kalebheitzman

Deuteronomy 8 through Deuteronomy 23:11

Following no other gods came up several times through out these chapters of Deuteronomy and it wasn’t just don’t follow these other God.  It was more like stone to death anyone who chooses to follow other gods other than the one true God.  There was no grace for religious adultery.

How the times have changed.  I’m not sure what to think about this other than this was God’s M.O. with the Israelites.  In the key of translating this into the culture in which I live, I would say put to death any kind of influencing relationship that pulls me away from God.  Jesus obviously lived with the chief of sinners, but not to allow them to influence him.

He was to influence them and this is the balance.  We’re told today to put to death anything that may distract us from God (and this is a metaphorical death of course, not the kind of death experienced by those in the writings of Deuteronomy) but we also live in the tension of being the light to the world. The question to be pondered: how do we live in the tension of carving out anything that distracts us from the one true God while being a light to those who need him?  I have no easy answer.

Intercessory prayer is a major player in this reading as well.  Moses spent a total of 80 days praying and fasting for God’s people who were about to be in the wake of God’s wrath because of their unholiness.  Where has this kind of prayer gone?  Am I blind to it or not tuned into what’s really going on around me?  What I can answer is that God listens and responds to prayer and for the Israelites, it was in their favor.

As I’m in the last third of my first seminary degree, the Levites have continually caught my attention.  They were set apart for a special ministry of God, making intercession for the people before God.  While I have no desire to make this kind of intercession because Jesus my Savior does so now, I do have a desire to be a light and in the words of Tim Tennent, the new President at Asbury Seminary as of 2009, I desire to be a street lamp, not a candle light.  Maybe I can even more so through intercessory prayer.

Numbers 32:12 through Deuteronomy 7

Two thoughts in Deuteronomy 7 stand out.

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.

I’m reminded that in my unfaithfulness, God is always faithful and that his love is unfailing because he his unfailing.  Like some of the Israelites in the time of Moses, I find myself turning to idols, be it work, ill-formed views of leadership, self.  It’s my prayer that I don’t follow in the footsteps of the Israelites and setting myself of for destruction.  It’s my hope that I remain faithful and unwavering before my Creator.

Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction.

This side of Acts 1, our house is very much our own bodies because the Holy Spirit dwells inside of us as believers of Jesus Christ.  With as many detestable things that I’ve let into my life at one point or another, I’m surprised I haven’t been destroyed yet.  It’s only God’s grace that has spared me of my foolish ways and recognizing the second and third chances is critical.

I’m fully justified before God through Jesus Christ, but the sanctification process is still ongoing and will be until I move from this life to the next.  May the Torah (The first five books of the bible) be a reminder of our beginnings, a guide for our paths, and a remembrance of were we’ve come and were we’re headed.

Numbers 21:8 through Numbers 32:19

This reading seemed more like a history lesson than anything.  It was a repeat of Israel taking a census and then turning to foreign gods.  The most interesting narrative in this reading is that of Balaam.  He was blind to God’s angel yet his donkey wasn’t.  His donkey prevented him from death three times before God’s angel revealed himself to Balaam and showed mercy upon him.

My two cents is this:  Like Balaam, we often become so focused on the task at hand that we blind ourselves to God and his kingdom around us.  I’ve done that this week in trying to launch a new website for the seminary.  It’s become my task and I’ve failed to acknowledge God’s surrounding presence.  May we put God and his kingdom before our own tasks and keep them in the forefront of our lives.  May we not blind ourselves with ourself.

Numbers 8:15 through Numbers 21:7

This section of Numbers has been an account of Israel preparing for and journeying to the promised land.  The story of Joshua and Caleb take stage as well a second occurrence of the phrase a covenant of salt. Moses also fails to do as God told him at the waters of Meribah which accounts for him and Aaron not making it into the promised land.

Joshua and Caleb were among twelve spies sent out to observe Canaan, the promised land.  They held faithful to God’s covenant of a promised land but the other ten spies did not.  These ten spies told Moses that the men in Canaan were too strong for them to conquer.  Caleb is eventually singled out in verse 24, with God reassuring his victory into the promised land.  This verse also implies that the other spies would not make it.

What makes this even more interesting is that Caleb was not a native Israelite which raises the question, what exactly constitutes Israel and God’s people?  It seems as if Caleb was adopted into the tribe of Judah and this parallels the Gentile believers adoption into the family of God to receive their inheritance of God’s kingdom.  The symbolism of an outsider beyond the genealogical walls of God’s covenant with Israel is reassuring.  God’s people are those who choose to follow him.

The phrase covenant of salt caught my attention in this reading.  It’s indicative of an enduring covenant which is good news for the Israelites (and us).  God’s promises are enduring and it seems despite the Israelites failures, he makes a way for his people to continue in his covenant of receiving the promised land.  Numbers has brought to the forefront much of the Israelite’s bickering and unfaithfulness only to have God prove his faithfulness continually.

God shows this in while yet Moses and Aaron won’t make it into the promised land because of their unfaithfulness, the people will have a leader who still charges on.  God is always leaving a remnant and multiple chances to carry on despite the peoples evilness.  He holds true to his Genesis covenant of promising not to wipe away the human race.  I’m very thankful for God’s faithfulness despite mine.  It’s my prayer we don’t follow in the Israelites steps of unfaithfulness but we follow true to its nature, God’s grace.

Leviticus 26:27 through Numbers 8:14

There are two particular groups that I found interesting in the first part of Numbers.  Both the Levites and the Nazarites were set apart for God.  God chose the Levites to be set apart as a Priesthood and God allowed those who wanted to set themselves apart for God to become Nazarenes.  This isn’t to detract from the fact that the entire Israelite population was set apart from God but Numbers details the setting apart of these two particular peoples.

I find the Nazarite vow interesting.  Most churches have used it to turn alcohol into sin when there is nothing sinful about drinking.  It’s when alcohol takes over you that it becomes sin.  What’s funny is that the same groups of people who use the Nazarite vow to turn alcohol into a sin are the same ones who are okay with drinking grape juice and at this point you are probably wondering what I mean.

The Nazarite vow was not only about not drinking alcohol but also not drinking grape juice (Numbers 6:3).  In fact not drinking alcohol was coupled with not drinking grape juice in the same sentence (Numbers 6:3).  Churches have used this vow in the same way they’ve used Leviticus to tear people down and again it’s a great illustration in missing the point.

This is my take on the point of the Nazarite Vow.  It’s a commitment to abstain from the pleasures of this world and I would even say to abstain from the sweet pleasures (grape juice) of this world to more concisely focus on God for a time.  The Nazarite Vow didn’t seem to last forever but for a time as indicated by Numbers 19:20 (The Nazarite eventually would drink wine again).

May we take seasons in our life to more fully focus on God by sacrificing the good pleasures of this world with a deeper attention to God.

Leviticus 14:33 through Leviticus 26:26

Have you ever encountered a fundamentalist Christian who tears down every one that doesn’t believe what they believe, especially homosexuals?  Well, they get their ammo from this section of the Bible.  What’s ironic, is that the same punishments regarding homosexuality are the same punishments regarding adultery, incest, and some other unmentionables.  But you never see hate signs carried by Christians lining the sidewalks of colleges that mention adultery, premarital sex and etc.

It’s rather indicative of you’re missing the point. You can’t pick and choose God’s word to support whatever cause you are crusading about so stop it!  It would be telling to find out how many gay bashing Christians have struggled with the other sexual sins mentioned in Leviticus and whether or not they would crusade against their own sexual sins.  At that, I’ll stop.

Leviticus 1 through Leviticus 14:32

Leviticus is dominated by sacrifice plural, but there was a common phrase that continually occurred through the first fourteen chapters.  It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. I’m left in a state of examination, asking myself if my sacrifices are truly sacrifices and if they are an aroma pleasing to the Lord.

For starters, if there is one sacrifice I as a follower of Jesus should get right, it should be the sacrifice of becoming less and less and God becoming more and more.  Putting others first when it’s convenient is easy.  What matters is our ability to put others ahead of ourselves even when it’s not convenient.

Jesus took on the nature of servanthood and provided us the highest example of putting others before oneself by way of the cross.  His entire life was about others.  No greater love is there than the one where a friend will lay down their life for another.

Moving on, there was an interesting parallel I noticed in this reading.  The priest would burn the sacrificed animal outside of the gates.  If I’m correct, Jesus was crucified outside of the gates.  Not only did Jesus make the ultimate sacrifice, but he was discarded as were animal sacrifices, outside of the gate.

This leaves me with a parting thought, will my sacrifice make it outside of the gates?  All to often, it’s confined inside of Church walls, confined inside of the expected.  It’s my prayer that as a follower of Jesus, our sacrifices as Christian would be a pleasing aroma to God, and that they would make it outside of the gates.  Making it outside of the gates is evidence of that my sacrifice was true.

Exodus 29 through Exodus 40

The Israelites remind me of how fast we turn our back on God when he doesn’t seem like he is around.  In this reading, as soon as the Israelites thought Moses was gone and not coming back, they turned their backs on God and began sacrificing to a community made idol, the golden calf.

I think if anything, this points to the selfish nature of sin that has corrupted our world.  When God’s ways are no longer work for our own desires, we create our own ways that do.  How the majority utilizes prayer is an example.  Why is it that we are excellent at emergency prayer, but not so great at relational prayer?

We only use prayer when we need it, yet our Savior was very serious about prayer.  There are many recorded instances of Jesus praying even when it wasn’t emergency prayer.  He was communicating with his Father in heaven and even cried out to him more when the Father seemed most distant.  We should understand prayer through this kind of lens, calling out to God even more when he seems most distant.

The most interesting thought from this reading, was about God relenting.  Moses pleaded with God and God relented.  It has nothing to do with man’s ability to persuade and everything to do with God’s compassion.  In my basic Christian doctrine class, the question was asked, does prayer move God?  Moses asking God to forgive the Israelites for worshipping the golden calf, and God changing his mind to sparing the people instead of destroying them seems to indicate that prayer does move God.

I’m left with images of what it would look like for the Israelites to sacrifice perfectly to the Lord.  Exodus wraps up with the establishment of the tabernacle and regulations for sacrifice.  God was very specific to Moses about what sacrifices to use and how to prepare them to present a pleasing aroma to himself.  I believe Jesus was finally the ultimate sacrifice that had been prepared just right, without blemish, to make atonement for our sin.  More on this later.

Exodus 15:19 through Exodus 28

I’m left with three major impressions from these readings.  For humanity, good is never good enough as evidenced by the Hebrews, misusing the name of God isn’t limited to saying G*d d*mn, and the beginnings of a single individual to bear the sin of the people are taking hold.

In reverse order, Aaron is to be the bearer of the iniquity of holy things. This language caught my attention, and after some initial research, I’ve come to this conclusion.  Like Aaron and the Israelites, Jesus is the bearer of the iniquity of holy things for all of God’s people.  Aaron was the mediator between the Israelites and God.

Jesus is the mediator between us and God.  Iniquity is the lack of righteousness, the presence of evil and instead of the people bearing their own faults we see God allowing and individual to bear these faults as early as Exodus through Aaron.  The payment for this iniquity is only fulfilled through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The church is the biggest culprit in misusing the name of God for ungodly purposes. Time and again I’ve seen self-proclaimed church leaders tear down others in the name of God, of condemn others in the name of God.  Unfortunately, the name of God has been the deadliest weapon this earth has ever encountered and this has done more damage than using the word G*d d*mn ever will.

How many have been left lonely in the name of God?  How many pregnant teens have been abandoned in the name of God or how many of us have torn down another in the name of God.  How many of us have ever used the name of God to justify anything?  When we do so, we take his name in vain because only God himself has the power to use his name for his purposes.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if when people heard the name of God or Jesus that they thought of hope? Or maybe healing?  What about restoration? What would happen if we taught and preached the good and healing qualities of God instead of assuming he wants to destroy everyone set against him?  After all, he did call David the murdered, Paul the murderer and in these recent readings, Moses the murderer.

Good is never good enough and it points to larceny of the heart. We trick ourselves into thinking we’ve done good when we’re able to buy something for less than what it’s worth and maybe we have, but have we?  For the Israelites, freedom was good but not good enough.  After God’s awesome display of power, they still doubted.  The Hebrews had the opposite problem we have when we find good deals.  They were dealt the priceless deal of freedom but for them, they paid too much.

They thought they were stranded in a desert though God was with them the entire time.  When we find ourselves in the desert, may we remember God’s delivering power through Jesus Christ, our bearer of iniquities.  May we not take God’s name in vain by easily forgetting what the great I Am is capable of and may we content that God is always with us even in our most troubling times.

Exodus 1 through Exodus 15:1-18

The first 15 chapters of Exodus are another narrative of God’s ability to use the evilness of men for his glory.  We often hear about how God sent 10 plagues on Egypt to free the Israelites, but we do not often explore the backstory that sets up God delivering the Israelites.  It’s the backstory that makes Exodus powerful.

God often uses the most unlikely of vessels to display his power.  In the first 15 chapters, we have a murderer, slow of speech being called by God to take on Pharaoh of Egypt.  This murderer was Moses, driven by fear from Egypt after he killed an Egyptian and driven back to Egypt by the hand of God to be the symbol of God’s holy power.

When Moses killed an Egyptian, he had no idea that God would use his connection with Egypt to free his people.  I’m sure Moses thought he was done these people and would never return let alone by an instrument in freeing presumably hundreds of thousands Hebrew slaves.

Moses was an unlikely vessel to carry out God’s will, but with the help of Aaron, the voice of Moses, that’s exactly what happened.  God sends ten plagues trying to get the Egyptians attention and finally does at the tenth plague, but not before the Hebrews celebrate their first passover.  While the story itself about plagues and freedom, and the power of God captivate my attention, I’m more captivated by the parallels to Jesus in the first fifteen chapters of Exodus.

Like Moses, Jesus was the unlikely vessel to be used as a symbol of God redeeming power.  Jesus was God in the flesh, but only the flesh of a lowly carpenter who most people thought nothing of until his last years in ministry.  Like the blood of the lambs who protected the Hebrews during the first passover, Jesus was the lamb of a passover a couple thousand years ago who was the ultimate sacrifice in sparing us our lives.

There is this unwritten rule dominating time that goes like this: Freedom requires a blood sacrifice. For the Hebrews, it was the blood of a lamb staining the door posts, and for people of the earth post crucifixion, it’s the blood of Jesus staining our hearts.  My walkaway is this:  The blood of the Lamb stains me.  He is my passover and my protector and it’s only through Jesus that I’ll experience freedom and restoration.

I started a 90 Day Bible Reading Plan a few days ago and It’s been quite invigorating already.  I have a reading tonight in which I’ll post a different reflection, but I thought it would be good to begin posting a daily reflection with this one summarizing the last four days.

I’ve finished Genesis and I am left with thoughts about our starts.  Whether or not you consider our beginnings metaphorical or literal, and whether you see a major creation narrative followed by a sub-narrative or just one creation story, you must concede that in the beginning God called things good and that it would and will be amazing to have this life God called good restored one day.  Life in the fullness and wholeness of God without having to contend with sin is what we strive for.  We strive for a relationship with God that brings us joy and peace.

It broke my heart when this was destroyed by the wickedness of the human heart, but what I soon realized was that God had a way of using our wickedness to our advantage, something we would never have the capability to do.  I think of Joseph who was betrayed by his brothers and then ended up saving his family later in life from famine through the use of their betrayal.  God has taken Joseph’s misfortune and turned him into Pharaoh’s right hand man.  God is the orchestrator of turning evil on its head and revealing the good that can come out.  May we always remember God’s power.

God not only turns evil on its head, but he also destroys it.  May Sodom and Gomorrah be a warning that  God’s patience does run out.  There is only so long that he allows wickedness to run rampant before he puts an end to it.  In the end, it’s to our benefit that God destroys evil in hell.  It’s not something I really want to dwell on, but I do acknowledge a gloomy thankfulness for it.  He protects us from the enemy eternally.

God provides and especially at the expense of our sacrifice.  Abram turned Abraham, reminds us of that.  Abraham was told to sacrifice his one and only miracle son and he began to do just that before God provided a sacrificial ram in place of Isaac.  We’re not crazy for having a conscience of living sacrificial lifestyles in the name of God.  It’s a lifestyle that has been around since our beginnings.  Sacrifice is the shared vision of Christianity and one places us on our knees before God in worship.