Job 38:4-6
Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone-
Toward the end of Job, this Scripture is God's rebuke to Job's friends on their attempts to explain why good people suffer. God makes it plain that we don't even have the frame of reference for those questions. Our role is to watch our own hearts before God and come before Him with humility, knowing that some things are reserved for God and God alone.
Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, GraceNYC.org
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
What's keeping you from your promise? Exodus 4:24
Exodus 4:24 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him.
WHY was God going to kill Moses?
God was going to kill Moses because of sin. The sin of Moses in Exodus 4:24-26 is not stated explicitly, but the surrounding events give substantial clues as to the nature of Moses’ transgression. God had instructed his messenger to warn Pharaoh to free Israel, or risk losing his firstborn son (Exodus 4:21-24). Moses had been specially groomed by God for eighty years for this mission, and now the time for action had come.
Moses was to lead his people out of Egypt and to be an example to Pharaoh’s house, to the nation of Egypt, and to all the nations that heard of those happenings (Exodus 18:10-11; Joshua 2:10-11). Accordingly, Moses’ personal life had to be in order before he could direct the spiritual lives of the Hebrew people. It seems that Moses had neglected to administer the sacred rite of circumcision, the act that symbolized the Almighty’s covenant with His chosen people.
Perhaps this was the result of pressure from his surrogate Midianite tribe. It is also possible that he was persuaded by Zipporah not to circumcise his son, since she apparently found the practice revolting (4:25). This would explain her violent outburst; she felt that she had saved her husband from death by shedding the blood of her son. Whatever the cause, Moses’ outstanding sin made him unfit to serve as a spiritual leader, and the situation had to be rectified before he could carry out his mission effectively. Indeed, as soon as Zipporah performed the act, the Lord “let him go.” In summary, God was going to kill Moses because Moses was supposed to teach the Israelites God's Law, yet Moses was not obeying God's Law himself.
And what about you? Has God been grooming you all your life for you to be the next great leader? Is there an area of disobedience that needs to be examined? Our ignorance or oversight may be keeping you or me from our promise. Time to check ourselves and do as David did and ask the Lord to search our hearts and reveal to us unknown disobedience.
Peace
WHY was God going to kill Moses?
God was going to kill Moses because of sin. The sin of Moses in Exodus 4:24-26 is not stated explicitly, but the surrounding events give substantial clues as to the nature of Moses’ transgression. God had instructed his messenger to warn Pharaoh to free Israel, or risk losing his firstborn son (Exodus 4:21-24). Moses had been specially groomed by God for eighty years for this mission, and now the time for action had come.
Moses was to lead his people out of Egypt and to be an example to Pharaoh’s house, to the nation of Egypt, and to all the nations that heard of those happenings (Exodus 18:10-11; Joshua 2:10-11). Accordingly, Moses’ personal life had to be in order before he could direct the spiritual lives of the Hebrew people. It seems that Moses had neglected to administer the sacred rite of circumcision, the act that symbolized the Almighty’s covenant with His chosen people.
Perhaps this was the result of pressure from his surrogate Midianite tribe. It is also possible that he was persuaded by Zipporah not to circumcise his son, since she apparently found the practice revolting (4:25). This would explain her violent outburst; she felt that she had saved her husband from death by shedding the blood of her son. Whatever the cause, Moses’ outstanding sin made him unfit to serve as a spiritual leader, and the situation had to be rectified before he could carry out his mission effectively. Indeed, as soon as Zipporah performed the act, the Lord “let him go.” In summary, God was going to kill Moses because Moses was supposed to teach the Israelites God's Law, yet Moses was not obeying God's Law himself.
And what about you? Has God been grooming you all your life for you to be the next great leader? Is there an area of disobedience that needs to be examined? Our ignorance or oversight may be keeping you or me from our promise. Time to check ourselves and do as David did and ask the Lord to search our hearts and reveal to us unknown disobedience.
Peace
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Galatians 5:16
So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.
How many times have we made New Year resolutions only to find ourselves discouraged by the 2nd week (maybe even the 2nd day!). Every New Year we intend to stop this or lose that - so much so that we resign ourselves each year to making a list with the assumption that we won't keep it. But the apostle Paul gives us an important hint in what it takes to truly change: we don't make a decision to keep away from the desires of our sinful nature, we make a decision to live by the Spirit! We need to focus our gaze on where we want to go instead of looking at what we want to avoid. Let's start this New Year by taking our gaze off of our weaknesses and refocus it on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. When we do, we find that He can change us more than our resolutions!
How many times have we made New Year resolutions only to find ourselves discouraged by the 2nd week (maybe even the 2nd day!). Every New Year we intend to stop this or lose that - so much so that we resign ourselves each year to making a list with the assumption that we won't keep it. But the apostle Paul gives us an important hint in what it takes to truly change: we don't make a decision to keep away from the desires of our sinful nature, we make a decision to live by the Spirit! We need to focus our gaze on where we want to go instead of looking at what we want to avoid. Let's start this New Year by taking our gaze off of our weaknesses and refocus it on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. When we do, we find that He can change us more than our resolutions!
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