On Vows - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Numbers 30:10-11,

"If a woman living with her husband makes a vow or obligates herself by a pledge under oath and her husband hears about it but says nothing to her and does not forbid her, then all her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand."

Vows are important. Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines "vow" as "a solemn promise or assertion; one by which a person is bound to an act, service, or condition." It lists as synonyms, "oath, pledge, promise, troth, word."

As the Lord gave Moses the law his covenanted people were to live by, he included statues that underscored the importance of vows. It also illustrated the patriarchal nature of the society Israel and her neighbors lived in. A father or husband could negate a daughter's or a wife's vows.

In Asaph's psalm, the Lord says to Israel, "Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me." Psalm 50:14-15. Asaph also encouraged the people of Israel to both make and to keep vows to the Lord, "Make vows to the Lord your God and fulfill them; let all the neighboring lands bring gifts to the One to be feared." Psalm 76:11. In another psalm, the psalmist, in the midst of rejoicing in the Lord's providential and protective care for him exclaimed, "I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people." Psalm 116:13-14.

In Scripture, vows are regarded as that which is important, not to be taken lightly and to be followed through on, "It is a trap to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider one's vows." Proverbs 20:25. In Ecclesiastes 5:4-5, Solomon says, "When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it." The caution he provides in not fulfilling a vow is put this way, "Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?" Verse 6.

Is vow making and keeping important today? In the early church we read that Paul had made a Nazarite vow in Acts 18:18. We also read of four Jewish Christians who had made the same, Acts 21:17-26. These men did so as Jews in fulfilling a special type of vow according to the law God gave Moses. We read of the Nazarite Vow in Numbers 6:1-20.

The vow that is of the utmost importance for us today is that which is found in Romans 10:9-10, "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved." The vow of making Jesus Christ the Lord of our life brings us the incredible inheritance of eternal life! Eternal pleasures and joy at his right hand (Psalm 16:11)!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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God is Faithful in all He Says and Does - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Numbers 30:2,

"When a man makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said."

Obviously the need for this law is that many do not follow through on their word, what they may have promised.

I am reminded that this is one of the great distinctions between God and sinful man. God always follows through on what he says he will do, on all his promises. "God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. " Romans 11:29.

God never fails and is always faithful! Here is where we can be certain of our destination following this life, "He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." 1 Corinthians 1:8-9.

God is faithful in all he says and all he does. Since he has promised us eternal life, we can be certain of it!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.  

On Faithfulness - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Numbers 29:40,

"Moses told the Israelites all that the Lord commanded him."

Moses, although not a perfect man, (as demonstrated at the rock that produced water), was nonetheless faithful. What the Lord told Moses, he was faithful to carry out. When the Lord gave messages to the Israelites, Moses was faithful to speak to them on God's behalf.

The writer of Hebrews acknowledged Moses' faithfulness to the Lord and used Moses' faithfulness as an aid to help us understand the faithfulness of Jesus Christ to the Father. He says, "He [Jesus] was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 'Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house,' bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. But Christ is faithful as the Son over God's house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory." Hebrews 3:2-6.

I cannot think of a greater honor than what Moses received as he was used to help illustrate the faithfulness of God's own Son to his Father. In thinking of Jesus' faithfulness to the Father, I am reminded of Jesus' words of his prayer before his arrest and crucifixion, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." Luke 22:42.

As we look at Moses' faithfulness in following through on what the Lord gave him to do, I am reminded of our own call to be faithful, "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms." 1 Peter 4:10.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Worship of the Heart in Festivals and Feasts - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Numbers 29:39,

"In addition to what you vow and your freewill offerings, offer these to the Lord at your appointed festivals: your burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings and fellowship offerings."

This chapter provides this new generation of Israelites instructions for various festivals that were to be marked on their calendar. The chapter begins with instructions on the Festival of Trumpets, followed by the Day of Atonement and Tabernacles. The previous chapter provides instructions for additional festivals to be observed. All of them speak to or picture the coming Son of God as an aid to help the recognition of him when he was to arrive.

As the other feasts and festivals, the Lord makes clear the purpose for these was worship of the heart. In verses 2, 6, 8, 13 and 36 the Lord speaks of the offerings by the people as that which would be a "pleasing aroma" to him. This speaks to me of heartfelt sincerity and devotion the Lord was looking for from his people.

The observance of these festivals was not to be of a private nature, but communal. The Asbury Bible Commentary makes an interesting observation about them, "And here Israel's life is to be permeated by public worship. But such worship must be neither purely formal nor primarily aesthetic nor cerebral. At the heart of worship is offering."

How about our worship today? Is it driven by heartfelt sincerity and devotion? Is it purely formal or is it grounded in personal and corporate gratitude? Does it express our hearts beyond the confines of liturgy, rituals and the trappings of stained glass windows, vestments and the like?

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Our Passover - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Numbers 28:16-17,

"On the fourteenth day of the first month the Lord's Passover is to be held. On the fifteenth day of this month there is to be a festival; for seven days eat bread made without yeast."

The celebration of the Passover is a remembrance of the Lord's rescue of Israel from her enslavement in Egypt. In a night of horror, the Lord brought the culmination of a series of plagues on Egypt by sending his angel to kill all the firstborn males in Egypt. The firstborn males of Israel would be spared if the doors to their homes had the blood of a lamb applied to the top and sides. This final plague would result in Pharaoh providing the Israelites their freedom.

"Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down." Exodus 12:21-23.

The blood of the lamb spared God's people from death.

In 1 Corinthians 5:7, Paul calls Jesus Christ our Passover lamb. He frees us from our enslavement to sin. The blood he shed protects us from God's eternal judgment when we embrace him in faith.

The writer of Hebrews tells us, "But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" Hebrews 9:11-14.

Jesus Christ is our Passover lamb and God provided us a picture of this all the way back in Moses' day when he instituted the celebration of Passover!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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A Pleasing Aroma to God - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him today and what came to my heart and mind in Numbers 28:1-2,

"The Lord said to Moses, 'Give this command to the Israelites and say
to them: "Make sure that you present to me at the appointed time my
food offerings, as an aroma pleasing to me."'"

Now that the forty year sojourn in the wilderness for Israel had come
to its end and a new generation of Israelites is now on the scene,
with Moses to shortly pass the mantle of leadership to Joshua, the
Lord reviews the sacrificial offerings and festivals with a few
additional details.

As the Lord speaks to Moses, he begins with calling the offerings his
food offerings that provided a pleasing aroma to him. The notion that
the offerings were a pleasing aroma to him was something he
underscored when he first gave the requirements for offerings forty
years earlier. I count at least 20 occasions where the Lord referred
to the offerings as a pleasing aroma to him, Exodus 29:18 - Leviticus
26:31.

What did the Lord mean by a "pleasing aroma" in reference to the
offerings? Was he like me when I am out grilling on my Weber enjoying
(and celebrating!) the aroma that those rib eye steaks bring? Was it
the actual physical aroma of the roasting meat on the altar that was
pleasing to him?

I don't think that quite captures what the Lord was communicating. The
Quest Study Bible provides a great thought on it in a comment made at
Leviticus 1:9. Quest points to the pleasure God received from the
genuine and heartfelt intent behind the offering made by the
worshippers. The aroma of the offerings was a picture communicating
the pleasure he felt when worshippers expressed their faith and
devotion in him through their worship of him.

Can we bring that pleasure to God through our worship and obedience to
him today? Consider Hebrews 13:15-16, "Through Jesus, therefore, let
us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips
that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to
share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased."

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send
me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are
receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply
and let me know.

God Is Immediate - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Numbers 27:11b,

"This is to have the force of law for the Israelites, as the Lord commanded Moses."

Zelophehad had five daughters and no sons when he died. Because he had no sons, his family would be left out of the distribution of the promised land (when it became available) to the various tribes and clans of Israel. The daughters brought their complaint of this to Moses.

Moses brought it to the Lord and the Lord provided a new provision to the law. It reads, "If a man dies and leaves no son, give his inheritance to his daughter. If he has no daughter, give his inheritance to his brothers. If he has no brothers, give his inheritance to his father's brothers. If his father had no brothers, give his inheritance to the nearest relative in his clan, that he may possess it."

This new addition to the law came some forty years after God gave the law to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Why wasn't this new law incorporated in the original body of law at that time? It certainly wasn't because God didn't think of it or didn't anticipate the occasion requiring it.

It seems to me that God didn't give this law originally because it wasn't needed at the time. It would only be needed when the time came for distributing the land and the passing of it from generation to generation. God provided the direction to Moses when it was time for it, when the occasion arose.

This speaks to me of the interactive nature of God. I'm sure many view God in a "fixed" posture. He has done those things he wanted to do, he has provided the Scriptures he wanted to provide. He created history and the accounting of it as he saw fit, but seems aloof and anything but near at hand today.

I don't find God revealing himself that way at all in the pages of Scripture. On the contrary, he presents himself as being immediate ("existing without intervening space or substance", Merriam-Webster) in his posture toward us. He listens and watches us, He is available to us when we call out to him and will respond to things in real time.

The account of Zelophehad's daughters is just one of many pictures of this aspect of God.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.