Reading notes - week 14

How’s the Bible reading going? Anybody still doing the plan? As I have said several times already, I love this slower pace. It has helped me see nuggets of truth every day, instead of racing through the passage just to get finished. Here are some notes from this week:

Numbers 33 - Moses recorded their journey. The places they started from, stopped at and went to. These were real places, real people, and reading this history conjured up for me the physical difficulties of moving around from place to place. The stories of the journey hold relevant lessons for all of us - maybe we can take away from this that our own journeys need to be documented and shared. Perhaps not for an audience of millions like this one (but who knows, right? :) ) but for those in our life circle. What lessons might our family and friends glean from the places God has taken us through life?

33:3,4 stood out to me - the Israelites left Egypt BOLDLY. Not fearfully or secretly but rather BOLDLY. The Egyptians were occupied burying their firstborn from the plague of death that the Lord sent and the Israelites were able to march BOLDLY out from among them. Because of their faith (obedience), the angel of death had passed over them and they were spared the consequences that the Egyptians suffered.

33:55 - the warning of the impact the nations would have on God’s people…this truth is reiterated in Deuteronomy 9:4 where God tells them that the other nations are being destroyed not because Israel is righteous but because those nations are so wicked. God is extravagantly efficient - while He is fulfilling the promise to Abraham of the land for His people, He is also punishing the wickedness of the heathen nations.

Numbers 35 - God spends a lot of time on the cities of refuge. Very interesting. I wonder what would a country be like if His plans were carried out…instead of leaning on the ideas of man….

Deuteronomy - means “a copy” or “second law” - so this book is a repeating, a summarization of what God told His people through Moses. I get the sense that Moses knows his death is near and he feels compelled to repeat God’s instructions just to be sure they “get it”!

Deuteronomy 1:29, 30 surely convey precious truth! “Do not be shocked nor fear them. The Lord your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes.” We can hang onto that!

Some other truth nuggets that we could chew on for hours - I’ll just reference them and would love to hear yours -

Chapter 2 - they lands they invaded had the chance to treat Israel right - they refused to let God’s people pass through so God punished them

3:24 - WOW! Yes and Amen!

5:5 - compare this to Matthew 5 - two different mountains…the giving of the Law vs the Spirit of the Law - the people were afraid of God at the first mountain but were able to sit with Him face to face on the second one <3

6:12 - Good word of warning - watch yourself! and v. 24 - observing these statutes - to fear God for our good always

7:22 - notice how God said He was going to clear out the nations “little by little” - often how He operates in our lives — He doesn’t always give us immediate and complete victory

8:2,3 - testing reveals what is in our hearts….God already knows- this is for us to see! v. 5 - the testing is for discipline and growth

8:10-14 - what a great warning! So relevant for today - has pride caused us to forget that our blessings have come from God?

9:3 - circles back to the unrighteousness of the nations God had the Israelites conquer and also to the warning against self-righteousness

Let me know any nuggets you found!

Reading notes - week 13

Numbers 19-32

Some weeks, I find one or perhaps two treasures to share. And other weeks, I find so many it’s hard to choose! This is one of the latter. We could talk about the donkey and Balaam. Or Edom refusing to let Israel pass through their land. Or the glorious Feasts of the Lord! (I do just have to point out Numbers 29:1 - God declared a day of no work but to blow trumpets all day - what a fun party!)

We could focus on any of those and dig in for a most wonderful time. But I decided to explore Numbers 20, where the Israelites faced a “no water” situation again. This was not the first time a lack of drinking water tested their faith. Scripture tells us these stories in Exodus and in Numbers.

It will work best to work backwards this time so let’s look at the two Numbers passages first.  This is where Moses broke the faith by failing to treat God as holy.  And where God told him what the consequences would be.  The people had no water. They grumbled against Moses and Aaron and said they would rather be back in  Egypt. Oh my   God told Moses to take the rod that God had provided earlier (not just any rod- it was what God provided for divine use in the interactions with Pharaoh)  and to SPEAK to the rock.   He did not tell Moses to strike the rock, just to speak to it that it may yield water for them.  Moses was (understandably) angry with the people for being grumbling jerks and in his anger, he acted apart from what God had instructed. Instead of speaking to the rock, he struck it – and not once, but twice!  God, in His mercy, still provided water to the Israelites but He also disciplined Moses.

Numbers 20:11,12 - Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you sha not bring this assembly into the land which have given them.”

Wow.

Later on, we see that God meant what He said…

Deuteronomy 32:50,51 God says “ Then die on the mountain where you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because  you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel.”

Moses. The spokesman of God. The one appointed by God to lead His people out of slavery into freedom. The leader of the Israelites. The faithful, most humble man who ever lived. That man. God was not going to allow him to enter the Promised Land. The place they had been waiting on for decades. He was not going to enjoy the abundance and beauty and rest of that place. Because he hit a rock with a rod?

GULP

So, let’s go to the passages that give us the back story on this verse in Deuteronomy….Numbers 20:8-13 ,27:14, and Exodus 17.

My human reasoning says, come on, Lord!  What’s the big deal?  He still trusted You to provide.  He was just angry and he overreacted. Plus, You told him to strike the rock earlier – what’s the big deal?  Can’t you cut the guy a little slack?  Isn’t this a bit rigid???

For the rest of the story, let’s go to the Exodus passage. Chapter 17:1-7 There we see the first time God provided water for the Israelites. They were grumbling (common theme!)  God told Moses to take the rod and to strike the rock (see v. 6 – isn’t it cool that God says “I will stand before you”?).  When he obeyed and struck the rock, water flowed.

OK so that’s the story – why was it such a big deal that Moses didn’t obey God’s instructions to the letter?

Some thoughts – first, God is HOLY and He takes obedience/disobedience extremely seriously.  When I am tempted to treat God casually,(as in, He is my friend and loves me no matter what and gives me grace and forgiveness, so what if I am still nursing some sin He has told me to repent of, etc), then He reminds me of this truth to sober me up.  Yes, there is forgiveness but SIN HAS CONSEQUENCES.  GULP

Next, this might have been a lesson that the Israelites as a whole missed but I believe Moses knew this.  I’ll show you those passages in just a sec.   These incidents of the Israelites needing water and God providing were a picture of mankind.   Man in need of salvation, of a Savior.  And Jesus as that Savior…He is the ROCK.  The source of our salvation.  Moses striking the rock the first time (and God standing right there as he did ❤) is a picture of Jesus dying for sin and then salvation (water) flowing out.  The rod struck Him…He died…our need was met.

The second time, there was no need to strike the ROCK – but only to speak to it – for the need to be met.  When Moses struck the ROCK, it was as though Jesus was being crucified a second time and there was no need for that.  That was not God’s plan.  Now when His people have a need (for forgiveness, or provision, etc), we need only to SPEAK to  the ROCK and He delivers/provides, etc. Notice in Numbers 20 the emphasis God places on FAITH - v.12 - “because you have not believed Me”. The link between faith and obedience is undeniable - reminds me of Hebrews 11:6 - go look it up :) ) and here Moses, through his disobedience, demonstrates a lack of faith. It is by faith that God’s people were to enter the Promised Land. God’s not being rigid - this is TRUTH.

Why do I say that Moses got this lesson, even if the masses didn’t?  And because he understood that what he had done was so seriously unholy, he could accept the punishment of the Lord.  Look at Deuteronomy 32.  The Song of Moses.  Vs. 3,4 – Moses declares that God is THE ROCK!  He understands!  He knows that God is sending Jesus one day to die for our sin.  He, the ROCK of salvation.  His ways are perfect, just, faithful.  Also vs. 15,18,30.  Moses got it.  He yielded to the ROCK.

It’s a hard truth to me.  But I get it.  God is HOLY.  His Word is perfect.  Jesus has paid for my salvation – TRUST it. We must come to Him by faith. And our obedience is the result of faith.

That could be the end of the story. And it would be a glorious, though sober, truth.

But it’s not. :)

But, because God IS so very merciful…..check out Matthew 17.  This I s the passage about the transfiguration.  Before Jesus was crucified, He took Peter, James, and John up to a  high mountain.  He was transfigured before them (miraculously changed from an earthly form to a supernatural one -  garments and countenance gloriously radiating)

Two people from Heaven showed up and were talking with them --- Elijah and Moses!!!!!  Wow!

What is so significant about that?

Well, this happened in the Promised Land – the very land that Moses was not allowed to enter!  Centuries later, God let Moses set foot on that land!  Isn’t that COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!