Remember

Day 40: Deuteronomy 31-34

We all sin and fall short of the glory of God.

When we do sin, we often try to forget, to get over it, to forgive ourselves. We don't want to remember. Maybe it's too painful to remember what we did or who we hurt. Maybe we don't want to remember our former selves. Maybe we don't even want to remember what we've done.

But Moses tells the Israelites to remember, "remember the days of old" (32:7), to remember how God delivered them, what God did for them. How he brought them out of slavery, how he saved them over and over again. How even when they were sinful and disobedient, He still showed them love and mercy.

Maybe instead of trying to forget our past sins, we could remember them. We don't need to remember them to make us feel guilty about them or to remember them for their own sake but instead we can remember how God saved us, how he loved us through our failures, how he remained faithful to us in spite of our mistakes.

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I will close with the last verses in Deuteronomy: Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel (34:10-12). 

What a tribute to Moses.

Choices

Day 39: Deuteronomy 26 to 30

"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 obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess....This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
Deuteronomy 30:15-20

God gives us free will. He has shown us what the path he wants us to walk looks like and how we can walk that path in obedience to him, yet he allows us to choose whether or not we will take that path. And then he also outlines the results of our choices--blessings or cursings.

I like the part where Moses says, "Now choose life."

Choose life.

Choose life.

Repetition and memory: Components of an oral culture

Day 35: Deuteronomy 4-10

Have you ever wondered what it must have been like to live in an oral culture? Imagining myself in an oral culture proves extremely difficult because of the influence of reading and writing in my own background; however, because I have not grown up in a primarily oral culture, I can discover some of the features of an oral culture merely by contrasting them with a predominantly textual one.

One observation has to do with repetition. I teach professional writing courses and one of the things I emphasize is repetition. Students are initially apprehensive about using repetition in writing, but they soon discover the importance of this strategy, especially for readers who may not be as familiar with the subject as them.

In the Bible, the concept of repetition is even more pronounced. In fact, I would argue that one of the primary reasons repetition is emphasized is because they were living in an oral culture. In such a culture, memory was a key component. Adults didn't have texts to read, and children did not have someone to read them stories. However, what they did have was memory: adults could remember the stories told to them and then tell the same stories to their children. Just like storytelling was important, so, too, was singing. Music became an easier way to remember and to pass on stories to others.

So what gets repeated in the passages for today? I find three primary aspects of repetition:
1. Characteristics and explanation about the nature of God.
2. What God did for the Israelites and what he commands the Israelites to do.
3. What the Israelites did in the past.

First, Moses reminds the Israelites about who God is. God is "a consuming fire, a jealous God." He is "merciful." He is "great and awesome." He is "the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments." Moses reiterates the traits of God. The Israelites are reminded about God's nature, and they get to know the Lord better as well.

Second, Moses rehearses the story of the exodus--what God did for the Israelites over and over again since they left Egypt. How he saved them from death, starvation, thirst, and other evils that could have happened. Moses also emphasizes the commands that God gave the Israelites and the importance of following them.

Finally, in telling the story of the exodus, Moses also reminds the Israelites about their behaviors, their actions. He rehearses to them all that the Lord has done for them and then begs them to remember the Lord. Moses is speaking to a new generation of people--people who may not have been around throughout all the years of wandering in the desert. One of his purposes, thus, seems to remind the new generation about the past, about Israel's past of which they are a part. Another of Moses's aims here seems to be to remind the people of the story, to tell the story again and again so that they can remember it and pass it on to their children. The purpose here seems to be connected to orality.

Repetition was and is an important part of oral cultures, and one of the most repeated parts of the Bible is actually in this section:

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. ^{[a] 5} Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

We, too, can make repetition an important part of our own lives. We can tell the stories of the Bible to ourselves, our children, and our friends. We can repeat what the Lord has done for us through Jesus. We can memorizes verses in the Bible and repeat them over and over again. I'm sure these practices will impact our mindset and therefore our lives. Let's all try to be more cognizant about the role of repetition in our own life, particularly as it applies to becoming more godly and Christ-centered.

The Rock and The Cane Meet Again

Poor Moses. The people will not stop grumbling about being in the desert. This time they are complaining about the lack of water available to them. So Moses once again goes to God for help. God tells Moses to take his staff, gather the assembly together at a specific rock, and speak to the rock so that water pours forth.

Moses gathers the community together and is so frustrated with them that he lectures them about their behavior. Soon after, instead of speaking to the rock like God instructed Moses to do, Moses strikes the rock with his staff. Water still comes forth for the people, but God is not happy about Moses' disobedience and tells him that that he and Aaron will not be permitted to go into the Promised Land.

Poor Moses. He has put up with so much from these grumbling and complaining Israelite people; he even obeyed all that God has ordered him to do up to this point. But at one moment Moses loses his temper, disobeys God, and is forever punished for this sin. How tragic. How very tragic for Moses. I really like Moses and feel sorry for him not getting to see the land to which God led them from Egypt to see. This faithful servant is severely punished for disobedience, for lack of trust, and for his pride. I don't fault Moses any; anybody else would have probably done the same thing. I just wish it didn't have to happen. I wish he didn't have to be punished.

Moses is punished, however. I wonder how Moses felt about this. I wonder what he learned from this experience. What can we learn from this story? I think we can learn, once again, that God wants us to trust him. He wants us to put aside our egos and trust God that He will take care of things for us. What rocks are we striking right now instead of speaking to? What might God want us to do that we are not doing?

Day 30: Numbers 15 to 20

Trust in the Midst of Tragedy?

What does it mean to trust God?

That he will take care of us? That he will provide for us physically, emotionally, and spiritually? That he will fulfill the promises he makes in the Bible? Promises such as hearing our prayers, bringing only good things to us, or loving us. Or is it that we trust him to give us what we ask for in our prayers (non-material things, specifically)?

Sometimes I have a hard time trusting God. If he’s not going to take care of me, provide for me, fulfill the promises he makes in the Bible, or give me what I ask for in my prayers, then how can I trust Him?

Trusting God is hard to do. And yet God still wants us to trust him. But trusting God is so hard to do.

Last night, a 21-year-old girl at the church in Gatesville where Shane was a preacher was killed in a car wreck. She has a 9 month old daughter that will never know how much her sweet mommy loved and adored her. She has parents who love her and who have now lost a child before her time. She has a church family who looked forward to seeing her each week.

Why do things like this happen? We trust God to take care of our children. We pray to God that He will protect them from harmful things. And yet…things like this keep happening. This question of why bad things happen to good people is age-old, but it’s still relevant today. We ask the same question: “Why,” but we don’t get a satisfactory answer. God’s ways just don’t make sense to us. How can we trust God when life doesn’t turn out like it should or like we want it to? What does trusting God mean anyway?

Unfortunately, the reading for today doesn’t bring much comfort to me and doesn’t bring many answers either. In fact, the reading actually makes me fearful because at this point in the narrative, the Israelites do two things wrong. First, the spies, except for Joshua and Caleb, come back from Canaan with a false report about how big and strong the Canaanites are. They don’t trust God to be on their side and they lack faith that he will fulfill his promise to give them the land flowing with milk and honey. As a result of their lies and lack of faith in God, God strikes the spies with a plague, and each one of them die (except Joshua and Caleb). Second, God punishes the entire Israelite community because of their grumbling that resulted from the spies report. They, too, didn’t trust God (or Moses and Aaron) to provide for them and fulfill his promise to take care of them and give them good things.

Moses pleas with God to forgive the Israelites and not to kill them (like God wanted to do). God does forgive them, but he also punishes them: none of the Israelites over 20 years old, except for Joshua and Caleb, get to see the Promised Land.

So from this reading I learn that I should trust God. I’m actually scared not to do so. But how can I trust a God that brings such pain to so many lives? He could have saved Kayla. He could have protected her. He could have timed things differently. He is all powerful and could have protected his child. But he did not. He could have saved her life. But he did not.

Why?

I don’t have any answers. I understand it’s important to trust God, but trusting God is hard to do when life doesn’t turn out like you expect. I am reminded, though, of one verse that I memorized as a little kid: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).

I don’t understand. I don’t understand it at all. However, this fact that I have a limited understanding actually brings me some hope. Only God can see the full picture. Only He knows why things happen. All he asks of us is that we trust him, trust Him that He knows better than us. And that is what I will do. I will trust God with all my heart and not rely on my own incomplete view. I will trust God that he will take care of Kayla’s family and friends. And I will also trust that God will take care of Kayla while she is with him in heaven.

We miss you, sweet girl.

Day 29: Numbers 13-14

Spiritual Giants like Moses

Day 28: Numbers 9 to 12

Have you ever known a spiritual giant?

I can think of several people in my own life who have made quite an impression on me.

My father.
My mother.
My great-grandmother Meme.
My husband.
My in-laws.
Friends like Danny Mathews, Andrew Johnson, Amy Konermann, and Shelly Willbanks.
Preachers and teachers I’ve had: Michael Lewis, Mike Cope, John Risse, Shane Alexander, Becky Van Rheenan, Candace Vogt, Charles and Judy Siburt, and Karen Alexander.

I have had many spiritual mentors in my life. These people study and mediate on scripture. They bring new insights to Christianity and what it means to live a cruciform life. They are prayer warriors. They practice spiritual disciplines. They talk the talk and walk the walk. They are mentors, friends, and advisers.

When we meet someone like this, we know that we have seen Jesus. We have glimpsed what it is to live life in the kingdom of God. What makes people like this so special is that they allow us to realize all that God intended life in Christ to be like. Even though we may not often meet people who become mentors, advisers, and heroes to us, we know that at this moment, we are glimpsing more than humanity; we are glimpsing the life-changing ways of Jesus Christ.

Moses was a spiritual giant. He had the Spirit of God resting on him, and God listened to him. When the Israelites complained about their hardships and God sent a fire to burn among their camps, God prayed to the Lord and the fire died down. When the people complained that they had nothing but manna to eat, Moses prayed to God, saying, “I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me.” And so God took the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on seventy Israelite leaders. These 70 men helped carry the burden of the people, and Moses no longer had to carry it alone. When Miriam and Aaron oppose Moses and God curses Miriam with Moses, Moses prayed for God to heal his sister, and God did so.

God responded to Moses’ requests for forgiveness and healing, which suggests that Moses was a man of God. Moses responded to the call of God to be a leader of the Israelites. The people trusted Moses, and Moses became the voice of the people to God.

Even when Joshua, Moses’ assistant, became worried and jealous when other men began prophesying, Moses showed humility, expressing how much he desired all God’s people to use the gifts that God gave them—even if it meant that some power or prestige might be taken from him.

Moses is someone to be admired and imitated. He is a “spiritual giant” (so to speak) of his community. They go to him, and he goes to God. His life has obviously been touched through his relationship with God. I hope that my life is also one that has been touched through my relationship with God. I hope that yours is, too.

Imagine

Day 20: 31-40

Moses. I respect Moses. Here is a man who obeys God’s commands. Always. He does everything the Lord commands of him and as a result, as 33:11 says, “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.” Wow. That is so cool. Moses got to speak with God in a way that I’ve wanted to my entire life.

Moses even got to see the glory of God while God was shielding him in a cleft of the rock.

God is so creative!! His imagination is like none other. He is poetic, beautiful, and artistic.

Imagine being able to speak to God face to face. Can you do it?

What is amazing is that God has passed these traits on to His people. He blesses His people with this same creativity. For instance, the writer of Exodus emphasizes the craftsmanship and artistry of the Tabernacle, the Ark of the Covenant, the priestly garments, and other things as well. God fills people with his Spirit and they do amazing things for Him. In this case, Bezalel and Oholiab and a whole host of others were put in charge of the artistic designs for all the items God wanted built. The Lord gave them skill and they used it for His glory.

Imagination.

Shane has been preaching on imagination the last two Sundays, and the sermons have really got me thinking about this word. I don’t think I use my imagination enough where God is concerned. I tend to see reality. I’m a realist, you could say. But I don’t dream often enough about how life could be. I don’t imagine life being very different than it is now.

But it could be.

God has an imagination, and He’s given me one, too. He’s given you one. Maybe we should begin dreaming about the possibilities when we imagine.

A world without poverty.
A world without racism.

A world without injustice.
A world without murder, rape, pornography, hatred, divorce, sexual immorality.
A world without sin.

A world full of love and full of people who love God.

Can we imagine it? If we imagine it, it just might happen. But if we don't imagine it, it will never happen.

Imagine.

America, America

Day 18: Exodus 18 to 21

In the reading for today, God continues to develop his relationship with Moses. Moses and God seem to be pretty tight, particularly because Moses obeys God and fears him. They have several conversations and Moses functions as the go-between between God and Israel. In a way, Moses foreshadows Jesus. Although Moses is by no means Jesus, Moses serves some of the same function as Jesus does, particularly in terms of speaking to the people.

I really admire Moses. He seems like a great guy who lives his life trying to do the right thing. He’s also the one that God entrusted to take His laws to the Israelite people, laws which included the Ten Commandments.

As I was reading the Ten Commandments tonight, I was struck by how these laws don’t seem so much like “God’s laws” per se as they do laws of human nature, natural laws. It seems that these laws make our world better, no matter in what religion you believe. For instance, the law of Sabbath is not so much about religious practice as it is about the need for humans to rest and reflect so we can function better and be more at one with God, ourselves, and others. In addition, when we have no other gods except the one true God, we realize what other things in our life take up the space that God should hold. These laws, if we follow them, lead us to a greater and fuller existence. One where we sacrifice ourselves for God and for others.

In the United States, we have all these debates about whether or not we should put the Ten Commandments up in our courtrooms, our schools, or our parks. Although I understand why some want to fight so that the Ten Commandments remain in these places so that we can see them and so that our society can be ruled by the, first, we must understand that these commandments are already natural law—whether they’re in government buildings or not.

For me, I don’t think it’s so important that we fight for the Ten Commandments to remain in these places. Rather, I think it’s more important for us to live our lives by following them.

Not killing.

Not coveting.

Not stealing.

Not lying.

Not having other gods.

Not making idols for ourselves.

Not committing adultery.

Not cursing God.

Honoring our parents and grandparents.

And resting and reflecting on God and His word.

If we write these laws on our hearts, we don’t need to see them in government buildings to know what they say. The true testament of our faith isn’t that we’re fighting for them to be written in print; the true testament of our faith is how we live out our lives. Do we obey God and follow the laws that He has established for us—laws that are meant to protect us and not to hurt us? Or do we focus more of our time on trying to preserve an America that probably never existed in the first place rather than truly reflecting and meditating on the laws themselves.

If we live our lives according to the laws, America might see God in us; but if we spend too much energy fighting for the preservation of the laws in our buildings, then they may never see what’s truly inside our hearts.

Regardless, God is in control.

Contending for our release

Day 15: Exodus 5-10

God told Moses to say this to the Israelites:
"I am the Lord, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord." (NRSV)

Here, God finally reveals himself to his people. He lets them know what he will do for them.

But, they don't listen because they can't see past their immediate circumstances.

Yet still, Moses keeps doing what God is asking of him.

I really like this section of text where you see a conversation between The Lord and Moses. God asks Moses to do something. Moses goes and does it. Then Moses returns to God, and they make a new plan about how to get the Israelites released from Pharaoh. Pharaoh hardens his heart (and sometimes the text says that God hardens Pharaoh's heart) and a new plague ensues on the Egyptians.

It's interesting to me the reason why God tells Pharaoh to let his people go. God could have wanted them released to save them from the brutal hand of slavery, to save them from pain. Or he could have wanted them released to show them the Promised Land. Or he could have ordered their release because he is God and Pharaoh is not. But no. It's not any of these reasons. Instead, God wants the Israelites released so that they can worship him.

God wants the Israelites to worship him.

God places an extreme importance on worship. He vies for his people's release so that they can worship him.

Does God contend for our release, too? Does he want to release us from something so that we can worship him? From what does he want to release us? Selfishness? Work? Busyness? Depression? Worry? Immorality? Faithlessness?

This metaphor of God trying to save his people is still at work today. In the end, God wants us to worship him. He wants to release us from our worries, fears, anxieties, and everything else that is keeping us enslaved. He wants us to worship him instead.

When we come to worship him (any time and any place), we should remember that God has released us--he has FREED us--from our prison chains. We can now bow down knowing that he has taken away our pain; he has liberated us. For that, we should worship God.

Delivered

Day 14: Exodus 1-4

The Israelites were slaves in Egypt for a long time. They must have been wondering where God was during this entire time. They groaned and cried out to God. God heard their pleas and remembered his covenant to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Over this past year, I have felt like the Israelites—-groaning and crying out to God, wondering when he was going to listen to my prayers. I prayed and prayed that God would lead us to a new job—and do so quickly—but he didn’t. Shane and I were both in very low emotional states—depressed, actually—-and for the first time we both got on depression medication (I feel a little awkward admitting that, even though I know it’s common.). I wondered when God was going to take care of us (Technically, I know He always was, but I still wondered where his hand was in all this and why he wasn’t answering our prayers for a new job).

Dreams lost.

Faith tested.

Souls scarred.

What comes next for the Israelites—-God calls Moses to delivery them from slavery in Egypt-—offers me hope. While I can’t see into my future, I do know that God is taking care of me. He has already provided us a new job. Now, I’m hopeful that he will start re-casting our dreams, firming our faith, and healing our souls. And just like the Israelites do at the end of Genesis 4, I, too, will believe in God and bow down and worship him.

Side Note: I’m learning more why these Bible stories (and the Old Testament) are important. They can guide us as we live our lives.