I admit, it was boring - until the end

I am reading Numbers and the other night I read about Balaam (22-24). Last night I read chapters 25-26. And I have to admit, ch 26 is rather boring - with it’s counting up of all of Israel - until you get to the end. So I was reading it rather quickly then, when I got to v 63-65, I had to read those verses again. Wow! And here they are:

63 These are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho. 
64 But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. 
65 For the LORD had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

At first I was confused. So I slowed down and read it more carefully. Do you see it? There are 40 years between verses 63 and 64. And somehow I missed it in my reading of Numbers. But that is not the Wow. That is in v 64. But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. And 65 explains why. A second count of Israel of entirely different people!

And that goes along with what I read the night before in 23:19

God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall and shall he not make it good?

God said that generation would not enter the promised land, and when they make a count just the other side of the Jordan, no one is left. No one. Wow!

When God makes a promise, He keeps it. Isn’t it neat to find a reminder of this in an otherwise uninteresting chapter? Such a powerful word, tucked away in a chapter devoted to the counting of Israel.

I've been thinking about sin lately

I've been thinking about sin lately. No, not falling into sin, just that there are different kinds of sin. Or different categories of sin. I know that sounds confusing – it confuses me and I'm the one thinking about it! I’m not sure what to call it and I know they all eventually tie together, but still it seems to me that there are four categories of sin:

1) The sin that you can just stop doing anytime. Sin that is simple disobedience and rebellion. You know the way of God, but you choose other ways. I developed a catechism for children and this is what it says about sin:

Q. What is sin?
A. Sin is choosing our way instead of God's way.

Q. How do we do that?
A. By either doing what He forbids or not doing what He commands.

Is this not what sin is? And the cure for this is forgiveness and reformation of life, or repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.

2) The sin that becomes a habit and we have to learn a new habit to stop. As in - “My life is: I work all week and go to the bars and clubs on the weekend” or “That’s just the kind of movies that I watch” etc. To this the Gospel says, If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away . . . I have to learn and develop new habits, and the Church is very helpful in this, as I start hanging out with a different kind of people, people who help and encourage me in my new life.

3) There is also a deeper kind of sin, a more pernicious kind of sin, one that has a hook or a barb. It grabs something in you, it hides and thrives on this inner and sometimes secret lust or hurt and then shows up in your life. This kind of sin is very difficult to stop. The root is me. I want to stop, I try to stop, but I am sucked into it again and again. Of course, all of sin works this way, but this shows the evilness of sin, working death in me. Does this excuse me from any responsibility? Not at all, because the problem is really me. I have to confess that this power, this force, sin, only has this power over me because of something in me that it has latched onto and is feeding on… in me. How do you get free from this? This requires deliverance. By this I mean, a work of God in me to set me free. Repentance, forgiveness through the blood, but also the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has to kill that in me that brought me to this and then form Christ in me to keep me free.

4) The sin that comes with, is the result of, or results in some sort of spiritual oppression. There are times when the consequence of sin is oppression with an unclean spirit. I know, in our “enlightened culture” this is sneered at: “Unclean spirits. Whatever. That is so superstitious.” The truth is, this is so real. This kind of sin definitely requires deliverance - finding the grounds upon which the unclean spirit has captivated the sinner, a renouncing of the spirit on the part of the sinner, and a binding of the spirit to set the captive free. This is “confession of faith” that I used for all our baptisms, to help new believers right at the start of their new life:

Q. Do you renounce Satan and all the spiritual forces of wickedness that rebel against God?
A. I renounce them.

Q. Do you renounce the evil ways of this world, which are contrary to God?
A. I renounce them.

Q. Do you renounce all sinful desires that draw you away from the love of
God?
A. I renounce them.

Q. Do you now turn to Jesus Christ and accept Him as your Lord and Savior?
A. I do.

Q. Do you put your whole trust in His grace and love?
A. I do.

Q. Do you promise to follow Him and obey Him as your Lord?
A. I do.

Q. Will you continue in the apostle's teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayer?
A. I will, with God's help.

Q. Will you persevere in resisting evil, and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
A. I will, with God's help.

Amen!

Do you agree there are these four "categories" of sin? I don't think every sinner is involved in all four kinds of sin. And I agree, all sin is deadly. And, of course, the solution for all sin is: the Cross (the blood to forgive and cleanse), the Resurrection (the life of Jesus in us), the Holy Spirit (to give us a new heart, form Christ in us, and power to live). And this grace is always appropriated by repentance and faith. I'm not suggesting anything new. It's just that some things I have read and heard in the past week got me to thinking along these lines.

Am I obsessed with sin? No. It’s just that sin is not really talked about much anymore in Christian circles and every part of the gospel deals with some aspect of sin. Think about it: forgiveness, justification, new heart, new spirit, sanctification, second coming, the resurrection, even heaven itself. All are in relation to some aspect of sin. The bottom line is: Sin is a reality, it is stronger than me and I am no match for it. But Jesus . . . thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Isn't that the Gospel? As we used to sing (you knew this was coming didn't you?),

Once I was a sinner, but Jesus set me free (3x) 

singing Glory, Hallelujah! Jesus set me free.

Can a generation repent?

I have mentioned that I am reading Numbers. In chapter 13 Moses sent out the 12 spies and they return with an evil report. Then, in chapter 14:1-12 the people attempt to kill Joshua and Caleb and the glory of the Lord appears, and He is determined to smite them and disinherit them.

In 13-19 Moses intercedes for them. And what a lesson in intercession! His prayer climaxes with his request:
Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.

And in 20-38, the Lord responds almost immediately to Moses’ prayer. He answers his prayer but… well, read it for yourself:
20  And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
21  But as truly as I live…
23  Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
28  Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
29  Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,
30  Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
31  But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.
32  But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.
33  And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.

I was impressed by the faith of Caleb and Joshua, amazed by Moses’ prayer, and awed by God’s forgiveness. But then I began to wonder, God forgave them but did not let that generation into the promised land. In fact, He was so set against it that He swears they will not enter – as truly as I live and surely. And as we know, they did not - that entire generation perished in the wilderness. So I began to wonder: What was the benefit of being pardoned?

Then I read on. At the end of 14, even though God told them to turn back toward the wilderness, they made an attempt to conquer Canaan. A little further on (chapter 16) we read about the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Their complaint is summed up in 16:13-14

Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us? Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey...

What? Now it’s Moses’ fault they are not in the land? This is all the fruit of the unbelief in ch 14. Unbelief causes discontent, rebellion, and, it would seem, spiritual stupidity. Through this section (chapters 14 & 16) we see the amazing power of intercessory prayer and we also read of some mighty acts of God. How do the people respond to the presence and power of God?

But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD.

This is followed by more prayer and manifest power of God. Then in chapter 17 is the miracle of the rod of Aaron that budded. How do they respond to this display of God’s power?

And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish. Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the LORD shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?

Wow. What utter unbelief! Psalm 95 and Hebrews 3 & 4 speak of this and tell us they hardened their hearts, they sinned, and they did not believe. And unbelief is the root of it all.

So, the pardon that God granted them in ch 14 appears to be a special grace given to them for Moses’ sake and for God’s purposes. In other words, he pardoned them so as to not destroy them. Could this be because the plan of redemption was in full swing?

God says they did not repent. Or believe. And this cost them dearly. This was the whole generation. But, can a generation repent? It must be possible because as a generation they disbelieved. However, in the midst of this nation-wide failure, we find Caleb and Joshua, who did believe, and who did enter the land. Therefore, when a generation believes or hardens their hearts, it is still the individuals who do this. That generation hardened their hearts, but Caleb and Joshua chose to believe the Lord. Of course, the saddest aspect of this is that this was a covenant generation.

We know the world does not believe and that we are called out from the world. How hard it is to live for Jesus surrounded by unbelievers. That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, this requires great grace – the Blood, the Spirit, the Church. But O how difficult to follow the Lord when the entire generation of covenant people around you is not! Just writing that makes me shudder. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Not only does sin harden my heart so that I don’t welcome exhortation, but imagine there being no one to exhort you! Caleb and Joshua are even more impressive now – everyone, literally everyone, was against them, yet they believed.

An entire generation that did not believe and lost the blessing. How sad. How scary. I don’t want to be like them. I want to be like Caleb and Joshua. What can I do? If I accurately read Hebrews it would be: listen to the Spirit, don’t let my heart get hard, watch out for unbelief, and allow myself to be exhorted by other believers (is this not the most difficult one?). We would do well to focus on Caleb and Joshua and their faith, Moses and his intercession, and God’s grace and power, but, if Psalm 95 and Hebrews 3-4 have any relevance, I need to beware:

as the Holy Spirit says, To day if ye will hear his voice, 

harden not your hearts, as in the provocation

Hope today goes more smoothly

I got off yesterday at 7 am. This is great, looking at two days off!

I went to Bi-Lo to pick up some bread and some more Breyer’s ice cream, which is on sale, buy-one-get-one-free. But the week end shoppers cleaned them out. No big deal, I have until Tuesday night to try again. Then I went to Dunkin’ Donuts to get some donuts, 6 for $3.99. But the sale must have ended on August 1. Oh well, I just headed home.

Ate a little breakfast, checked facebook, washed clothes, talked to some Meesters on Skype and went to bed. At 2 pm I was awakened by loud banging on the door. “Who is it?” It was Tiernan (he had spent the night), “I’m hungry.” That boy is always hungry! We laughed about that all day, but I also told him, “Next time, just come into the room and gently shake me awake.” So now I’m up. A little ahead of schedule.

I called the library about my “expired card” and they tell me that this is a new policy and I have to drive down there and show them my ID to renew my card. When I mention that there was no notice of impending expiration the librarian says the My Account page shows that. It doesn’t. I am rather frustrated by this and fire off an e-mail to the library to tell them so. It won’t change anything and they won’t even reply, and sadly, I don’t even feel any better about this. I only go to downtown Rock Hill to pick up or return books . . . I better stop before I get all worked up again! I would like to know who thought up this dumb plan.

I checked the mail and had a notice about something I have to go to the post office to pick up – requires a signature. Tiernan and I hop in the jeep and head that way. But when I pulled into the parking lot it dawned on me, “A notice today means it is not available until tomorrow.” (the chicken scratchings on the notice were barely decipherable). So off we went to Home Depot for some topsoil.

The Home Depot trip went well. Found the top soil AND some black-eyed susans. I have been wanting some of these for a long time. Bought two pots. Came home and filled the holes in the backyard and discovered I already had some black-eyed susans in another section - I had been told they were a different but similar plant. I was actually happy about that. I have them and now I have more!

 

       the two pots I bought                       the ones already in my garden

It was a beautiful day so we were in and out. After Mary went off to work, Tiernan and I headed out to pick up a movie and some supper. I belong to Blockbuster@home and part of the benefit is I can take a disc received in the mail to Blockbuster and exchange it for a disc in the store. We picked on out but at the check-out they told me they needed to update my credit card information. They had already required that I have a membership card and show my ID every time I come in and I confess, I lost it. So (edited version) I told them No and we left, sans the movie.

After supper I called Dish and lodged my complaint. The guy listened and apologized and started to tell me they did need to update their information, but I cut him off. “No. YOU have all kinds of personal information on me and THEY are part of you!” I finished with, “I’m just telling you, I came to you from Netflix and am this close to going back.” Tiernan urges me to go back to Netflix every chance he gets.

At least it was a beautiful night and I’m reading a good book – on my Nook and not from the library!

I am off today and that in itself is great! Here’s hoping today goes more smoothly.

Numbers is good

Let me begin by saying two things. First, My title does not reflect bad grammar on my part – I am referring to the Book of Numbers. Second, this is not a teaching on the book itself or some portion of it. So relax!

I have this brother who comes in at night sometimes, on his break, and we talk about the Lord. And the Bible. We talked about Zechariah (and I wrote about that here ). A few weeks ago we got to talking about the spies sent by Moses into the Promised Land. I got all excited telling him about the spies, faith, Oshea the son of Nun, and his new name, Joshua, and the spiritual significance of that and on and on I went. Eventually, I caught my breath and asked him if he had ever read the Book of Numbers. He said, No. I said, “You ought to read it. It’s a good book. Tell you what, let’s read it together and we can talk about it when you come in from time to time.” He agreed and went back to work. Sadly, he never began. I have some thoughts about that but I quit bugging him about it. Nevertheless, I began reading the book.

Numbers. Kind of a strange name for a book, wouldn’t you agree? The one thing everyone knows about the book is there is a lot of numbering or counting. And that is partially true. We get our name for it from the Greek translation of the Old Testament (LXX or Septuagint). The LXX named it Αριθμοί. In English that is Arithmoi. We get arithmetic from this word, an obvious reference to numbers or numbering. But the Jews called it במדבר or bemidbar, which literally means "in the desert of..." because they used the first significant word or words to title a book - and the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai.

I admit, the book begins with numbering, Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls;  From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies. But, it is not all about counting heads. There is a lot of activity in this book. After all, this is the account of the children of Israel in the wilderness. They are redeemed out of Egypt in Exodus. Then the worship is established in Leviticus. Then Numbers, wherein they are to travel up to the Land and enter into the Promise -  – and doesn’t that in itself say something? First, Redemption. Second, Worship. Then, Activity. You know the story, so I won’t repeat it here. What?!? It’s not fresh in your mind? Take up and read.

Anyway, my point today is simply this: I’ve really enjoyed reading so far. I’ve only read twelve chapters, but it is good. There is such energy and freshness in their walk with God. Such honesty and openness. Even when they don’t believe or they grumble, there is no pretence, no sweet façade. Even Moses. He has a crisis and he is upset with the people and upset with God. And he tells Him so! And when God reveals his plan to Moses, Moses struggles with the enormity of it and tells God that he struggles with it. I love God’s answer, Is the LORD'S hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not. This is a very difficult trial and Moses is stretched beyond his ability to even believe. But this is a good thing. This thing is not Moses and his exceptional talent and ability. This is God! And honestly, God is even bigger than our ability to believe! That’s scary, but wouldn’t it be wonderful to be part of something that is obviously bigger than the greatest person in it?

On the other hand, Moses is a good man. A great man. A real man of God. He is described this way, Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. Isn’t this cool? Of all the things that could be said about a leader, this is what is singled out. God’s priorities are so different than ours.

This is good stuff! I feel bad for the churches whose Pastors overlook or ignore Numbers because it is “a dull and boring book.” I feel for the believers who have been told that Numbers is “a dull and boring book” because it is only about counting. It is counting. Whole chapters of it. That must be important. But there is so much more! I enjoyed teaching this book. And I am really taking delight in reading it again.