The One Year Bible - Day 73

Today Israel are attempting to get into the Promised Land but they need the cooperation of the local kings in order to cross their land. The kings refuse and the Israelites decide to make a detour to begin with but then fight the remaining two armies and defeat them. We have an interesting principle described here since the first King of Edom does not attack the Israelites but only threatens them if they refuse to leave his land whereas the other armies specifically attack and are then slaughtered by the Israelites. The principle concerns attack vs defence. Although we might talk of "attack", in many ways, I believe our Christian life is one of going where we are called to go and only engaging with 'forces' that attack us. For instance, when Jesus moved around, he didn't go and try and find demons or Romans or Pharisees and attack them but he did attack those who confronted Him and perhaps wanted to stop what he was doing. The King of Edom was possibly just as angry and determined as the other kings but the thing he did right was not to attack the Israelites.
People who talk about things like praying against strongholds and the like are possibly being too offensive and cause trouble for themselves. Go where God wants you and do what he wants you to do and deal with issues as they surface. This way you will not incur trouble all the time.

The One Year Bible - Day 72

Again and again the Israelites complain that things are hard and often refer to Egypt, "where we had this and that...". Sadly I think we do the same when we feel in the desert place we often wonder about the "sweetness" of sin or rather what we perceive as sweetness since the reason we were saved in the first place (if we have been) was because we saw the entrapment and pain of sin.
Numbers 20 is also where Moses who has quite a good press up until now decides to mis-represent God to the people and earns his barring from the Promised Land. Jesus said that "to whom much has been given, much will be required". Moses was the one person God could rely on to faithfully represent Himself to the Israelites so if Moses starts getting a big head, "Must we bring you water from this rock" then things are going to go awry. Of course we can understand why Moses acted like he did and perhaps most of us would have done it sooner but nonetheless, God requires us to be holy before Him regardless of the pressures we face from others.

The One Year Bible - Day 71

I wanted to mention something from Psalm 55 today. Verse 10 says, "Its walls are patrolled day and night against invaders, but the real danger is wickedness within the city". If we see the city as the church, it is interesting that despite being 'attacked' from outside by spiritual forces or perhaps a number of militant atheists, the greatest danger to the church is those "within the city". This I think is for a number of reasons. Fundamentally, the danger is from those who do not know God's Will but are in a position to dictate the direction of the church. This might work its way out in various ways. People of poor character, people who are simply not anointed for the position they have been given, people who are reckless, people who put process before people, those who seek glory rather than God, people who pursue the gifts rather than the giver, people whose egos are not in check and who might dominate 'spiritually' or physically and a whole raft of other 'defects'. Yet I think it would be fair to say we are much more on our guard against outsiders when so much harm is done by people. Jesus told us we had authority over the evil forces of the devil yet we are more afraid of them than we are of people who we do not usually have authority over!

The One Year Bible - Day 70

Today we read about a version of Jesus' crucifixion where he is offered Wine with Myrrh in it but refuses. We all know about Wine being drunk to reduce pain reception but Myrrh is also used as an anaesthetic. Jesus refused these things presumably so that we know that he felt the full pain and force of death.
If he had accepted them, people would have accused him of dying an easy death with 'painkillers' and perhaps spiritually questioned the validity of such a death as a sacrifice. If we were to be executed for being Christians and were offered pain killers, presumably we would want to say yes. Praise God that Jesus' thoughts were so in line with God's that there was no danger of that for him.

The One Year Bible - Day 69

Numbers 14 and the Israelites sign their own death warrant. What had they done? They were basically saying it would be better to go back to being sinners since it was easier than the life they were living. As well as an amazing lack of understanding of the freedom they had enjoyed from Egypt (how short their memories are) they are also about to go into a place of blessing. Many of us are not prepared for the testing that produces fruit - our own desert experience if you like. On top of this, it shows a total lack of gratitude to God and an acknowledgement that with His help, it doesn't always have to be hard. "They have all seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness, but again and again they have tested me by refusing to listen to my voice." Is that true for us?
We also see an interesting statement. The OT is quite clear that Israel has a special place before God because of His promise to Abraham but we are reminded here that, "Native-born Israelites and foreigners are equal before the Lord and are subject to the same decrees". This does not decrease the significance of Israel but reminds us in terms of sin and sacrifice, no human is better off than another. All require Christ.
Pslam 53: "Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God." Well said. There are quite a few qualified fools out there. Many people with all sorts of human accolades and qualifications and titles but still fools.

The One Year Bible - Day 68

Numbers 11, another of these interesting passages where things seem a little awry. There is a list of 70 Elders who are supposed to go to the Tabernacle to receive the Spirit of God. Two of them don't go. What would you expect? Punishment? Perhaps. Lose their blessing? Likely. What we actually see is not only God blessing these two people with something that was theirs despite their disobedience but then Moses realisation that what had happened was so good that the legality of it was not an issue, " I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them all!".
Numbers 12 and this story of Miriam and Aaron who have criticised Moses and God's famous response, "So why were you not afraid to criticize my servant Moses?". Miriam is struck with leprosy and if that represents uncleanness then we need to be very careful who we pass judgement on!
Numbers 13 and one of my favourite passages of the spies sent into the Promised Land to check it out and who return with scare stories. Only Joshua and Caleb believe the words of God who told them they would take the land and only these two ever see the Promised Land in person. So simple yet so profound: If God tells us to do something or that something will happen, how on earth can we ever doubt that He is able to do it? Because we still think it is all about us?

The One Year Bible - Day 67

Sometimes we see the side of God that loses patience with humans as we continue to test Him and his provision. In Numbers 11, the people start complaining that they are bored with their usual food - perhaps an analogy of people being bored with the day-to-day life of the church? God responds by saying that he will provide meat for a whole month so that they get sick of it. I guess we easily crave what we see in some other churches but we usually want the good without the work. Which churches can see the miraculous without a large amount of continuous prayer? If we want that, we simply have to continue to press in and not simply moan to God about how other people have it better.
Mark 14 has this interesting passage that reminds us it is possible to be religious, even if we are Christians and don't consider ourselves "religious". What the disciples complained about with the perfume was quite fair and certainly true but in fact the point was that God has a plan that doesn't involve being a slave to some recipe or list of rules but a relationship where each decision is guided by Him.
Psalm 51 has a fascinating statement that is, at the end of the day, the truth with regards to sin "Against you, and you alone, have I sinned". We are quick to apologise to people but most of what we do wrong is against God and it is Him we need to apologise to. "For I was born a sinner..but you require honesty from the womb"