things revert back to where they were before people took out loans and sold things to keep afloat.  What a wonderful example of bringing everything together in a family so that no one person suffers and no one person takes advantage of another, ever.

Guess where I am starting again today? In Hebrews, which contains the foundation of our faith…again. We begin with a definition of faith, look at 11:1 – “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” What a great defintion. But wait, there is more. Each chapter, it seems, begins with a classic verse. Look at 12:1-2a – “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” Hebrews 13 contains the following in vs.8 where we read: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” What a way to end this book of the Bible that provides us with rock solid theology on our Savior. If we can spend more time in this book we would be well served. Now to Leviticus.

We just have a few short readings but we do have the three primary religious holidays laid out. We see directions on how the people of Israel are to celebrate: the Sabbath, Passover, and the Feat of Unleavened Bread. A commonality in this Scripture is that there is a command to take a day in which no work is done and in which what we do we do unto the Lord completely and without fail. I’ll just leave you with a thought. What day is your Sabbath and how do you dedicate the entire day to the Lord. I don’t mean just Sunday worship, for you do well in attending that but how else do you dedicate that day to the Lord in its entirety?