He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
I suppose the common sense version of this is to keep your mouth shut and know what you are saying. No one likes a braggart. Actually, I'm pretty sure people don't like or trust a braggart. There are times in my life that I look back at now and it makes me cringe. I suppose it is a very sad thing to look back at those times and want to erase the words. Sad, but typical.
When we turn from our old sinful life we tend to not destroy all those metal images and high places we worshiped. Back in the dusty rooms of our soul we hide our gods of lust and greed. Within the sight of our friends we continue to place on high the sins we sacrifice our money and blood towards.
By not driving them out, they forever will be bards in our eyes and thorns in are sides.
Oh yeah, we are going to take names and kick butt!
I'm sure at times that was going through the minds of the disciples as they followed Jesus. Need food for an army? Seven loaves and some small fish will feed four thousand. Need a hero? Well how about Moses and Elijah. No one kicked butt like Moses. The sea and ground will swallow up your enemies with him around.
It had to have been so hard to even imagine a savior who would die for gentiles. The disciples were coming from a time of watching Rome crush the world and force fake gods upon them. Them ... God's people. Surely God would send the Christ as a David. As a Moses. To take a firm hand and crush those who stood against God.
How could they understand that Christ was here to die?
Sometimes when I listen to these passages about Israel I'm going: "Oh COME ON! You're complaining again?!" All the while arrogantly keeping in the back of my mind that I wouldn't do that.
So I decided to really think about it. I figure with these versus we are listening to years of time. And how have I lived over just the last few years of my life? You know, I haven't been any better than the complainers in Numbers. Some times I've found myself thinking: "Well God ... what have you done for me lately."
Dear LORD, remind me of your strength and to rely on you. To be quiet in suffering and vocal in speaking the truth. To trust your hand and in the time of your plans. Amen.
We are called to be in the world but not of the world.
A risk you run in picking who you run with is in how they will affect your heart. You may be thinking that you can change them ... but it is more likely they will change you. For the worse. So we need to try and balance friendship with people who can strengthen our faith, and the lost of the world. We must not confuse the two.
Do you ever find yourself thinking more about man than God?
Which would bug you more: a friend cursing and using the LORD's name while playing basketball OR a friend asking another player to not curse while playing basketball?
So often we think about what other people think of us. In high school it is practically all we think about. I suppose in a way the rules of man are comforting because they are external to us. We can complain about them, list them, rewrite them, and break them. On the other hand God's commands are internal. We can't get away from them because He has placed them upon our heart. And over time we try to harden our hearts to keep face in front of man.
Speaking the truth isn't always easy. Many times we don't want hear it and we fear others if we would say it. Before Israel two men stood for God and all the people wanted to kill them. Kill them for not saying what THEY, the people, wanted to hear.
Speaking truth will have consequences and we should not use the truth as a stick to beat people. And we should not hold it back from them with the false hope that a soft lie will smooth things over. Speak the truth in love and let God work on their hearts.
What are the tassels in my life? Well here are a few things that remind me of God ...
One: Never place anything on my bible. I remember that from my parents when they gave me the bible I still use today. Every time I look at my bible I remember that and, sometimes, have to take stuff off of it.
Two: My phone. I've turned my phone/pda into a reminder. I keep my prayer list on it. I have all of the bible in audio and text.
Three: Dead plants. Every time I see dead plants I think of spring and burning them. And how the LORD will gather us up and burn up all the waste of our life.
Each time I've been wanting to write what struck me as I was listening to these passages. My fear for Numbers was: "Wow, that is a lot of names."
But, for this section what struck me wasn't the numbers and names. It was the tasks. In our lives God has given each of us abilities and tasks to apply those skills towards. As in the order He provided to Israel for just moving as a body of people from day to day. The only way we, as a church family, can go about our day to day tasks is by not doing everything. Rather, by doing what He has placed in front of us.
We can't expect our leaders to do it all. We are here to be the hands, feet, or even the belly button for the body of Christ.
I like the retirement plan for the Levites: They minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard, but they shall do no service.
I suppose as we age we are still called to keep guard over the church. Who better to watch over the family than those that have gone through the same difficulties in life? Who better to turn to then those who have gained wisdom by looking back on their struggles or suffering?
Right now at 36 I can see and remember what those who are under 24 are going through. The temptation of sexual sin, anger, desires of social status, depression in being alone, or any other of the many rocks in their path. And those further down life's path can look at where I am now and give me guidance in getting through my current difficulties.
I suppose our retirement plan is the same today. Being on guard.
Lately I like to refer to my church family as my family by blood. The Blood of Christ.
I love my wife and kids, my parents, my brother and his family, my sister and her family, my cousins, all my in-laws, and on down the line. But, which blood is really more powerful? That which runs in my veins? Or that which was poured out on the cross?
And what a greater blessing it is when your family is bound to you by the blood in your veins and by the Blood of Christ. To know we will be going there to see our Savior and to see our family. And to know that our brothers and sisters in the Blood of Christ we be standing by their sides to greet us.
