Boundaries of our Inheritance - 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 34:2,

"Command the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter Canaan, the land that will be allotted to you as an inheritance is to have these boundaries'"

As the Lord gave Moses directions for their entry into the promised land, note that he gave them boundaries. A boundary is something that fixes a limit or extent. The Lord gave them land, but that land was defined. It was not left up to the Israelites to decide for themselves whatever they wanted. The Lord gave them what he wanted.

We read in 1 Corinthians 3:21b-23, "All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God." How many times I have seen this taken as a license by those who should know better! Paul speaks of our inheritance in Jesus Christ as "all things", however, Paul is not saying anything and everything is ours. What he is saying is that everything the Lord desires to give us is ours, all of it.

In looking at the context of what Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians 3, he was providing a limit or boundary on the outlook of the believers there. "Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become 'fools' so that you may become wise." Verse 18. That is a limit, a boundary. What was theirs as an inheritance in Jesus Christ was all theirs, and fully so, but not everything in life - just those things the Lord desires to give us.

I am reminded that, in what passes as the "church" today, a lot of things are offered that actually fall outside of what it is the Lord has determined to give us. It behoves all of us to verify what we are hearing as "all things are ours" actually falls within the boundaries of what it is the Lord is actually providing for us.

And, by the way, he offers us a whole lot! Forget this extra nonsense that appeals to something other than our new nature in Jesus Christ. Just as the Lord provided boundaries for the inheritance he gave the Israelites, so he has boundaries for our inheritance as his children today.

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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Entering into Eternal Life - 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 34:2,

"Command the Israelites and say to them: 'When you enter Canaan, the land that will be allotted to you as an inheritance is to have these boundaries...'"

In this chapter the Lord tells Moses what the boundaries will be of the promised land that is to be divided among the tribes and clans of Israel, and also the roster, one from each tribe, of those who would help in the specific assignment of which portions to which tribe and clan.

The writer of Hebrews likens the entrance of the Israelites into the promised land as entering into the rest of the Lord when he rested on the seventh day of the creation week. Israel would now rest from their sojourn of forty years in the wilderness.

The writer of Hebrews also likens that entrance of the Israelites into the promised land to that of our entrance into the kingdom of God for those who embrace Jesus Christ in faith. He does it to demonstrate that just as those who disobeyed the Lord were not able to enter into the rest of the Lord, so people today who refuse the Lord are not able to enter into eternal life - all based on faith.

"Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed." Hebrews 3:16-4:2.

Because of this simili by the writer of Hebrews (we don't know who the inspired person was that wrote Hebrews), as I read of the boundaries and allocation of the promised land in Numbers 34, it causes me to think of what will be our inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. What will the specifics of our existence be like? Just like everyone else, I don't have those details, but I do have an idea that it will be more than we can possibly imagine!

In thinking of life in the resurrection, David said, "Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand."

How wonderful is that?!

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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It has been, and always will be, all about faith! - 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 33:1,

"Here are the stages in the journey of the Israelites when they came out of Egypt by divisions under the leadership of Moses and Aaron."

This chapter chronicles the itinerary the Israelites followed during their forty year period in the wilderness. It began with the exodus from Egypt and ended as they made their way to the east bank of the Jordan from which they would enter Canaan and take it from its inhabitants.

This sojourn of Israel in the wilderness was an amazing undertaking. They were consigned to it when they failed to trust the Lord in entering and taking the promised land just after their exodus from Egypt. After spies were sent in to check out the land, the nation feared the inhabitants over the Lord's assurance he would bring them victory. Because they refused to go, the Lord sent them on this forty year sojourn in the wilderness until that generation had passed.

Based on a count of the fighting men, there were several million Israelites that made the trek. As I count the encampments listed in this chapter (if I counted right) there were forty-one locations where they stayed over the forty year period. We read elsewhere that the duration of each encampment varied, maybe a few days, maybe a year or so.

In Numbers 9:18-23 we read, "At the Lord's command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord's order and did not set out. Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the Lord's command they would encamp, and then at his command they would set out. Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out. Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out. At the Lord's command they encamped, and at the Lord's command they set out. They obeyed the Lord's order, in accordance with his command through Moses."

The logistics for this horde was staggering! One suggestion claims 4 million pounds of food was needed each day! That would be the equivalent of 3 freight trains a mile long each to bring what was needed every day. The same source calculates the need for 8 million pounds of wood each day for cooking and warmth. 11 million gallons of water would be needed each day for drinking and to wash a few dishes! Those are staggering numbers! The same source says the campground needed for this group would take 750 square miles (about half the state of Rhode Island).

Given all this, it appears to me the forty year sojourn in the wilderness had, as one of its goals, to teach the Israelites as a nation to follow the Lord no matter the outlook. A faith-building exercise. They refused to trust in the Lord's ability to bring about victory for them against the Canaanites, and so they went through a forty year curriculum to teach them something of the Lord's ability to provide and bring success.

It has been, and always will be, all about faith!

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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Sin Finding Us Out - 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 32:23,

"But if you fail to do this, you will be sinning against the Lord; and you may be sure that your sin will find you out."

"This" in the above verse refers to a commitment the tribes of Gad and Reuben made to fight together with the rest of Israel to take the promised land from the Canaanites. Those two tribes wanted land on the east side of the Jordan, already won, and Moses told them they could have it only after Gad and Reuben agreed to fight together with the other ten tribes.

Moses' statement was a threat to these two tribes should they renege on their commitment, born out of a truth about sin. No one can sin and not pay the consequences.

We may feel we can "get away with it" if we are crafty enough, but no one is as crafty as God, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." Hebrews 4:13.

The book of Proverbs is a manual on skillful living. Here is a thought it provides on this issue: "The wisdom of the prudent is to give thought to their ways, but the folly of fools is deception." Proverbs 14:8. We may think we can get away with sin, and we might-- but only for a while. To think our sin won't "find you out" is merely a deception.

Here is a thought Paul provides, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." Galatians 6:7-8.

A sobering truth about sin: it will find us out!

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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Doing Our Part - 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 32:5,

"'If we have found favor in your eyes,' they said, 'let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.'"

As the time began to draw near for Israel to cross the Jordan River and enter the promised land to take it from the current inhabitants, the tribes of Reuben and Gad approached Moses to see if they could stay on the east side of the Jordan and not go in. The Israelites had already vanquished inhabitants on the east side and these two tribes saw the land there was good for livestock. Since both had "very large herds and flocks", verse 1, they wanted to take that land for themselves.

Moses became angry with them and called them a brood of sinners, verse 14. He pointed out that forty years earlier the Israelites refused to go into the land to take it from the Canaanites-- so the Lord condemned them to wandering in the wilderness for the forty years until that whole generation had passed. Moses viewed the request by these two tribes as engaging in the same disobedience - a reluctance to participate in what the Lord wanted done.

All was resolved, however, when the Reubenites and Gadites agreed to cross the Jordan (even ahead of the others) and join the fight and not leave till all the other tribes received their part of the land first. Moses accepted the proposal and told Eleazar to make sure these two tribes got the land they had requested.

The account causes me to think of us today. Then, the Lord had things he wanted accomplished by his people Israel, and they refused. As a result they incurred his wrath. Today, the Lord has things he wants accomplished by his people. He is building his kingdom and we all have our part to play.

It is God's will that we participate with him as he builds his kingdom. Here are a few passages to consider:

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20.
"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.
"Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church." 1 Corinthians 14:12.
"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." 1 Corinthians 12:7.
"Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts." 1 Corinthians 12:27-31.

As the tribes of Reuben and Gad agreed to do what was requested of them by the Lord, how about us? What are we doing to help the Lord build his kingdom? What part of it are we involved in? We all have a part to play.

Here is a good starting point, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

How am I engaged in God's agenda? What part am I involved in today?

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.

Thoughts on Gratefulness and Reparation - 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 31:48-50,

"Then the officers who were over the units of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—went to Moses and said to him, 'Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing. So we have brought as an offering to the Lord the gold articles each of us acquired—armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.'"

Following the conquest of the Midianites, the Israeli soldiers were to distribute the booty taken in a prescribed way, as recounted in verses 25-47.

Following this, the commanders of the army brought to Moses the gold articles they had acquired in the defeat of the Midianites as an offering to the Lord. This they did for two reasons.

The first is that at the end of the fight, they found that they had not lost a single man out of the twelve thousand troops that had gone into battle.

The second reason was they wanted to make atonement for themselves. In verses 14-18 we read, "Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle. 'Have you allowed all the women to live?' he asked them. 'They were the ones who followed Balaam's advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord's people. Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.'"

Out of a heart of gratefulness to the Lord in not losing any men in battle and due to their poor judgment (while putting the Midianites to death) in allowing the very women who enticed the Israelite men to abandon God earlier live, they brought this voluntary offering of gold to the Lord.

Gratefulness and a desire to make reparation for bad judgment. Both heartfelt attitudes expressed in a very tangible way. It causes me to think of what it is I am grateful to the Lord for and what I might need to make reparation for. How would I express that?

I do thank the Lord with profound gratitude for sending his Son to provide a reparation, an atonement, for my sin and making a way for me into his family!

How about you?

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.  

Worshipping the Lord Who Is (and Not my Fantasy) - 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 31:1-2a,

"The Lord said to Moses, 'Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites.'"

The result of this direction from the Lord was the death of the five kings of Midian, the pagan sorcerer Balaam, all the men and boys of Midian and all the women who were not virgins. The virgins were taken as servants into the Israelite households. The entire nation of Midian was wiped out in a genocidal conquest at the Lord's direction.

The question arises (and has in many places) as to how the Lord could direct the genocide of an entirre nation. Naturally, many answers have been put forward in the defense of the Lord's direction to Moses. It is one of those perfect questions for a debate in ethics. There are a number of times in Scripture where the Lord exercises his divine prerogatives (how about destroying the entire world in Noah's day?) that could be material for a debate.

I approach it this way for myself: the Lord's character is such that he is kind, faithful and just in all he does. That is exactly how the Lord reveals himself to us in the pages of Scripture, "I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight", Jeremiah 9:24. The full counsel of the Scriptures bears this out. 

Keeping in mind the wickedness of a people who engaged in pagan idol worship that encompassed child sacrifice, fertility rituals that included the enticement of Israelite men away from their God and the like, far be it from me to question the Lord on his counsel, his judgments, his decisions. He is my Lord and he doesn't have to answer to my perceived ethical predispositions. In short, he doesn't check in with me first about what he does.

If I find myself "offended" by anything the Lord does, who needs to make the adjustment? Do I sit in judgment of my Lord? Far be it from me! And, by the way, I am never offended by my Lord. Quite the opposite. It is from him true morality, true ethics, true justice is found. No one else's opinion makes any difference.

Those who claim to know the Lord but hold a reservation over how he is revealed in the pages of Scripture at times, have yet to fully come to know the Lord. It seems to me there are many who harbor a fantasy of the Lord. Not knowing or studying the Scriptures thoroughly, they "imagine" what the Lord is like - after their own fashion, which leads to ethical questions about what we read in Scripture.

It is imperative we worship the Lord who is, not the Lord we invent!

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.