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Opportunity or Adversity

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Opportunity or Adversity Numbers 11-15 “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Is the Lord’s power limited? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not.” (11:23                   When confronted with challenges and hardship, do we see it as an opportunity for God to demonstrate His power and grace or a failure of God to care for us? After spending 11 months at Mount Sinai, hearing God's voice, seeing God's glory and power on full display, and receiving the promise of God’s special care, they continued their journey to the promised land.  However, after experiencing the highs, we are often confronted with the valleys of life.  As soon as the people started again on their journey, they quickly forgot God’s promises.  When life reverted to the mundane, they began to complain against Moses and God.  The manna that had richly supplied them with food in the d...
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A Call to Holiness

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Being set apart for God: A Call to Holiness Numbers 6-10 “The Levites, too, purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes, and Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the Lord.  Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them.”                   For almost a year (11 months and 5 days), Israel had remained encamped at the foot of Sinai.  During this time, they received instructions from God regarding His requirements if they were to be His people.  In one of the great acts of grace, God pledged that He would be their God and they would be His people.  However, before they departed from Mt Sinai, one final act needed to be done.  For the people to enter into a relationship with God, they needed to be holy.  The term “holy” is more than just a moral characteristic of God.  It is the one word used to describe the t...
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Approaching God on His Terms

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Approaching God on His Terms Numbers 1-5 “But they shall not go in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.”                   From the beginning of creation and the placement of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, humanity has sought to define our relationship with God.  There is deep within us a desire and need to have a relationship with God, but we want to determine the relationship and want it to be on our terms.  The sin of Adam and Eve was not just a simple mistake or a simple act of disobedience.  It was an insidious attempt to overthrow God’s authority so that we could control Him.  In his classic work,  The Existence and Attributes of God , Stephen Charnock points out, “This self-love and desire of independence of God has been the root of all sin in the world.  The great controversy between God and man has been whe...
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God's Blessings and Discipline

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God’s Disciple and His Blessings Leviticus 26-27 “If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands….I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.  I am the Lord your God.”                   Adversity is never pleasant.  When life becomes challenging, we often question God’s love and His care for us.  However, in Scripture, we find two reasons God brings adversity into our lives.  First, He brings trials into our lives to strengthen our faith. In James 1:2-4 we read, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  Second, In Hebrews 12:6, God disciplines those He loves.  He brings adversity to correct and ...
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The Severity and Grace of Holiness

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The Severity and Grace of Holiness Leviticus 16-20 “Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy.” (20:26_                   How can a sinful person stand in the presence of a holy God?  He cannot!  There is deep within every person an awareness that because of our sin, we cannot stand before a holy God. To enter into the presence of God with the guilt and stain of our sin is to face the severity of His judgment.  This was a harsh lesson that the two sons of Aaron realized.  They approached the presence of God in the Tabernacle without dealing with the guilt of their sin, and the result was the punishment of death. This brought shockwaves of fear throughout the camp.  Throughout the Scriptures, when a person came face to face with the holiness of God, their response was universally the same. It is fear and terror.  We see an examp...
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Prioritizing God

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Prioritizing God Leviticus 21-25 “I Am the Lord”                   It is easy to gloss over the ceremonial laws of Leviticus, regarding them as outdated and disconnected from us.  However, to do so is to fail to recognize the critical lessons they teach us about life and faith.  Throughout Leviticus 21-15, repeated phrases point to profound spiritual principles that shape our lives in the present.  As we read through the regulations of the Priests, we see repeatedly that the rituals were to remind the people of the holiness of God and their obligation to be holy people set apart for Him. “They shall be holy to their God.”  However, this holiness does not come from themselves; instead, it is a work of God.  In 21:15 and 23, we find the statement, “For I am the Lord who sanctifies them.”  This points us to the most critical question of all s...
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The Holiness of God and the Uncleanness of Humanity

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The Holiness of God and the Uncleanness of Humanity.  Leviticus 11-15 “For I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.”                   How do you teach people when there are no books or written material for instruction?  You teach by using analogies and lessons that are connected to their world.  You teach by symbols and equivalences so that they can understand and communicate the lessons to others through these illustrations. The theme of Leviticus is the holiness of God.  God is intrinsically holy and pure and cannot be associated with sin and corruption.  Yet, when we look at our world, we see that everything and everyone is tainted by sin.  Sin and its stain is so extensive that there is not a single aspect of our lives, our character, or our actions that is untouched by its corruptive effect....
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