Tag: Bible

Tested

On By Judy GlasserIn March2 Comments

We all go through a lot of tests in our life.  God sometimes tests our faith just like he tested Israel’s faith in Judges 2.  I think Satan also tests us in some of our weakest moments to see if we’ll sin and make his smile.March 17 2014

Sometimes we test ourselves to see if we’re up for a challenge.  And we all have people in our lives who test our patience every time we’re with them.

Lots of tests.  There are times that we pass the test and others where we fail.  We read about how the Israelites failed some of their tests over and over and over again.  They would fall into sin but, fortunately, they would also repent.

Repenting is the key to keeping our relationship right with God.  God knows what we’ve done, we’re just agreeing with him that it’s a sin when we repent.  True repentance includes a genuine attempt at turning away from the sin – trying not to do it again.  If we don’t intend to try to stop the sin, we are not repenting no matter what words come out of our mouths.

And God is not pleased with empty promises to change.

They Can’t Do That!

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

The Eastern tribes of Israel had left to go back over the Jordan after completing their promise to help conquer theMarch 15 2014 Promised Land for the rest of the tribes.  They left with Joshua’s blessing and with large herds of livestock, great quantities of clothing along with silver, gold, bronze and iron.

They built a replica of the altar of the Lord near the Jordan before going over to the other side to their land.

March 15 2 2014The Western tribes were angered by this and gathered to go to war against their brothers.  They sent a priest along with the chief man of each tribe to go talk to the Eastern tribes.

They accused the Eastern tribe of breaking their faith with God of Israel and building an altar in their rebellion.

The Eastern tribes explained that this altar had a very different purpose.  They were worried that the Western tribes would someday forget that they all worshipped the same God so they built this altar as a witness to everyone that they shared the same God.March 15 4 2014

The Western tribes went home and happily reported to everyone the good news.

What could have been a deadly war between brothers turned into a celebration of unity. 

Because they talked about it.  Everyone listened to the other side before taking action.

True wisdom.

Finish the Race Well

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

Moses ran the race well all the way to the end.  He was obedient and strong in the faith to his last day.MMMMMMMMArch 9 2014

I want that to be my story and my legacy.  One of my other goals as I grow older is to become more and more Christ-like.  Not more and more crabby 🙂

Moses was a great man of faith.  We have a great man of faith living today – Billy Graham who recently celebrated his 95th birthday.  He is getting frail like all 95 year-olds and he was quoted as saying:

“One day you will hear that I have died.  It won’t be true.  Because I will be more alive after I leave this earth than I ever was when I lived on it.”

Amen!  Hallelujah!

Leviticus 26, 2014

On By Judy GlasserIn March2 Comments

If you obey me, I will grow much fruit in your life.  Your work will produce harvest after harvest after harvest.

I will bring peace to you and you will not be afraid.  I will remove the things that scare you and I will keep you safe.

When you face your enemies, I will be with you and you will have victory.March 6 2014

I will look on you with favor and I will keep all of my promises to you.  I will abundantly provide for all of your needs and I will always be with you.

I will be your God and you will be my people.

I am the Lord your God who has conquered death for you so you are no longer slaves to sin.  I have removed the burden of your sin and have adopted you as my sons and daughters.  You are now Prince and Princesses of a King.

These are the blessings of Obedience.  Amen! Hallelujah!

Unpopular

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

At a time when women were considered more of an item of property than an equal person, it is refreshing to see God give Zelophehad’s daughters the right to inherit their father’s property.March 2 2014

This just wasn’t done in this culture.  The sons inherited or the brothers or the male cousins.  Not the daughters.  As we read further in this chapter, I can just hear the male contingent of the family saying, ” But!  But! But!” and so we see God put conditions on the inheritance so it stays within the clan.

It’s a revolutionary decision.  And it’s just like God.  God always treated women well even when men didn’t.  He always weighed in on the side of the oppressed.  We see continuous examples of this throughout the Bible.  Jesus was an awesome example of this – he always stood up for the weak, the poor, the unpopular.

When we are making decisions about supporting the poor, the oppressed or unpopular, we never have to question what God would have us do.  It’s extremely clear.

God calls us to stand for those that are less privileged than we are.  Every time.

A Theocracy

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

In a theocracy, God rules.  He decides the laws and provides guidance for the people in all areas – politically, personally, economically.  There is little need for legislative or administrative groups in this type of government.  God is in control.

As we are reading through God’s laws in Number and Leviticus, we are watching God turn a slave population into a community.  He is giving them directions on hygiene and how to deal with each other in all kinds of situations.

God establishes a court system and defines what a crime is as well as assigning the appropriate punishment.

He also sets up regulations on matters of personal rights and responsibilities. 

As slaves, the Israelites had been under Egyptian law.  Now they needed their own civil laws in order to regulate daily activities and set up a working society.

Through it all, God was teaching them  how to be a holy and separate nation.

“One Nation under God.’

Sound familiar?

When I visited the presidential memorials in Washington, DC several years ago, I was deeply impressed by all of the scriptures engraved on the walls.  I was also reminded of how George Washington refused to be King.  He said that God was King.  So our founding fathers developed the president role.

Our nation began with God in control.  That is our heritage. 

Our nation is gradually wandering away from that but each of us still has the freedom to decide who is in control of our life.  Is is God?  Do we personally live in a theocracy each day?

It’s our choice.

 

It’s a Party!

On By Judy GlasserIn February2 Comments

The Israelites had several different festivals – each celebrating different things. 

The Festival of the Booths sounds like quite an adventure.  They would all go live in tents for a week as a reminder of the time all of the Israelites wandered in the wilderness.

The Year of the Jubilee was especially interesting.  Every 50 years, they were supposed to take a whole year off – that sounds like a great idea.  The land was supposed to lie fallow as well so it got a year off.Feb 24 2014

The Year of Jubilee was about redemption.  Slave and servants were set free, property that had been sold was given back to the original owner, houses were given back and inheritances restored.

Every 50 years.

Does it surprise anyone that there is no historical evidence that the Year of Jubilee was ever observed?

I’m not surprised.  Not at all.  Most of us are just too self-centered and greedy for that.  Many of us have trouble giving away stuff  out in our garage that we haven’t used for 10 years.  Give back the stuff, the garage AND the house?

That’s not happening this side of heaven.

But maybe one step towards celebrating some sort of Jubilee is if we can soften our hold on ‘things’ and give more away.  Give it away so other people can actually use it.  Clean out our closets and make some room for our cars in our garages.

Let’s all call THIS the Year of Jubilee and start giving away the things that we’ve been piling up because we think we might need them ‘some day’.  Let’s celebrate as other people get to benefit from our generosity.

Dear Father, Please help us loosen our hold on our ‘stuff’ so that this can be a year of increased freedom for us – our Jubilee.

He is Faithful

On By Judy GlasserIn February2 Comments

I don’t know most of you.  I’ve never met you.

Yet, if you love God and have accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, I know something very important about your life.  I know that God always has been faithful to you.  He always has been and he always will be.  That’s who he is, he can’t be any other way.Feb 15 2014

It’s a challenge for all of us to trust God when we’re in the middle of a storm in our life.  But then we remember the last time – when God was faithful.  And the time before that – when God was faithful.  And all of the times – God was faithful.  Sometimes he calms the storm and sometimes he just calms his child as the storm rages on but he is always faithful.

Moses reminds the Israelites about God’s faithfulness in Deuteronomy 1 as he prepares to hand over leadership to Joshua.  Moses is getting ready to head home to heaven.

He recounts the time when God commanded them to go into the Promised Land.  God had prepared this special place for them – it was very beautiful and extremely fruitful.  God had told them not to be afraid – he was going to go with them.

Instead of obeying, they sent spies to check out the land and then listened as 10 of the cowardly spies discouraged everyone by their negative report.  The Israelites ended up ‘grumbling in their tents.’  I like that phrase.  How often does our disobedience and lack of courage cause us to grumble in our tents?

Moses reminds the Israelites that they refused to trust in God who had rescued them from Egypt and who had guided them day and night through the desert.  They had seen how ‘the Lord God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”

And they still didn’t trust him.

Dear Father, Please help us trust in your faithfulness every minute of every day.

A Star

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

God had a plan for our redemption right from the beginning.

The Israelites had not reached the Promised Land when Balaam shared a prophecy about a coming Messiah….

A star from Jacob

who will conquer all of their enemies.Feb 11 2014

Balaam also said, ” I see him, but not now.

I behold him, but not near.”

How blessed we are to live in a time where we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us!  We can witness the power of the Holy Spirit living in us – we feel his presence. 

We ‘behold’ him and he is very near in our hearts and in our minds.

The Messiah has come!  He lives inside of us today!

Thank you, dear God!

The Explanation

On By Judy GlasserIn FebruaryLeave a comment

They did what they wanted, not what God told them to do, and they paid the consequences.

The Israelites rebelled and refused to go into the Promised Land because of the negative report from 10 of the spies who had scouted it out.  They rejected the fact that God said he would give them success in the battle so they could live in this very fertile and beautiful land.  God wanted them to have it.

But they refused.  They were scared.  They disobeyed.

As a result, God tells them that they will wander in the wilderness for 40 years until the last person from this wicked generation has passed away.  The 10 spies who discouraged all of the people were struck with a plague as a result of their disobedience.

So, what do the Israelites do?  NOW they decided they were ready to go into the land.  NOW they disobey again by not listening to God when he says it will be 40 more years.  They think (dangerous words) that they have paid the price for their earlier disobedience and they want to go live in the Promised land.  They totally disregard God’s latest instruction and go fight the Amalekites.  Moses tells them not to go – “The Lord is not with you.”

But they go anyway…and they are defeated.  No surprise there.

Doesn’t this explain a lot of the pain and defeat we see in the world around us?  People doing what they want, ignoring God.  Rejecting God’s direction and going our own ways only to be defeated over and over again.

God has so much more planned for us!  He has a purpose for us.  He wants us to experience a life full of joy.  And he wants to be the leader of our life so he can make all of this happen.

We are more than conquerors with Christ!

Thank you, dear God!