Holy Ground

Friday, May 5, 2023

One day Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian.  He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Sinai, the mountain of God.  There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush.  Moses stared in amazement.  Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn up.  “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself.  “Why isn’t that bush burning up?  I must go see it.”  When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”  “Here I am!” Moses replied.  “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned.  “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.  I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”  When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.  Then the Lord told him, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt.  I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers.  Yes, I am aware of their suffering.  So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land.  It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live.  Look!  The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them.  Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”  But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh?  Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?”  God answered, “I will be with you.  And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you:  When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.”  Exodus 3:1-12

Moses is both a much-revered and enigmatic part of God’s revelation to us.  Born the son of an enslaved Hebrew couple, destined to die in a political power move, his mother put him in a basket made of reeds, and set him adrift near the palace of their oppressor.  The Pharaoh’s daughter rescued the baby and raised him in the palace as her own.  By the time Moses is 40, he discovers his heritage, Jew, not Egyptian.  He gets himself banished from Pharaoh’s good favor when he kills an Egyptian who was beating a fellow Jew.  Forty years later, as a humble shepherd, minding the sheep of his father-in-law in the Midian desert, the back side of nowhere, Moses meets God.  The man whose life could have easily been snuffed-out (more than once) by the king of Egypt, yet bravely defied him to defend the very people Pharaoh had enslaved, is now humbled by a burning bush, and a disembodied voice, claiming to be God. 

Another forty years passes in the miracle of the birth of a newly-freed nation, and the subsequent divine hand of God leading them through crises and victories.  In all, Moses kept his eye on the goal…bringing God’s chosen to a place of worship.  God had made it plain:  When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.

For You Today 

Moses, the man, the hero, understood his job was not to be a hero, but a tool in the hand of God, to bless the nations of God’s creation.  His earlier quest to know God led to an opportunity to serve God, and Moses surrendered his life in that service to honor the God who inhabits holy ground.

So, here’s a thought to grapple with today:

What would YOUR burning bush look like?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:   Is That Enough?  and  Just When...   

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Passover: An Introvert's Nightmare

 

Monday, January 16, 2023

“Take special care of this chosen animal until the evening of the fourteenth day of this first month.  Then the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lamb or young goat at twilight.  They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and top of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the animal.  That same night they must roast the meat over a fire and eat it along with bitter salad greens and bread made without yeast.  Do not eat any of the meat raw or boiled in water.  The whole animal—including the head, legs, and internal organs—must be roasted over a fire.  Do not leave any of it until the next morning.  Burn whatever is not eaten before morning.  “These are your instructions for eating this meal:  Be fully dressed, wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your hand.  Eat the meal with urgency, for this is the Lord’s Passover.  On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt.  I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord!  But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying.  When I see the blood, I will pass over you.  This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.  Exodus 12:6-13

The last thing an introverted person wants is drawing attention to oneself.  To speak-out, be called-out, or go-public makes us break-out in the night sweats.  Passover was the epitome of that.  Slaughtering a lamb and painting its blood on the door posts and lintels was being public of a no-turning-back variety.  Everyone would see your faith…there was no going back.

Christians make a big deal of the fact that God is after our hearts much more than any public ceremony or disclosure.  Faith is an internal thing.  However, there’s no denying blood on the doorposts as being a very public thing.  Frankly, this is where the rubber meets the road.  Internal faith is somewhat useless if it never finds itself coming out of the closet.  Apostle James nailed it without holding back:

…faith without works is dead?  James 2:20b^(KJV)

In Eugene Peterson’s The Message, he takes James’ statement a little further with this picturesque description:

Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?  James 2:20b^(TMSG)

And this understanding leads to the Introvert’s Nightmare:

Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds?                  I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”  

James 2:18

There comes a time when the internal nature of faith must take a deep breath and come out in Kingdom-serving.  The private is of no use if it disdains of ever going public.

For You Today  

If you’re an introvert by nature (like me), this is hardly an easy concept to embrace.  And if you imagine for one moment it was easy to surrender to a life of standing publicly in Christian ministry…you have no idea of who I am.  (It even pains me, after more than 40 years in public ministry, to talk about it).  So, what’s a guy who doesn’t like being in the center of things doing in the center of public ministry?  Two answers…both vitally-true:

1.    He wants to be obedient to the One who called him.

2.    He doesn’t want his internal faith to die for lack of external deeds.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Seder - Meal of Haste  and  Ready to Travel

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Where Will They Take YOUR Bones?

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

It was by faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would leave Egypt.  He even commanded them to take his bones with them when they left.   Hebrews 11:22

Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers when he was very young.[1]  However, even as a slave in Egypt, this ancestor of Jesus kept his integrity and commitment to God on the faithful-front-burner.  He knew God was watching over him.  Throughout his time in Egypt Joseph never lost sight of God’s promises given to his ancestor, Abraham, that the land of Canaan would be their inheritance.  At the end of his days (on Earth) Joseph instructed his family to carry his bones back to that promised land when they left Egypt years later.  I’m not an historical mind-reader,  but it seems clear that Joseph’s intent was to stay true to God’s call and promises, even after he left this earthly realm.  Being buried (re-buried) in that place of promise was a significant gesture of his faithfulness – home at last!

Joseph’s clan did what he asked of them, burying him at Shechem, the first place his great-grandfather, Abraham had worshipped.  It was at that place God gave the promise of Canaan Land to the descendants of Abraham. 

Joseph’s intent all throughout his difficult early days, and glory later days, were aimed at going back to the altar where God first called.

For You Today  

You may have a lengthy line of Christians in your ancestry, or you may be the first of your family to profess Christ.  Either (or anywhere in-between) is a perfect place to adopt the kind of life-long holy determination that defined Joseph’s life.  If you had a rough start in life, like Joseph, or a relatively secure and happy start, like Opie in Mayberry, you will someday also have an end. 

For the time being, God is calling you to the kind of faithfulness Joseph lived…ready to serve and honor the One who gives the promise…Father, God, Lord of Heaven’s hosts.  By your thoughts, words, and deeds, leave no doubt in your clan’s minds where they should carry your bones when your time comes.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Never Give Up   Big Faith

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

---

[1] Read the account of this rough start in life here:  Genesis 38

Not Much Left

Thursday, September 15, 2022

This is what the Lord said to me:  “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it on, but do not wash it.”  So I bought the loincloth as the Lord directed me, and I put it on.  Then the Lord gave me another message:  “Take the linen loincloth you are wearing, and go to the Euphrates River.  Hide it there in a hole in the rocks.”  So I went and hid it by the Euphrates as the Lord had instructed me.   A long time afterward the Lord said to me, “Go back to the Euphrates and get the loincloth I told you to hide there.”  So I went to the Euphrates and dug it out of the hole where I had hidden it.  But now it was rotting and falling apart. The loincloth was good for nothing.  Then I received this message from the Lord:  “This is what the Lord says:  This shows how I will rot away the pride of Judah and Jerusalem.  These wicked people refuse to listen to me.  They stubbornly follow their own desires and worship other gods.  Therefore, they will become like this loincloth—good for nothing!  As a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I created Judah and Israel to cling to me, says the Lord.  They were to be my people, my pride, my glory—an honor to my name.  But they would not listen to me.  Jeremiah 13:1-11

This sermon of Jeremiah’s was a long time cooking.  God had told the prophet to buy some new underwear, put it on for a while, and then go bury it under a rock near the river.  Then, after a long time, God instructed Jeremiah to dig it up.  When the cloth was retrieved, there wasn’t much left.

Why would God orchestrate this strange behavior?  What was the Lord doing?  Well, it’s not too difficult to figure out…a garment that’s meant to be worn doesn’t do well buried in the damp ground…it will rot. 

The meaning in the story’s impact makes Israel God’s undergarment, meant to stay closely-wrapped to the One who saved them, and led them to the land flowing with milk and honey.  The short version is painful…they wouldn’t, and they didn’t.

To sensible people it seems odd that anyone who had been carried like a child by a loving parent would want to stray from that relationship.  But, as seen over and again in Scripture’s account of Israel’s history, God’s people left the calling of JHWH in the dust to serve other gods.  Chalk up a win for stubbornness and pride!

Over the course of human history the willfulness, and very stubborn pride of humans, has preciptated much grief and pain.  People leave the one true God to serve all kinds of other gods, easier gods, gods that will let you indulge your own whims, and applaude your decision.  In the end, when you dig up what is left of their life’s record, it is as rotten as discarded underwear, buried on the riverbank.

For You Today

A Christian is a person who has surrendered all rights to self-determination, committing his or her life to following the one, true, living God’s will and calling.  And that calling, no matter if it is to business, church, government, or a billion other occupations and ways to spend your days on earth…unequivocally means staying close to the God who loves and saves you.  To do anything other makes the human the god.  That didn’t work for Israel, and it will not fare better for any of us.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Nervous Kings and When Faith is Discarded

[1] Images:  via Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

 

The Eye on the Sparrow is Here Too

 

Friday, July 2, 2021

“Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah.  Do not weep or pray for them, and don’t beg me to help them, for I will not listen to you.  Don’t you see what they are doing throughout the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?  No wonder I am so angry!  Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build sacrificial fires.  See how the women knead dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven.  And they pour out liquid offerings to their other idol gods!  Am I the one they are hurting?” asks the Lord.  “Most of all, they hurt themselves, to their own shame.”  So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “I will pour out my terrible fury on this place.  Its people, animals, trees, and crops will be consumed by the unquenchable fire of my anger.”  This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Take your burnt offerings and your other sacrifices and eat them yourselves!  When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them.  This is what I told them:  ‘Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people.  Do everything as I say, and all will be well!’  “But my people would not listen to me.  They kept doing whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their evil hearts.  They went backward instead of forward.  From the day your ancestors left Egypt until now, I have continued to send my servants, the prophets—day in and day out.  But my people have not listened to me or even tried to hear.  They have been stubborn and sinful—even worse than their ancestors.  Jeremiah 7:16-26

I remember the time my father got so mad at me I seriously considered getting my affairs in order.  It was my fault, not his.  My mother was a sweet woman to whom I owe a great deal of thanks for whatever spiritual education actually got through to my dense soul.  But, sometimes, it was at great cost to her. 

It was Thanksgiving, and that meant the extended family was coming to our house for the gathering and meal.  Mom took the preparations seriously and wanted my help.  (I’m certain whatever “help” I could give could have been accomplished more efficiently, and with less complaining in the air, had she done it herself.  But, if there was anything she took more seriously than preparations for company, it was teaching her boys the responsibility of pitching-in.)

I don’t recall exactly how I complained about my assigned tasks, but it was my early teen years, and I’m certain that describes enough.  My father found me sitting in the living room.  With those steel blue eyes blazing he said, You made your mother cry.  Come to think of it, it wasn’t the eyes this time, it was the set of his jaw and the clenched fists.  My Dad was using every ounce of restraint in his reserve to deal with his son’s arrogance.  Get up, and get moving; I won’t say another word.  And he didn’t; he didn’t have to!  And the fact that, at 74 years of age I remember that exact moment, makes the point; I got the point.

There comes a time when God’s patience also runs out.  God punished Israel for her arrogant disobedience.  He told Jeremiah to forget praying for them.  He was going to make an example of his disobedient family.  Like my Dad, but on a much wider, wiser, and grander scale, God made His point – God’s eye was on them, and He was not pleased.

The apostle Paul warned the Corinthian believers that all the judgments of God we read about when Israel constantly disobeyed Him was kept in Scripture for an example to all of us – a warning of how God reacts to those who would defy him.[1]

My Mom and Dad loved their children.  And, contrary to the somewhat distorted views of teenage rebellious values, their discipline was on the mark.  The discipline we received was because our parents loved us, and did not want us to wind up with less than valuable values.  They were building men, not complainers.

For You Today

The God of Israel’s discipline is still God.  With the anniversary of the birth of this nation close at hand, I pray that, as a nation, and individuals, we will understand the connection of honoring God with our lives, and not just our words!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!   

[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

---

[1] 1 Corinthians 10:11

His Word Over the World

 

Thursday, March 4, 2021

The instructions of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. 
The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.  
The commandments of the Lord are right, bringing joy to the heart. 
The commands of the Lord are clear, giving insight for living.
Reverence for the Lord is pure, lasting forever.
The laws of the Lord are true; each one is fair.  They are more desirable than gold, even the finest gold.  They are sweeter than honey, even honey dripping from the comb.  They are a warning to your servant, a great reward for those who obey them.
How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart?  Cleanse me from these hidden faults.  Keep your servant from deliberate sins!  Don’t let them control me.  Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.  Psalm 19:7-14

Like layers of blessing, the instructions, decrees, commandments, commands, and law of the Lord, bring reviving of the soul, wisdom, joy, and insight in daily living that is lasting, sweet, and a great reward for accepting them in word and deed, in heart and hand. 

God’s Word is the key to a life of blessing.  By contrast, disregarding God’s Word is a foolproof method for destroying a life.  Solomon, son of King David, author of this Psalm, spent a lifetime checking out this formula.  He tried virtually everything that promised happiness, fulfillment, and joy, apart from what God had decreed in His Word, and found every bit of it “vanity” or emptiness.

Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.  Ecclesiastes 1:8

Oddly, and sadly, despite a mountain of experience to the contrary, the world’s culture manages to convince itself that mankind knows better than God.  The result is chasing the wind and reaping the whirlwind.  In typical human arrogance we imagine there is some new way that will be better than obeying God’s ways.

It would be impossible in the space of this five-minute devotional to recount even a sampling of our incredible miscalculations in trying to make God and His Word obsolete, obscure, and unprofitable, but here are two front-burner examples:

Sexuality

God’s Word, decrees, laws, and just plain common, mathematical, logical, way is heterosexuality, within the relationship of marital fidelity.  When a Biblical approach to life[1], family, and sexuality are upheld, life is more on the joyful side than painful.  Read that:  less drama, more fulfillment.   

In contrast, the world’s way is anything goes, with sexual promiscuity and libido   (sexual desire) as the only judge of what is good or healthy.  To cut to the chase in the “results” department…the end of such is pretty much just plain heartbreak.

Politics

Of late, but not new, humans experiment with how to socially engineer community to create the next great world order.  In America that experiment occurs every 2 to 4 years; we call it democratic elections.  We choose who will govern us.  Truth be told we vacillate, wildly-so, between extremes.  In 2016 we elected Donald Trump; in 2020 it was Joe Biden.  Extremes between the left and right, both with enough personal baggage and agenda to keep the pundits happy and employed until the next go-round.

Cutting to the blunt and sane decree, command of God, our political flags ought to be run up this pole:

No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you:  to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.  Micah 6:8

For You Today

This culture’s ways, or God’s ways…you just can’t have both.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

---

[1] A “Biblical approach” is not the media and atheistic caricatured version; it is marriage and family life which mutually undergirds the principles of love, with accountability to God.

Of Sherlocks and Skeptics

 

Monday, March 1, 2021
Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.  Let the whole world know what he has done.  Sing to him; yes, sing his praises.  Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.  Exult in his holy name; rejoice, you who worship the Lord.  Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him.  Remember the wonders he has performed, his miracles, and the rulings he has given, you children of his servant Abraham, you descendants of Jacob, his chosen ones.  
He is the Lord our God.  His justice is seen throughout the land.  He always stands by his covenant—the commitment he made to a thousand generations.  This is the covenant he made with Abraham and the oath he swore to Isaac.  He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, and to the people of Israel as a never-ending covenant:  “I will give you the land of Canaan as your special possession.”  Psalm 105:1-11

The special relationship between God and humans is as upside-down as it gets for the human mind.  This Psalm is a prime example.  Notice that the division of these verses (verses 1-6, then 7-11) begin with how we respond to Sovereign God.  We are reminded to give thanks, praise, witness, exult (or “glory” in His name), rejoice, seek continually, and remember his works and Word.  We are told to do all this before verse 7 which introduces the Lord and His covenant.  Common sense (to the human mind) says tell me why first, and then what I should do about it…then I’ll make up my mind as to whether I agree and will cooperate.  After all, this whole universe is all about me, and whether I agree.  But the Psalmist is saying, trust and obey first and God will reveal Himself later ^{(verses 7-11)}.

We humans are as cautious as deductive reasoning, but God wants us to be inductive thinkers.  Let me try to explain.  Deductive reasoning is what Sherlock Holmes does; he looks at all the evidence of what has happened and then concludes who did what was done.  He solves the crime, based on the evidence. 

Inductive reasoning starts at the back end, the answer, and moves from there into the understanding of who, what, where, why, and when.  The deductive thinker wants proof before making up his mind.  The inductive thinker is satisfied with faith in the outcome, and joins the cast of those forming the response to it all[1].

This is the not-so-subtle difference between skeptic and believer.  Sherlock the skeptic wants proof that there really is a God before committing to even the possibility that he could be accountable to anyone but himself.  For the skeptic, his own logic, wisdom, and reasoning sit on the throne of his devotion. 

The faith-believer, however, begins with the premise of what his being suggests, that something or someone made him…he didn’t make himself.  That’s not evidence, or the kind of proof Sherlock skeptic requires; it is what our soul reveals to our consciousness…there is something greater than just me.  Starting with that as life’s answer, the faith-believer then joins God in working out that truth, cooperating with the Creator.

The whole issue of adequate and appropriate response to Sovereign God is, as the old Gospel hymn has it, to trust and obey.

For You Today

The next time you’re tempted to ask God for a sign, or something you can see to build your faith, remember Sherlock’s folly with following the evidence trail.  Trust God with what He brings across your path, and obey God by what He’s already said in His Word.  Then you’ll see the evidence unfold day by day, and you’ll never need a greater sign.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

---

[1] Where inductive thinking uses experience and proven observations to guess the outcome, deductive reasoning uses theories and beliefs to rationalize and prove a specific conclusion. The goal of inductive reasoning is to predict a likely outcome, while the goal of deductive reasoning to prove a fact.  (see here)