Thursday, February 25, 2010
February 25 ... Numbers 33 - 34 "Life Curved In"---not Moses
Numbers 33:3 They all marched out with heads high and confident led by a man who will not cross the Jordan with them. Amazing to me! All those campings meticulously recorded on Moses' camping log! And faithful courageous Aaron dies in their midst! And yet they face Canaan with confidence. Where's my confidence this day? And Moses just keeps on leading even in the midst of knowing that he would never taste the blessing of the Promised Land like those he leads. Unbelievable to me! How did Moses find such an unselfish heart? How did he deal with jealousy? St. Augustine talks of not living our lives "curved in" on ourselves. Here's Moses genuinely concerned for the welfare of others. From a fledgling fearful start to a life well lived. Same with Aaron who kept on going, no matter what! So Moses gives one more command to his people: When you enter Canaan----Drive, Destroy, Divide, Distribute! What is the Israelites first task to conquer their blessing? They must fight a battle and take all---"all in." Canaan will not be handed to them; they must fight. So, what's in this for me, for you? We are all in a battle for our soul and the souls of others every day. Stand and conquer and win for the battle is the Lord's----HE has already won it for me and for you---- and just what does that mean for me this day? I know one thing He is saying to me is this: Have I drawn out of my husband, my children, my friends the people that God intends for them to be? Or do I just let them be? Moses is stirring up these wanderers to find a good God.
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Can I ask you to pray for our friends? Brooke's pastor Mark & his wife Julie are fighting a good fight of faith. They didn't expect young Julie to make it through this week but she has. The cancer has spread rapidly. They have two very young children who adore their mommy. Please pray for this precious family who so love their Lord and are the Fragrance of HIM to many 2Cor 2:14. And my cancer support group leader let us know on Monday that she is moving to hospice. Strengthen them, God, on the inside where it really counts, Eph 3:16-17, that they may walk by faith not by what they see! I wept tonight wondering how, out of fear, I haven't drawn out of my husband, my kids, my friends the people that God intends for them to be by how I live. We all have this day to live well, love well by a Power that is so powerfully at work in us. Col. 1:29...not our strength.
ReplyDeleteBev, I wonder exactly what it looks like for us to draw out of our husband, kids and friends the people that God intends for them to be? What specifically would we do? This is probably obvious to you and the others who are reading along, but I have a hard enough time trying to be who God wants me to be. When you see someone "doing it right" what do you see?
ReplyDeleteI'll pray for that family, for your leader and for you, my friend to keep planting seeds in the lives of your loved-ones and let God do the rest.
Love,
Angie xoxo
Trying to reconcile this morning the Lord's commands to drive out and kill so many, and His being the God of peace (Romans 15:33). In Exodus 5, we read, "The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is His Name." He is the Judge of all unrighteousness AND the One who brings the perfect peace that passes all understanding. There is no contradiction for God to be both. Peace at all cost is not God's way. Until the lion lays down with the lamb, He alone is our Peace.
ReplyDeletePlease pray with me today for that Day. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
Bev, my heart goes out to Brooke's pastor and his family fighting such a brave fight of faith when a young mother is suffering, dying. Lifting up Mark and Julie and their family...and your own days so recently marked by suffering to see your courageous support leader surrendering to the disease. We all want happy endings. It seems unfair. May His Holy Spirit comfort and carry each of you through these difficult days. Love, Annette
ReplyDeleteAs for me, you are drawing out of me what God intends me to be, by how you have lived out your faith thru your words on the internet. I will pray for this young family and all that surrounds them and you.
ReplyDeleteI have such random thoughts today.
ReplyDeleteBev, I will pray. I spent time yesterday with a dear friend who lost her husband two years ago. The cancer took him in three months time. Just as Moses recorded the journeys of Israel, she shared the journeys of their life. There was a lot of "camping", "moving", and "departing". She so testified to God's faithfulness...in the journey of their marriage and now as a widow. What do people do without Jesus?! I have to cling to what Piper calls "Future Grace"...grace to help in time of need.
I also noticed the instructions to
drive out, destroy, demolish, and dispossess, all of the inhabitants...the enemies. "Cinder in my eye", a "splinter in my foot"...irritants, and thorns that will harass me. I loved the reminder that there is still war, even though Christ has won the victory. Nehemiah told the people in ch.5 to fight for their loved ones and in vs.20 he says "Our God will fight for us." (sorry, but Nehemiah came to mind...chapter 5 in the Amplified version really ministered to me when I was going through a dark valley)
Now, more random thougts. Bev, you asked if you knew me. No, you don't. I don't know any of y'all posting here, but I have seen a glimpse of your journeys. I love LPM and that led me to some of your blogs. I get y'all mixed up sometimes, but there is a common thread-a scarlet one-that runs through them...JESUS!! Ang Baylis, that's the main thing I see in y'all that you're doing right. You love Jesus and truly want Him to make a difference in your life so you can make a difference in others. Seeking Him...keep it up
cause y'all inspire me!
Again, I will pray for you and your friends.
FG
Are you Franklin Graham?
ReplyDelete:)
40 years of wandering in the wilderness will soon be over.
ReplyDeleteMoses takes the time here to remember every camping. There is a message in each one of those campsites and I wish I had the knowledge to share. I looked up just one campsite and it's meaning was "clinging."
I've camped there.
I've had times in my journey with God where all I could do was "CLING" to Him. Don't you wish you knew the lesson each place taught these sojourners?
I'm 53 years old. Ssshhhh. Don't tell! 40 years of wandering would have really been a loooonnnnggg time!
I know for me, fighting and driving out those people would have made me want to groan all the more. But somehow, I believe these people had learned a huge lesson from God. Holiness. I keep remembering that one man who put the spear through the private parts of the Israelite man and the Moabite(?) woman. It stopped the plague God started through the people. He stood for holiness.
I'm sure they were ready to drive out these godless people. And the warning that any they left would be a cinder in their eye right in their own backyard...that's powerful.
I'm struggling with the lesson that it's not about our comfort, it's about holiness. Dr. Crabb sure is teaching me a lot through this. We do tend to associate God's Favor with no drama in our lives. Dr. Crabb seems to point out that suffering is God's plan for our lives to make us holy.
Bev, maybe that's the most important thing to remember in how we draw out what God intends them to be...we keep following and learning through every "camp."
I pray that we would not settle to reach the Jordan like some of the tribes did. I pray that we would go the distance and cross over the Jordan in our own lives.
And I pray for Mark and Julie...and those two precious children. May God cover them in His Cloud of Protection and His Fire of Purification. And for your friend who has supported you...may she be carried by Jesus through these last precious days of living life. Keep us up to date on your moments of forgetfulness and your daughter's biopsy.
And let me tell you all thank you for your prayers. Things were pretty intense at work today and I took time at lunch to get away and pray. I really do feel intense spiritual warfare going on here in America...the defense of our nation...pray for God's covering and protection over our military and those who support them. Increase your prayers for our nation.
Shalom,
Deborah
Bev, what a priviledge to pray for you and your family and those that so dearly affect your family.
ReplyDeleteEach Pearl that makes our String so strong is helping me become the Pearl God is creating in me. Yes that Pearl to become Holy because He is Holy. We can only arrive through the blood of the Lamb and then to truly become the person God created me to be I must go through the pain and suffering to do the work to drive out and destroy all sinful and unholy pleasures before me so that I can be home in my promise land created just for this Pearl that God created just for me. Once I arrive I must still Divide up my inheritance according to God's instructions. He doesn't miss any details with his instructions as he concludes. "But if you don't drive out the native population, everyone you let stay there will become a cinder in your eye and a splinter in your foot. They'll give you endless trouble right in your own backyards. And I'll start treating you the way I planned to treat them."
That last instruction really speaks to me. Sin is more sutble than I realize and the consequences are devastating.
Lord I pray to be more Holy today because You are Holy and this I pray for my Siestas on this blog as well.