The One Year Bible - Day 31

Have you noticed how many times yeast is mentioned here? It seems like God was having a yeast day, it is almost comical the number of times it is mentioned. Why? Well whatever medical reasons there might have been at the time, the metaphor relates to Jesus saying that yeast is like teaching. Teaching has a habit of permeating people in the same way that yeast permeates dough. We know that God does not like mixture and does not like human teaching interfering with His purposes and what better way to nail this home by celebrating every year that it was GOD who freed His people from Egypt with no input needed from anyone else. All the supernatural signs and miracles occurred despite Moses, not because of him!
We regularly need to remind ourselves of this fact since we spend a lot of time putting our own effort into God's work and mostly mucking it up in the process!

The One Year Bible - Day 30

One of the strongest themes in these stories is one of God's sovereignty. We might have a problem with this idea but frequently we read that "God hardened Pharaoh's heart" which although we can decide is a poetic way of saying, "Pharaoh's heart was hard and God knew that", that is only wishful thinking since elsewhere in the Bible, it is clear that an action is taken because of 'free will' rather than God.
We frequently create God in our image and in the way that we are comfortable with rather than seeking the truth. Can we honestly accept that God is proactive and that all his plans come to fruition? Can we accept that God's calling and will is predestined even though we think we have 'free will'? Do we even know what free will means and where in the Bible it comes from? It is often implied by Adam and Eve's decisions but often at the cost of the fact God knows what He is doing and He is sovereign. He had already decided to free the Israelites and somehow that worked in conjunction with people's free will AND His sovereignty!

The One Year Bible - Day 29

Don't know about you but I was always amazed at the way the Pharaohs magicians could copy lots of the 'signs' that Moses and Aaron displayed to Pharaoh. But Exodus 8 reminds us that even though the devil can counterfeit many of God's displays, he can only go so far. There is a point at which the devil no longer has the ability to affect things. From a Christian point of view, perhaps it relates to the fact that many of the so-called signs of the Spirit can be counterfeit. Whether lifting our hands in worship, praying lots, shaking around or whatever, all can be counterfeit either deliberately or under deception but certain things cannot. Character is proved by experience, the reality of the Spirit cannot be counterfeit in a persons life, even if that person is "nice" or "kind". You can tell by the discernment of the Spirit whether someone is genuine of not. I'm glad that God can do things that the devil can't it gives us hope that we know we have the Spirit.

The One Year Bible - Day 28

We see a real crisis of faith here. Moses was told by God to do something but when he did, Pharaoh gets even more brutal. Moses then doesn't question his calling, rather he questions God's methods. Not a great idea really. Moses one downfall later on is his misrepresenting God in front of the people, something that costs him the promised land. God gives him a very gentlemanly rebuke while reminding Moses of who He is (as if He really needs to). Even if things seem to go badly, we can always rely on our knowledge of God to know that it is a means to an end.
I got delayed at an airport for hours once waiting for a visa and could have easily felt inconvenienced. As it happened, the friendships I made with some of the border guards proved invaluable later when I departed having lost my immigration card and being very late due to slow customs officials - God knows what He is doing. Say it with me, "God knows what He's doing"

The One Year Bible - Day 27

We see something today that we see later on and that is God firstly saying, "I will equip you" and then after much arguing, He then says, "Go and get moving!". Moses has this extraordinary reluctance to do what he's told but eventually God has his way.
We can also take encouragement that rarely do we have to go it alone in terms of other people. Even the most extraordinary Christians had wives/partners/companions to assist them in their work. Moses had Aaron, Peter had John, Paul had Silas, Barnabas and Timothy. Let us never assume it all depends on us, it never does!

The One Year Bible - Day 26

Psalm 22:1-18 is an amazing prophetic song about Jesus on the cross. Read through it and find all of the phrases that relate directly to the New Testament accounts of Jesus. You'll find lots!

The One Year Bible - Day 25

Two things that struck me today about our passage in Genesis 50. Firstly, it is quite remarkable that Joseph brought much blessing to Egypt. We often see the Bible contrast places like Egypt representing sin or the world and the Promised Land as a relationship with Jesus. Throughout this whole story though, because of Joseph and his resolve and reflection of God in a foreign land, he brought much blessing to them and we can do likewise in otherwise dark situation that we find ourselves in. We cannot assume this will always happen but we likewise cannot assume that it will never happen.

Secondly, after Jacob dies, Joseph's brothers come to Joseph and beg him not to punish them now that their father is not around to protect them. Joseph weeps at the idea he would do this. I thought it was rather like when we have an attitude of fear before Jesus that he is looking to punish us for our sins rather than forgiving us. We have this idea that somehow we are sort of forgiven but in another way, God will punish us for any subsequent sins. How very un-Biblical. If Jesus' job is complete with regards to forgiveness then the forgiveness must apply to subsequent sins otherwise He would have to die again. We are told to approach the throne with confidence which means our attitude should have freedom and authority. We need to remember that we are never effective because of our sinlessness, something that will change over time, we are powerful because He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world!