FAMILY LINES. 1 Chronicles 23-26.

The Bible contains numerous genealogies—they make dull reading until you use imagination to see further. I ask myself what God is up to, why He chooses certain families.

The first, most obvious lesson when reading genealogies is: GOD CARES MORE ABOUT FAMILY TREES/HERITAGE THAN WE DO.

Clearly these things are important (and both Moses and Jesus were adopted, and all non-Jewish believers are regarded as being “adopted” into God’s family—so don’t think adoption is not important too). But my first point is, YOUR FAMILY HERITAGE MEANS SOMETHING; PAY ATTENTION.

Find out: WHO were those people? WHAT were their occupations, hobbies, likes, dislikes? WHEN and WHERE did they live? HOW did the Lord use them?

A second point is illustrated in the Old Testament discussions of the Tribe of Levi. God chose the Levites to be Israel’s priests and handle all the tasks of the temple—and there were hundreds of tasks: 24,000 priests handling every aspect of sacrifices, men to burn incense, to prophecy accompanied by harps, lyres, and cymbals, to give thanks, 288 musicians playing all kinds of instruments, gatekeepers, officers, judges, treasurers, heads of family lines, guards, and more. First Chronicles 23-26 details these jobs, noting for each that the task will be passed down from FATHER-TO-SON forever.

Why pass jobs from father to son? Why not let people apply for jobs like today?

There is tremendous power—and SKILL—when your parent is your teacher. If you grow up as your father’s apprentice, you will learn more in that lifetime of training than you could ever learn by taking classes. God handled the House of Levi this way to protect the priesthood—to ensure it would be staffed with capable, confident men who took the job seriously. No one can convey those lessons the way a diligent parent can.

Application? Never forget: PARENTS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT TEACHERS CHILDREN WILL EVER HAVE. GIVE YOUR CHILDREN YOUR BEST. GIVE THEM YOUR ALL.

God, help us understand the amazing power of an interested, loving parent.

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KEEP SERVING GOD WHILE YOU’RE WAITING. 1 Samuel 27.

It’s easy to think that when THIS THING finally happens, or when I reach THAT MILESTONE, I’ll start really doing things for God.

But life often comes down to what you do while you’re WAITING on that next thing. We need to serve God during the delays; not just after reaching some perfect destination, but while sitting in traffic en route. (If God removed literal traffic, countless prayers would never be prayed! In the same way, delays—figurative traffic—provide opportunities to serve God.)

David was the anointed king. He was grown, seasoned, ready. Yet Saul remained on the throne, and worse—kept up the constant, murderous pursuit of David. So David took his men and entered the land of the Philistines where Saul would not follow. While there, David convinced the Philistine king he and his army would raid cities in Judah. King Achish thus believed David was on his side and he left David alone.

But actually, David was raiding other cities belonging to Judah’s enemies, the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. His army wiped out every single person, as God had instructed the army of Moses to do centuries before. Not only was this God’s plan, but it ensured that no one survived to tell King Achish what David was really doing. For fourteen months David carried out these important and successful raids on Israel’s enemies.

Do you see the point? Though David was STILL waiting on God’s plan, STILL WAITING to take the throne promised him, he nevertheless found challenging ways to serve God. What are we waiting for? What is preventing us from serving God with our whole hearts?

Dear God, show us how we can serve you TODAY, right now, right where we are. Use us in the present, no matter how desperately we long for various goals in the future. Show us what we can do for you right here, right now. Lord, we give you our days—help us use the time effectively, serving you and storing up treasure in heaven.

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FAITH CAN BE SCARY. Judges 4:22.

This coffee cup showing Jael slaying Sisera is one of over 90 portrayals of Judges 4 available from fineartamerica.com. Apparently, Jael has quietly become a hero to many.

Deborah told Barak God’s message: “Attack Sisera and I will hand him over to you” Judges 4:7. But Barak was scared and said, “If you will go with me, I will go. But if you will not go with me, I will not go” v.8.

That does not sound like faith! Faith relies on God. Superstition requires reassurance, like a magic shield, or an idol, or in this case, the presence of God’s prophet, as if Deborah were a lucky charm. Deborah gave Barak God’s answer: she would go with Barak, but “you will receive no honor because the Lord will sell Sisera into a woman’s hand” v.9.

Like so many scenes in the book of JUDGES, an entertaining story follows: Barak attacked Sisera’s forces, they fled, and Sisera ran to the tent of a woman he knew named Jael. She invited him in to hide. When he asked for water, she generously gave him milk. Then she let him lie down. But while he was sleeping, she silently grabbed a hammer and a sharpened tent stake, held the stake above Sisera’s temple, and with a single blow of the hammer drove the stake through his head and deep into the ground.

“Later when Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera, Jael came out to greet him and said, ‘Come and I will show you the man for whom you are looking,’ so Barak went in and there was Sisera dead with a tent peg through his temple!” Judges 4:22.

Sometimes God calls us to boldly face things that require courage and strength. If we obey, the reward is amazing. But if we are afraid, God is merciful. He gave Moses Aaron to handle the public speaking, and he gave Barak Deborah to accompany him into battle. But Barak gave up some of the glory when he chose not to follow God with total faith.

God, help us listen and KNOW your voice. And give us courage and faith to follow you BOLDLY, with no doubt and no hesitation—because we KNOW you love us and plan to bless us! Remind us we do not need good luck charms or special equipment or even the companionship of a prophet like Deborah. Fill us with the courage to walk in faith alone.

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IS FEAR A SIN? Numbers 14:2,4; 7,9.

Does fear make you guilty? Can fear be a sin? If so, is fear a sin—a) always, b) sometimes, or c) never?

When God sent ten miracles and delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the wilderness, the former slaves kept wanting to go back to Egypt. Their ingratitude and lack of faith angered God. (Not to mention their idolatry.) It happened ten times and God was increasingly angry each time. After the scouts spied out the Promised Land—and ten of the twelve were terrified and said, in effect, “We can never win; we’re all gonna die!,”—God was angry.

“All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron, and the whole community told them, ‘if only we had died in the land of Egypt!’… So they said to one another, ‘let’s appoint a leader and go back to Egypt’” Numbers 14:2,4.

Moses and Aaron immediately fell down with their faces to the ground, and Caleb and Joshua tore their clothes and told everyone to have faith:

“The land we explored is an extremely good land… Only don’t REBEL against the Lord, and don’t BE AFRAID of the people of the land, for WE WILL DEVOUR THEM” 14:7,9.

Notice that Joshua said “don’t rebel … and don’t be afraid.” Sometimes fear IS rebellion. (The answer above is ‘b’.) SOMETIMES fear is sin. We are supposed to fear God. We are supposed to fear hurricanes, earthquakes, pestilence, starvation. But we are not supposed to fear our destiny. It is wrong to be afraid of something God promised you—and if you FEEL fear, remember the feeling may not be sin, but letting your feeling stop you from doing God’s will IS SIN.

Never let your fear turn into rebellion. “Don’t be afraid of the people… for we will devour them!”

Dear God, teach us to obey, no matter our feelings of fear. Help us to know your voice and obey you at all times! Never let us focus on things we are afraid of—help us stay focused on YOU!

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READING LEVITICUS. Leviticus 5-7.

Leviticus shows how blessed we are today to rely on the atoning work of Christ on the cross. The sacrificial system was INTENSE!

First, if anyone sinned UNKNOWINGLY and later discovered it, “he is to confess…. He must bring restitution for the sin …, a female lamb or goat as a sin offering” Leviticus 5:5-6. Even an ACCIDENTAL sin requires the sacrifice of a lamb or goat. That’s a high price to pay!

A second point involves RESTITUTION (for NON-accidental sins).

“When a man … OFFENDS THE LORD by deceiving his neighbor through robbery, fraud, or deceit… he must return what he stole…. He must make full restitution for it and add a FIFTH to its value. He is to pay restitution to the owner… Then bring his RESTITUTION OFFERING to the Lord” Leviticus 6:2-6.

Thus, when a man commits a non-violent theft or fraud, he must pay back what he stole, PLUS one fifth. So he must pay back 120%. On top of that, he must bring to the Lord a restitution sacrifice. That is similar to how we handle crimes today: pay back the victim AND pay your debt to the State. Just as verse 2 mentions “offending the Lord,” today we say criminals “offend” the state—we even call them “offenders.”

Every semester I explain to students that when a husband beats a wife (for example) and she may decline to press charges, but under the new rules, the State can bring charges anyway, because it is NOT HER DECISION: the man has OFFENDED THE STATE OF TEXAS, and the State can pursue him without the wife.

The Old Testament law played a FOUNDATIONAL ROLE in the legal systems of both England and the USA. The influence of Old Testament law on both criminal and civil cases cannot be overstated. Moreover, the sacrificial system prepared mankind to understand the work Jesus did for us on the cross. Consequently, there is great value in reading the “boring” Bible books like Leviticus.

God, give us curiosity and patience to read and LOVE Your word.

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GOD’S COURTROOM. Job.

Picture generated by A.I.

Have you read the book of Job? The book of Job reads like the transcript of a trial.[1] The room is called to order and Job makes an opening statement—in his lawsuit against GOD:

“I have prepared my case. I know that I am right… I was at ease, but God shattered me. He seized me by the scruff of the neck and smashed me to pieces… It is God who has wronged me. I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but get no response. I call for help, but there is no justice. He has blocked my way; He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined” Job 13:18; 16:12; 19:6-10.

Job’s friends assume the role of defense counsel, providing a duly zealous defense of their heavenly “client”:

“Should this stream of words go unanswered or such a talker be acquitted?… Does God pervert justice? Because your children sinned against Him, He gave them over to their rebellion…. So do not reject the discipline of the Almighty” 11:2; 18:2; 8:3-4; 5:17.

The back-and-forth continues: plaintiff, defendant, plaintiff, defendant. Several times Job complains that he is forced to represent himself, but then he admits that he has an attorney—the Messiah who is to come:

“Even now my witness is in heaven and my advocate is in the heights!” Job 16:19.

Then the scene changes. The humble courtroom, with plastic chairs, linoleum floor tiles, and bad coffee, is replaced by heaven’s magnificent throne. A light brighter than ten thousand suns dazzles the men and they fall on their faces.

God shows them wonders: stars, planets, mountains, wild beasts, birds, oceans, snow. The men are struck dumb, realizing their ignorance and the arrogance of their words. For 2.5 chapters, God reveals mysteries—one of the greatest revelations of God’s voice and character in the Old Testament.

Finally, God confounds them with grace. Nothing is as simple as they thought—because a God of grace is unpredictable. God tells Job to pray for his friends (who spoke wrongly), then Job’s life is restored to something greater than before—and Job and his friends now know God in a way they never did.

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[1] You could take all of the book of Job (or large portions) and render it as a dramatic reading (reader’s theater style) or even a script of some sort. Imagine it animated, as each character speaks, the things he speaks of fill the screen, culminating in God’s conversation about creation. Perhaps include the earliest chapters with the devil talking to God. Could begin there—with God’s amazing throne room, go to the human court, then return to the throne as described above. Don’t miss chapter 29-30: Job was a rock star, the uncrowned king and greatest royal alive, then was brought so low homeless men mocked him, then he was restored.

Jump the R.A.M.P.S.! Joshua 1:8

Boys in the ‘70s and ‘80s loved to jump ramps. We would lay a post on the ground and nail one end of a piece of scrap plywood to it, and voila! a ramp. Most of these were rudimentary, made from found wood that we dragged home from someone’s trash. Some of the ramps were a wobbly mess. But not at my house. My dad, who’s life-motto seemed to be “SAFETY FIRST,” was not afraid to let his boys have a little fun. He knew we would crash horribly—everyone who jumps ramps will experience storybook wipeouts; it’s inescapable.

But the old engineer didn’t want our crashes to be the result of equipment failure. So when he saw us barreling down the sidewalk at top speed, about to throw ourselves into a barricade of junkyard scraps, he decided to build a ramp for us. The old engineer did it right, of course, and we always had the best ramp around. And boy, did we crash. I bumped into a childhood neighbor last week and he reminded me of the time when he broke his collarbone teaching us ‘little kids’ how to jump ramps. Forty years later, it remains a vivid memory.

The thing is, once you learn how to jump a ramp, you crash much less often. You learn to fly farther, with more stability, and you execute a smooth landing. There is a skill to it. You must lift your front wheel, and if you’re good you will lift the back too, but not too much. There’s a finesse it. But we became good at it—and we loved it. I loved the silence of flying through the air. There is nothing quite like jumping ramps, although a jump on snow skis is also pretty amazing.

R.A.M.P.S. will help you grow in Christ. Consider these five areas to help you mature as a Christian:

READ the word.

APPLY the word.

MEMORIZE the word.

PRAY the word.

SHARE the word.

Are you reading the word? Are you applying the word to your life, your problems, your circumstances? Are you praying the words of scripture? There is no more powerful way to pray than to quote God’s own word back to him. Are you sharing the word? Do you talk about the Bible with your friends? With the lost? Do you teach the Bible in Sunday school? Do you share your faith?

One of the best verses I ever memorized might be Joshua 1:8. What a great verse about success!

“This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it, both day and night, being careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have success” Joshua 1:8. 

Think about this promise: if you study the word day and night, you will have success!  What a great promise from God—and a great passage to memorize.

A second example of taking the R.A.M.P.S. to discipleship happened today. While brewing a pot of coffee, I was complaining to the Lord that my son moved 400 miles away, that he may be there for years, and that God seems to have orchestrated the whole thing (against my wishes!). Five minutes later I was reading Genesis 21 and noted God’s words to Abraham after the man had to send away his son Ishmael: God said, “Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad…” Genesis 21:12. I knew that short phrase was for me today. I wrote it down. I APPLIED the words to my situation. I will think of them when I am bothered. I will also PRAY the word by asking God to help me to ‘let it not be grievous’ in my sight.

And that is how you grow in your faith. You read the word, apply it to your situation, use some of the exact words from scripture when you pray, then share what God is teaching you.

TAKE THE R.A.M.P.S. TO DISCIPLESHIP!  

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LEAVE AND CLEAVE. Genesis 12:1-3; 2:24.

God calls you to LEAVE your parents; even if you do not leave physically, your loyalties MUST change. After Adam met Eve, God announced:

“For this reason [marriage], a man will leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” Genesis 2:24.

Marriage requires us to step away from our parents and be loyal to a spouse. For most, it is not difficult. Not only do many young people have disagreements with their parents, but they are drawn away by their deep feelings for a spouse.

But what about parents and kids who resist the natural desire to separate that comes with growing up? Today “boomerang kids” are too common: they go to college, then move back home. The title to the film FAILURE TO LAUNCH says it all.

And then there was the wife of one unfortunate young man I know: first her twin sister moved in with the newlyweds, and then her parents also moved in. Next, she told her young husband, “you’re no more than a roommate to me.” Yeah—because you treated the relationship like a roommate relationship! She did not respect God’s command to LEAVE father and mother…. They became a family with NO boundaries. That is a SINFUL failure to LEAVE AND CLEAVE. The point is, it is GOD’S COMMAND. It is not optional!

Every blessing in Abraham’s life was based on him having the courage and faith to leave everything:

“The Lord said to Abram: ‘Go out from your land, your relatives, and your father’s house to a land I will show you. I will make you a great nation, I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you will BE a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who curse you, and all the people on the earth will be blessed through you” Genesis 12:1-3.

Don’t be afraid to LEAVE AND CLEAVE! Proper boundaries are not only normal, they are GOD’S COMMAND. (Now go tell all your friends!)

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EXALT. Psalm 12:8.

What you like, you THINK about.

What you love, you TALK about.

What you worship, you SING about.

What do Americans sing about? Last week’s top five songs concern: 1) breaking up, 2) drugs, 3) sex, 4) the excitement of a new romance, and 5) a song by the old girl complaining about her ex’s new girl. So what do we worship? What do we EXALT?

We exalt 1) the drama of romance, 2) the animal “thrills” of sex and drugs, and 3) the bitterness of rejection. Incidentally, all five songs included foul language, four of them the “F” word. We now exalt that which is most raw, like prison inmates throwing feces at each other. We take the worst we have and smear it on each other.

“The wicked wander everywhere, and what is worthless is exalted by the human race” Psalm 12:8.

WHAT IS WORTHLESS IS EXALTED.

We worship the worthless. To be fair, most music is not as foul Ryan Seacrest’s at40.com. But even country music—sometimes “tame” by comparison—is FILLED with songs that exalt drinking and breaking up. We sing about the worthless. Don’t get me wrong—many songs are fun and harmless. There’s nothing wrong with songs like “Grandma’s Featherbed”—John Denver did not worship the bed. It’s just a fun, silly song.

But music was created for worship; the more serious a song is, the more worship it inspires. Serious songs about sinful subjects can influence fans to put those subjects on a pedestal—after all, if it was not important, no one would sing about it—and you begin to value and worship those things.

Remember, “what is worthless is exalted by the human race” Psalm 12:8. Don’t let music confuse you about what matters. Jesus and his life, death, and resurrection—that is what we should exalt.

God, make us discerning about music, movies, and media. Help us fill our minds with things that exalt you. Make us better worshipers. Protect us from the bad influences around us. “I will put the one who longs for it in a safe place” Psalm 12:5. Lord, put our hearts in a safe place.

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