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timewithgod.blog-city.com — April 2009
Deuteronomy 32-34 God Is MORE Than Enough
There is so much here that I love hearing about God: "He is a faithful God who does no wrong, who is right and fair .... He is Your Father and Maker, who made you and formed you.... I AM the one God! There is no god but Me."Mose
There is so much here that I love hearing about God: "He is a faithful God who does no wrong, who is right and fair .... He is Your Father and Maker, who made you and formed you.... I AM the one God! There is no god but Me."
Moses reminded them, and us, of the importance of knowing God in this way. He said, "These should not be unimportant words for you, but rather they mean LIFE for you!"
Just as the Israelites had not clue that they would soon abandon God, circumstances can often cause us to lose our closeness to Him. The sidebar in my Bible said:
"You can be miserable with much, if you are out of His will;
but you can have peace in your heart with little, if you are in the will of God.
You can be wretched with wealth and fame, out of His will;
but you can have joy in obscurity, if you are in the will of God.
You can have agony in good health, out of his will;
but you can be happy in the midst of suffering, if you are in God's will.
You can be miserable and defeated in the midst of acclaim, if you are out of His will;
but you can be calm and at peace in the midst of persecution, as long as you are in the will of God.
The Bible reveals that God has a plan for every life, and that if we live in constant fellowship with Him, He will direct and lead us in the fulfillment of his plan."
Moses' sin did not lead him to the best that God had planned for him, but God did lead him to HIM, and in the end, with the Promised Land in sight but unavailable to him, Moses finally discovered that God Himself was more than enough for him.
Father, I know that my sin took me off course from where You might have planned for me to be; but I know that You are enough -- better than anything this world has to offer, and You have blessed me more than I could ever deserve. I pray that You will guide and protect my sons and draw them closer to You, so that they might know You even better than I do.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Leviticus 1-4 What Sin Wastes
My commentary said, "Leviticus has more of the actual words of God than any other book." That's reason enough to study it.Three voluntary offerings were mentioned. "The person who brought the burnt offering was expressi
My commentary said, "Leviticus has more of the actual words of God than any other book." That's reason enough to study it.
Three voluntary offerings were mentioned. "The person who brought the burnt offering was expressing his complete surrender and devotion to the Lord.... and it was presented on many different occasions." How many of us could truthfully offer a burnt offering in the spirit that it was meant?
"The person who brought the meal offering acknowledged the bounty of God in providing the good things of life." Again, how many of us have an "attitude of gratitude" for what God has done for us??
"The peace or fellowship offering CELEBRATED peace with God that was established on the basis of the efficacy of the atoning blood." Do we celebrate enough what God has done for us through Christ's death?
My commentary said that these three offerings denoted voluntary worship of God.
The sin offering was the first of two offerings that were compulsory. It was done by an Israelite already in covenant with God seeking forgiveness for sins committed unconsciously or unintentionally. The commentary said this "seems to mean more than lack of knowledge of the sin. It probably means that the sin was not willful, deliberate, or done in defiance or rebellion... the person who brought a sin offering was acknowledging that he had sinned unintentionally through weakness or negligence.
The "weakness" part made me wonder if that meant sins where we're struggling not to succumb to temptation and are finally "worn down"??
Most importantly, it notes that "there was no sacrifice for willful sin; the death penalty HAD to be exacted! Since we've all done intentional, willful sin, we all are condemned and must seek life and freedom through Christ and His death on the cross.
Father, in reading of all these animal slaughters, I'm reminded of how wasteful sin is -- what it does to us mentally, spiritually, physically, and emotionally. We lose so much when we think we're gaining something -- usually it's pleasure. Please help me by steering me away from anything that might cause me to sin. I don't want to waster any more of the precious blood of Jesus on me. I thank You for His atoning work on my behalf.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Leviticus 5-7 More Than Enough Forgiveness, More Than Enough PAID
Five times in these chapters I read, "...and the Lord will forgive him." We have a God who loves us and wants us back when we sin.Four times in these chapters I read, ".... remove the person's sin so he will belong to the Lor
Five times in these chapters I read, "...and the Lord will forgive him." We have a God who loves us and wants us back when we sin.
Four times in these chapters I read, ".... remove the person's sin so he will belong to the Lord." We must remember that we have been bought with a very high price, and we are not our own. We belong to God, who removed our sin through the death of His own Son.
There is much beauty in the description of the trespass offering. Restitution had to be made for the sin committed before the offering was presented. My commentary said, "Symbolically, the trespass offering points to that aspect of the work of Christ by which He restored that which He took NOT away. Through man's sin, God was robbed of service, worship, obedience, and glory. And man himself was robbed of life, peace, gladness, and fellowship with God. As our trespass offering, the Lord Jesus not only restored what had been stolen through man's sin, but He added more. For God received more glory through the finished work of Christ than if sin had never entered the world. And we are better off in Christ than we ever could have been in unfallen Adam."
Jesus, thank You for bearing my sins, for not only paying the penalty for them, but also for paying extra. I'm glad that I no longer wonder what it might have been like if Adam and Eve had never sinned, for despite the rampant sin in the world today, we have Your atoning work that so abundantly reveals Your Father's love for us!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Leviticus 8-10 Understanding Who's In Charge
Aaron and his sons were beginning a priesthood that no one had ever done before. They'd gotten instructions from God through Moses, and while not mentioned, I assume that ordinary people were involved in the extraordinary -- sewing linen un
Aaron and his sons were beginning a priesthood that no one had ever done before. They'd gotten instructions from God through Moses, and while not mentioned, I assume that ordinary people were involved in the extraordinary -- sewing linen underclothes, tailoring them to the men, casting gold for crowns, polishing stones to go in the Holy Vest. Workmen had melted bronze and constructed the altar for burnt offerings. Even the knives used to sacrifice animals were special-made. Yet once it all came together, Moses had the duty of consecrating it all -- setting it apart for God's use. What had been made by sinful human hands became holy in this process.
As the first offerings were made, I'm sure that people waiting anxiously for God's approval, and fire came out "from the Lord" and the people shouted and bowed facedown on the ground, His glory all around them. It was a joyous start that would quickly change to confusion and doubting.
Aaron's two sons slipped up in reading the instructions and didn't take the fire from the altar when offering certain sacrifices. Fire came down from the Lord, destroying them. As the shocked assembly began to react, Moses turned to his brother and his two remaining nephews and warned them not to mourn, for to do so would bring God's wrath on them and on the people. Moses reminded them of God's words: "I must be respected as holy by those who come near Me; before all the people I MUST be given honor."
God's instructions and plans for our lives are holy. His will is sovereign and He rightly expects our obedience. When we respond in any other way, we are indicating disrespect for Him, not so much independence for ourselves. Therefore, every little choice we make to go our own way heaps disrespect on God.
Father, I have read this many times, and I know that You must be respected as holy if I am to come near You. I know that You must be given honor. I know that there are things I find myself doing that are not honoring to You. Unfortunately for me, I'm usually not thinking about the disrespect I'm heaping upon You when I do them. I'm only wanting to have my own way. Forgive me for my obstinance and stubbornness, Father. Let Your Holy Spirit press against my conscience in holy pressure to keep me from disrespecting You, for You are worthy of far more than I can ever give.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Leviticus 11 & 12 Not About Diet At All
I looked at the chapter title and thought, "Oh, great! What am I to get out of the "Approved Foods For Israelites" list? There was the rule about only eating animals that had split hooves and chewed the cud. My commen
I looked at the chapter title and thought, "Oh, great! What am I to get out of the "Approved Foods For Israelites" list? There was the rule about only eating animals that had split hooves and chewed the cud. My commentary said there was a spiritual application here: "Christians should meditate on the Word of God (chew the cud) and have a separated walk (the cloven hoof)." That was an amazing picture that I would never have come up with on my own.
But God did show me something after the part where crawling animals are to be hated: "I am the Lord your God. Keep yourselves holy FOR ME because I am holy ... I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt to BE your God; you must be holy because I am holy."
The sidebar in my Bible was picking up on the clean-vs.-unclean-animal theme and the fact that if one ate one of these animals, he would be ceremonially unclean until evening and no sin offering was mandated. This is picked up in the mention of "weights" below:
"There is a defilement of the spirit as well as of the flesh. There are weights as well as sins. There are things that are not expedient, as well as those that are positively unlawful and wrong. From all we must be separate and clean. You may say that you have tried to separate yourself, but in vain; the evil clings to you like a shadow. Then fall back on the philosophy of the will. Be willing to be clean. Be willing to be made willing.... But do not suppose that you are always to be looking on this side of your life, on the renunciations, the excisions, the amputations [all those things we've removed from our life and sometimes wish we had back or think that we've sacrificed so greatly by giving them up]. Present yourself to Jesus."
Father, "defilements" popped off the page at me. So did "weights". I can see that there are things that are not necessarily sinful that can drag me down like weights. The idea of defilements for them was the fact that they "lost" their ability or "license" to worship for a time. This was huge for them. We seem almost indifferent to it today. Yet in the sexual purity Bible study, we learned to watch out for anything that tended to move us away from You, even for a time. That's exactly what was happening here. And we can pile on weights that slow our progress in becoming more like You.
Father, help me to keep myself holy BECAUSE YOU are holy, and I should want to be more like You, for You are the Lord of my life, who brought me out of my sin so You could be my God. Thank You for touching such a profane thing as me and for cleaning me up.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Leviticus 13-15 Sin Runs Deep
A person who had a spreading skin disease was miserable -- and not just physically. He had to remain outside of the camp. His clothes had to be ripped at the seams. He couldn't wear the customary head covering. If anyone a
A person who had a spreading skin disease was miserable -- and not just physically. He had to remain outside of the camp. His clothes had to be ripped at the seams. He couldn't wear the customary head covering. If anyone approached him, he had to start crying out, "Unclean! Unclean!" while covering his mouth. Without the comfort of family in his time of sickness, I wonder how he ever made it.
My commentary said that "leprosy" here was a metaphor for sin. "It rendered a man unclean, it excluded him from the camp of God and the people of God. It made the victim miserable."
These chapters also discussed mod, mildew, mineral eruptions in masonry, and dry rot, according to my commentary, and again my commentary made a spiritual application. "The fungus growth affects the entire article by its presence, just as the taint of original sin reaches all areas of the human personality .... Man is a tripartite being, and what effects one part affects all."
Father, it's so important to realize how sin can affect me not just spiritually, but emotionally and physically as well. Its stain reaches deep into our whole being, and though its "infection" can be removed through Your grace and forgiveness, it does leave scarring -- a reminder to us of those times when we've failed You. We aren't to dwell in guilt from what has been forgiven and forgotten by You, but those scars run deep, Father. Help me to keep my hands away from them, and to simply live in Your grace, thankful for what You have done for me.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Leviticus 16-18 At-ONE-ment With God
The Day of Atonement was the greatest day on the Jewish calendar. It was the one day each year when the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies and offer sacrifices to God to make atonement for himself and for the people.One of the key parts
The Day of Atonement was the greatest day on the Jewish calendar. It was the one day each year when the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies and offer sacrifices to God to make atonement for himself and for the people.
One of the key parts of this Holy day involved two goats. Lots were thrown to determine the "duties" of each goat. One ended up as a burnt offering. The other had the sins of the people, the high priest, and the nation of Israel placed upon its head and it was led out into the desert, "removing" those sins.
Why two goats? My commentary said, "The two goats symbolized two different aspects of atonement: That which meets the character and holiness of God; and that which meets the need of the sinner as to the removal of his sins. Aaron's laying his hands on the head of the live goat pictures the placing of the sins of Israel (and of ourselves) on Christ, to be taken away forever."
There was just one thing wrong. "Despite the solemn ceremonies of the day, its failure to adequately deal with sins was written across the words 'once a year'... In vivid contrast is the work of Christ, by which human sins are totally removed instead of being merely covered for a year!"
"The principle behind atonement is life for life. Since the wages of sin is death, symbolized by the shedding of blood, so without the shedding of blood is no remission. Forgiveness does not come because the penalty of sin is excused, but because it is transferred to a sacrifice whose lifeblood is poured out."
How appropriate for me to be reading this today, Father, as tomorrow is the day that Jesus' lifeblood was poured out for my sin. Prepare me to be intensely aware of this tomorrow.
One other thing caught my eye. It was a quote from my commentary about 18:24-30:
"A person's morality is the fruit of his theology, his concept of GOD."
Father God, my concept of You used to be so wrong, and I apologize for my misunderstanding. Your great love shines out through everything You do. Your holiness demands that we be holy, too, especially if we are to have fellowship with You. Your holiness is not something to be trifled with or denigrated. Atonement means at-one-ment -- us becoming one with You -- and the profane cannot exist beside the Holy. Our sins didn't just need covering. They needed removing, and Your Son did that for me. I cannot thank Him enough.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Leviticus 19-22 They Have Brought It On Themselves
WOW! How God painted a picture of Himself in ordinary things to help the people to live as He desired! My commentary said, "The people were to express their reverence for Jehovah by their respect for one another." In comme
WOW! How God painted a picture of Himself in ordinary things to help the people to live as He desired! My commentary said, "The people were to express their reverence for Jehovah by their respect for one another." In commenting on plant and animal interbreeding and interweaving of fabrics, it said, "God is a God of separation, and in these physical examples He was teaching His people to separate themselves from sin and defilement."
I saw all through these chapters the phrase, "You must respect Your God." And generally, anything done as a sin included this phrase, teaching them and us just how much we are disrespecting Him when we sin.
The poor, the aged, and the handicapped were to be respected, as were parents and neighbors. If we adopted such a wide-ranging attitude of respect, just imagine what our world would be like!
The sidebar in my Bible, by Walter Wangerin, Jr, from his book As For Me And My House, said that self-centered people justify their sin by the premise that something is somehow their right -- "because God made them this way and they can't help it. He said that we need to not just close the door to such thoughts, but also abolish the door and the thought altogether. Guilty as charged, Father.
"He who worships anything of himself ... is vulnerable. His desires have become his privileges. So long as he is his own god, he feels himself free to obey nothing and no one but himself." He tells us to guard against the assaults of our OWN desires. When we do, this attitude sensitizes us, making us careful, wary, and aware. We'll be able to identify as threats those desires that are purely personal and merely self-satisfying. We'll recognize them already when they are weak and small, before they grow monstrous and demanding; and then we won't nurse them to size, but while we can, cut them off and quench them."
As my commentary said, they (and we) were to keep God's commandments because God IS holy. "The longing of God's heart was to have a holy people, separated from the abomination of the Gentiles and enjoying the blessings of the Promised Land."
Father, You want only the best for us. Yet so often we think that we know better than You what that "best" is. When we worship anything of ourselves, we are choosing to not receive Your blessings. How ignorant is that? As You repeat again and again, "They have brought it on themselves." Help me not to do that, Father.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Easter Special -- Leviticus 23-24 God's Fingerprints On All Of It
My commentary did a masterful job of showing what God was illustrating those millennia ago when He instituted Jewish feasts:-- "The Sabbath takes us back to God's rest after creation.-- "The Passover and the Feast Of Unleave
My commentary did a masterful job of showing what God was illustrating those millennia ago when He instituted Jewish feasts:
-- "The Sabbath takes us back to God's rest after creation.
-- "The Passover and the Feast Of Unleavened Bread speak to us of Calvary.
-- "Next comes the Feast Of Firstfruits, pointing to the resurrection of Jesus.
-- "The Feast of Pentecost typifies the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Then, looking to the future:
-- "The Feast of Trumpets pictures the regathering of Israel (and possibly our rapture)
-- "The Day of Atonement foreshadows the time when a remnant of Israel will repent and acknowledge Jesus as Messiah.
-- "Finally, the Feast of Tabernacles sees Israel enjoying the millennial reign of Christ."
Two other things I noted in the commentary:
"There was no lapse between the Passover (our redemption) and the Feast Of Unleavened Bread (our obligation to walk in holiness)."
And....
"In almost every verse dealing with the Day of Atonement, God repeats the command to do NO work. The only person who was to be active on that day was the high priest. The Lord reinforced the charge by threatening to destroy any person who violated it. This is because the salvation which our High Priest obtained for us was "not on the basis of deeds which we have done." There can be no human works involved in the business of removing our sins. Christ's work and His ALONE is the source of eternal salvation."
Father, as we celebrate Easter today, I thank You for this "new feast" that Jews today still are unable to comprehend. Thank You for raising Your Son from the dead so that I too may have life. Help me to lead others to the Cross.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
Leviticus 25-27 So Much The BETTER For US
Finishing up Leviticus, I wholeheartedly agree with what my commentary said, quoting Matthew Henry. We can rejoice that "we are not under the dark shadows of the law, but enjoy the clear light of the gospel.... Let us not therefore think t
Finishing up Leviticus, I wholeheartedly agree with what my commentary said, quoting Matthew Henry. We can rejoice that "we are not under the dark shadows of the law, but enjoy the clear light of the gospel.... Let us not therefore think that because we are not tied to the ceremonial cleansings, feasts, and oblations, a little care time and expense will serve to honor God with. No, but rather have our hearts more enlarged with free-will offerings to His praise, more inflamed with holy love and joy, and more engaged in seriousness of thought and sincerity of attention. Having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, worshiping God with so much the more cheerfulness and humble confidence, still saying, "Blessed by God for Jesus Christ."
Thank You, Father, for giving us Your Son. We could never have made it to you the old way.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Gary Ford
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