Devotional on Haggai

2013 – LeFleur’s Bluff State Park, Jackson, MS

Sorting out a passage and finding at its core: grace
Haggai 2: From now on you can count on a blessing.
ā€œTemple feverā€ is sweeping the nation as governor Zerubbabel and his people give themselves to the rebuilding project. One group thatā€™s especially energized is the priests who’ve served without a Temple. Theyā€™re sure things are going to be much better once the Temple is restored. Haggai comes teach them a core spiritual truth and he does so by asking two questions. Question number one has to do with imparted holiness. If meat from a sacrifice is put into some priestā€™s pocket, it will make his robe holy, but what about other foods then touched by the robe? The priests respond that thereā€™s no ripple effect concerning what other foods the robe might touch. Therefore, those foods remain unholy. The second question concerns the flip side of things. If a person touches a corpse, becoming ceremonially unclean and then touches various foods, do they also become unclean? The answer is ā€œyesā€ ā€“ the ā€œuncleannessā€ is imparted to whatever that person touches. Haggai then tells them that the sacrifices theyā€™ve been making havenā€™t been proper because of their spiritual failure. The sin of not rebuilding the Temple has impacted all they’ve done, making them all worthless. Even as a person who touches a corpse makes all they touch unclean, so has their disobedience concerning the rebuilding of the Temple had a negative impact on all their religious practices. The flip side, which I wish Haggai had more clearly stated, is just as disturbing. Just offering proper sacrifices in the rebuilt Temple isnā€™t going to have the hoped for ripple effect of making the entire nation holy. Itā€™s like the robe touched by the sanctified meat. Itā€™s made holy but thatā€™s as far as it goes. Touching other things with that robe wonā€™t make them also holy. In other words, rebuilding the Temple isnā€™t a cure-all. Still, the prophet has some wonderful, and educational, news. From the moment they returned to God he began to bless them. His blessings werenā€™t a result of their making the right kind of sacrifices; in fact, they werenā€™t the right kind. Rather the blessings were the result of his grace. As I read this especially confusing little passage I come away with a better grasp of this truth: sin has contaminated our entire lives, making us exempt from any hope of self-manufactured holiness. Even when I return to God, my renewed commitment to him will still come up short because of the contamination of sin that has ruled my life. However, Iā€™m not without hope because of Godā€™s grace. He blesses me, not because Iā€™ve managed to restore all that was broken but because he chooses to respond to my surrender to him with wonderful grace.
Take Away: The blessings of the Lord are the result of his grace.

Devotional on Hebrews

2014 – Oregon 101 – along the southern coast

No more blood needed

Hebrews 9: He brought together God and his people in this new way.

It was a bloody religion. Even the giving of the Law was accompanied by the sheading of the blood of innocent animals. Through the centuries the blood continues to flow and on one day each year, in particular, the blood is taken behind the curtain into the Holy of Holies to atone for the sins of the High Priest and all the people. Then, Jesus, the Son of God, comes to make the ultimate blood sacrifice: his own. This High Priest gives himself, and in so doing, finishes the old bloody system once and for good. No more blood and no more curtain. These things that stood as a barrier between God and man are abolished for good, belonging in history books and museums rather than in real life. Jesus creates a new connection between God and man, the curtain removed and no more blood necessary. Today, we follow the Lordā€™s command to ā€œrememberā€ by receiving the Lordā€™s Supper. In the cup though, we donā€™t need blood. The absence of blood is, in itself, a lesson. Because Christā€™s blood was shed long ago, just a bit of wine (in my church tradition, its ā€œnew wineā€) is all thatā€™s needed.

Take Away: Christā€™s sacrifice was what was needed all along and it never needs to be made again.

Devotional on Leviticus

2014 – Day trip to Vancouver, BC

How do the people of God live?
Leviticus 22: I insist on being treated with holy reverence among the People of Israel.
As worship instructions continue the rules concerning types of sacrifices are given. As Godā€™s people they’re to bring unblemished animals when making sacrifices. If someone wants to give God something less as a freewill offering, okay ā€“ but it can never be an ā€œofficialā€ offering. Even then, there are many limitations. We get lost in the rules and regulations and are in danger of missing the main point in them. The reason for the rules is that to do otherwise is to treat God with less than reverence. Understanding the reason for the no-sick-animals rule transforms my reading of the passage. That which I bring to God and that which I do in his Name is not to be second rate. There must always be an element of reverence in my dealings with God. One answer to the question, ā€œhow do a people of God live?ā€ is this: with holy reverence toward God.
Take Away: How can I best treat the Lord with holy reverence?

Devotional on Numbers

2014 – Mt St Helens, WA

Celebrate God!
Numbers 29: Celebrate a Festival to God for seven days.
Sometimes I have the impression that the Law is all about ā€œdonā€™t do thisā€ and ā€œdonā€™t do that.ā€ While I understand that there are plenty of rules like that itā€™s good to be reminded that the Lord specifically orders his people to take days and even weeks off from work and during those times to celebrate all heā€™s doing for them. Iā€™ve just read two whole chapters about such events. Thereā€™s the weekly Sabbath plus several annual celebrations. These festivals always include making sacrifices that the Lord gives back to the people. In other words, a lamb is given as a sacrifice, but part of it is given back to the one making the sacrifice. In this, we see the Lord joining them in the celebration! I think this is very neat! God says, ā€œOkay, I have another rule for you: on the first day of the seventh month each year, take a vacation, bring offerings to the Temple and letā€™s enjoy one anotherā€™s company for a week.ā€ This is an element of my relationship with the Lord that I need to remember. Serving the Lord isnā€™t all ā€œdos and donā€™ts.ā€ Heā€™s good to me and he invites me to take time away from everyday life to celebrate that goodness.
Take Away: Followers of the Lord have good reason to celebrate.

Devotional on Judges

2014 – Grand Canyon, AZ

Donā€™t make stupid promises to God
Judges 11: I’ll give to God whatever comes out of the door of my house.
Jephthah makes a stupid vow. As he leads Israel into battle against the Ammonites he promises God that, if he’s victorious, he’ll make an offering of the first thing to come out of the door of his house when he returns home. Now, the battle is won and as he returns home itā€™s his own daughter who first comes out the door to greet him. Apparently, he keeps his stupid vow and offers her as a sacrifice. This is wrong on so many levels that itā€™s hard to know where to start. For one thing, God doesn’t work this way. God does what is right because heā€™s righteous. He doesnā€™t play ā€œletā€™s make a dealā€ with us. Beyond that, God doesn’t want human sacrifices. In the history of the Israelites, only one time is such a demand given and that’s with Abraham and Isaac. Even in the dark ages of Judges every citizen of Israel knows the story; and they all know that God stops Abraham before one drop of Isaac’s blood is shed. Finally (although there’s more) just because we say something stupid to God doesn’t mean he wants us to do it. “God, if you make me well Iā€™ll be a preacher” might just get a response from God saying, “Iā€™m the One who calls preachers, not you! What makes you think I want the likes of you as a preacher in the first place?” Iā€™m to live in a genuine relationship with God, not one in which Iā€™m constantly trying to bargain with or manipulate him into getting what I want.
Take Away: The Lord doesnā€™t want to make deals with us. Rather, he wants to connect with our lives.

Devotional on 2 Samuel

2015 -Pictured Rocks Cruise – Munising, MI

Getting out what we put in
2 Samuel 24: I’m not going to offer God, my God, sacrifices that are no sacrifice.
The final story in 2 Samuel is difficult, if not impossible, to understand. It seems that David, fearful that God wouldn’t supply an army strong enough to protect Israel, decides to do a national census. The result is that the Lord moves to punish David and Israel. The king is given three choices of punishment and David picks three days of epidemic sweeping the land because heā€™d rather be directly in the hands of God than be punished through the actions of his enemies as is proposed in the other two alternatives. This story doesn’t work for me very well. Offhand, it sounds as though an epidemic came and someone connected it to David’s lack of faith in taking the census. However, itā€™s right here in the Bible, so Iā€™ll take it at face value, while, at the same time, keep in mind that there’s certainly more going on here than I see when simply reading the story. However, what happens next is easy to understand and challenging to me in my relationship with God. The plague is sweeping across the land and thousands are dying. David is told to build an altar in a specific place. If he does so, and offers sacrifices there, the plague will stop. David goes to the owner of the land and asks to purchase it. The man, Araunah, offers to give it to him but David replies that he isn’t going to offer to God that which costs him nothing. The price is set, the purchase made, the altar built, and the sacrifice is made, thus ending the plague. While I struggle with this story, Iā€™m reminded of the tendency to offer God that which costs us nothing. We attend church when itā€™s convenient, we pray when we think we have the time, and in general, we practice a low impact religion. David’s example is one we need. We get out of our relationship with God what we put into it.
Take Away: Iā€™m going to give the Lord my best because I want to get all I can from living in a quality relationship with him.

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