One Thousand Gifts

For Christmas I received a book titled "One Thousand Gifts: Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are" by Ann Voskamp. I thought this was particularly appropriate since the NewSpring Church preaching series for the month of December was titled "Fully Alive".

My intention is not to write a synopsis or a review of the book but to start my list of one thousand gifts. Ann had struggled with unresolved grief since her little sister was hit and killed by a truck when they young. As she studied scripture she saw how thankfulness was tied into salvation and blessings so she started a list - on a dare - to name 1000 gifts from God for which she was thankful.

These will not to be the ordinary family, friends, health, etc gifts but the unexpected or unnoticed gifts, the things we too often take for granted. So today I have started my list and have two items:

1. the honking of geese as they fly over my house on their way to the pond
2. bright sunshine after many days, and almost 6 inches, of rain  

Each day I want to be expectant of some precious gift from God that I might not ordinarily even recognize as a gift but God gives to me anyway. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change." James 1:17 ESV

Heartache

When I heard about the school shooting in Connecticut where elementary age children as well as teachers lost their lives, my heart was broken for the families of the children and teachers but also for the family of the shooter. I was thinking about good and evil and how do I really put together a God who is supreme and supremely good with such an act of evil.

This has been a question for the ages so I as glad today that I ran across this article by David Platt. He is a pastor in Birmingham, AL. What he says I already knew but was glad to see it said in a way that I never could.

Please take time to read his article.

Faith

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)

Why is faith in God so hard to come by? We have faith in our favorite team's coaches that they I'll supply a winning season. We have faith in the weatherman and take an umbrella when he says it will rain. Some have faith in the President or the stock market, some in their talent or good looks.

About 2700 or so years go the prophet Isaiah was sent by God to King Ahaz of Judah to tell him not to fear the kings who were plotting to capture Jerusalem. God, through Isaiah, said it's not going to happen. Then God said, "If you at not firm in faith, you are not firm at all."  (Isaiah 7:1-9)

When Jesus began to interact with people, He marveled at the faith of a Roman centurion and chastised His disciples for their lack of faith. (Matthew 8, Mark 4, Luke 8). When the writer to the Hebrews wrote his letter, he listed a whole bunch of people known for their faith (Hebrews 11). However, this writer points out that they did not receive the promise that fueled their faith. That promise was the Messiah. But he also tells us in Hebrews 11:6, "And without faith it is impossible 
to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him."

For most of us the problem comes with the word reward. We have the idea that God's reward will be financial security or a trouble free life or no sickness (or at least complete physical healing if we do get sick). In Hebrews 11, the writer lists a bunch of great things that happened to or for people of faith but he also tells us of those who "suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated..." (Hebrews 11:35-36) The rewards of faith are not always immediately apparent or received.

Jesus, as always, is the standard we follow, especially when it comes to faith, "looking to Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2). His reward was AFTER He became a human and AFTER He was despised and AFTER He was tortured and AFTER He became sin for us and AFTER He was crucified. All these horrible things had to happen so Jesus could show us His power over sin and death by rising from the dead and then ascending back to Heaven to receive His reward. 

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)

They Bow Down

In Isaiah chapter 2, the prophet is speaking to the people of Judah and Jerusalem when he says God has rejected them "...because they are full of things from the east and of fortunetellers like the Philistines...Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made." (vs 6-8)

Just prior to this he has told them God is not pleased with their worship, He despises their sacrifices and celebrations because of their sin. But God also says, "Come now, let us reason together...though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." (Isaiah 1:18)

As I read this I thought about idols we have today; how full we are of silver and gold and houses and cars...and technology. We have plenty of things and always seem to want more. Just look at the people who camp in front of stores for black Friday and stores that used to close on Thanksgiving but are now open so we can shop, shop, shop. The more we have the more we are likely to make "the work of our hands" an idol.

Our idols may not be getting the latest toy or car or computer or iPhone but may be getting the latest twitter or Facebook update or having the most followers or getting the most retweets. Idolatry comes in lots of different forms.

As a follower of Jesus Christ my salvation is assured and the scarlet stains of my sins have been erased. But is God pleased with my worship? Do I show up at church on Sunday with nary a thought of God all week and expect Him to tell me I'm a good girl because I sang a few songs and listened to a preacher? Do I treat God as my personal Santa to give me what I ask for without asking Him what He wants for me to have?

Do I really bow down to the Creator of the universe, the Savior of my soul, or do I bow to the world and its trinkets and secretly hope He doesn't notice? This Christmas I want to renew my focus on the marvelous gift of salvation freely given to me and to all who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, who died for my sins, and rose from the dead three days later.

Giving gifts at Christmas is an expression of love but I want to be sure the love of Christ is the gift I share the most.

A Generous Heart

When Moses came down from Mount Horeb with the tablets containing the testimony of God, it was time to begin building the tabernacle. "Moses said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, 'This is what the LORD has commanded. Take from among you a contribution to the LORD. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the LORD's contribution: gold, silver, and bronze; blue and purple and scarlet yarns and finely twined linens; goats' hair; tanned rams' skins, and goatskins; acacia wood, oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, and onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece.' " (Exodus 35:4-9)

But it wasn't just the materials Moses needed. he also needed people, men and women, to do the work of making everything. God had called out a couple of men by name to lead this project. These men "received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought... They still kept bringing him free will offerings every morning..." The people brought more than enough to do the work, so much in fact, that "Moses gave command...and the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work and more." (Exodus 36:3-7)

Jesus tells us of another generous heart in the story of the widow's offering. As Jesus sat near the treasury box in the temple, "many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny." (Mark 12:41-44) Jesus went on to tell the disciples her gift was more generous than all the rest because she had given all she had to live on.

Americans prove themselves over and over to be a generous people. Just look at all the money given to aid disaster victims. Organizations like the Red Cross do a great job of helping people in times of disaster but what a lot of people don't know is that the Red Cross depends a lot on faith-based disaster relief teams to cook meals and wash clothes and provide shower facilities and just plain labor. (I know because I've been there, done that.) So what would happen if the followers of Jesus were generous year round to their local church AND their local church was willing to support the local pregnancy center and the local food bank and the local homeless shelter and all the other organizations who reach out to "the least of these". Those places should never lack for funds if the church, which is the people, has a generous heart.

Sabbath

After God created everything, He designated a seven day week and specified rest on day seven. (Genesis 2:1-3). When God spoke to Moses in the wilderness and gave Israel the Ten Commandments, He designated the seventh day the Sabbath. (Exodus 20:8-11) The people were to do no work and were to rest and worship on this day, "...a day...of solemn rest, holy to the Lord." (Exodus 31:15)

When the Israelites first came out of Egypt, God gave them food each day, bread in the morning and quail in the evening. He told them to take twice as much on the sixth day so they could rest on the seventh day. In explaining it to the people Moses said, "See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day He gives you bread for two days." (Exodus 16:22-30)

Later, when the children of Israel were to start making the tent of meeting, Moses told them, "Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places on the Sabbath day." (Exodus 35:2-3) In Leviticus we learn that even the land was to be given a Sabbath rest every seven years. (Leviticus 25:1-7)

Isaiah gives us a little more insight into God's heart about the Sabbath, "...[if you] call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasures, or talking idly, then you shall take delight in the LORD..." (Isaiah 58:13-14) This was a big deal because God says, "Moreover, I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them." (Ezekiel 20:12)

But somewhere along the way, the scribes began to make the Sabbath less about the Lord and rest and worship and more about keeping the rules, rules they made up about what constituted work and how far you could walk and how much you could carry. Lots and lots of rules. Several of the difficult encounters Jesus had with the the religious leaders of His day concerned the Sabbath and Jesus not keeping their man-made rules. (Matthew 12, Luke 13, John 7)

So what about me today as a follower of Jesus. Does that Old Testament commandment apply to me? The other nine do, so why not this one?

Not long after the resurrection, the Jews who were following Jesus began to worship on the first day of the week, designating it the Lord's Day because Jesus arose from the dead on the first day of the week. As the Gospel spread to the Greeks and Romans the old Jewish rules were no longer observed. (Acts 15:1-21)

However, the law as given by God, not men, was not abolished by Jesus but fulfilled. (Matthew 5:17) For Christians the law about the Sabbath is not about a day of the week but an attitude of the heart and a desire to know and worship God. It is about putting aside all the busyness of the life and spending time with God. It is about reading the Bible and prayer and singing praises to Jesus. It is about knowing God and His son Jesus Christ and refreshing mind and body and spirit.

But wait...that's what it's been about all along!

Details

I am so glad God is in the details of life. He is a "big picture" God seeing all creation and all time as a whole. He knows when and how and where things did and will happen and when the universe will reach its conclusion. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. But He is also a God of incredible detail.

When God gave directions to Moses for the tabernacle and the furnishings, He supplied lots of detail. God didn't just say make some curtains for the walls but told him the material to use, the number of curtains and their size, and how many hanging loops to put on them. He did that for every aspect of the tabernacle.

That's important to me because I am only one person in a world with seven billion or so people. I am a "detail" in a mass of humanity. In Psalm 139, David tells us of God's design and purpose and knowledge of who we are individually. Jesus said, "...the hairs of your head are all numbered" as He is telling His followers how much God cares for them. (Matthew 10:30)

The instructions God gave to Moses for building the temple give me a glimpse of just how much God cares about His dwelling place. As a follower of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God dwells in me. (1 Corinthians 3:16). If He cared so much about all the little details of this tabernacle of perishable materials made by the hands of men, how much more does He care about the details of my life and this temple fashioned by His own hands?!

Thanksgiving

Way back in time - 3000 or so years ago - God was making a people for Himself. After He brought the Israelites out of their bondage in Egypt, He began to set up rules for them to live by so that these "600,000 men plus women and children" (Exodus 12:37) could be governed rightly by Moses and those he appointed to help settle disputes. God was to be the head of this government and the first rules, or the ten commandments, were a summation of all the details He would later give about how to love God and love your neighbor.

Part of what God instituted were some feasts. One that He established was called the "Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor." (Exodus 23:16) Our celebration of Thanksgiving is a lot like this feast. The only trouble is we forget to be thankful.

Today we are so far removed from the land and the actual growing of our food, that we forget that it is God that allows us to have food at all. Many farms may be agricultural giants with huge irrigation systems and lots of chemicals to make things grow and giant machines to do the work of planting and harvesting but we must still spend on God to supply rain to fill the irrigation ponds and the sunshine to grow our food. Wind, hail, floods, drought, heat and frost are all beyond our ability to control.

So even though we may depend on Publix or Whole Foods, Aldi's or WalMart for our food, without God's blessing we would have nothing to eat. Because we are so blessed with an abundance we should give God thanks with a grateful heart. It is not "Turkey Day", it is THANKSGIVING! I think a large part of being thankful is giving back to the community. That can be done by giving to a local food bank or helping out at a soup kitchen because there are people even in America who don't get enough to eat. 

How could a $20 donation or an extra bag of canned goods or a turkey be used in your community to share the love of Jesus? Jesus was about meeting needs with compassion as He went about speaking truth about the kingdom of God. Now those of us who call ourselves Christians are to be His hands and feet in the communities where He has placed us. 

Maturity

In some ways maturity - as in growing old - is over rated. Some people don't age well and lose all sense of fun in life. Some people forget how to laugh or they forget that life doesn't revolve around them. It can be hard getting older as many older people suffer from hunger and pain and fear of death. I see that first hand as I volunteer with the local Meals on Wheels and with a hospice organization. I'm not thinking of them but of the grumpy old men and women you encounter in various places. Their maturity in age often makes them hard to love.

It is important that we come to a time when we grow up and we put away the childish irresponibilities of youth and begin to take on the responsibilities of adulthood to work and manage our money and take care of our stuff. But we never need to lose the childlike wonder at the magnificence of God's creation. We don't need to lose the childlike faith that trusts completely.

Our walk toward spiritual maturity takes time but we should be showing signs of growing up in our faith. The Israelites had been gone from Egypt only a short time when God decided Pharaoh needed another lesson in who God is. The Israelites felt trapped as they saw the Egyptians bearing down on them. "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." (Exodus 14:11-12)

Aren't we all a little like that at the beginning of our walk with Jesus? When times get hard, we question why God is letting this happen to us. We may even say what's the point of following Jesus if He's going let THIS happen to me. Jesus said in the parable of the sower "...the seed is the word of God...what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature..." (Luke 8:9-15) The cares of life...all those tough times and hard decisions  with hich we are often confronted.

Part of growing toward maturity in our walk with Jesus is looking at our circumstances through God's eyes. Twice God told Moses, "I shall get glory...and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD." (Exodus 14:4; 17-18) And it happened. As the Egyptians realized they were in a bad situation, they said, "Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians." (Exodus 14:25) 

God saved Israel with the miraculous parting of the Red Sea and the subsequent drowning of the Egyptian soldiers. "Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses." (Exodus 14:31) God intended, all along, to save Israel but that is almost a like footnote to God getting glory. That is true in our lives as well. God doesn't rescue us for us but for His glory, so we will believe in Him and have a story to tell of His greatness.

Plagues

I noticed some interesting things about the plagues God sent through Moses and Aaron onto Pharaoh and the people of Egypt.

First I noticed that God said this isn't going to work, "Pharaoh will not listen to you..." but go do it anyway. (Exodus 7:4) When we are doing what God asks us to do, it just might not end in "success" from our point of view but we never fail when we are obedient.

God was about freeing His people but God's overall purpose was that "the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD". (Exodus 7:5) That is still His purpose today. God is still about the business of revealing Himself to a lost and dying world. How He does that is up to Him but He still uses people to go out and speak to those far from God. Maybe we can't perform miracles like Moses and Aaron but we do have a story to tell of God's work in our lives.

It was not until the fourth plague that God separated His people out so they were no longer affected by the plagues. Followers of Jesus are not immune to the ravages of nature or the hardships of life. Jesus tells us "...in the world you will have tribulation..." (John 16:33) A time will come when followers of Jesus Christ will be separated out but until then we must live in this broken, sinful world. "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." (Matthew 25:31-32)

The first few plagues were just annoying and could even be replicated by the magicians of Egypt. But they became more and more "God things" as hail rained down from heaven, locusts came in on the wind, and no sun shown in the sky for three days. They also became more serious for the people with sickness and death of livestock and destruction of crops. God always knows what that "final straw" will be that will break our hard hearts. After the seventh plague Pharaoh said, "This time I have sinned; the LORD is in the right and I and my people are in the wrong." (Exodus 9:27) But it was not until the tenth plague that Pharaoh finally surrendered. God told Moses, "Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go out from here." (Exodus 11:1)

When the tenth and final plague was announced, God's people had to do what He commanded of them or they too would become victims of this plague. Death was decreed, death of every firstborn child and animal. In order to have the death angel pass over their house, each Israelite had to kill a spotless lamb, spread the blood on the doorposts, then grill and eat the lamb.

Death is still decreed, "for the wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23) Fortunately, God has provided our Passover lamb in His son, Jesus Christ. Those who follow God's plan will be saved. Just as the Israelites in Egypt had to put their faith in God and in the blood on their doorposts, we must put our faith in the blood of the cross of Calvary. That cross is our doorpost because Jesus is "...the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29) He shed His blood so the wrath of God could be satisfied and rose from the dead three days later so those who follow Him can have life too. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

Vote

Voting is a privilege that I will exercise today. I am not thrilled with either candidate for President but there is not, for me, a don't vote option. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are the choices so I will vote for one of them. I will also vote for the local candidates running for office and for the statewide amendment on the ballot for South Carolina.

I don't understand how God's sovereignty and my vote work together because I believe what the Bible says about God placing rulers over us. God will not be surprised or concerned or fretful over the outcome of this election because He has known long before today who the President will be. It bothers me to see all the hateful rhetoric from those who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ. They are not just denigrating the candidate but they are also denigrating God. "Let every person be subject to the ruling authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those that resist will incur judgment." (Romans 13:1-3 ESV)

When Paul wrote this the Jews were under the rule of the Roman Empire. The land God had given to them thousands of years ago was occupied by foreigners who had authority over them. The Christians were under intense persecution by the same Roman authorities as well as the Jewish religious leaders. And yet he tells them, don't resist. We know now that the Roman Empire came crashing down but at that time they could not see the end of it. Today the Jews are living in that same land as a free people.

Our problem is that we are too short-sighted. We only see what is going on right now and how it impacts me today. We live confined by time when God sees everything from beginning to end without that confinement. His plans are perfect even if I don't understand them.

I am making a commitment to pray for the President, whoever he is, and others in authority. That has been a lack in my life over the years and something that God would have me do. "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Timothy 2:1-3 ESV)

Servants

Saved people serve people. This is one of the core values of NewSpring Church. Just last Sunday I saw a twitter report (and I don't remember the exact numbers) 3,000+ volunteers served 19,000+ people at our campuses on Sunday.

One of the things Jesus said about his followers is that we are no longer servants but friends. "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you." (John 15:15) 

I know some people who are Christ followers who take this verse and use it to try to make church all about them - feed me, comfort me, meet my needs - when in reality Church really isn't about us (or me) at all. It is about reaching those far from God so they might know Jesus. And I believe to reach them, we need to serve them because serving someone shows them you care about them.

The apostles of the early church most often called themselves servants. Paul, Peter, James, and Jude all open their letters with greetings and designations as servants of God or servants of Jesus Christ. If they were servants, I want to be one too.

So what does it mean to be a servant. The term most often used in the Greek is bond-servant which means a slave. A slave does what he is told without asking questions. I believe that is what the apostles meant when they called themselves servants. They were saying I will go and do and be whatever Jesus Christ asks of me. I will not question his directives, I will do them.

Being a slave meant not bringing anything with you. The slave didn't supply his own tools or money to get the job done. The master supplied all that was needed to do the work and the slave provided the labor. That is also a big part of what the apostles meant. They didn't have resources to do all that was asked of them so they had to depend on their Master to supply it.

In our day, we have plenty of resources. In a way that is sad because we have come to trust in ourselves to provide all we need. I really need more of the servants heart. A heart that submits to the Master not only for direction but for supplying all the resources I need to do all he asks of me. No excuses. No wavering. No whining. Simply obedience.

People like me

One of the things I like about reading the Bible is all the characters God chose to use. Many are people just like me. If He used them to accomplish His purposes, He can use me too.

Take Moses for instance. He started life in a very tough situation. His family was slaves and he was taken out of his home by the government when he was a small child. He murdered someone in a fit of rage and ran away - a long way away. He went from living in the king's palace to tending sheep in the wilderness. 

Then he meets God in a bush that is burning and not burning up. That would be a rather miraculous thing. God then tells him how he, Moses, is going back to Egypt as His messenger of freedom for the Hebrews. Moses is quaking in his boots at the prospect and makes all kinds of excuses for not doing what God is asking him to do even as God shows him more miracles and assures him, "I will be with you." (Exodus 3:12) Moses is unconvinced and finally says, "Oh, my Lord, please send someone else." (Exodus 4:13)

Now, I've never been a slave or lived in a palace or on the run for murder. And I've never seen the kind of miracles Moses saw. But his fear and his excuses sound like me at times. Even if I don't say send someone else out loud how many times have I ignored the urging in my spirit to do something simple like invite my neighbor to church. Or failed to intercede in prayer for someone. Or thought I'll do that later, or some day, when I know it's the next step I need to take now.

The best part of the story, though, is that despite Moses' objections and God's anger at him for his reluctance, God still uses Moses and sends his brother along with him as a helper. Moses does not have an easy time with Pharaoh or the Hebrews but God does go with him just as He said He would. Later we are told in Exodus 33:11 that "the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend..."

Being a friend of God is a good thing. That's another way I am like Moses; part of the good way. When I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I became, not only a friend of God (John 15:15) but a child of God. (John 1:12). And God is with me every step of my life. (John 14:16)

God's Humor

The situation was certainly not humorous to the people going through it and I don't mean to make light of the trials and tribulations these biblical people faced or that we often face today but sometimes I think God must chuckle as people try to thwart His plans.

In the days of Moses, the Israelites were under intense persecution. The Egyptians had instructed the Hebrew midwives to kill all the boy babies but they managed not to do that. I can imagine God chuckling at this order by the king of Egypt and thinking to Himself something like you think you are so powerful, Pharaoh, but these midwives of Mine have a power you can't imagine!

The midwives told the Egyptians the Hebrew women were much stronger than the Egyptian women and claimed the babies were born before they ever got to the women to help with the delivery. This must have been believable because the midwives were not punished or killed by the Egyptians and were blessed by God with families of their own for their faithfulness. (Exodus 1:15-21)

When this didn't work to kill off the Hebrew boys, Pharaoh commanded the Egyptians to drown the Hebrew boy babies. (Exodus1:22) I can imagine again God chuckling at Pharaoh and thinking not only are you not going to kill all the boys, the one who will rescue my people will be raised in your house!

So Moses is born. His mom kept him hidden and alive for three months. Then she put him in a basket in the river only to be found by Pharaoh's daughter who claims the child as her own. The best part of this story to me is Moses' mom gets hired by Pharaoh's daughter to nurse her own son. This gives her the opportunity to teach him about their God and to give him a Hebrew identity. This is important because when Moses later flees to Midian, he is recognized there as an Egyptian. (Exodus 2:1-21)

We often forget how powerful God is. We think laws or persecution or unbelievers or any number of things can thwart the plans of God but they can't. The evil that permeates our world is no laughing matter but we know the end of the story! We know Satan and death are defeated! We know God is in control! We must "...honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect..." (1 Peter 3:15-16a).

Affliction

Somehow over the years Christians have come to believe that once we surrender our lives to Jesus we will never suffer hardship or pain. But nothing could be further from reality. We only have to look at the people of the New Testament to see that those who follow Jesus will face opposition and hardship.

Paul and his suffering is probably the best known to us because he writes so openly about all he endures. In his second letter to the Corinthians, he tells us his afflictions caused him to be "so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed we felt that we had received the sentence of death." (2 Corinthians 1:8-9) That's pretty serious stuff.

But he also tells us two other things. One, his afflictions were so severe "to make us not rely on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril [in the past], and He will deliver us [again]."

Two, that God is the "Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any afflication, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

God allows affliction in our lives for His purposes. His purposes to conform us to the image of Christ. His purposes to teach us faith. His purposes to use us in the lives of others who are going through hard times. No one wants to go through affliction but just as Paul tells us it is part of God's purpose, James tells us to "count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have it's full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (James 1:2-4)

Trials, or afflictions, help to bring perfection and completeness into our lives if we view them from God's perspective and allow them to do the work in our lives that God intends.

Joseph

Sometimes as I read all the good God character lessons in the Bible I tend to overlook some things. In the life of Joseph, for instance, God's faithfulness is a constant theme for all the years Joseph was a slave in Egypt. We are told the Lord was with Joseph in Potipher's house and in prison and as governor of the land. God allowed Joseph and those he served to prosper.

But Joseph is also a study in how not to conduct a family. Israel loved his sons by Rebecca more than he loved his other sons. Joseph was openly favored above his brothers. I imagine when Joseph told his family of his dreams there was a little smugness, a little hautiness in his telling of it. After all he was the favored son and now he was literally having dreams of grandeur.

When Joseph saw his brothers in Egypt after all those years, he set about making life miserable for them. He wanted a reunion but not before extracting a little revenge. Joseph is now the second most powerful man in a powerful land. He is about 40 years old and looks nothing like the 17 year old boy the brothers hated so much. Joseph takes advantage of that. He accuses his brothers of being spies, keeps a brother as a pledge of honesty, returns their money without telling them and vows they may not buy more grain without bringing their youngest brother back with them. 

I can imagine the fear of being in a foreign country and being accused of a crime. I can imagine the heartache of going home without their brother, Simeon, to tell their father all that happened. I can imagine the confusion of opening grain bags to find money inside; money that was to pay for the grain. I can imagine the fear in Israel's heart and mind when he releases his youngest son to go back to Egypt to buy more grain not knowing if he will return home.

The brothers return again to Egypt and Joseph, buy their grain and start home. But Joseph had his servant put his silver cup in Benjamin's grain bag. He then sends the servant to accuse them of stealing. So back they go to Joseph and Judah pleads for Benjamin's life.

Finally, Joseph says hey guys it's me, your brother! Surprise! Maybe the brothers thought they deserved going through all this fear and intimidation from Joseph but I don't think it endeared him to them any more than the special coat Israel had given to Joseph as a child or the dreams he had spoken to them.

Our family relationships should be grounded in love, honesty, and respect. Not much of that is evident in the life of Joseph and his relationship with his brothers. I'm glad the Bible is full of imperfect people. If God could use and bless them despite all their imperfections, then He can do the same for me! After all, He did give me Jesus!

Promises

In the days of Joseph, God often spoke to people through dreams. The Bible says Joseph was 17 when God gave him a dream of his brothers sheaves of wheat bowing down to his sheaf. Joseph was already hated by his brothers because their dad, Jacob (or Israel), "loved Joseph more than any other of his sons". (Genesis 37:3) The telling of this dream made them hate Joseph enough to sell him as a slave and tell their dad he had been killed by a wild animal.

Fast forward 22 years and there is a very severe famine in Egypt that reaches up into Canaan where Joseph's family lives. The "boys" are sent to Egypt to buy food and therefore bow down before the governor, who happens to be their long lost, but unrecognized, brother. The Bible says, "And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them." (Genesis 42:9) Joseph understood that long ago dream to be a promise from God.

God makes us promises as well. They don't usually come in the form of dreams but through Jesus and the words He speaks to us through the Bible. We have the promise of salvation if we confess Jesus is Lord and believe God raised Him from the dead. (Romans 10:9) We have the promise of forgiveness of sins. (1 John 1:9) We have the promise of the Holy Spirit (John 14:25-26) We have the promise of peace. (John 14:27) We have the promise of joy. (John 15:11) 

These are but a few of many promises of God. When times are hard or circumstances are confusing, we need to remember, as Joseph did, the promises of God. Because God cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18) we can "take 'em to the bank". We can hold on to them, knowing that God will come through for us.

One of the hardest promises to grasp is Romans 8:28, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." This is right in the middle of a section that speaks of the Spirit interceding for us and our being conformed to the image of Christ. We often can't take hold of this because we can't see beyond our difficult circumstances but we need to remember the promises!

Joseph was able to grasp God's promise when he saw his brothers and remembered the dream. Later he told his brothers, "And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God." (Genesis 45:7-8a)

We know that this was also part of God's plan long before Joseph. When God made His covenant with Abram He told him, "Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions." (Genesis 15:13-14) Joseph, and eventually the children of Israel, being in Egypt and the famine that brought them there were part of God's plan all along. 

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." (Jeremiah 29:11)

Rain

Rain is a good thing...most of the time. We need rain to water the land to grow food and to fill streams and lakes with water to drink for people and animals. But too much rain causes destruction by flooding the land and destroying property and possibly people and animals.

When we're going through hard times we use the expression "when it rains, it pours". It seems that there is never just one issue to deal with but multiple things at once. When the dam begins to break, it creates another break in a different place which can speed the downfall of the dam and the flood almost overwhelms us.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are not immune to the floods nor are we immune to the tension and anxiety that the floods create. It is during these seasons that we need to cling most tightly to our life preserver, who is Jesus. He has promised never to leave us (Deuteronomy 31:6,8; Habakkkuk 3:17-19; Hebrews 13:5).

If we let go, we just might drown. We may be overwhelmed with despair. We may doubt God really loves us. We may think what's the use of going on. But if we persevere, we can have peace in the midst of suffering. We can have joy in the midst of heartache. We can overcome to glorify Jesus.

"Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried (or have chosen) you in the furnace of affliction." (Isaiah 48:10) I don't think anyone ever thinks of being chosen for affliction. But Job was and Paul and just about every major Bible "hero". When Ananias questioned Jesus about going to Saul/Paul, part of Jesus' response was "For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name." (Acts 9:15-16). Chosen to suffer, chosen for affliction.

How we handle the seasons of rain in our lives can be one of the best testimonies our unbelieving neighbors, family, coworkers, and friends can see and hear as we continue to walk faithfully with Jesus as He walks faithfully with us. Rather than despairing the rain, let it be a time of increasing faith as we realize, and verbalize, that Jesus is our only hope in a desperate situation.

Give a Tenth

It always amazes me that people want to argue over giving a tithe, or a tenth, to God from what He so generously supplies to us in income. I'm not legalistic about it but I really cannot understand how anyone who has been saved from the wrath of our awesome, holy God and is permitted to live one more day on earth does not want to give minimally a tenth to God's church to reach others with the saving grace of Jesus.

Abraham, when he met Melchizedek, gave "a tenth of everything" to this priest (Genesis 14:18-20) and Jacob, when he met God at Bethel, made a vow to " give a full tenth to you". (Genesis 28:20-22)  Both these men lived 500 - 700 years before Moses and the Law. They gave as an expression of their acknowledgement of the blessings of God.

Paul, when writing to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 8:1-8) tells how the Macedonias begged for the opportunity to give to help the poor even though they were poor themselves. He said giving generously is not a command but rather proof of our love for Jesus and for others. 

Jesus, when sitting near the temple collection box, praised the woman who gave a penny because she was so generous with what she had. (Mark 12:41-44) As always He was looking at the heart, her heart, that had faith to give everything she had to God. I saw this played out in real life in Kenya. The people lived in stick and mud huts, no running water, no electricity, no transportation, eating one small meal a day. Yet when they came to church they testified with their mouths to how blessed they were by God and testified with their money as they all managed to bring something to give, mostly small gold coins that weren't worth much to me but to them and to God it was a fortune. Their generosity put me to shame. 

I wonder what the churches could do to alleviate hunger in America if everyone begged to give generously to their local church like the Macedonians did. I wonder how single moms or orphans or drug addicts or out of work dads or the working poor could be helped by our churches AND hear about Jesus if Christians were not greedy but generous.

There are lots of organizations out there doing good things but what if the CHURCH took on the responsibility of caring for its own and for a lost and dying world because we stepped up to the plate and gave generously. What if we were willing to give up the latest iPhone or maybe our second car or eating out or the sports package on cable or maybe all cable. What if we got out of debt! What if we saw our money as a gift from God to be used for His purposes rather than our own. Then there would be no discussion about tithing because we would all be giving more than that!

God's Names

One of the things I like when reading the Bible is the descriptive names given to people and to God. English really is a boring language. Other languages, including those of the Bible, have different words for the same word such as "you", which can be singular or plural. Some pronouns and other words are designated male or female making the languages much more descriptive than English. Sometimes we have to use 2, 3, or 4 words to get the full meaning of one Hebrew word.

In Genesis the name used most for God is Elohim, which is plural, and is generally translated into English as God. In Genesis 2 we begin to see LORD God. LORD is sometimes translated as Jehovah because this comes from the holy name YHVH. A name that the Jews would not even speak out of reverential awe for God. We don't really know how to pronounce this name.

When Hagar was pregnant with Ishmael and was running away from Sarai, God found her in the wilderness and promised to "multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude." At that time Hagar said, "You are a God of seeing." The well where she was was named Beer-lahai-roi. Beer means well or pit and lahai-roi means the Living One who sees me. I love that. Doesn't that say so much more than the English word God?

Over in Genesis 17 when God is giving Abram the covenant of circumcision, God says to him, "I am God Almighty...then Abram fell on his face." Just an aside, that should be our response to God as well. We often focus so much on God being Abba, our daddy and friend, that we often forget He is the Almighty.

Genesis 21:33 says, "Abraham...called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God." 

Just these few names in the first half of Genesis tell us God is plural (Trinity-Father, Son, Holy Spirit); He is so holy and so different from us His name was not pronounced; He is living; He sees us; He is almighty; He is eternal. Learning about the names of God gives a greater understanding of who God is in action and in character which should deepen our faith.

Waiting

Sometimes I forget that the people of Bible times had to wait for just about everything. I was reading today about Abraham sending his servant to find a wife for Isaac. The servant was commissioned to travel back to Abraham's home and find a wife from Abraham's family.

"Then the servant took ten of his master's camels and departed, taking all sorts of choice gifts from his master; and he arose and went to Mesopotamia to the city of Nahor." (Genesis 24:10) This sounds to me quick and easy. But as I looked at maps I saw that this was around 600 miles - one way - if they were still in living in the vicinity of Hebron, where Sarah was buried. So I wondered how fast camels walk and learned they walk 2.5 - 3 mph. Josephus' account of this journey says "for it requires much time to pass through Mesopotamia, in which it is tedious traveling, both in winter, for the depth of the clay - and in summer for want of water; and, besides this, for the robberies there committed which are not to be avoided by travelers but by caution beforehand." So this took a long time, months just to get there and more months to come back. 

For all these months Abraham waited. Waiting was just what they did because everything took time whether it was preparing food for a meal or going on a journey. Not so today. We have instant everything.

We have instant messages and email for instant communication; microwave ovens and drive-thru's for instant food; cars and airplanes and trains that can get us where we want to go in a hurry. Flip a switch we have light; turn a faucet we have water. We don't wait for much of anything.

And maybe that's why we often have trouble waiting for God. We want to hear from God right now. We want the answers to our prayers today. But the waiting is important. Waiting keeps us dependent on God. Waiting gives us time to see our situation from God's perspective. Waiting gives God time to change us. Waiting should cause us to slow down a little so that we can build a deeper relationship with God.

We just need to remember that our hurried life, our hurried timeframe, is not God's. He is not our servant, we are at His. He is Master and Lord and He gets to work at His pace. "...but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." (Isaiah 40:21)

Testing

In Genesis 22 we read the story of God's test for Abraham. This is the story of the God promised child being taken by his father Abraham to the top of Mount Moriah to be offered as a sacrifice to God. Human sacrifice was not unusual in this area at this time but Abraham must have wondered why this was necessary. We know now that is was not necessary and that God did provide a ram for the sacrifice and that Abraham passed the test. But Abraham didn't know any of that.

Of course this wasn't the first test Abraham had faced. Long years before God told him to move far away fom his home. So Abraham moved and God blessed him with great wealth. God told Abraham to circumcise all the males in his household - Hebrews and foreigners, free men and slaves. "On that very day Abraham...circumcised them, as God told him. (Genesis 17) And God made him the father of many nations.

After Isaac was born, God told Abraham to send Ishmael away. "The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son." (Genesis 21:8-21) But Abraham believed God's promise to him about Ishmael and sent him away. Then God made nations from Ishmael.

Abraham passed these tests and the more difficult test with his son Isaac. Every time God tells us to do something it is a test because we have a choice. We can obey and do what we know God is asking of us or we can refuse and then try to rationalize why we didn't do it.

Well, you might say, I've never had Jesus drop in for dinner like Abraham did. (Genesis 18) Or had God speak to me audibly as He did with Abraham. And I would say that is true. But God does still speak to us today. We have the Bible that records God's purposes for and interactions with mankind. "The word of God is living and active..." (Hebrews 4:12) We can trust it to guide us along the path of life. 

The Holy Spirit of God speaks into our hearts and our minds with all kinds of promptings to do this or not do that. "When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth.." (John 16:13) I can tell if it is the Spirit of truth speaking because "He will glorify [Jesus]..." (John 16:14)

Too often we probably fail the tests God gives us because we are too busy to listen to God or too busy to act on what He said or are too afraid to act or don't really believe God said it or don't really trust God to help us do what He said. Excuses, excuses! We need to be more like Abraham who listened to God then did what he was told. No wonder God could use him to create His chosen people through whom He would redeem mankind. How much do you think God longs to bless us if we would just pass the test!?

Saved...From What?

Those who have come face to face with Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit (John 16:7-11) understand that our sin separates us from holy, righteous God. We have confessed Jesus as Lord and repented of, or turned from, our sin and have been saved.

Romans 10:9, "...if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." 
1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Reading that you might automatically say I'm saved from my sins. And you would be correct to a certain degree. We are cleansed of our sin and given a new life in Christ.

But what we are saved from is the wrath of God. We know that Jesus paid the price for our sins but I don't think we really understand what that means because we don't hear much about the wrath of God that was poured out on Jesus as punishment for those sins. The Bible is very clear that every person who ever lives will stand before the judgement seat and face the wrath of God. It is only those cloaked in the righteousness of Jesus Christ who have their names written in the book of life and who will be saved from God's wrath. (Revelation 20:11-15)

Zephaniah 1:14-18 says, "The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. I will bring distress on mankind, so that they shall walk like the blind, because they have sinned against the Lord; their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. In the fire of His jealousy all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end He will make of the inhabitants of the earth." 

Revelation 6:12-17 tells us of the future destruction of the earth, the sun going dark, and the stars falling from the sky then, "The kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling on the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of [God] who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day has come and who can stand?'"

Christians should feel an urgency for our family and friends and neighbors to share with them the Good News of Jesus Christ. This wrath should bring fear to those who don't know Jesus. However, God doesn't want us to live in fear. Before God pours out His wrath, He poured out His love. "In this the LOVE OF GOD was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In THIS IS LOVE, not that we loved God, but that HE LOVED US and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 1 John 4:9-10

The apostle John records Jesus' own words in John 3:16-17, "For GOD SO LOVED the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him." 

God has made a way for us to avoid His wrath. That way is Jesus! As the propitiation for our sins Jesus has already faced the wrath of God. He has already made full payment for the sins of the world. But we have to acknowledge and accept, individually, that payment by surrendering our lives to Jesus. There is no other way.

For Such a Time as This

Long ago in the days of the Persian Empire a young Jewish girl named Hadassah, whose parents had died, was being raised by her relative, Mordecai.

It came about that the King was displeased with his Queen when she refused the king's command to parade before his drunken banquet guests. So she was banished forever from the king's presence and stripped of her position as Queen.

A search was made and lots of young women were taken from their homes to be groomed as the new prospective Queen. Hadassah, whom we know as Esther, was taken and sent to the royal court. Here she was taught and dressed and made-up so that she might appeal to the King. Eventually, Esther was the one chosen as the new Queen.

Then jealousy and arrogance and hatred overtook the life of one man, who was an official in the King's court, so much so that he got a law passed to exterminate all the Jews. Mordecai sent word to Esther that she needed to do something to help her people. Even though no one knew she was a Jew and even though she was Queen, Mordecai told her she would not escape death.

Then he said to her, "And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this." Esther 4:14. Mordecai was telling Queen Esther that maybe the reason you are Queen is to save your people.

Those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ have also "come to the kingdom". Not a political kingdom but the kingdom of God. We are where we are on purpose, with a purpose. "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10. (my emphasis)

It's not just the people we read about in the Bible that are used to fulfill God's purposes. As long as we are still breathing on this earth, and until Jesus returns for His bride, and until God declares an end of all time, God's purpose for this world and for us as individuals is not over. He has placed us where we are in our families and our jobs and our schools and with the resources we have so that we might do the good works He has for us to do. Rather than looking for more or different as we often do, we need to be looking right here, right now for God's work to do. And when our purpose here and now is completed, He will move us on to more and different. WE are here for such a time as this.

He Believed the Lord

Sometimes people think asking questions is a lack of faith. There are times when we may not be sure what God is asking of us. Or perhaps we don't know what to do next. It is at those times God welcomes our questions so He can show us His truth. We see that with Abram. He had been to war to rescue his nephew, Lot, and the people of Sodom. He had met Melchizedek, priest of the Most High God, and been blessed by him. He has refused to take any spoils of war from the king of Sodom. The Bible tells us Abram was a rich man with lots of possessions, but he didn't have a child.

At the very beginning of Abram's journey, God had told Abram, "I will make of you a great nation...and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed." Genesis 12:2-3 A good bit of time has passed and Abram still does not have a child of his own. So he asks God about it, "O Lord God, what will You give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?"  Genesis 15:2

God didn't rebuke him for asking a legitimate question. Instead God reestablished the promise by telling Abram his offspring would be as numerous as the stars. "And [Abram] believed the Lord, and He counted it to him as righteousness." Genesis 15:6  God even went on to make it "official" by making a covenant with Abram. Genesis 15:7-21

The key here is Abram believed the Lord. Sometimes we ask questions that seem to indicate we don't believe what God already has said to us through His word to us, the Bible. We want to know is it okay to go out with this cute guy from work who is definitely not a believer? We say we can't afford to give financially to God's work but ask will You help me win the lottery? We say our marriage has turned boring so we ask should we get a divorce? This expense was more personal than business so should I add it to my expense report?

Reading the Bible answers a lot, even most, of the life questions we have. We just need to believe what God says to us, about us, and for us and live accordingly. Then we can ask questions like how can I best share the gospel with my friend? How can I use more of the resources you give me to help people know Jesus? How should our family use our time together so our children grow up to love Jesus? What are some things we might need to cut out of our money budget or time budget to be better stewards?

God is our loving Father who wants to guide us throughout our lives. Sometimes we live as rebellious children seeing how much we can get away with rather than obedient children who accept His wisdom as best for our lives.

Go!

"Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go...'  So Abram went, as the Lord had told him..."  Genesis 12:1-4

The biggest hindrance to our receiving the blessings of God is the lack of obedience to what He asks us to do.

God told Abram, when he was 75 years old, to leave his father's household and go to a new country. Abram didn't argue or ask how long it would take or where, exactly, was he going. He didn't say let me think it over or even let me pray about it. He KNEW God had spoken to him so he obeyed.

God stills speaks to us today. Maybe he is not asking us to move to a new country but he might be asking us to walk next door and invite the family to church. He might be asking us to buy some groceries for the single mom that works in the next cubicle. He might be asking us to volunteer in our church or community. He is definitely asking us to get out of our comfort zone so we have to live by faith and not our abilities.

But sometimes He does ask us to do something really radical, like move to a new city or a new country. One of the staff members at NewSpring, my church, heard the voice of God calling him to foreign missions so he, his wife, and their 3 year old son have left for training to serve as missionaries  overseas.

Whatever it may be, when we know God is speaking to us, we need to - we MUST - obey. It is only then that God really begins to pour out His blessing on us by revealing more and more of Himself to us through the power and fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Genealogy

The wife of a distant relative of my father on his mother's side of the family decided a decade or so ago to trace this part of her husband's family tree. She was able, with the help of people all over the country, to trace this part of my family back in America to a land grant in the mid 1600's. It is interesting to see how the original patriarchal family branched and the number of known descendants has grown so huge over 350+ years. We have spread far and wide from that original landholding in Virginia.

As I read about the descendants of Noah after the flood, I get that same since of wonder at how families grow and change. Genesis 10 lists four or five generations of Noah. A few of the names we easily recognize today from biblical or political history are Egypt, Canaan, Nimrod, Babel, Ninevah, Amorites, and Havilah. We usually associate those names with places rather than people but the places in ancient times were usually named for the person or family that first settled there.

When Noah and his sons came off the ark after the flood, the first thing Noah did was build an altar and offer sacrifices to God. (Genesis 8:20) But by the names above we know that a few generations and the people were no longer worshiping God. Later as God gave the Law to Moses, God commanded His people to teach their children about Him. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up." Deuteronomy 6:4-7

We, who are followers of Jesus Christ, have our own genealogy, a spiritual genealogy. Because of that we have an obligation to the next generation to teach them the truth of Scripture. We need to tell them about God and His salvation through Jesus Christ but we also need to tell them the stories of Jesus in our own lives. How He changed us. How He provides for us. How He guides us. Jesus is not just history. Jesus is alive and active in our lives today and that needs to be told so the next generation can carry the gospel to the generations after them and keep building the family tree.

Perseverence

When I read the story of Noah in Genesis 6-8, I marvel at Noah's perseverence. I don't think we know how long it actually took Noah to build the ark. We do know he was 500+ years old when his sons were born and he was 600 when the flood came. So we know he was old and and we know he built a boat.

Josephus tells us Noah was actually the ruler of the people and was distressed at their wickedness. So it is very doubtful any of his people helped him unless, perhaps, his sons helped with the building. We know they and their wives were rescued by God in the ark.

But think about it. Here is Noah, and maybe his three sons, building a boat about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high with a roof and three decks and then covering the inside all over with a tar like substance to make it waterproof. 

This is probably the early bronze age of our existence. Not too much sophistication in tools and transportation I imagine. The work he had to do before he could even start building would be daunting and enough reason for most people to give up. The logistics for getting the wood, making the proper tools, getting the tar seem to me to be overwhelming. No local Home Depot where a quick trip can supply all you need. You need it, you probably have to make it yourself. No big super duty truck to haul things. So this project took years, and more years.

The Bible says, "Noah...did all that God commanded him." Genesis 6:22 There is nothing recorded in the Bible to indicate God kept coming back saying, "Good job, Noah." or "Proud of you, Noah." or "You're my main man, Noah." The Bible just tells us God gave Noah instructions, Noah did what God asked of him - no matter how long it took to complete, and God sent the flood.

How un-like us that is. We want it today. Answer my prayer today, God. I need to know where You're leading me, God. I can't give you so much time, God. I'm tired of doing the same thing day after day, God. We often don't have the perseverance to keep at something year after year after year even when God asks us to do it and especially when there seems to be no end in sight.

I'm so glad Jesus persevered all the way to the cross. I'm so glad He was willing to obey God even though there was pain and suffering and death in His earthly future. The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 5:4 that perseverance produces character. Character is who we are and what we do when nobody sees us but God. Perseverance...we all probably need a little more of that in our lives.

Old as Methuselah

Old as Methuselah was an expression I heard and used as a child. The people I relegated to that ancient age were probably in their 30's. Methuselah was Noah's grandfather. Back in the days before the flood people lived a long, long time. In the list of Adam's descendants in Genesis 5, Enoch was around for the least years, at a young 365. And he didn't die, God just took him away. Most of the men listed were past 900 when they died with Methuselah being the oldest at 969. Noah didn't even have his sons until he was 500.

I wonder what it would be like to live almost 1000 years. I don't know that much changed in their days. Now changes are so rapid it's hard to keep up. And to think where we might be in 1000 years - well just over 930 for me - is more than I can imagine. Would it be a Jetson's type world of space cars and robots or more of an I Am Legend world of destruction and fear? Only God knows!

Before the flood, when God saw the wickedness of men on the earth, He decreed that man would live 120 years. (Genesis 6:3) By the time Moses comes along, Moses says, "The years of our life are seventy or even by strength eighty..." (Psalm 90:10) But God saw fit to give Moses the full 120 years of life and "his eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated" when he died. (Deuteronomy 34:7)

And now I'm getting to be the "old as Methuselah" person among the people I know. God has been so good to me over the years of my life but, my goodness, it goes by in a hurry. And that's OK but I would like to hang around to be 100 or 120. That would be so cool but, again, only God knows when I will draw my last breath. Until that time I'll be busy doing the work God has assigned me to do. Old or young, God has a plan and a purpose for His children to glorify Him all the days of our lives.