62 - "The Secret of Parenting" Deuteronomy 5-7

                                                          

You shall not make for yourselves the likeness of anything in the heavens, in the earth, under the earth, even under the waters.  No likeness of anything.  Moses understood this one far more than any living person.  You must not demand that to find success, to see God's Hand move, to attain fulfillment that you should enter the Promised Land.  Moses "let go" of his heart's desire.  No likeness of serving anything except his God.  What is God telling me to "let go" of this day?  Can I fling everything in my hand, in my heart upward to Heaven? 

What is on your heart --- Deuteronomy 6:6 ---- is what you will pass on to your children and friends. It is the whole secret to raising children. The Secret of Parenting!  Write His commands on your heart!  Not on your mind!  Get them inside of you.  So how do we do that?  So many Bible teachers focus on knowledge which puffs up---but Love changes everything. Deuteronomy 7:7 - It's all because of Love.  God didn't choose you because you are important.  No He chose you out of His Love.  Don't ever forget how you got to the place where you are today (6:12).  All because of Love.  So what does holiness look like in my situation this day and what does it mean for me to write His commands on my heart?

Frederick Buechner put it this way: "People are so apt to drift along on the surface of their lives, not really seeing or hearing or feeling very much because most of the time they are little more than half alive, the rest of the time dazed, dreaming, or detached."  

These Ten Commandments, this Law of Love the Lord Your God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself, this Law of Love will be broken again and again.  We don't need to be punished for messing up.  God came  to destroy sin not to punish us for sinning.  No one can keep all of these commandments day in/day out.  May our commitment be to surrender not to self-improvement.

PHOTO: On our way to Seattle 

61 - "Demand Nothing Here. Expect Everything There." Deuteronomy 3-4

Take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children— how on the day that you stood before the Lord, He answered.  Deut 4:9-10

Larry Crabb said it this way:  "Demand nothing here.  Expect everything there.
Surrender all rights to justice, to loving treatment from others, to fulfilling ministry,
to all the good things of this life and you will be given tastes of the good things to come.
That is how you taste the LORD and discover that He is good.  
It is those tastes that fill you with sustaining hope until you're welcomed to the banquet."

And he encouraged the people he led saying: "The LORD your God Who goes before you will Himself fight for you." Deut 1:30. This is Moses' last sermon and he knows it. And Moses still does not falter. He faces his grave disappointment with dependence.

I am still stunned that Moses knew he wouldn't enter the land of Canaan, the promised land. Yet! Moses carried on. Moses' final destination was heaven not Horeb, an eternal home not an earthly one. His view of success did not include the conquest of Canaan. His ministry was to people not places. So, he kept on keeping on. Just like that young servant in Mark 5:36---keep on believing no matter what the circumstances show. There is an untold unseen unfolding Story.

PHOTO:  The clouds from 30,000 feet in the air. 

60 - “God Knows Your Coming & Going in 2026” Deuteronomy 1-2

                                                                   

God knows your going and coming in your wilderness. Deut 2:7. He knows.

I am stunned that Moses knew he wouldn't enter the land of Canaan, the promised land. Yet! Moses carried on. And he encouraged the people he led saying: "The LORD your God Who goes before you will Himself fight for you." Deut 1:30. This is Moses' last sermon and he knows it. And Moses still does not falter. He faces his grave disappointment with dependence.

Larry Crabb said it this way:  "Demand nothing here.  Expect everything there.
Surrender all rights to justice, to loving treatment from others, to fulfilling ministry,
to all the good things of this life and you will be given tastes of the good things to come.
That is how you taste the LORD and discover that He is good.  
It is those tastes that fill you with sustaining hope until you're welcomed to the banquet."

"There is no better evidence and earnest of God's favor than His putting His Law in our hearts." Psalm 147:19.

PHOTO:  It's a tree in the wilderness outside of my window.  And in this wilderness in which I sit, God orchestrates my story.  I no longer live for success but for Him!  

59 - “Are We Succeeding In God's Eyes” Numbers 34-36

"If you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides." Numbers 34. Israel must drive out the Canaanites or they will be driven out themselves.  The Israelites could still stay in the Promised Land with barbs in their eyes and bristles in their sides.  We may succeed in the eyes of this world that we live in, but are we succeeding in God's eyes, God's commands?  We cannot allow evil to take root in our spiritual communities, in our churches, without dealing with it.  We must always start with ourselves. 

PHOTO:  Standing with my community walking through this unspeakable hand-wrought beauty.  Thinking about how much I want to succeed in the eyes of the world and have not.  Yearning with all within to live for God and His Story---not for promised lands.

58 - “May I Be Taken With Who You are and Whose I Am” Numbers 32-33

  

"Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of those who were twenty years old or more when they came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob— not one, except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the Lord wholeheartedly.  And.  The Lord’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.  He is a holy God who demands our attention that we might follow fully.  

If you sin against the Lord,

you may be sure of this---

your sins will find you out.

Numbers 32:23

If I am stuck in sin, not because I "will" it but because I am unholy, then help me wander better than this.  Wholeheartedly.  With Wonder.  Because of You.  For You are hold and I am not.

PHOTO: It's the dawn of a brand new day. May I be more "taken" with Who You are and Whose I am than any thing! 

57 - "Falling Forward. Fully Following." Numbers 30-31

                                                     

    Orders to divide up the land:  Check.

The people numbered:  Check.

Ready to enter a pagan land: Check.

So, what is their first MO to enter hostile territory.

A Battle Plan? 

No, it's

W.O.R.S.H.I.P.

Daily. Weekly. Monthly. Yearly.

Take your religion with you into the place where you are going

and live to worship. “He shall not break his word." Numbers 30:2.  Every word that comes out must be true.  I caught a few words that slipped today.  Not accurate.  No laws here though.  Grace for the lips. 

No man can do it well before a Holy God.  They stayed on the wilderness path for four decades.  May your time be short in following fully a Holy God.  Where do I need to repent, turn around, forsake, lay down?

"They refused to walk the narrow road of belief that welcomes exposure of failure and conflict, knowing that God has a plan to overcome them."  God righted our wrongs once and for all.  And now forever.  Always righting our wrongs.  Always drawing us to Himself.

Thank you for exposing us for who we are----Whose we are.  Fully Yours, this day and forward.  Falling.  Fully.  Following.

PHOTO:  I looked over this city and wept.  How much more God looks over our world today and weeps. 

56 - "The Blood of Martyrs Spilt" Numbers 28-29

All these burnt offerings in Numbers 28 signify lives lived right burning in holy love for Him. They are counted, divided, settled. Now, prepare for war. No, here are the ordinances of worship. Take your God with you in all your life's offerings. Daily. Weekly. Monthly. He carries you. 

My Dear Children, So many have walked this road before us. The blood of martyrs spilt. Ancient paths. Here is a new generation of men in Numbers 28. And they are concerned about walking with God in the midst of great difficulties and unsettling wars. They made daily sacrifices. Continual burnt offerings. 

Moses was genuine. Appoint someone else.  Moses disqualified himself.  I have no defense before The Almighty.  Moses and Aaron both didn't treat God as holy before the congregation of believers.  Just like the eleven limp forward to fulfill the Great Commission, Moses tips his hat to another.  May we not miss what God has for us this day, this chapter of our lives.  

Our sacrifice has been paid. Our duty, our privilege, our life is to pray always, in everything, the good and the bad. Offer up your solemn hearts to God this day; let Him hear your praises ring through the skies. 

Serve Him today with the best that you have, like the best wine poured out. It's a memorial of the blood of the martyrs. Poured out as drink offerings to God. Like our friend, Cyd, in Afghanistan. Murdered. For doing God's work there. May we reach down deep today to offer all to our God. Numbers 28:1-8.

PHOTO: Standing here in Israel, looking over the roads where so many have walked before us. They knew!

55 - “Make Your Endeavors for the Rising Generations” Numbers 26-27

 God let every male over 20 years old wander for 40 years and die. 603,548. Gone. They never looked deep enough inside to see what was terribly wrong in their own hearts. Caleb and Joshua walked away from a wildersness—-what did they see that half a million people did not see. Divine Power. Hope. Move forward and occupy. Numbers 26:65. #60000thoughts #talkingtomyself 

                                                      

This is scary to me.  Numbers 26:65 ~ God let them die in the wilderness --- every male over 20 years of age.  Wandering for 40 years.  They died.  All 603,548.  Numbered. Gone.  Forgotten. But wait, Caleb and Joshua walked away from this wilderness.  Can we look at how they all lived their wilderness lives? What did Caleb and Joshua see in the wilderness---same thing as half a million dead people. Yes, they all said it is a land flowing with milk and honey.  But, the people said: No hope---we can't defeat the giants. Only Caleb and Joshua believed there was Someone bigger than what they saw. All the while---Numbers 13:30. Presumption on the part of the wanderers! "They never looked deep enough inside to see what was terribly wrong in their own hearts." 66 LL. But, Caleb and Joshua found Divine Power in their wilderness to believe for greater things than living as grasshoppers. Let's move forward and occupy.  Shouldn't we do the same in our impossible wilderness?  

I love the call of the next chapter to pray for future generations.  Matthew Henry puts it this way: "We should concern ourselves, both in our prayers and in our endeavours, for the rising generation, that religion may be maintained and advanced, when we are in our graves. God appoints a successor, even Joshua; who had signalized himself by his courage in fighting Amalek, his humility in ministering to Moses, and his faith and sincerity in witnessing against the report of the evil spies."  Oh, God, appoint us to find this Spirit of Grace to raise up the next generations to whom you have entrusted us.  Numbers 27:16

PRAYER FROM PSALMS
Psalm 78:1-3
Dear God, 
Incline your ears to our words; 
Open our mouths; 
Lead us to utter things we have heard and known---what our father told us; 
Stop us from hiding them from our children;
Help us tell the next generation of Your Glorious Deeds 
Your Divine Power, and the wonders You have done for us.  Amen and Amen.

54 - “Stand When New Heights To Be Scaled; New Depths To Be Fathomed” Numbers 23-25

  Barrett was about 4 when I shared with him Numbers 23:19---God isn't like us. We were riding in a blue van. God won't ever let us down, son. He is unchangeable and we are changing like the sun, up and down and gone.  Fickle people that can be drawn to deceit and our own plans in the whif of a plan. "God is not a man, that he might lie, or a son of man, that he might change his mind."  And Barrett's response---"Well, mommy, is he a woman?" 

"Stand! when there are new heights to be scaled, new depths to be fathomed." Adam Clarke.  It is the glory of God that he doesn't change.  It is the glory of man that we always do.  "Eternity shall be one mighty progress to all except the Eternal." H. Melvill.  Am I making good progress?  Am I allowing God to really change me this day?

53 - “The Great Divide” Numbers 21-22

                            

The line was drawn by an angel of the Lord. God opposed him. Stood in his way.  

Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown." Numbers 22:31.

It was the Great Divide that stopped me in my tracks.  Balaam counted the donkey as an adversary.  It is our Best Friend that meets us where we are, exposes us for who we are, and stands in our way.  When God opens our eyes, we see our sin and name it for the rebellion it is,  It's a Beautiful Thing when we are crossed, when a line is drawn, and God stands in our way.

PHOTO: The other side of my Great Divide.