And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.” – Numbers 14:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 7, 2012): Numbers 14

I have recently started to read the “Game of Thrones” series of books. I am thoroughly enjoying the adventure story. But beyond the intrigue and the swordplay, it is actually an excellent description of leadership styles. The various leaders described in the book run from puppet kings with someone else pulling the strings, to selfish leaders running their houses into ruin to feed there are own egos and desires, and a couple of good leaders who lead because of a genuine concern for the people and willing to make the hard decisions.

There is an old joke that says that there are three reasons that a person might have for taking a position of leadership. The joke says that some become leaders for the power, while others do it for the recognition and still others for the money. The joke part is that for most leaders, none of those things are present. And when they are present, often good leaders would give them up just so they could be released from their leadership responsibilities. Leadership is not something that we should ever chase after. The truth is that leadership is often hard - and the rewards are very few.

We recognize Moses as an excellent leader. He was able to lead a nation not only on a long journey to a different place on the earth, but from being a nation of slaves into a nation that could take responsibility for themselves and for their own future. And the task was not an easy one. There were many times when Moses probably wished he had stayed with the sheep in Midian. The only reason that he would continue to lead was because God had asked him to.

But the people were not happy with his leadership. Often they are not happy because the task of a leader is to stretch us beyond where we are and into something new. And that process can be painful (it was for Israel.) So what Israel wanted was a puppet leader who would stop stretching them and return them to where they had already been. And Moses would never be a puppet.

If God has called you to lead – and I think that we are all called to be leaders somewhere in our lives – do not settle for just being a puppet. The perks are better, but puppets always has to leave God’s vision behind. There is so much more that God wants us to reach for. But getting there will require the presence of the real leader in us – and other leaders in our circle of influence.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 15

We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” – Numbers 13:33

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 6, 2012): Numbers 13

One of the things I used to love about the late night campfire when I was a kid was not the roasted marshmallows (actually, I would not discover their allure until much later in life.) What I loved about the late night campfire was the ghost stories. The ones that have been told for generations about convicts with hooks and criminals hanging upside down over your car, stories about plants that come to life and strange sounds and animals unknown during the day, but becoming a real threat at night. And a good story teller that could scare you at the appropriate moment was essential – and in my youth I remember a few of them. The power of good campfire story is to make you question what exists just beyond the light of the fire. It always raises the question about the things that lurk in the dark.

I admit being scared around the campfire, but I also understood that the fear was false and as the light dawned, the fears faded – because the creatures and people that I was told about around the campfire could only exist in the darkness of the night.

The Nephilim were israel’s version of a scary campfire story. The idea of the Nephilim originated in Genesis 6, just before the account of the Great Flood. The Nephilim were described as the offspring of the sons of the gods and the daughters of men. They were the fallen ones, some have even wondered if maybe they were earth’s first extraterrestrial visitors (thus they were actually fallen from the sky.) They were a race of giants, and they were evil. And when there was a campfire and a scary story needed to be told, the Nephilim were the designated boogiemen of the day.

It needs to be noted that the spy’s needed to concoct a story. They were scared to enter the Promised Land, but they needed the story to be bigger than it really was. So ... enter the Nephilim. The spies concoct a story that the descendants of the Nephilim were still on the earth. And they were still big and still nasty. But there was only one problem with the story. If the flood story was true, then the Nephilim had been wiped out by the flood, so they could not still be in Canaan.

Trouble has a tendency to reach back into our imagination and create itself worse than it really is. Often it conjures up the worst our experience – or our imagination – could offer. But when we look at it by the light of the day, we can recognize it as nothing but a lie. Israel failed to see the lie, but only because they refused the light that Joshua and Caleb tried to shine on it. And if we refuse the light, then the lie will always stand.

     

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 14

“Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the LORD heard this. – Numbers 12:2

Today’s  Scripture Reading (August 5, 2012): Numbers 12

One of the things that will tear apart a ministry or a church is jealousy. It is also one of the things that never seem to fail to be around. It starts with an argument that starts up over whether we know something better than anyone else. The question is often – why do they not ask me for the answer? The truth is that often it is the seeds of jealousy that stop people. And it is not always the seeds that reside in them – sometimes it is the seed that resides inside of us.

Aaron and Miriam are jealous of their brother and his relationship with God. They want to hear the messages and enjoy the value that the community seemed to place in Moses. And it is that jealousy that actually becomes a barrier between them and God. It is not that Aaron and Miriam are without purpose inside of the community. Aaron was the High Priest. It was only his descendants that would ever minister before God.

 Aaron was chosen by God to speak God’s message to Israel – even though it was a message spoken first to Moses, Aaron would have the privilege of speaking to the nation, essentially fulfilling the role of the pastor of a nation. It was a privilege that even Moses would not possess. And Miriam was a prophetess. It was her responsibility to speak the confirmation of the message. She was the one that suggested to the princess of Egypt that a Hebrew nurse be found to help with the raising of Moses, ensuring that Moses would be raised with the knowledge of his Hebrew background. And she was married to Hur, a close associate of Moses ensuring her membership in the inner circle of leadership of the nation. But as great and important an asset that both of them were to Israel, it was jealousy that threatened to stand in the way.

Whenever jealousy takes root in that which we are, we become less valuable to God. God reserves the right to be jealous only for himself. Too often jealousy threatens to move us away from the place that God has designed us for. The community of God, even in the days of Moses, was never intended to be accomplished by just one person. For the kingdom to succeed, everyone needed to be willing to take his place.

The community of Israel was weaker without Aaron and Miriam. And because of their jealousy, that was exactly where they found themselves – without them. God’s community needs you to be where he has called you to be. All envy and jealousy can do is to move you out of position. We need you. Come, let us worship!

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 13

The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you. ” – Numbers 11:23

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 4, 2012): Numbers 11

We ask the wrong questions. We seem to wonder whether or not God is capable of changing our situation. We ask questions about whether the Gospel message has any relevance for the world in which we live. Maybe God needs to change the way that he does things in the modern era. If we do not think it, we definitely hear it. Christianity is archaic – it is out of date. It is just no longer relevant for our current lifestyle. God is no longer able.

It is the question that is on Moses lips as God makes him a promise for more meat than the people would want to eat. From Moses point of view, the promise was an impossible one. There was no way that god would be able to deliver that much meet (by the way, it was also an impossible promise from the point of view of the people – there was no way that they would ever tire of meet after being forced to eat Manna for such a long period of time.) But it was only impossible from their point of view. From God’s point of view, nothing was impossible. God could do anything that he set out to do.

Of course, the key question of what God can accomplish always comes back to what it is that God desires to accomplish. And in this case, he was going to give his people what they wanted – even though they were soon going to find out that it was not what they really wanted. So our main problem is in understanding what God it is that God wants.

God’s desire is for us to make a difference – to step up and love the unlovable and make a real difference in the lives of those who are lonely. His desire is that we understand our own forgiveness and are willing to forgive – and in that, that we are willing to create a better world. And as long as that is what we are chasing, God’s arm is will never be too short.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 12

Make two trumpets of hammered silver, and use them for calling the community together and for having the camps set out. – Numbers 10:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 3, 2012): Numbers 10

This morning I woke up to what sounded like a bell ringing. Actually, it was more like a gong – like someone who had a metal rod and was hitting some sort of long metal tube. And as I listened the rhythmic sound, it seemed to get louder – and then fade away so that I could barely here the ringing. At first I thought that whatever had made the sound had moved closer to my house and then moved further away, but then the clanging got louder again. The pulsating clash continued for several minutes, at times I wondered if I also heard sirens in the distance, but they never got close enough for me to really hear them. And so I just laid there wondering what the sound could signify.

I live in a city. It is a place alarms and sirens and the honking of car horns are not an unfamiliar sounds. I think my country friends often wonder how I or anyone else could live with the continual noise all around that is simply a symptom of city life. But the truth is that the longer you live in the presence of the noise, the less you actually hear it. It is incredible how many accidents happen every year because someone did not hear the sirens. Or how many people miss their planes because they just did not hear the last call. The noise fades into the background – unless the noise itself is unusual.

Israel would have been comprised of over two and half million voices. It does not take much of an imagination to envisage the kind of sound that would have dominated life in the camp. It was unlikely that another voice would get anyone’s attention. And so God dreamt of something else. In this case it was two trumpets. The number two is likely just because there were only two sons of Aaron. The trumpet would have been unlike the ram’s horn that would have been common to the Israelite people from its use in Egypt. These trumpets would have been straight, probably about four feet in length and about the thickness of a flute. Both ends would likely have resembled a modern day trumpet, and because they were made of pure silver, the metal would give a unique shrill sound – one unlike anything else heard in the camp. And the idea was that when this unique voice was played, the people would hear and would know exactly how to respond. And even two of these instruments would be enough to be heard from one end of the camp to the other.

And that is probably the difference between the bell I heard this morning and Moses’ trumpets. While I heard the bell clang, I still have no idea what the bell signified.  The trumpets of Israel would have delivered a definite message - one that needed to be heard. And that is why these trumpets have been used as reminders of the message of God – a message that still needs to be heard.

 Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 11

Moses answered them, “Wait until I find out what the LORD commands concerning you.” – Numbers 9:8

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 2, 2012): Numbers 9

Did you know that there are some things in your life that you absolutely do not have to pray about? Did you know that there are decisions in your life that do not require any kind of conversation with God? I have made that statement to a few friends over the years and usually I get a surprised look as a response. Are we not to pray about everything? And the answer actually is no. There are some things that should be obvious us. I do not have to pray about whether or not I have to love my neighbor. It is the foundation of my faith. I do not have to pray about whether I am to treat the Muslim that waits on me at the local convenience store with respect (and love) – the answers is yes, and praying is not going to change that. I do not have to pray about whether or not it is okay to kill someone (any someone) – the answer to that is a resounding no. I do not have to pray about whether or not I tithe and honor God with my finances. All of these questions are answered in several passages in the Bible – so there is no need for me to pray.

Often in counselling that is the question that seems to trip people up. They have committed an act that is clearly prohibited biblically, and the response to it is often that they prayed and God said it was okay, but now it is blowing up in their faces. What happened? And my response is usually, you knew the right thing to do, but you convinced yourself of something different. God is never going to contradict what he has laid out clearly in the Bible just to satisfy your wants. I believe that you might have prayed, but it was not God who answered.

But everything is not clear. There are questions that the Bible has no answer for. There are no Biblical passages that lay out our answers – and so we pray. Sometimes the answer does not come right away. But in these circumstances, we are instructed to be persistent in our prayers.

Moses was confronted with a contradiction of Biblical directives. The Passover was important. It was one of the celebrations that were mandatory in its observance. But life also brought with it certain events that would bring with them consequences that would exclude them from the celebrations. And the two assertions found themselves in conflict with each other.

Life does that to us. We find ourselves caught, and that is one of the times that we need to find our knees – because it is then that persistent prayer is the appropriate response.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 10

“Speak to Aaron and say to him, ‘When you set up the seven lamps, they are to light the area in front of the lampstand. ’” – Numbers 8:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 1, 2012): Numbers 8

A current architectural feature of a number of contemporary churches is a lack of windows in the sanctuary area. The large stain glass windows of ages past, often with every section of window describing in pictures part of either the gospel story or the history of the church, are now long gone. The sanctuary is a dark place where only artificial light remains. And for some, the change has been a difficult one. A church without the sun shining through stained glass hardly seems to be a church. And yet more of us are going to worship in these windowless boxes.

The reason for the change is really two fold. One reason for the absence of stain glass windows is simply that they became too expensive to produce, and even more expensive to insure. And the colorful windows made too attractive targets for those who like to break things. But that was only part of the problem. The second reason, and possibly the more important one in the journey toward their demise, was that worship techs started to demand more control over the light that streamed in through the colored windows. And if there were no windows into the sanctuary, then they had complete control over the way the sanctuary was lit.

But what we missed was that this was not a new idea. When the plans came for the original tabernacle, they came with their own form of light control. The plans presented did not include any windows by design. The inside of the tabernacle would be in eternal darkness. It did not matter how bright the day was – none of that light would find its way into the sanctuary.

So lamps were necessary in order to light the sanctuary. Every day the priests would come in and light the flame from the fire that eternally burned before God. The only light that was allowed to shine in the sanctuary was light that had literally come from the place of God. Everything in the sanctuary had a purpose, and that purpose was to glorify and point to God. And that included even the light that was used in the sanctuary. The only light that was allowed would come from God – and point the way to praise God.

   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 9