Tag Archives: 3:16

Ruth 3:16

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When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, daughter?” Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her.

Love, faithfulness, kindness and a good God that cares deeply for His children – this is the lovely little story of Ruth. It also gives us insight into the unlikely couple that became the great-grandparents of David, in the lineage of Jesus. And we find in its brief four chapters confirmation that God’s love and kindness and God’s plans are one and the same. They twine together over time to create a beautiful tapestry out of seemingly small and unrelated events, like so many threads.

Like the stories of David and Jesus, the story told in Ruth starts in Bethlehem, where Naomi’s husband Elimelech was struggling to keep the farm going in a period of drought and famine. He decided that he, Naomi and their two sons would go to Moab, where conditions were better.

There, Elimelech died (perhaps because he didn’t trust God’s provision in the promised land?), his two sons married Moabite women, Ruth and Oprah, and then also died, leaving Naomi far from home in a foreign land, with her two Moabite daughters-in-law. She decided to return to Bethlehem and told Ruth and Oprah they should stay in Moab, with their people. Oprah agreed to stay, but Ruth was  undeterred:

“Where you go I will go and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.” (1:16)

Imagine two women, broken and alone, traveling a long distance across lands where they were open game for robbers, rapists, slave-traders and murders. It’s not entirely different today, as many women still suffer economic loss from widowhood and divorce and find themselves alone and vulnerable in a world that can be all too ready to harm and abuse them in their weakness. For Naomi and Ruth, though, their travels were so uneventful that the Bible covered the entire trip with only this:

So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem the whole town stirred because of them and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” (1:19)

Obviously, God was with them and protected them as they returned to the land He had chosen for them. Pray that women in similar straights today find the same comfort and protection under His wing!

God watched over them by putting Ruth before Boaz, a wealthy landowner, a distant relative and their “kinsman redeemer.” As Ruth and Naomi had returned home destitute, Ruth went out to glean the fields – to pick up the left-over and spilled grain after the harvest. She ended at Boaz’s field, where she caught his eye, and he generously made sure she was able to glean more than enough grain for herself and Naomi.

By the end of the harvest, he was smitten with her (thanks to Naomi, who coached her daughter-in-law well), and announced to the people:

“Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech … I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so his name will not disappear from among his family or the town records.” (4:9-10)

To our ears, this may sound like what we’d call a good excuse. Couldn’t he just have said, “I think Ruth is terrific so I’ve asked her to marry me?” Well, no. The Hebrew’s concern for lineage, chronicled in Numbers and mentioned in Ruth and many other books – right down to the Gospels’ first lines, as Matthew lays out Jesus’ lineage in Matthew 1:1-17 – is an affirmation of their beliefs.

We are much less concerned about it today. It’s another loss, another separation from God, for in most cases, our forefathers were closer to God than we are. In Israel, God rewarded this care for lineage by using the tradition to bring together Boas and Ruth, thus fore-ordaining David and Jesus.

Ruth is also a book that shows the Bible to be a true book about real people, with tales of God using behavior that is maybe a little less than godly – though certainly not sinful – to carry out His ends. We see Naomi coaching Ruth on how to … well … be a hottie. She helped Ruth with her wardrobe, make-up and scents as they prepared for the harvest celebration. She told Ruth to wait until Boaz was asleep, then to lift his blanket and sleep at his feet. This seductive flirtation helped to solidify the strong feelings Boaz already had for Ruth, leading to his redeeming of her, and their marriage.

This flirtatiousness aside, we see in Ruth example after example of virtuous behavior. Ruth loved her mother-in-law and Naomi loved her. They loved their God and chose Israel over Moab. They behaved virtuously and worked instead of begged. Boaz, too, worked hard. He treated his workers well and exhibited kindness and charity towards Ruth. He followed tradition and the prescribed rules. For all this, God smiled upon them and let the best possible outcome grow out of multiple tragedies and hardships.

Their place in God’s plan is foreshadowed by the Elder’s blessing of Boaz:

May the Lord make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel … through the offspring the Lord gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah. (4:11-12)

There’s that lineage fixation again! Boaz came from Tamar’s son Perez (Perez, Hezron, Ram, Aminadab, Nashon, Salmon, Boaz), and from him and Ruth came Obed, then Jesse, then David. Matthew 1:6-16 traces the generations from David to Jesus, 27 generations later.

Thought: We can’t know what God is doing at any moment, which is why it is so important to honor God in every moment.

Prayer:  Father, I’ve seen the story of Ruth how important family is to you. Help me today to honor this by loving and honoring my family and by being a living example to them of your love. In the Holy name of Jesus, amen.

Judges 3:16

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Now Ehud had made a double-edged sword about a foot and a half long, which he strapped to his right thigh under his clothing.

From time to time, I find myself tempted to slip back into behaviors I know don’t please God. I’m aware of it, but at those times, I can be willful and self-centered, allowing me to continue on the wrong path until I finally have to admit the emptiness that comes with the realization that I can no longer feel God in my life. I have pushed Him away, sometimes immediately, sometimes after a period of pushing and pulling. Then that feeling of separation leads to guilt and sorrow, and then to repentance and prayer, and then I feel God near me again and then, finally, it’s easy to walk away from the temptations and embrace the Christian walk again … knowing I need to be prepared to fight again another day.

Welcome to Judges. Before getting into the story of Israel’s years of destructive sin/repentance cycles, Ehud’s weapon deserves some attention.  Ehud was a deliverer of Israel and he had a weapon modeled after one that makes a famous appearance later in the Bible:

And when I turned I saw … someone “like a Son of man” … His head and hair were white as snow, and His eyes were like blazing fire … and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. (Revelation 1:12-16)

I cherish this description by John of Jesus. It is with me, along with the popular image of Him with the children, and the one of Him on the cross. He is gentle and caring, just as he is willing to suffer for our sins, just as he is this overpowering, fearsome celestial savior, blazing like fire, glowing like bronze in a furnace, with a thunderous voice, a brilliantly shining face, and instead of a tongue, this sharp and lethal double-edged sword. He is all three. Our God is an awesome God!

Why a double-edged sword? First, people of the day would know it as a fearsome weapon, the Roman soldier’s “gladius” sword, a battle-tested close-combat weapon designed for thrusting and stabbing, more forceful than a slashing sword. Of course, a gladius is not as forceful as God’s Word, but the Roman’s gladius and Ehud’s double-edged sword would both be instantly recognized to the people of their eras as highly effective weapons.

A double-edged sword doesn’t have as evident a meaning in this day of cruise missiles and jet fighters as it did in the days of Judges and John. So, instead of saying “God’s Word is like a double-edged sword,” we might say, “His Word cuts both ways.” But what does that really mean? Certainly, it cuts deep like a gladius did in the hand of a Centurion. We know God’s Word can often do that; We’ve had verses rip into us with awesome power.

But there’s more. God’s word also can cut the person who is directing it, since it is sharp on both sides. So, when using God’s Word to judge someone, know that it is judging you as well! Do not judge, or you too will be judged. (Matthew 7:1)

Judges is the story of a period in time when Israel was caught in a sin/repentance cycle, of doing evil in the eyes of the Lord, being subjected to hardship because of it, repenting, praying, and being sent a deliverer – the role of Ehud in this verse.

The disobedience started when the Israelites did not extinguish all previous dwellers from the promised land, breaking down their altars and driving out their ugly religion, with its sacrifices of children to the false god Baal, as God had told them to. We get this; we would probably do the same because to our modern sensitivities. Wiping out a people is genocide, at the top of anyone’s list of really bad behavior. But God didn’t share this view, at least as applied to those who peopled the promised land before the Israelites’ arrival, so He sent an angel, who told the tribes:

Yet you have disobeyed me. Why did you do this? Now therefore, I tell you that I will not drive them out before you; they will be thorns in your sides…. (2:2-3)

And so it remains to this day.

After Joshua and his generation died (2:8), the new generation forgot righteousness and served Baal, which would not have been possible if God’s directive had been fulfilled. From the chaos that followed, God raised up judges – the namesakes of this book – first Othniel (3:7-11), then Ehud.

Not learning from the eight years of subjugation ended by Othniel, the Israelites lost their piousness and began to sin again. Seizing this opportunity, Eglon, King of the Moabites, gathered the Ammonites and the Amalakites with him, defeated the Israelites and made them subjects for another 18 years, until God raised up Ehud.

Ehud was sent to Eglon with tribute, and while there, he plunged his double-edged sword into him, killing the Moabite king. Assassination accomplished, Ehud fled, gathered Israel to him, and said,

“Follow me … for the Lord has given Moab, your enemy, into your hands.” (3:28)

Follow him they did, with their God again at their side, they seized Moab, striking down “about ten thousand Moabites, all vigorous and strong; not a man escaped” (3:29), bringing another eight years of peace.

Reading Judges, it’s impossible not to ask, “Why didn’t they get it?” The Israelites continuously repeated their cycle of sin, oppression, repentance, deliverance, sin, oppression, repentance, deliverance … over and over. This is not only historically accurate, it is also an accurate metaphor for human behavior through the centuries. How often do we repeat it ourselves? Why don’t we get it?

Fortunately, God’s grace is there to save us. As Christians, we awake to the shame we feel, and when we repent and pray for forgiveness, God sends us an Ehud of the Spirit, complete with a double-edged sword to slay the enemies we did not drive out of our “promised land,” our born-again bodies and minds. Why didn’t we drive them out completely? Determining that is the task of the second edge of the double-edged sword, because the Holy Spirit’s sword doesn’t just slay the enemy, it wounds us as well, excising the evil, wounding us with the shame of our sin. And then, like the Israelites, we get peace. 

Don’t repeat the cycle! Use faith and God’s word and Christ’s model to drive the sin out once and for all!

Thought:  Protection, too, is a double-edged sword. God protects us and wants us to protect ourselves.

Prayer: Lord, I am cut open by your Word. I see in it both Your Love and my sin. Let your Word be to me today like Ehud’s double-edged sword, slaying the enemy without and the sin within, so I can serve You better. In the name of our Lord Jesus, amen.

Joshua 3:16

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[Joshua 3:15: Now the Jordan is at flood stage during the harvest, yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge,] the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water down to the Sea of Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over to Jericho.

Finally, after 30 years in the wilderness, with Moses just laid to rest, the chosen tribes are about to enter into the Promised Land. Will God treat this as a trifling matter? No! Right on His timeline, they appear on the east shore of the Jordan while it is flooding, and He uses this opportunity to part the river, as He earlier parted the Red Sea.

It’s bookends: Similar miracles at the beginning and end of His exodus plan for the Israelites. A mighty showman is our God!

At the Red Sea, God used the miracle to establish Moses as Israel’s leader; here He used it to establish Joshua as His choice as the man to take over leadership the 12 tribes.

And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they will know that I am with you as I was with Moses.” (3:7)

Then the Lord told Joshua to tell the priests to carry the ark of the covenant to the Jordan and step in. He didn’t lay out the whole plan, but Joshua had complete faith and had heard all he needed to hear. He told the Israelites He was acting on the word of God (3:9), gave direction on the ark (3:11), directed the 12 tribes to each select a leader (3:12), and only after all that, told them that a miracle was to come (3:13).

In Joshua, God picked a strong leader, a natural general, a man seemingly without the doubts and weaknesses that plagued Moses when he was chosen. God often uses week vessels, but he doesn’t always choose the weak. As Israel entered the Promised Land, God needed a general, and in Joshua, He had one. Whether strong and self-assured like Joshua, or humble and full of self-doubt like Moses, we must all be prepared to be selected by God for a task of His will.

To emphasize that the Lord was at work, the Levite priests carrying the ark didn’t just cross the Jordan:

The Priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on the dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground. (3:17)

What a sight! On the upriver side, a wall of water was stopped in its place, climbing higher as more and more flood waters flowed down. On the downriver side, there was only an empty river bed. You can plug in whatever analogy you want. The flood side could be the Promised Land, full of milk and honey, and the dry side the 40 years in the wilderness. The flood side could by a fulfilling life with God, and the dry side the emptiness of a life without God.

There’s something about the Jordan, too. God chose it as the border of the land he promised His chosen people and separated it for them. Later, John the Baptist chose it as the place in the wilderness where he baptized believers, where Jesus went to be baptized, and where God said aloud to those present, “This is my Son, whom I love. With Him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17 – I’ll be looking at this verse more when we get to Matthew 3:16)

The Israelites had been wandering for 30 years in order to reach this day on the shore of the Jordan. Even with the pillar of fire and manna, this was a hard test, and they questioned Moses, God and the whole idea of leaving Egypt, miserable as Egypt had been. God knew this, and while He provided signs and led them to otherwise incomprehensible victories over stronger forces along the way, He allowed the test to continue. In part, this was to allow the first generation of doubters to die in the wilderness, so children raised within the challenging test of the time in the desert would take the Promised Land. And in part it was because He allows his testing to run its course, so we are formed and strengthened. With the wandering tribe, the two went together – the unsullied new generation was raised up and was harden for what was to come – just as God used the great depression to ready a generation for the hardship of the world war that was to follow.

At the end of the test, God rewarded His people with a great spectacle that strengthened them as they crossed over, preparing them for the battles ahead that would secure the Promised Land for them – surely the parting of the Jordan helped them to accept the unusual idea that marching around Jericho’s walls for three days would cause those walls to fall down!

Joshua is one of my favorite books in the Bible, with transitions, culminations and promises that are kept. At its very start, it contains my life verse:

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. (1:9)

Amen!

Thought: As I face hard times, there is peace within me because I know God has already been at work, preparing me for what’s ahead.

Prayer:  Dear God in heaven, you are truly a mighty God! We may think the era of your miracles is long behind us, winding up with the resurrection of Christ our Lord all those years ago, but I know you are still at work. Look at me! Would I be here, praying to you, if it weren’t for your continuing miracles? No, Father, I would be lost in sin. So I praise you and thank you and pray that I will please you today as I walk the path you have set before me.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

Deuteronomy 3:16

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But to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave the territory extending from Gilead down to the Arnon Gorge (the middle of the gorge being the border) and out to the Jabbock River, which is the border of the Ammonites.

Upon reading this, it seems like a lackluster passage, especially from a book as rich as Deuteronomy, which is full of so many inspiring verses, like:

Do not be afraid of any man, for judgment belongs to God. (1:17)

And:

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of [your enemies], for the Lord our God goes with you; we will never leave you nor forsake you. (31:6 )

And Moses’ last words:

Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by their Lord? He is your shield and helper and glorious sword. Your enemies will cover before you, and you will trample down their high places. (33:29)

Upon further digging, we find this verse offers – not surprisingly, given that it’s a Bible verse! – interesting stuff. It’s the conclusion of a story, the fulfillment of a promise and a commitment, and a window onto God. So, like so much of the Bible, there’s more here than one would suspect at first glance.

Going back to the beginning of this story, in Numbers 30, the  Reubenites and Gadites saw beautiful grazing land just east of the Jordan and asked to be given that land, “The land the Lord subdued before the people of Israel.” Moses did not like the idea, which reminded him of earlier treacheries:

Shall your countrymen go to war while you sit here? Why do you discourage the Israelites from going over into the land the Lord has given them? This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to look over the land. (Numbers 6:8-10)

Back then, most of the spies Moses sent to report on the land before them came back with reports of giants and discouraged the Israelites from going forward. Only Caleb and Joshua reported positively. The lies and projected fears of the others angered God, because the Israelites did not trust Him to keep His promise, so He made them wander until all the skeptics (except Caleb, Joshua and, barely, Moses) had died.

After Moses rejected their request for land east of the Jordan, the Reubenites and Gadites came back with an alternative plan: They would build fortified cities east of the Jordan, leave the women, children and livestock there, and the men would join the rest of the Israelites to fight.

Deuteronomy 3:16 is the completion of this tale, the division of the lands east of the Jordan, in fulfillment of their keeping their promise to fight beside the rest of Israel to fulfill God’s promise.

That Israel was able to take the land of the Ammonites was no small feat. This tribe was a particularly fierce and cruel people, but because “He is your shield, your helper and glorious sword,” Israel triumphed over them – not only the Ammonites, but also the giants!

The rest of Gilead and also all of Bashan, the Kingdom of Og, I gave to the half tribe of Manasseh. (3:13)

Og was the last of the giants the earlier spies had feared, but with God beside them, the Israelites soundly defeated him and his formidable forces.

The Reubenites and Gadites thought their initial plan would find God’s favor. They intended to live as his children in the new land, and to raise future generations in His way, and they must have been disappointed when Moses rejected their plan. He didn’t tell them what to do next; he just reminded them of their greater responsibility to God and nation.

They did what we should do when we realize our plans aren’t fully aligned with God. They didn’t give up on their dream, but instead modified it to conform with God’s will. They realized that their dream was so strong that they were willing to fight beside the other tribes to achieve God’s larger promise for the nation. That was what God wanted of them, and seeing this, He was pleased, and they received their reward.

This verse, at first seeming to be mundane and uninspiring, actually tells us much about how to live as God’s children. We may think our plans are right and our path is true. But we do not know God’s specific will. To act in way closer to God, we should turn to prayer, meditation, the counsel of trusted friends and the wise leadership of elders. In that way, we can open ourselves to a clearer understanding of God’s will, and we will have the strength we need to amend our plans so that we walk more closely with God, pleasing him.

Thought: Despite what some may think of Christians, faith takes an open mind because we must always be open to a better understanding of God’s will.

Prayer: Dear heavenly father, it is your will, not mine. Again because I am too willful, it is your will, not mine. Help me, Lord, to not get ahead of you, but to pause and ask if it is your will I am following or mine. I want my plans to align with your will for me, and I know I am sometimes to quick to assume you are with me and my plans. Lord, I put my plans before you now and ask that you help me to see what I must do to make them the plans you will for me.

Numbers 3:16

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So Moses counted them [the Levites], as he was commanded by the Word of the Lord.

To put Numbers 3:16 in its place in time, Moses has led the Israelites out of Egypt and the tribes were living in what we would call a refugee camp, where they stayed for a year. The camp was in Sinai, and on the day when the Jews followed Moses out of it, the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness began.

While the Jews camped, God said this to Moses:

Take a census of the whole Israelite community by their clans, listing every man by name, one by one. (1:2)

This is how tiny the seed from which God would grow his flock was: Two men, Moses and his brother Aaron, could count them all. God often uses “not much” to do much. A small thought planted. A weak and humble person commissioned. Do not wait for a grand plan, a large army. A Moses and an Aaron alone were enough; so are you and I.

 As always, when God issued a command to Moses, it was promptly and correctly followed. (Well, almost always. Numbers 20:8-11 tells of when Moses didn’t follow a command by egotistically inserting himself into the miracle of bringing water from a rock, a miracle that should have been God’s alone. As a result, Moses was forbidden by God from entering into the Promised Land.  Let’s not slight him for that record – one “loss” against all those “wins” is amazing by anyone’s standard!) While it was doable for Moses and Aaron to count God’s seeds, it wasn’t easy. There were 22,000 Levites alone (3:39), and other tribes were much, much larger, with some more than doubling the Levite count, yet the two men counted them all.

God’s tribe of priests may not have been impressive in numbers, but, hey, that’s God. He didn’t grab the biggest tribe for Himself; instead He trusted this smaller tribe of Levi with all the key work of the religion: to tend to the tent of the meeting, the sacrifices, the making of the robes, the care of the people, and all things religious. Israel would need soldiers, farmers, herders, merchants, tradespeople, traders and teachers to survive the wilderness and settle the Promised Land, so God dipped only a little for His own needs. The same remains true today for He is a timeless God.

Just as they were responsible for the offerings to God, the Levites that Moses and Aaron counted were an offering themselves:  

The Lord also said to Moses, “I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male offspring of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine, for all the first born are mine. (3:11-13)

It was a pretty plan: The Levites oversaw the giving of the offerings and were fed from that portion of the offering that was not burned as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. There is a harmony and symmetry in God’s plans, for the Levites and the Israelites then, and for us now.  It’s not just the Levites or the firstborn that are His; all the born are His. It’s not just the believers and born again that are His; all are His. It’s not just believers on good days that are His; everyone on every day is His. We are all His creation, which is why “The Gospel oft he Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations.” (Matthew 24:14) All must be reached. Why? Because all are His.

God doesn’t forget a single lamb, and He doesn’t want us to, either. Only a few of us work in His tabernacle, but all of us are covered by His tabernacle. Aaron and Moses counted all the Israelites, not just the Levites. God counts us.

Not counted, though, were Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu, themselves anointed priests like their father, because:

[They] took their censers, put fire in them and added incense, and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to His command. So fire came out of the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord. (Leviticus 10:1-2)

They presumed to worship God in the way they wanted to, instead of the way God decreed, and paid the price. This was a message from God to the Levites at the outset of their new life as priests: To paraphrase Frank Sinatra, “You’ll do it my way.” Priests today, people today, should take note. We may live under a new covenant, but little things still matter to God, as do big things, like His Word. They matter enough that God reminds us in Numbers 3:4 what had already been told in Leviticus 10:2:

Nadab and Abihu, however, fell dead before the Lord.

Their error, seemingly small – worshiping God, but in their way, not His – was big enough to God that he repeated the story back-to-back in two consecutive books,lest we pay it small mind. Moses inserted himself into God’s miracle and was denied the Promised Land. Aaron’s sons created their own worship service that wasn’t the Lord’s and were struck dead. The World would have us believe all paths lead to God. Don’t be deceived! Only God’s path leads to God!

Thought: God won’t ask too much from me, so I should pay attention and do what He asks.

Prayer: Father in Heaven, I am but a little number, just one voice, one life, one soul, among so many in Your creation. Yet You love me and know every hair on my head and every care in my heart. You are an awesome God, full of lovingkindness, and I praise You and thank You that I am Your child. Help me today to do what You ask of me with a joyful spirit, and with no thought other than my desire to please You. In the name of Christ Jesus I pray, amen.

Leviticus 3:16

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The priest shall burn them on the alter as food, an offering made by fire. All the fat is the Lord’s.

Leviticus, “about the priests,” is Moses fully realized as God’s vessel. He’s no longer the timid man by the burning bush, cowering from the role God has for him, but is the spiritual leader of his people, setting forth the Mosaic law that would guide the righteous until Christ established a new covenant.

All the sacrifices under the Mosaic law described in Leviticus are a preview to the perfect sacrifice Christ would make, described in the most famous and loved of all the 3:16s:

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

In Leviticus, our 3:16 is in a chapter covering fellowship offerings, first detailing the process of offering cattle as a fellowship offering, then sheep, and finally goats, which is the section that includes this passage. The instructions to the offeror and priest are repeated three times, specific and clear each time. The animal must be without blemish. The priest lays his hands on the animal’s head. The blood is sprinkled over the altar. The inner fat and the kidneys are removed and, as we see in this verse, are to be burned in sacrifice to the Lord.

Why this repetition? Why not say it the first time (3:1-5), then, with each other animal just say, “Repeat steps one through five?” Because God is a good and thorough teacher. He knows us and knows that repetition will be required. People mock the Bible for its many repetitive passages like this, but really,are we that smart? Are we that quick to learn? That ready to accept?

After sacrificing the animal, the directions in Leviticus 3 tell the priest to separate the fat that covers the liver and kidneys and burn it on the alter as:

  • An aroma pleasing to God (3:5)
  • An offering made to the Lord by fire (3:11)
  • A pleasing aroma. (3:16)

God doesn’t ask for much. He doesn’t take the choice cuts. He doesn’t ask us for 90 percent and leave us with 10 percent. He asks us for the fat and the kidneys. Why the fat? Maybe God just likes the smell of it burning. Or maybe he’s showing us his generosity, taking what we would otherwise discard and leaving us with the good cuts. And why the kidneys? I don’t know, but it’s interesting that God took for Himself the organs that filter out the impurities from our blood – the symbolism of Christ taking on our sin couldn’t be more powerful!

Leviticus explains how to conduct other offerings besides fellowship: burnt, grain, sin and guilt. These were mandated offerings required by God, and often were tied to festivals. Fellowship offerings, along with peace (shalom) offerings, were different – they were spontaneous, voluntary and personal.

These offerings have to do with a believer’s relationship with God; then it was through offering up a perfect animal as sacrifice, and now it’s through the perfect sacrifice of the eternal Christ. He became our better door to a closer relationship with God, our example, our advocate, our intercessor … our savior. Or, a little more uncomfortable to consider, our fat and kidneys, sacrificed as a fellowship offering to God.

What shall we sacrifice to improve our relationship with God the Father and Christ the Son? Our cowardice regarding evangelism? Our greediness regarding giving? Our selfishness for “my time” that gets in the way of service? Our long-held grudges that get in the way of forgiveness? Our secret sins that distance us from God? There is so much to give in sacrifice, and too often we give too little.

Thought:  God asks for so modest a sacrifice, and in return, He gives us protection, guidance, peace, salvation and eternal life.

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that my offerings and sacrifices to You today will be an aroma that’s pleasing to You. Thank You for all You give me, and forgive me for being too sparing in what I give back. Thank you most of all for Your grace and the gift of salvation – without this kindness from You, I would be lost. In the name of my savior, amen.

Exodus 3:16

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“Go and assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob – appeared to me and said, I have watched over you and have seen what has been done in Egypt.”

Let’s set the stage: While tending sheep for his father-in-law, Moses saw a bush on Mt. Horeb – God’s mountain – that was burning but was not consumed by the flames. God spoke to him from the bush,  and Moses hid his face, afraid to look upon God.

Who wouldn’t do the same? Even the most vain, arrogant, self-centered person would fall on his face if confronted with God, in his unsurpassed power and unlimited glory.

Having gotten Moses’ attention, God told Moses in this 3:16, “I have watched over you.” He did this even though Moses and the other Jews were far from the Promised Land, in Egypt. Enslaved, mistreated and far from home, they cried out to their God in prayer and He saw, and He heard,  saying a few verses earlier in 3:7:

I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers and I am concerned about their suffering.

Because God didn’t act right away, some might conclude that prayer doesn’t work or isn’t a first strategy when facing a problem. That happens all the time even today when people’s prayers aren’t immediately answered by a God dispensing mercies and bounties quicker than a microwave pops popcorn. But this is Exodus and we know the story that follows is all about answered prayers.

So we have faith, just like Moses did when God didn’t bring an end to the Jews’ suffering upon the first prayer that was wailed up to him by a despondent slave. Why did He let the slavery go on? Well, for starters, they had lost faith, fleeing from the land He gave them rather than believing He would provide their needs.  There had to be consequences for that. And more relevant to us today, He knew the Jews weren’t ready yet to trust and follow Moses, and that Moses was not ready to lead them. So He listened and watched and waited, with a good concern for His children, until it was time.

Then he lit that burning bush.

Does God respond immediately when we cry out to him? Maybe sometimes. But more likely, we’re not ready when we cry out, just as the Jews weren’t, so He watches over us, and as good Christians, we keep praying as we keep waiting patiently.

There’s something else really interesting with the “I have watched over you” phrase: It cuts both ways. What a comfort it is to the godly to have God watching over them. What could be better? A nudge on the tiller, a guide from the depths of the heart to the depths of the mind, a protection that ensures the path is the right one, even if it is at times rocky and steep.

But for those behaving in ungodly ways, having God watching over them is anything but a comfort. They have only two choices: to leave their ungodly ways so God can be a comfort, or to leave God and instead exalt sin. These people who don’t want God watching over them aren’t just other people; they’re us, too. Even as God’s children, when we sin we are leaving God, exalting the sin that He hates and telling ourselves He’s not watching. Is it worth it? No! Far too much experience shows us that leaving ungodly ways is always the better choice.

God knew Moses was godly and that the words “I have watched over you” would comfort him. They should be a comfort to us, too. If they’re not, it’s time to emulate Job 1:1 in our lives so God’s presence will be a comfort today and every day:

He feared God and shunned evil.

We might think that having God speak to us as directly as He spoke to Moses would be a pretty awesome thing, but Moses didn’t think so; he was not happy to be singled out by God. “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” he asked God. The task laid out for him was terrifying and, he thought, far beyond his capabilities. And he was right. Alone, he was incapable of leading this stiff-necked tribe, let alone standing up to the Pharaoh, one of the most powerful men on the planet.

But God had been preparing Moses for a long time. He saw to it that Moses had been raised in Pharaoh’s palace and also had been mentored by good Jews. So, with God beside him, Moses did what was asked of him – so much more than he ever thought possible! This is what God had in mind when he placed these words in the Bible:

For nothing is impossible with God.(Luke 1:37)

Thought for the Day: I will live today as a day that will please God as He watches over me.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for watching over me. Forgive me, please, for the times I haven’t wanted You to see what I was doing. When I behave like that, it makes me think like Moses, that I’m not worthy. How can you love me? But you are God Almighty and You do love me. Thank you for that, Father, and help me to bring You joy today as You do to me. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Genesis 3:16

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To the woman He said: “I will increase your pains during childbearing, with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

I had hoped for a more positive verse in Genesis 3:16 as a start for this journey, but that’s not God.  “This isn’t a romp,” he’s telling me. “This is serious stuff about my plans for you and the ways you insist on messing those plans up.” It is good that we’re starting off with a verse like this because God knows this world and he knows us.

He knows we will sin, and he wants us to know that sin matters to Him. The consequences of this original sin of Eve’s (and Adam’s, as we shall see), affected all womankind and mankind.

There was childbirth pain before Eve took the apple – it has always been a part of creation, because God said “increase” not “cause.” But sin made it worse. It is still the same today. We all have pain and we sometimes sin in an effort to relieve the pain – but sin always makes it worse.

Passing through sin and back to God is a joyful blessing, just as the newborn infant makes the mother forget her pain. The mother glows when the infant is in the womb, then the baby leaves her, with pain, through the birth canal. But then, when the infant is placed back on her breast, the pain is gone; the joy returns. It’s the same with God and us, there’s pain when we leave Him and joy when we return to Him.

Eve was independent, lacking a sense of the need to defer to her husband. Had she asked Adam, “Should I take the apple?” human history might have turned out very differently. But she didn’t ask Adam – or God – she just took it. Adam didn’t ask God what to do about that – he just took the apple, too. And mankind paid the price, as we see in the very next verse, as God addresses Adam:

“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.”

No more lounging in the Garden of Eden for Adam. No more walking with God in the quiet of the morning. Sin matters to God.

Eve was given a greater pain because of her sin, but also a greater, better desire: “Your desire will be for your husband.” Before, we just see desire of self: “I, Eve,  want that apple.” So, God is good. Even as he punishes her for her sin, he gives her the gift of love and desire within the marriage – a desire that will lead, in short time, to her experiencing the pain of childbirth and the joy that follows.

In marriage, we still have Eve’s desire for our spouse. When we sin in secrecy and are found out, like Eve, the pain we have caused and the threat of losing the one we desire is overwhelming, increasing the desire to hold onto that person – to hold onto God – and not sin.

This entire message seems to revolve around the pain of childbirth, which is still with us and is still amplified because of Eve’s sin. It is so much a part of the human experience that it is our universal measure of pain; just look at Psalm 48:6 for one example:

Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor.

The kings in this verse were primed for battle, ready to go, but were stopped short in excruciating pain by the mere sight of the Holy City they were planning to attack. How bad was the pain? A ten out of ten! Like that of a woman in labor!

And what of Adam in all this? He was passive, allowing a sin to continue because he also wanted the apple, so God, being fair, didn’t just condemn Eve to pain. We only have to go forward one verse to learn that because of his role in the Original Sin, Adam was condemned to a less intense but life-long pain: Working, aching, toiling to eke out nourishment from the soil. And let’s not forget that Eve was working at his side much of the time, with aches and pains of her own. They had, as we do to this day, a family to provide for and no Garden of Eden, with its labor-free abundance.

From Genesis on, the Bible prepares us for this sinful world so we can prepare ourselves for judgment and, with the love of God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts, for heaven. So, this 3:16 was a good start, then, especially when we look at the model Adam and Eve provided for us after the apple.

They left Eden to live their lives together because God said they would become one flesh (2:24). And when Eve first felt the pain God visited upon her because of her sin, when she birthed Cain, did she curse God and flee to the Serpent’s false comfort? No, she did not:

With the help of the Lord, I have brought forth a man. (4:1)

She didn’t say, “through the painful curse of the Lord,” but “with the help of the Lord.” Go Eve!

Thought for the Day: God is there to help me through any pain I might have brought upon myself.

Prayer: Dear God, thank you for this lesson about sin and its consequences. Thank you for your kindness, in giving Eve the desire for her husband, not just the pain of childbirth. You are a good and gracious God and I am honored and amazed that I am your child. Help me today to stay close to you and not to separate myself from you by falling to temptation. In Jesus’ name, amen.