Where God Commands, He Equips - Exodus 25-29

Exodus 25:23-30 (ESV)

“You shall make a table of acacia wood. Two cubits shall be its length, a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a molding of gold around it. And you shall make a rim around it a handbreadth wide, and a molding of gold around the rim. And you shall make  for it four rings of gold, and fasten the rings to the four corners at its four legs. Close to the frame the rings shall lie, as holders for the poles to carry the table. You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with these. And you shall make  its plates and dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold. And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me regularly.

The phrase And you shall make occurs so many times in this book it is hard to count.  The word for make in the Hebrew is used over 3,500 times in the Old Testament and 650+ of them it is translated make.  They are told to make, in this section, the Table for the Show Bread.  But the focus of this post is more on this notion of the nation of Israel being  told to make all these things from the Mercy Seat to the Tent to the Ark of the Covenant to the Curtains, etc.   

To put this in perspective, they are living in tents in the wilderness.   They are moving from place to place.  Their enemies are all around them.   They are gathering mana from heaven each morning for food and drinking water that, at times, has to be brought out of a rock.  In the midst of all this they are told to make all the items for the Tabernacle and there is not Home Depot for centuries.   

This is an absolute miracle of God as He instructs them, provided for them when they left Egypt (with the goods the Egyptian showered with them when they left), and provided talented people with skills in these crafts to created this magnificent Tabernacle in the wilderness.  It could be disassembled in a moment and transported over rough terrain, only to be reassembled and up in operation upon arrival to its next location.  

Many miracles are recorded in the Bible.  This is probably not one that is often referred to when we count them.  But where God calls, He equips.  Where God demands we make He provides the ability to do so.   Nothing God calls us to do is every absent God’s power to do it.  

Married or Single For Christ? 1 Corinthians 6-7

1 Corinthians 7:8-9 (ESV)

To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

To find clarity about the above text we have to understand what is both happening in the Corinthian church and what Paul’s instruction and mindset is regarding marriage and being unmarried.  

The Corinthian church is in the midst of a sexual deviant city.   Many of the men coming to Christ would have already had multiple wives.  Many of the women would have already been divorced by an unbelieving man who simply wanted a new wife.   The church actually sent a message to Paul asking about some clarity regarding marriage and even sexual activities in the marriage.   Note:

1 Corinthians 7:1-4 (ESV)

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

With this background it is important to understand that Paul thought being single in Christ was a spiritual gift.  Note:

1 Corinthians 7:6-7 (ESV)

Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.

This spiritual gift from God came with the beauty of not having these sexual desires that those who do marry have.  In verses six and seven Paul’s statement that it is better to marry than to burn with passion, is not meant to be a limitation or a negative condemnation of believers who has sexual urges.  What Paul is saying is that the gift of being single, to serve the Lord, comes with the strength to resist those urges.  Those who are called to marriage are not given that strength and, therefore, should marry, least the need for sexual relationships become a weakness in their walk. 

Paul is firmly telling the church that there is a place for marriage (that comes with sexual urges) and there is a place for being single in the church (that focuses more on complete devotion to Christ) and the gift of not having those same urges.   

Paul is not promoting one life style over the other. He is not condemning one over the other.  He is stating to them that God puts us in the situation He wants us and therefore we need to stay in that situation, being gifted and equipped by God for it.  This is why he ends the letter this way:

1 Corinthians 7:20-24 (ESV)

Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. Were you a bondservant when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.

He Has A Plan For Us! Luke 1-2

Luke 1:16-17 (ESV)

And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

The “he” in the above passage is a baby to be born to an old priest named Zechariah and his equally old wife Elizabeth.   The baby’s name would be John.  Later he would be referred to as John the Baptist.   Before he was born he was given the above mission.   

We may think that unusual, but it is not. Yes, the announcement of his birth and the outline of the works he would do are unusual, but this is not uncommon in the life of God’s people. It is the norm.  Notice what Paul says to us about our lives:

Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV)

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

The key verse in the above is verse 10.   We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  

We might want to stop and think in our lives as to why we are on this planet.  In the above we are told why:  God has a purpose for us. He prepared those works beforehand that we should walk in them.   

God has a plan for us for today and tomorrow.  Our job is to obey His word and allow His sovereignty to direct us in our walk with Him.  Here is how Solomon framed it:

Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)

The heart of man plans his way,

but the LORD establishes his steps.

If we make our plans based upon God’s word, we will walk the steps established by God.  

God Keeps His Covenant - Jeremiah 32-26

Jeremiah 32:36-41 (ESV)

They Shall Be My People; I Will Be Their God

“Now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.

As Jeremiah records these words from God he is held captive by the king. Why?

Jeremiah 32:3 (ESV)

For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the LORD: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it;

Jeremiah’s prophecy is the equivalent of someone today telling their nation they are going to be taken captive by another nation. It was not a populist message.  Jeremiah was the lone person saying all this.  So King Zedekiah canceled him by putting him in prison.  But that did not keep Jeremiah from speaking the truth.   Most of the truth was along the same lines that Zedekiah feared; that God was going to punish them all.   

However, the above lines are one of the few in the book where Jeremiah outlines God’s favor on Israel.   In fact, in the previous chapter God even instructed Jeremiah to buy land from his cousin.   He bought the land and put the deed in a jar.   This was a vivid picture to the king and Israel that God was still going to be faithful to His convent and bless Israel.  There would be a remnant that God would bless.   

God had made a covenant with David and nothing was going to break that covenant.  Note:

Jeremiah 33:19-22 (ESV)

The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: “Thus says the LORD: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me.”

God was going to put this covenant into the hearts of Israel.   He did that when Jesus, His Son, died on the cross.  God fulfilled the covenant with David through His Son, Jesus.  He has placed faithfulness into the hearts of those who believe in Jesus by giving us the Spirit of God.  God fulfilled His covenant in no way the nation thought it would be fulfilled.  God fulfilled His covenant in our hearts.  

We Can Know God - Job 37

Job 37:23 (NASBStr)

“The Almighty — we cannot find Him;

He is exalted in power

And He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness.

To grasp the above statement by Elihu we need to recall something he would have heard Job utter a few chapters earlier in the book:

Job 23:3 (NASBStr)

“Oh that I knew where I might find Him,

That I might come to His seat!

It might be wise to look later in time and in Scripture at what Paul utters to young Pastor Timothy, as well:

1 Timothy 6:15-16 (NASBStr)

which He will bring about at the proper time —He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

Or, how about Moses:

Deuteronomy 29:29 (NASBStr)

“ The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.

Elihu is coming to an end of his treatment and talk to Job.  Job has, as we see, earlier, actually wondered how he might "find" God.    Elihu seems to have a contradiction between the first lines of this verse (we cannot find Him) and the second and third line (HE IS ...).   How can Elihu state in one breath we can't find God and then in another a definitive piece of knowledge about Him?  The answer is that there is much, much we can't and don't know about God.  We can't find Him like we find the sun, a cloud, or rain (what Elihu has been describing in this chapter as evidence of God).  But, there are some things we DO know about God because God has chosen to revel them to us.   Note Psalm 19:1; Psalm 139; Romans 1:18-19 as examples were we are told that creation reveals the character of God.   Enough, according to Paul, that we should know to worship Him.  We don't know everything or even much about God in the sense of comparing what we do know to who God is.   But, what we do know is that He is just and righteous in all that He does.  We can and should behold God as knowing Him, but not knowing all we can about Him.   Each day we see more of His grace and mercy and love.   Paul said it best here:

Romans 11:33 (NASBStr)

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

God Sustains Us - Psalms 54-46

Psalms 55:23 (ESV)

But you, O God, will cast them down

into the pit of destruction;

men of blood and treachery

shall not live out half their days.

But I will trust in you.

Before we address this verse let’s look at the context of Psalm 55.   The psalm starts out with this heading:

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David.

A Maskil was a Hebrew literary tool like a poem or musical score.  Since it reads with stringed instruments we can assume this was a liturgy of some sort.  Perhaps people sang it as they went to worship.   

This Maskill contains several references to someone who is frustrating or actually persecuting David.   You can imagine the tone of the song as it is sung.  This is not a victory march it sounds more like a funeral drige.  

Whoever is the subject of David’s pain is not a stranger to him.  Note what he writes early in the lines of the song:

Psalms 55:12-13 (ESV)

For it is not an enemy who taunts me—

then I could bear it;

it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—

then I could hide from him.

But it is you, a man, my equal,

my companion, my familiar friend.

Psalms 55:20-21 (ESV)

My companion stretched out his hand against his friends;

he violated his covenant.

His speech was smooth as butter,

yet war was in his heart;

his words were softer than oil,

yet they were drawn swords.

This is a companion, a familiar friend.   Now put that thought into the context of the above verse.  David is claiming victory over this challenge in his life.  He ends the entire song by praising God that God will cast down these men of blood and treachery.   

David does not seem to mind that these previous companions will be struck down by God.   He, in fact, knows that God will sustain him through this.  Look at the previous verse David wrote:

Psalms 55:22 (ESV)

Cast your burden on the LORD,

and he will sustain you;

he will never permit

the righteous to be moved.

David believes that his righteousness will sustain him as God works through this challenge.  Regarding those who are hurting him, he believes that God will cast them down. 

We probably struggle with past friends and companions who have left us and turned their back upon us.   Our goal should always be restoration.  But God is the one who cares for us. It is not us who are to find vengeance.  It is Him.  

Sin Causes Death - 2 Samuel 10-14

2 Samuel 11:14-21 (ESV)

In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died. Then Joab sent and told David all the news about the fighting. And he instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, then, if the king’s anger rises, and if he says to you, ‘Why did you go so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall? Who killed Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?’ then you shall say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also.’”

Sin causes us to do bad things.  Things we would never really think of doing.  David purposely put Uriah in danger for his death, simply to cover up his own sin.  When we sin it takes our mindset into places it should not go.  Sin can cause many problems.   Think of these examples:

1. Sin caused Cain to kill Abel. 

2. Sin caused Moses to kill an Egyptians. 

3. Sin caused Lot to stay in Sodom. 

4. Sin caused Noah to sin after the flood. 

5. Sin caused Absalom to rape Tamar.

6.  Sin caused Ananias and Sapphira to lie about their offering. 

7.  Sin caused men stone Stephen. 

8. Sin caused religious leaders to crucify Jesus. 

9. Sin caused Peter to deny Jesus. 

10. Sin caused Demas to forsake his faith.  

Sin causes us to do wicked things.   James said it this way:

James 1:13-14 (ESV)

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.