Undiscovered Sin

I find it humorous sometimes the things that pop out of Scripture on a particular day.  Today it was the fact that Moses took his wife and family with him to Egypt.  I've known that Moses was married.  But, I always assumed Moses traveled the road to Egypt alone...just him and God.


There's a quirky little passage towards the end of Exodus 4.  In the midst of Moses' obedience - as he's on his way back to Egypt to confront the Pharaoh and ask for the release of the Hebrew people, God confronts Moses.  With little to no explanation in the text, it says that God confronted Moses when he had stopped for the night...and was about to kill him.  WHAT?!  Moses was in the middle of doing God's will.  Why would God kill him?  God is God...and He knew all along that Moses had not circumcised his son.  So, why didn't God confront Moses on this issue from the burning bush, or at some other point before now...when Moses is at the proverbial tip of the sword?  Zipporah, Moses' wife, seems to get it immediately.  She takes a sharp rock and circumcises their son, which puts an immediate end to God's confrontation.  How did she know?  


Circumcision was the mark of the Abrahamic covenant, a sign that the people of God were walking after the Spirit, not after the flesh - that's why God had them cut away the flesh.  It seems that Moses did not "man up" and have his own son circumcised.  Was it a conflict between him and Zipporah?  Was this "mark" a source of marital conflict for the two of them?  There is little else in the text, except that she threw the bloody foreskin at Moses' feet and made a seemingly sarcastic, angry comment about Moses being a bloody husband to her.  


Matthew Henry's commentary on this passage helped to shine a bit of light onto the subject at hand for me:
"...when God discovers to us what is amiss in our lives we must give all diligence to amend it speedily, and particularly return to the duties we have neglected. The putting away of our sins is indispensably necessary to the removal of God’s judgements. This is the voice of every rod, it calls to us to return to him that smites us."


What undiscovered sin is present in my life?  What does God need to uncover in my heart?  May I not ignore His voice.

Faith Blessings

I've always been fascinated with the story of how God protected Moses...the Pharaoh had ordered all newborn Hebrew males to be drowned, but Moses' mother fashioned a basket out of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and placed Moses inside.  Then, she set the baby-filled basket in the Nile River - the very water the other baby boys were being drowned in.  Miriam, Moses' sister, kept a protective watch over the basket on its journey down the Nile, towards it's unbelievable final destination, the palace of the Pharaoh himself!  The Pharaoh's daughter spied the basket and requests that it be brought to her.  As she opened the basket, she instantly recognizes that Moses is a Hebrew baby.  But, Moses' cry touches her heart and she takes pity on him.  Miriam enters the scene and asks if the princess would like her to find Hebrew wet nurse to nurse the baby.  When the princess wholeheartedly agrees, Miriam runs to get none other than Moses' own mother!  Today, as I was reading, a new little factoid registered in my brain...Exodus 2:9 tells us that the princess commands Moses' mother to take him home and nurse him, and as if that isn't enough, Moses' mother will be paid for her efforts.

Ah, the blessings of faith.  Moses' mother trusted in God's protective hand over her son...she'd hidden him for the first three months of his life and then set him off in a basket down the Nile River.  This story enriches my own faith. I pray that God will increase my faith this day.

When You Rise Up...

As I began my journey into the book of Exodus, I was immediately reminded of the importance of repeating the stories of God's faithfulness to my children - from the Bible, from my own life, and from the lives of those around us.  By the time Jacob (Israel) died, all of his direct descendants had settled in the land of Egypt, approximately 75 in all. As Joseph, and the rest of his generation died, their descendants multiplied quickly and filled the land. 


When the Pharoah, whom Joseph had worked under, passed away, the writer of Exodus tells us that "a new king came to the throne of Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done. He told his people, "These Israelites are becoming a threat to us because there are so many of them.  We must find a way to put an end to this. If we don't and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us.  Then they will escape from the country." (Exodus 1:8-10) I read an interesting fact this morning:  Joseph's family "started with five people back in Haran: Jacob, Rachel, Leah, Zilphah, and Bilhah. It grew into a clan of about 100 people in 50 years (the 100 includes the seventy of Genesis 46:27 and Exodus 1:5 plus a few wives of the sons not mentioned and grandchildren). This represents a growth rate of just over 6% per year. At that rate there would be several million descendants by the time of Exodus, 430 years later." If the new Pharaoh was not aware of Joseph's story, it's really no wonder that he was worried about this mass of "aliens" living in his land.


I'm reminded of a quote I heard once, "Christianity is one generation away from extinction."  God inspired the writer of Deuteronomy  with this idea as well.  In chapter 6:4-9, we read: “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."


Today, may I live out the mantra of our home and our home school:  "When you rise up..."  May today be a day filled with reflection on God's epic story...a story that continues in, through, and around us.  May we bring glory to His name as we're on the lookout for the ways He's at work...and may we join Him there!

The God Zone

I remember writing these words just a few days ago:  "I do sense, however, that God may call me to sacrifice my comfort zone lifestyle...to what, I'm not sure.  But I pray that I will have Abraham's mature faith when God's call comes."


Today, as I was reading one of my newfound favorite online stops - Ann Voskamp's A Holy Experience, these words captured my attention:  "We're in the God zone when we're out of our comfort zone and the Holy Spirit, our Comforter, comforts us when we step outside our comfort zone.  It's only in the uncomfortable places that we can experience the tenderness of the Comforter."


Hmm...where are You taking me, Lord?

And we know...

...that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  Romans 8:28

I made it to the end of Genesis today - with a journey to Job in the middle. This has never happened before. Many times have I begun the journey through Genesis. Many times have I made it through the story of Noah and that marked the end. I'd never even read the book of Job in its entirety. What an awe-inspiring, fruit-producing, thanks-provoking thing, to truly read God's Word for the first time...this Word, filled with such glorious, epic, truthful story. I'm more convinced than ever, that God has created us to love story. The intrigue, the romance, the devastation, the redemption, the overcoming of odds, the transforming power of grace. I'm reminded today that we are written into God's story...our day-to-day lives masterfully woven into the tapestry of history - His Story. I imagine these "life threads" to be like variegated yarn...changing from one color to another and back again...as we walk down the path that is our life. I pray and trust that as my life is continually woven into God's epic, He'll fashion it into something beautiful...even with all the variations of color, the dark hues, the bright and sparkly, the golds and the murky grays...each reflecting the tossings and turnings, the highs and lows, the ebb and flow of my willingness to trust in Him. Today I choose to surrender to His almighty plan for my life. Today I choose to let Him weave the pattern of His choosing.

Back to Genesis...which ends with the death of Joseph. We have the benefit of seeing all of Joseph's life from beginning to end...we see the overarching hand of God in the midst of the trials Joseph found himself in. We see the threads as God weaves them back and forth through the fabric of Joseph's circumstances. As I re-read David Guzik's commentary, this list caught my eye:

• If Joseph’s brothers never sell him to the Midianites, then Joseph never goes to Egypt. 
• If Joseph never goes to Egypt, he never is sold to Potiphar. 
• If he is never sold to Potiphar, Potiphar’s wife never falsely accuses him of rape. 
• If Potiphar’s wife never falsely accuses him of rape, then he is never put in prison. 
• If he is never put in prison, he never meets the baker and butler of Pharaoh. 
• If he never meets the baker and butler of Pharaoh, he never interprets their dreams. 
• If he never interprets their dreams, he never gets to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. 
• If he never gets to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, he never is made prime minister. 
• If he is never made prime minister, he never wisely administrates for the severe famine coming upon the region. 
• If he never wisely administrates for the severe famine coming upon the region, then his family back in Canaan perishes from the famine. 
• If his family back in Canaan perishes from the famine, then the Messiah can’t come forth from a dead family. If the Messiah can’t come forth, then Jesus never came. 
• If Jesus never came, then you are dead in your sins and without hope in this world. We are grateful for God’s great and wise plan.

Oh yes, we are grateful! May my life today reflect that gratefulness...may  my life be a continuous looking forward to the completion of God's eternal, loving, perfect plan.

"Less Than The Least..."

artist unknown

"Less than the least of all God's mercies."  These words of the 17-century English poet and clergyman, George Herbert, echo the cry of Jacob as he looks toward a reunion with his brother, Esau (Genesis 32:10):  "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant." (NKJV)

The New Living Translation uses the words "faithfulness" and "unfailing love" in place of "mercies."  The Hebrew word is chesed which means "God's enduring love."  I pray that my heart attitude would be that of Jacob...humble and utterly unworthy of the chesed which God showers upon me every day...that I would remember that everything I bring to God has been completely desecrated by sin...remembering that my hope cannot be in my own worth.  Rather, I must rest in the promises of God.  He promises to rescue.  He promises to deliver.  He promises to save.

Less than the least of all God's mercies...

Better Than Reality TV!

In my mind, I've always painted the Patriarchs, their wives, and their families in a rather saintly light. But, as I read through the Old Testament, I see all the things that were left out of Sunday School lessons (or more likely, ignored by my Pollyanna self). These stories are way better than anything Hollywood or network television have to offer in the way of deception, lust, revenge, polygamy, incest, envy, jealousy, rage, and dysfunctional families!

• Abraham giving his "sister" Sarah to two different kings to be their wife.  
• Sarah taking her infertility matters into her own hands and giving her servant, Hagar, to Abraham.  
• Lot offering the men of Sodom his two virgin daughters so that they would leave the male "visitors" to his home alone (the men of Sodom were demanding that Lot turn over his house guests so the men of Sodom might have sexual relations with them).  
• Lot's virgin daughters sleeping with their own father in order that they might "preserve their family line."  (Genesis 19:31-38). After watching their cities destroyed, I wonder if they thought the entire world had ended...?  
• Isaac pulls the old "she's my sister" trick with the king of the Philistines, telling Abimelech that Rebekah is his sister. Abimelech finds out differently when he later sees Isaac & Rebekah making out. Abimelech becomes quite angry, knowing that if someone had slept with Rebekah, thinking she was Isaac's sister, they would have committed a grievous sin. Hmm...wonder where Isaac could have learned that one from?  
• Esau "selling" his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of stew.
• Esau takes two Hittite wives (who make life miserable for Isaac & Rebekah).
• Jacob & Rachel deceiving Isaac so Jacob could have the birthright which rightfully belonged to Esau.  
• An interesting tidbit that I noticed from Ishmael's life:  he also had 12 sons, which became the names of the twelve tribes. I wonder if the Arab/Muslim world considers these 12 tribes as important as the Christian world considers the 12 Tribes of Jacob? 
• Esau, after realizing that his father despised the "local" women, visited his uncle Ishamael's home and took another wife (in addition to the two he already had). This new wife's name was "Mahalath" and she was Ishmael's daughter.
• The polygamy continues in other branches of the family tree:  Jacob allows himself to be a 7-year indentured servant to Laban, his uncle, in order that he might "earn" Rachel's hand in marriage. Laban invited the entire household to a feast in honor of their "wedding." That night, when it was dark, Laban took LEAH in to Jacob's tent and Jacob slept with her, not knowing it was Leah and not Rachel. What a dirty trick! Laban then tells Jacob to wait until the "bridal week" is over and he will receive Rachel as his wife as well, in trade for another SEVEN years of Jacob's servitude.  
• Rachel, trapped in infertility, becomes jealous of her sister (Leah) who was having children with Jacob. Rachel decides to give her maid (Bilhah) to Jacob to sleep with.  She (Bilhah) became pregnant and birthed two sons. Leah was unable to have more children, so she too gave Jacob her maid (Zilpah) to sleep with. Zilpah also gave Jacob two sons. Leah, jealous of Jacob's love for her sister Rachel, bribes Jacob to have sex with her. Out of this union came another son. Finally, God opens Rachel's womb and allows her to have a son. Surprise, surprise...the favored wife has the favored son, Joseph!
• When Jacob responds to God's call to leave Laban's land, Rachel & Leah unite against a common foe - their own father. Jacob's family strikes out towards Jacob's homeland, but not before Rachel steals her father's household idols. Laban chases after them, accusing Jacob of theft. Rachel stashed the idols in her camel's saddle bags and mounts the camel. She claims to have her monthly period and therefore is unable to come down off the camel. Alas, Laban is unable to find his lost idols and assumes innocence on the part of Jacob & his daughters, their servants and members of Jacob's household, and makes a peace treaty with Jacob.

I must say, this is better than anything reality TV can serve up! The Fall in the early chapters of Genesis continues to play out on the screen of Old Testament history and the enemy continues to work his plan to this day. Many of these story lines are played out in the day-to-day lives of billions of people around the world. And, into this sinful world, God sent His one and only Son to save us from these messes, these sin-filled life paths we've walked. God loves us that much! Unbelievable! No reality TV show or movie ending can beat the hope-inspiring final scene God has in mind for all who call on His name: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world, through Him, might be saved."   (John 3:16-17)