For His Name's Sake

"When our fathers were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. Yet He saved them for His name's sake, to make His mighty power known." (Psalm 106:7,8)
These people did nothing to encourage God's salvation. It wasn't even in their thought processes. They were totally self absorbed, even to the point of rebelling against what they knew of God. You can't get much more distant or put up a much higher wall.
God's actions are completely independent. He doesn't look for interest, for some softness of heart, or even some fleeting thought or remembrance of who He is. He acts solely because of who He is and who He is does not depend one bit on who we are and how we act. That is why He saves these people for His name's sake. That is: in order to uphold the character that His name represents. Then He also does it simply to make His power known. The whole Exodus is a tremendous display of God's power.
Praise God that His actions toward us are not dependent on us. He will call and draw us for His own name's sake. That He might be known to the world around us.
Oh God, make yourself known through me.

God's Faults?

"This is what the LORD says: 'What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? The followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.'" (Jeremiah 2:5) If you were to ask me if I find fault with God, I would definitely say no. "As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless." (2 Sam. 22:31)
Yet when you look at my daily walk, there is some discrepancy in that answer. This manifests itself in the worry that my mind meddles in, the discouragement that I wallow in, the discontentment that I feed, and the frustration that influences my actions and responses.
I must find fault in God's trustworthiness (worry), that He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (discouragement), His care and supply (discontentment), and His sovereignty (frustration).
Oh God, these manifestations are worthless and they make me worthless myself. Forgive my faultfinding. I want to live in light of who you are.

God's Faults?

"This is what the Lord says, 'What fault did your father's find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.'" Jeremiah 2:5

If you were to ask me if God has any faults, I would most definitely say no. David proclaims. "As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless." (2 Sam. 22:31)

Yet when I think about my daily walk, I obviously find fault in God. This manifests itself in the worry that my mind meddles in, the discouragement that I wallow in, the discontentment I feed, and the frustration that controls my feelings and responses.

I must find fault in God's trustworthiness if I worry, that His is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine when I'm discouraged, His goodness, care and supply when I am discontent, and His sovereignty when I'm frustrated.

Oh God, these manifestations are worthless and I become worthless myself. Forgive my faultfinding. Restore to me the joy of my salvation; the child like faith.

You Have Never Been This Way Before

Follow. As Joshua is getting the Israelites ready to cross the Jordon River for the first time there is excitement and anxiety in the camp. After all, they had never been that way before. They were on the brink, as a nation, of changing from wanderers to conquerors. When the officers went through the camp to give the orders to the people, they told them that, "When you see the ark of the covenent of the Lord your God and the priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before."
He didn't ask them to perform any certain tasks in preparation, create any special tactics, drum up determination, talk about all the possibilities that could bring success or make a plan of action. There was nothing put on the people to do but to follow. As Keith Green says in the lyrics of one of his songs, "He'll take care of the rest, He'll take care of the rest."
I often feel that way as I walk this road with God. Help, I have never been this way before. He simply says, "Move out of your position and follow me! Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before."

Ask for eyes...

...eyes that see. Before going into the promised land, Moses had a talk with the people. He says some startling things about our eyes. 4The people, God's chosen people had seen all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land. 4With their eyes they saw the great trials, miraculous sign and great wonders.
The next phrase is startling..."But to this day, the Lord has not given you a mind that understands, or eyes that see or ears that hear." (Deuteronomy 29:4)
A mind that understands, eyes that see and ears that hear are not something that happens because we've experienced something amazing, they do not happen because we work hard at developing them and they do not happen just because we think it the right time.
The source for understanding minds, seeing eyes and hearing ears is God alone. "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind had concieved what God has prepared for those who love him- but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit. (1 Cor. 2:9,10)
"Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you... (Matthew 7:7)
God desires that we understand, see and hear Him. The paragraph in Deuteronomy goes on to tell what He did to bring this about.
He led His people through the desert. The desert put them in a place for sole dependence upon God alone. Their clothes, food and water. Deserts in my life are very hard places. I don't particularly like them. But they do bring me to a place where my sole dependence in on God alone.
The outcome..."I did this so that you might know that I am the Lord your God." (29:6) Oh, I do want to be in that place...always. An understanding mind, eyes to see and ears to hear that He is the Lord my God.

A matter of persepective

Perspective. The twelve spies from Israel and just come back from scouting out the land. (Numbers 13) God had brought them out of slavery, across a dry path through the Red Sea, fed them with manna and birds, and was leading them daily with a cloud of His Presence and nightly with a pillar of fire. He had established these people as His own. They were now on the borders of the land He was bringing them to. Ten viewed the land as inpenetrable. "We can't...they are stronger than we are." Two knew who God was and were ready to move. "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it." All twelve men had been to the same land. All twelve had experienced the same miraculous events that had brought them to this point in their journey. Not all twelve men viewed God in the same way. They way they looked at the land was a direct reflection of how they veiwed God. Either He was the Almighty or He was just Almighty sometimes and this time was just more than He could probably handle. The ten were looking at this from that second perspective.
What's my persepective on the challanges in front of me? Is God Almighty? Or is just Almighty sometimes? Either God is who He is or He isn't. There is no sometimes with God. He states of Himself, "I am God Almighty." (Genesis 17:1) One of Job's friends rightly states, "Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than the heavens - what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave - what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea." (Job 11:7-9) The seraphs in Isaiah 6:3 call out to one another, "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty..." What is our view of God? That is the key to how we view the land before us.

Wait until I find out

Wait until I find out. The Israelites are getting ready to celebrate their second Passover. It has been a roller coaster year for them beginning to learn that they are to be holy because God is holy. The celebration takes place on the fourteenth day for the first month. Prior to this, much time has been spent learning about who and what is clean and unclean. What the causes are, what makes one clean again, and how to be restored to fellowship once one is clean again. A great deal of instruction is also given regarding the restrictions that apply to those who are unclean. One being that they can not participate in celebrations before the Lord.
There was a group of Israelites who were ceremonially unclean (because of exposure to a dead body, you can't really help that one!) at the time this celebration was to take place. They still wanted to present an offering to the Lord so they came to Moses to find out what could be done.
Moses has close with God. He was God's mouthpiece to the children of Israel. He was physically is God's presence, speaking face to face with God's presence more than anyone else I can think of. If anyone knew what God expected or could assume what God would say...it would be Moses. Yet, Moses made no assumptions. Numbers 9:8 says that Moses answered them, "Wait until I find out what the Lord commands concerning you." Powerful! Moses was not going to step out on his own, thinking that he was pretty sure what God would say. After all, he had talked with God more than anyone. All the rules and regulation had come to the people through him. Yet, Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth. (Numbers 12:3) Moses knew that God was the one leading, not him, Moses. It is that recognition that causes Moses to respond like he did.
Sometimes we feel like we ought to have the answer. After all, we're pretty grounded in the Word. There's something that should apply. I don't want to keep them waiting.
Moses wasn't even starting to think like he might know the answer. "Wait until I find out what the Lord commands concerning you." Oh Lord, let me be "slow to speak, quick to listen"...to You.