Would You Stop for the Burning Bush?

While Moses was shepherding his father-in-law’s sheep, he saw a bush that was burning, but not burning up.  Moses said “I must turn aside and see this marvelous sight…!” Exodus 3:2-4.

Burning but not burning up is an indication of holiness.  This was a special fire, a holy fire, a fire that lit up the bush without destroying it.  And when Moses saw this holy thing, he investigated.  God confirmed the holy nature of the moment and the place when He told Moses to take off his shoes, “for the place on which you stand is holy ground” Exodus 3:5.

Question: Why was the bush on fire in the first place?  Did the bush continue to burn?  Years later, for example, when Moses brought the Israelites back to the mountain—was the burning bush still burning?

Moses seems to have climbed this mountain seven more times, yet the bush is not mentioned again.  The Bible does not indicate the bush remained on fire there like some eternal flame.  It seems God created this burning bush specifically to arouse the curiosity of Moses.  God could have simply spoken to Moses.  But God wanted to see whether Moses would be curious about this holy sign.

“When the Eternal One saw Moses approach the burning bush TO OBSERVE IT MORE CLOSELY, He called out to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”  Exodus 3:4.

Has God ever aroused your curiosity? Have you ever stopped what you were doing (as Moses stopped driving the sheep) to observe something more closely?  Do you allow things to make you curious? Do you cultivate curiosity?

Think about this:

If Moses were a dad driving his family on a cross-country road trip, he would stop the car to observe a burning bush.

Would you? 

God, ARREST OUR ATTENTION.  Give us curiosity about Your activity in the world around us.  Make us fascinated with all things holy.  Never let us miss the amazing things of God in our quest to complete a to-do list or reach an equally arbitrary destination.

ΑΩ

Do You Still Think Like a Slave?

Remember when Moses went up the mountain and God gave him the Ten Commandments? Moses was up there for forty days. And what did the people do? They worried. They fretted about the absence of their leader and told his brother Aaron, “Come, make us a god who will go before us, because we don’t know what has happened to Moses.” Exodus 32:1.

How did Aaron reply? Did he remind them of the ten plagues? Did he say, “Don’t you know that God just destroyed all the idols of Egypt? Our God is a miracle worker, the only real God, the God of Gods! How can you turn on Him so quickly?”

No.

Instead, Aaron said, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” Exodus 32:2. And you know the rest—Aaron made a golden calf. By the time Moses came down the mountain, the sons of Israel were dancing and worshipping the calf like naked pagans drinking blood in some dark ritual. What happened?

Normally this is where I would point to a verse that explains the Hebrews’ fall. But not this time. It gets worse.

Not only did the people witness the plagues, and cross the sea on dry land. Not only did God work never-before-seen miracles. But just before Moses went up the mountain, God did something even more extraordinary.

Moses, Aaron, Aaron’s sons, and seventy of the leaders of Israel—men from every tribe—SAW GOD.

“They saw the God of Israel. Beneath His feet was something like a pavement of sapphire stone, as clear as the sky itself. God did not harm the Israelite nobles [as expected, because no one can see God and live], they saw Him, and they ate and drank. Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to Me on the mountain and stay there so that I may give you the stone tablets…’” Exodus 24:9-12.

When Moses went up the mountain, his brother Aaron, Aaron’s two sons, and another SEVENTY leaders had just seen God. They SAW HIM. It must have been an awesome vision. How many people on earth have EVER seen anything like that?

Where were these men when the people started fretting about Moses? Where were these leaders when the people started crying out for an idol? Aaron was a part of every conversation Moses had with Pharaoh. Why didn’t Aaron step up? What about his sons, and the other seventy men? THESE 73 MEN HAD SEEN GOD.

But when Moses came down the mountain, the people had turned their backs on God and were worshipping one of Egypt’s recently-humiliated idols, a golden calf.

This was a failure of leadership. Hundreds of thousands saw the miracles. An additional 74 men had seen God. But only Moses could destroy the idol and turn the people back to God. The other 73 men were passive.

Only Moses had grown up with power and privilege in the home of Pharaoh. All the others were slaves, raised by generations of slaves. They were not used to making their own decisions. They were not used to self-control, self-determination, or self-discipline. They still thought like slaves, allowing other people or their own emotions or passions to determine their choices. SELF-RELIANCE, an ancient American value, is impossible for slaves—they are trained NOT to rely on themselves.

SLAVES ARE NOT USED TO MAKING THEIR OWN DECISIONS. SLAVES DON’T TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR ACTIONS. SLAVES ARE PASSIVE, CONTROLLED BY OTHERS AND UNABLE TO MAKE CHOICES OR EXERCISE WILL POWER–THE POWER OF THE WILL. BUT YOU ARE NO LONGER A SLAVE.

You and I are not slaves. We have never been slaves. May it never be that we are so passive we allow ourselves to be led into sin. We must FIGHT temptations. We must FIGHT peer pressure. We must FIGHT laziness and compromise. We must FIGHT the fear that keeps us from speaking up and taking a stand for God. We must FIGHT for what’s right. God has blessed us. We have seen amazing things, we have attended an amazing church, we have seen God move. We must never tolerate the creeping allegiance to the idols of this world. We must say no to things. We must FIGHT to remain true and loyal and obedient to Jesus.

Are you fighting the good fight today?

ΑΩ

Foreigners.

In the 1980s, Sharpstown High School welcomed a sudden influx of refugees fleeing the Communist government of Vietnam.  The students showed up knowing no English and carrying a pass that entitled them to free lunches.  Every day three of the loudest non-English speaking Vietnamese girls would cut the line in the lunch room to grab their free lunches. We would complain and they would scream at us in their language and it became a daily shouting match. Those of us who were born here were not sympathetic.  We hated them. 

“Get to the back of the line!” 

“Our taxes are paying for your lunches!”

“Hey Lunch Lady, those girls cut the line again, like they always do! When are you going to do something about it?”

Of course, those three did not represent the norm.  Most of the refugee kids were quiet and kept to themselves.  And the truth is, our scorn was probably the reason those girls were so brazen.  They refused to cower or to shamed in any way.  Deep down, I knew it had to be so hard.  I hated studying Spanish; I could not imagine suddenly having to live in Mexico and go to a Mexican school.

What does God require?  COMPASSION.

“You must not exploit a foreign resident or oppress him, because YOU WERE FOREIGNERS IN THE LAND OF EGYPT” Exodus 22:21.

Statements like this one are repeated over and over: see Exodus 23:9, Leviticus 19:33, Deuteronomy 10:19, 23:8, 24:17.  The Israelites were foreigners in Egypt for 400 years! Why so long?  Perhaps part of the reason was to emphasize the importance of compassion.  God expects us to be kind to the foreigner.  As Christians, we know what it’s like to be a foreigner in a foreign land.  We often do not fit in, surrounded as we are by people who view the world differently.  We are foreigners too: we must have compassion.

God, give us patience, compassion, and love for the foreigners around us, for the poor, the disenfranchised, the oppressed, the outsiders.  May we forget the politics and see them as people for whom Christ died.

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Divorce and Abuse.

Paul teaches that husbands and wives can be witnesses to unbelieving spouses and should not seek to divorce them:

“If a woman has an unbelieving husband and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his believing wife…. But if the unbeliever leaves, let him go.  God has called you to live in peace. How do you know whether you will save your husband….?”

1 Corinthians 7:12-15.

Some counseling programs argue this scripture indicates women should not leave abusive husbands.  Instead, they should endure black eyes and broken bones hoping the men will repent because of their example.  These counselors encourage abused women to go to the church for help but not to the police unless they fear for their lives. 

THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS WRONG WITH THIS!

  1. It’s a matter of integrity. God wants the family SAFE! When a man becomes violent, he’s crossed the line.  (And he will NOT listen to the church! Are you kidding? It’s laughable.)
  2. Children are better off safe with a single mom than in a violent home.  These counselors say leave if your life is in danger—but who can predict when wife abuse will become murder or child abuse?
  3. As for evangelism, bullies are NOT influenced by one they don’t respect.  Abusers are more likely to repent after their family has left them or the police have locked them up.  It is LAW and CONSEQUENCES that will bring repentance.
  4. The Bible prescribes punishment for those who abuse slaves.  “If a man smite the eye of his maid, so that she lose it, he shall set her free for the eye’s sake.  And if he knock out his servant’s tooth, he shall let him go for his tooth.” Exodus 21:26-27.  If an abusive master must release his slave for being violent, do we really believe God expects a wife to stay put? Is the wife’s worth lower than that of a slave?

Finally: Hiding abuse perpetuates it—even in church.

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How Does God Describe the Exodus?

If you had to describe the Exodus, what phrases would you use?

Miraculous Deliverance?

God Rescues His People?

God’s Grace in Action?

If I were a cynical newspaper-headline writer from Ancient Egypt, I might describe it this way:

  • “Hebrews Hit the Road”
  • “Millions in Chains Find the Weak Link”
  • “The Shove Off of the Unshackled”
  • “Israel Exits”
  • “The Bondslaves Bail Out”
  • “Moses’ Million-Man March”
  • “Following Ten Plagues, Moses and Aaron Attempt to Destroy Egypt With Plague #11—the Departure of Millions of Unpaid Hebrew Workers: Economists Say Nation Will Never Recover.”
  • “Emancipation Emigration”
  • “Sons of Abraham Prefer Sand to Cities”
  • “Egypt’s Labor Force On Strike Permanently”
  • “Monotheists Move Out”
  • “The Circumcisers Sally Forth”

God describes the Exodus differently. He performed ten amazing miracles. He sent plagues to prove He was God and Egypt’s idols were powerless. He revealed Himself to the Hebrews—and the Egyptians. He caused the Egyptians to admire the Jews enough that they showered their former slaves with gifts as they were leaving. So much so, that the Hebrews “plundered” the Egyptians (thus receiving “payment” for some of the 400 years of unpaid slave labor). Then God proved Himself once again by parting the Red Sea, then drowning Pharaoh’s army of horses and chariots, the world’s greatest army at the time. God knows: this was an amazing story.

But I really love the phrase He uses to describe it in Exodus 19.

“You have seen how I treated the Egyptians, and that I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” Exodus 19:4

Isn’t that great? When the Hebrews were suffering so much and crying out to God for mercy, He heard them, He rescued them, and He “CARRIED THEM ON EAGLES’ WINGS.” I love that.

Have you ever been hurting? Have you ever cried out to God from a broken heart? I want you to know that He will CARRY YOU ON EAGLE’S WINGS. Think about that.

When you are hurting today, or sad this week, or broken-hearted on some future date, remember:

GOD CARRIES YOU ON EAGLES’ WINGS.

ΑΩ

Family.

How often do we say, “the apple does not fall far from the tree”?  Or we call a child “a chip off the old block”?  Family friends are forever telling children “you’re just like your dad” or “you remind me of your mom.”

It’s more than physical features.  Children learn behavior from their parents.  They walk, talk, and laugh like them.  They eat, drink, party, and gamble like them.  Unhappy adults who destroy families by having adulterous affairs do not think long-term: they know they are burning down everything they built with their spouse, setting a match to their entire legacy.  But how many stop to consider that their children will one day be that much more likely to also have affairs and burn down a loving home?

God created the family, and it is of supreme importance.  We know the fifth commandment:  “Honor your father and mother so that you may live a long life in the land the Lord is giving you” Exodus 20:12.  As Paul points out, “this is the first commandment with a promise” Ephesians 6:1-3.  God ties a long life to having a proper relationship with your parents.  Why?  Can you think of a scientific reason good relationships with one’s parents might extend life?  I can: PEACE.  Just knowing you have parents to talk to and a support system to fall back on brings tremendous comfort. 

There’s more:

“Whoever curses his father or his mother must be put to death” Exodus 21:17.

So swearing at your parents is a capital offense?  That’s serious. Can you imagine a nation that executed people who offended their parents?  What would be the result?  One result would be a lot less rebellion.  And reducing rebellion creates a society where values and traditions are respected from one generation to the next. A nation that welcomes rebellion—as ours does—allows its culture and values to be reviewed and re-made by each generation, and such constant change creates instability and volatility. 

Dear God, teach us to honor our parents and protect our families.

ΑΩ

God is Not a Cruel Taskmaster.

Long ago I was warned “the law is a jealous mistress.”  It’s true: lawyering can consume your life.  I know lawyers who work seven days a week and never take vacations.

Things could be worse.  Millions in Asia work 16-hour days in sweatshops for a few dollars a day.  Prisoners in communist nations suffer terribly.  Prisoners of War in Japan were routinely worked to death.  Meanwhile, Americans fought to enshrine two-day weekends and a 40-hour work week.  Some Texas school districts are now adopting four-day weeks.  (Can you imagine?)

What is the proper balance?

One indicator is nature: throughout history you could do little or no work after nightfall.  Don’t let the blessing of electric lighting cause you to work unnatural hours. 

More important than nature is scripture.  God required His people to work six days, but rest on the seventh.  We are to do no work on the sabbath.  You know who struggles with this most?  Ironically, it may be pastors.  They must work on Sundays, and often ministers work Saturdays and Sundays.  But many find it hard not to return to the office on their days off (often Mondays and/or Tuesdays). 

But God created the Sabbath day for a reason.  It is a holy day, a sacred time.  It is critical that we get away from work and worship Him, feed our souls, and encourage each other.  Your time off is a sacred calling.  For 40 years, God provided manna for Israel: they collected it six days a week (for 2,080 weeks), and it spoiled if kept overnight.  But on the sixth day, they collected double and kept it overnight because God would send nothing on day seven, ensuring they could stay home and be still. 

God looks at the day of rest DIFFERENTLY.  We should too.

We need balance: work hard.  The Bible tells us to work hard over and over.  But we must also honor the Sabbath by resting from work.  This most-disobeyed of the Ten Commandments is a holy break for worship.  FIND A WAY.

“Remember the Sabbath Day.  Keep it holy” Exodus 20:8.

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Busy & Rich or Lazy & Poor? Try Moderation.

Some are obsessed with accumulating wealth. Others seem determined to do as little as possible.  God wants a balance. 

We work for God—and we rest for God. He should be our focus.

When the Israelites left Egypt and marched into the desert, they composed the largest exodus in history—between 1 and 5 million people!  Imagine what that many people passing by would do to the land, crops, water supply, and wild game.  And this was the desert; a family of four would struggle to stay fed and hydrated.  Only God could outfit a walking nation.

And He did.  He miraculously provided water and food.

The rules were these: gather only as much manna as you need each day.  Do NOT try to save it overnight. If you do, it will spoil and fill with worms. But on Friday, the rules change: God will provide extra so you can gather enough for two days, and it will NOT spoil overnight.  Then on the Sabbath (Saturday), God will send no manna, and you will eat only what you have saved.

“The Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore on the sixth day He will give you two days’ worth of bread” Exodus 16:29.

For FORTY YEARS the Israelites had to gather manna six days a week, but could NOT gather on the Sabbath.  Those who may have hoped to get rich—to work extra and save a pile of treasure—could not.  The manna spoiled and their efforts were thwarted.  But those who were lazy and would not gather enough for two days had nothing to eat on Saturday.

Manna teaches us about work and about money: we should work hard six days a week.  Don’t be lazy!  Get up and hustle!  Be industrious. Use your talents, skills, and gifts.  Improve. Make a difference.  Then shut it down on the Sabbath. Serve the Lord and give your mind and body a break from the struggles of the week.  Stop working on that day and trust your PROVIDER to provide. 

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The Role of Old Testament Law in Health.

Jesus redeemed us from the law.  However, Old Testament laws continued to serve an important purpose, because many of them protect people from dangers science would not discover for centuries. Here are examples in addition to the recently mentioned hand washing and burying of “night soil”:

  1. Don’t eat fish without scales and fins. Reason? The shrimp, crabs, lobsters, catfish, eels, and even sharks—are “bottom feeders” consuming carcasses of dead fish and animals, and a great deal of “fish poop,” making these the riskiest of underwater meals.  The even, “all-over” cooking provided by modern kitchens greatly reduces the risk, but may not eliminate it entirely.
  2. Don’t eat animals unless they both chew the cud and have split hooves—and pork is particularly unclean. Reason? The unusually high parasite load.  Before modern cooking, people often picked up roundworm infections from not only pork, but “bear, walrus, and horse” (quoting mayoclinic.org).
  3. Don’t eat blood. “Life is in the blood, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh” Genesis 9:4. Reason? The high bacteria and iron count pose health risks.
  4. Don’t eat fat. Reason? Science has only recently discovered the health risks of too much animal fat in our diets. Not only “marbleized steaks,” but ground beef and pork products, especially bacon, are loaded with animal fat, leading to heart disease, stroke, etc.  Animal fat can take years off your life.  And God warned us in the Old Testament:

“All FAT belongs to the Lord. This is a PERMANENT statute throughout your generations, wherever you live: you must not eat any fat or any blood” Leviticus 3:16-17.

This is why we should study ALL the scriptures. The “boring” O.T. law remains relevant. In fact, God promised to protect us from many diseases if we followed His laws:

“If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God, … and keep His statutes, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases that I inflicted on the Egyptians” Exodus 15:26.

God, teach us to honor your law.

ΑΩ

None of These Diseases. Exodus 15:26.

If you have ever tried to read the Bible, you have probably made it as far as Leviticus. Genesis and Exodus are pretty easy: lots of great stories. But Leviticus is a book short on stories and long on laws. The same is true for Numbers and Deuteronomy—there are stories mixed in, but much of the content is laws about all kinds of things: how to prepare food, how to handle mold, how to treat leprosy and other skin diseases, how and where to construct latrines, what to eat and what not to eat, how to handle marriages, deaths, adultery, and crime. Some have said there are 613 laws in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. That’s a lot of laws, and can make for less-than exciting reading.

But I became interested in the law because of a verse in Exodus. If you can grasp this truth, it may make reading these books a lot easier:

“If you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, then I will put NONE OF THESE DISEASES on you which I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you.” Exodus 15:26.

Does that make sense? The Bible says that if the Hebrews will obey God’s laws, they will not suffer all the diseases of the pagans. For example, the Hebrews were not allowed to eat pork. Why not? THEY DID NOT KNOW–BUT WE KNOW: Trichinosis. Even in the United States, this roundworm infection has for years been associated with eating undercooked pork. (Today most Americans who contract worms pick the parasites up from eating undercooked game animals.) The Hebrews were also not allowed to eat shellfish and fish without scales. Why not? THEY DID NOT KNOW–BUT WE KNOW: Because these are all bottom-feeders. Catfish, flounder, lobsters, crabs, and shrimp are the “garbage men” of the sea, eating dead animals and fecal matter all day long. If their meat is not well-cooked, it can be dangerous. The Bible has many more rules about what to eat and how to prepare it, but God does not explain the rules. He just gives the rules. If His people obey, they will be spared—and He will bring on them “none of these diseases” that He brought on the rest of the world.

Long ago, one physician argued that doctors should wash their hands, but no one listened. They mocked him. Every day, the doctors took medical students to the morgue and began the day by examining the bodies of everyone who died at the hospital during the night. They went from body to body to body, then they wiped their hands on a towel or whatever, and went upstairs and began to examine the women who were in labor. And they touched every woman. And the mothers kept dying in childbirth or shortly after. Finally, one doctor discovered that if he washed his hands with soap after examining the dead bodies, the women in labor did not die as often. And when he began washing between EVERY patient, the mortality rates dropped to nearly zero. But no one listened to him. When he later became the boss, he instituted washing rules and for many years that hospital set the record for healthy deliveries. But when the old doctor died, the new chief did away with his rules. Doctors stopped washing hands and patients started dying again, just like they did everywhere else. People can be stubborn!

If only the doctors would have looked in the Old Testament. God’s laws require washing in many situations that must have seemed ridiculous at the time of the Exodus. The same was true of laws about going to the bathroom (you must bury it). Why? THEY DID NOT KNOW–BUT WE KNOW about eColi and other germs. And the priests must perform tests on mold. If it is spreading, the house must be torn down. Why? THEY DID NOT KNOW–BUT WE KNOW: some molds are deadly. God’s law also prohibits adultery and fornication. Why? THEY DID NOT KNOW–BUT WE KNOW: not only do those sins damage your soul, they also spread herpes, syphilis, gonorrhea, and AIDS, diseases that bring horrible suffering, blindness, and death. Following God’s law is the only truly “safe sex,” and prevents the spread of all sexually transmitted diseases.

My point is, the Bible is filled with laws that God gave us to protect us. No one understood the laws when they were first given. But if they obeyed God, they would avoid many terrible illnesses. In the same way, we may not always understand the rules, but we must trust God—there is a reason behind every one of them. As evidence, consider one of my favorite books: NONE OF THESE DISEASES, by S.I. McMillen, M.D. In this book, a modern-day physician explains how so many Old Testament laws (such as the quarantine[1]) can actually prevent the spread of terrible modern-day diseases. Once you understand that truth, reading Old Testament laws will be much more interesting!

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[1] See Leviticus 13:46.