April showers show God's power

He sends His command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.  He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes.  He hurls down His hail like pebbles.  Who can withstand His icy blast?  He sends His word and melts them; He stirs up His breezes, and the waters flow.  --Psalm 147:15-18, NIV

We have had some violent spring weather over the last couple of weeks.  Tornadoes have blown through, hail stones the size of softballs have fallen.  Weather watchers have had to go inside for their own safety.  Television meteorologists have all issued warnings, saying "Please do not travel unless it is absolutely necessary."

Messages like this get our attention.

Most of the weather warnings involve water.  When it is raining in torrents, we slow down.  When it floods or freezes, we stop.  If the water runs swiftly, we may get swept up in it and find ourselves in a different place than when we started.  But we all know that when we travel to arid places, where there is no water, we'd better take some water with us, because we cannot live without it.

In a way, our spiritual lives are like a river.  Sometimes our lives are hectic.  Sometimes we hit obstacles in our way, bounce off them, and move on.  This is like white-water rapids.  Sometimes they are exciting, but ultimately they are shallow and move too fast to soak in.  Sometimes we go with the flow.  We are moving, not too fast, but enough to see a change.  In times like these we might get complacent.  We might get too comfortable.  Or we might want to move ahead and see what's around the next bend.

What are some ways that God can get our attention?  What are some places or situations where the water may stop for awhile?  The best instance might be when it gets deep.  When we went tubing down the river last summer, there were places in the river where the water seemed to stop.  The inner tube we were on would go no further, but only spin slowly around in circles.  This was where the water eddied, where the deepest part of the water was surrounded by sand bars or reefs.  The water was flowing just a few feet toward the opposite bank, but right here in the eddy it was time to relax and reflect.

I think God sometimes directs us to a deep place, where we can stop and meditate on His word.  The world may pass us by for a season, but we need to just stop and soak there for awhile.  God will move us in His time.

A second way that a river is stopped is by being trapped by a dam.  A dam is an unnatural impediment to a river.  It keeps the river from flowing.  The dam could be man-made, or caused by a land-slide, or by an animal such as a beaver dragging tree limbs and other debris into the river from the shore.  If the river is to flow like it was meant to flow, then the impediment needs to be removed.

I think sin sometimes builds up and impedes our walk with God.  It might make us flow a few feet in a different direction, or it might stop us altogether.  If we want to continue in the channel God made for us, sometimes we need to get out and remove the barriers of sin.  We might need to tear down a stronghold that dams up the flow of God's blessing in our lives.

A third way that a river might stop is to freeze.  There have been a couple of times in history that it got so cold in upstate New York that even the Niagra Falls froze solid.  The water gets so cold that it can't move.  Although the river can't change the air temperature, it can wait patiently until the sun comes out and warmth returns.

I think many times we get frozen.  We can't understand why.  We are ready and willing to flow for God.  There is nothing in our way, no impediment in the river bed to stop us in our tracks.  Nevertheless we are stuck until the Son comes and thaws us out.  His presence allows us to return to our normal flow.  We may never know the reason that God had us stop for a time.  Perhaps it was to protect us from a peril downstream, something we are not prepared for.

We only have to trust God, and rely on His presence to guide us, to pressure us to clean out the sin before us, or to direct us to a pool where we can delve deeper into His presence for a time.

May He be your shepherd, and may you lack nothing.  May He lead you to lie down in green pastures beside still waters.  May He restore your soul.  May He guide you in paths of His righteousness for His name's sake.

Priesthood of the Believer, Unstained by the World

If you think that you can walk in holiness without keeping up perpetual fellowship with Christ, you have made a great mistake.  If you would be holy, you must live close to Jesus.  --Charles Haddon Spurgeon

THESIS:  Priests must be holy before God and men (Leviticus 21:7).  "For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens." (Hebrews 7:26). We are all priests, called to stand between men and God.  "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." (1 Peter 2:9).

ANTITHESIS:  Even though we are "a royal priesthood," we are not without sin.  "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.... If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." (1 John 1:8, 10). "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)

SYNTHESIS: God admonishes us to keep His word, to stay close to him.

"And now this admonition is for you, O priests.  If you do not listen, and if you do not set your heart to honor my name," says the Lord Almighty, "I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings.  Yes, I have already cursed them, because you have not set your heart to honor me." --Malachi 2:1-2

Part of our job as priests is to give blessings to the people.  But if our blessings are cursed, then we are just snake-oil salesmen.  Our churches are no different than a civic club--worse, because we are proclaiming a lie.

"For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, and from his mouth men should seek instruction--because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty.  But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi," says the Lord Almighty.  "So I have caused you to be despised and humiliated before all the people, because you have not followed my ways but have shown partiality in matters of the law." --Malachi 2:7-9.

If we stop proclaiming the truth of God, or if we start watering it down with worldly compromise, then we will be despised among the very people to whom we are sent.  We cannot water down the message because we think it too harsh, or that people won't stomach it.

"Another thing you do: You flood the Lord's altar with tears.  You weep and wail because He no longer pays attention to your offerings or accepts them with pleasure from your hands.  You ask, 'Why?'  It is because the Lord is acting as the witness between you and the wife of your youth, because you have broken faith with her, though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.  Has not the Lord made them one?  In flesh and spirit they are His.  And why one?  Because He was seeking godly offspring.  So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.  I hate divorce," says the Lord God of Israel, "and I hate a man's covering himself with violence as well as with his garment," says the Lord. --Malachi 2:13-16.

Sexual imagery is everywhere.  Violent images are everywhere.  It is almost impossible to escape.  We have numbed ourselves to it.  We see it all around us in the world, and in the church.  We are not shocked by it.  We even see it in the entertainment choices we make.  Is it any wonder that there are more divorced people in America than married people?

"So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith." (Malachi 2:16b).  Be the priest, the mediator between God and man, that you were created for, that is the proof of your calling.  

We sing a chorus in our Bible study group that goes like this:

Holiness, holiness..is what i long for
Holiness is what i need
Holiness, holiness 
Is what you want from me

[Chorus:]
Take my life and form it
Take my mind transform it
Take my will conform it
To yours, to yours, oh lord

Righteousness, righteousness is what i long for
Righteousness is what i need
Righteousness, righteousness
Is what you want from me

[Chorus:]
Purity, purity..is what i long for
Purity is what i need
Purity, purity 
Is what you want from me

 

 

Of Death and Taxes

When  you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted.  Then no plague will come on them when you number them. --Exodus 30:12

With tax day in the United States coming up quickly, our minds are focused on what we get for our money.  Perhaps you got a tax refund from the IRS, and are happy with it.  A small windfall that will help you to pay bills, put away for a rainy day, or to use now to buy something you want or need.  On the other hand, if you are like me and had to pay in additional money besides what was withheld from each paycheck, then you might be grumbling about the size and scope of the government.

As I read through Exodus 30 today, I saw what the Israelites were promised in exchange for their Temple Tax, or "atonement money."  If they were faithful in paying this half shekel each year to the Temple treasury, then God would not strike them with plagues or diseases.  This money was to help atone for their sins.

Take a  look at verse 15 with me.  "The rich are not to give more than a half shekel and the poor are not to give less when you make the offering to the Lord to atone for your lives." (Exodus 30:15).  Each person age 20 and above was to be invested in this program, to have "skin in the game."  And it cost the same to atone for each person, whether rich or poor.

I'll confess I never understood the progressive income tax system ingrained in American culture.  If I make just $10,000 per year, and I am taxed at 10%, then I will give the government a sum that is less than the 10% that would be collected from a millionaire.  But somehow, in our culture, it is "unfair" for the poor to pay the same tax rate as the rich, because the rich might have more left over after the taxes are paid.  Like I said, it doesn't make sense.  But that is the mind-set of my people.

In the Jewish mind-set, it cost the same amount to atone for each person, whether rich or poor.  What is not stated, but I think is implied, is that the same half-shekel would be due from the worst sinner as would be paid by the most holy among them.  Therefore, it is not a huge jump to say that, like the Temple tax of the Old Testament, the same blood of the Lamb covers all people in the New Testament.  The same blood of Jesus was shed for my sins as was shed for yours.  You may be richer; I may be more sinful.  Regardless, it was the same act that saved us all.

Going back to our scriptural text, the beginning of Exodus 30 speaks of the Altar of Incense.  Twice a day the priests were to burn incense before God, in front of the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the place where they kept the Ark of the Testimony.  This Ark, also known as the Ark of the Covenant, had ornate carvings upon it, including two horns that were significant throughout the history of Israel.  I won't go into that here, but it would be a fascinating study if you have never looked at those passages before (you can start by reading 1 Kings 1:50-51, and 1 Kings 2:28).

"Once a year Aaron shall make atonement on its horns.  This annual atonement must be made with the blood of the atoning sin offering for the generations to come.  It is most holy to the Lord." (Exodus 30: 10).  The Temple Tax was paid to atone for the lives of every adult age 20 and over.  The annual blood atonement sacrifice was made "for the generations to come," or those too young to pay the half shekel Temple tax.

This blood sacrifice was made once a year, for all the people.  Similarly, the death of Jesus was made once for all (Hebrews 10:10).  There is no need for further sacrifice.  No more dabbing the blood of bulls and goats onto the horns of the Ark.

Speaking of the Ark, most of us remember the 1981 movie Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.  Harrison Ford played archaeology professor Indiana Jones, who was enticed back into the field from his pampered ivy-league lecture hall in pursuit of the holy grail.  They believed that the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant had been discovered in and ancient site, and was in danger of being stolen by a team of Nazi officers for use by Hitler in the war.  Very exciting stuff.

I want us to see the Ark with new eyes.  We know it as the Ark of the Covenant, because God made a covenant with Abraham, and renewed that covenant in the sight of Moses.  Inside the ark were evidences of that covenant.  One was the rod (or staff) used by Aaron that God allowed to produce buds and leaves (even though it had no root, and it had been cut off from the branch that had produced it).  Another was the stone tablets that God had given directly to Moses, containing the Ten Commandments.  A third was a jar of the manna God had sent to sustain the people in the wilderness for 40 years.

These pieces of evidence were kept safe in the Ark as a testimony to God's covenant relationship with His people.  That is why in Exodus chapters 26 and 30, the ark is referred to as the Ark of the Testimony.  (See Exodus 25:16, 22; Exodus 26:31; and Exodus 30:6).

What is the evidence of God's atonement in your life?  Is your life a testimony of the price Jesus paid for your sins?  Or are you dead in your sins?  In the Old Testament, the priests had to become ceremonially clean before God to offer atonement for the people.

Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and feet from it (the bronze basin).  Whenever they enter the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water so that they will not die.  Also, when they approach the altar to minister by presenting an offering made to the Lord by fire, they shall wash their hands and feet so that they will not die.  This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants for the generations to come. --Exodus 30:19-21

We who are under the New Covenant are washed by the blood of Jesus.  This is the testimony we have of His goodness and grace.  Friend, do not remain stained by sin, but rather be washed in the blood of the Lamb.  This is my testimony; my faith is the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

A Flood of Reason

Being a born again Christian is not an intellectual pursuit. It is not the result of examining evidence and analyzing data. It comes through faith. It is faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ that saves a person. But Christian faith is not blind faith. It is based on understanding and believing God’s Word. And the Bible confirms that nature itself proves God’s existence.  --Source http://beginningandend.com/scientists-confirm-biblical-account-of-the-fountains-of-the-deep/

 I have often wondered about the description of Noah's flood found in Genesis 7.  Skeptics have long contended that this story is a myth, that there was never any 40 days of rain that resulted in water covering the highest mountaintops.  It is physically impossible, they say, for this to occur.  Scientifically unprovable, because there is no way to replicate the results.  Morally wrongheaded, they feel, because they can't imagine a loving God pouring out His wrath on the entire population of the earth, save eight souls who happened to be on the only sea-going vessel in the world at that time.  Oh, and the animals, too, that these eight people were able to herd into one place and pen up inside what must have looked like a three-story warehouse, or big box store.

I will admit that I have trouble envisioning this happening.  Not that my God is not big enough.  He most certainly is.  The part that I had trouble wrapping my mind around was the last half of Genesis 7:11, "...On that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened."  Some translations read, "the fountains of the deep."  So it was not just 40 days of torrential worldwide rain, but some additional flooding from underground reservoirs.

In my mind, this is hard to imagine.  All of the sources of all of the rivers on earth have not produced enough water to raise the levels of the ocean more than the one-tenth of a centimeter that has the global warming enthusiasts in a tizzy.  So what does it mean?

The problem is that Noah was not a scientist.  He was probably not even a very good historian.  Look, if there were a world-wide apocolypse today, and you and I were the only survivors, how would we be able to document it for future generations?  Would you have the scientific knowledge to explain the cause and effect of what happened?  Would I be able to accurately describe the events in a historical word picture that people 3000 years later would understand?  I doubt it.  And if you are honest, you would agree with me.

This week I read of a scientific discovery.  According to Andy Coghlan, Environmental reporter for "New Scientist" magazine (dated June 12, 2014),

A reservoir of water three times the volume of all the oceans has been discovered deep beneath the Earth's surface. The finding could help explain where Earth's seas came from.

The water is hidden inside a blue rock called ringwoodite that lies 700 kilometres underground in the mantle, the layer of hot rock between Earth's surface and its core.

The huge size of the reservoir throws new light on the origin of Earth's water. Some geologists think water arrived in comets as they struck the planet, but the new discovery supports an alternative idea that the oceans gradually oozed out of the interior of the early Earth.

"It's good evidence the Earth's water came from within," says Steven Jacobsen of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The hidden water could also act as a buffer for the oceans on the surface, explaining why they have stayed the same size for millions of years.

The underground water reserves, according to the article, contain a volume of water up to three times the volume of all of the oceans combined.

This explanation sheds new light, in my mind, about the problem of Genesis 7:11.  Apparently, I am not alone.  A website run by Beginning and End Ministries has an article entitled, "Scientists confirm Biblical account of "Fountains of the Deep.""

In yet another confirmation of the Bible’s accuracy, scientists have now confirmed what Scripture refers to as “the fountains of the deep.” In the days of Noah and the Ark, these large pools of water beneath the Earth’s crust burst forth onto the surface providing the massive amounts of water needed for the global flood judgment. What has once been a source of skepticism and mockery for those who doubt the Bible, has now been confirmed by secular scientists, again showing that although written over 3,000 years ago, the Bible’s description of the Earth and its natural properties are indeed accurate. 

All this tells me that placing faith in the God of the Bible does not mean that I have to check my brain at the churchhouse door.  It may not be enough to change the minds of the skeptics, but it is good to know that an honest, unbiased scientific view is not at odds with Scripture.  Nor is faith at odds with those who honestly seek the truth, using observation, logic, and history.

A couple of weeks ago I was at a used bookstore.  I bought copies of Lee Strobel's The Case For Christ: A Journalist's personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus, and The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence that Points Toward God.  In these books, a successful, trained investigative journalist with a legal background asks tough questions to experts in their fields, and comes to the conclusion that faith is not mindless.  In fact, Strobel himself was a skeptic, leaning toward atheism, before he began investigating the evidence.  What he found was convincing enough for him to give his life to Christ.

You could investigate these facts for yourself.  Or you could stick your fingers in your ears, and scream at the top of your lungs the half-truths and outright lies that the World uses to "disprove" Scripture.  Like so many in the world today, you find it easier to toe the ideological line rather than look at the evidence objectively.  That may be okay for now, but when you die and face the Creator, what will you say then?  "God, you can't exist.  There is no good explanation for the miraculous, so You are just a figment of someone else's imagination; a social construct, a crutch used by weak-minded people to explain the unexplainable.  Never mind that I can't explain what I'm seeing now."  But by then, dear friend, it will be too late.