When To Camp and When to Travel - Numbers 9:23

"So they camped or traveled at the Lord’s command, and they did whatever the Lord told them through Moses." When Israel was in the wilderness, God led the nation with a pillar of cloud or fire. The pillar regularly appeared as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When the pillar settled over the Tabernacle and the camp of Israel, it represented the God’s presence and protection. The cloud or fire also provided divine guidance by indicating when the Israelites should move on. When the pillar was stationary, Israel stayed where they were. When it lifted and moved, the Israelites broke camp and followed. They camped in different places for varying amounts of time, sometimes briefly and sometimes for a longer period. The Israelites were constantly looking at the pillar of cloud or fire, God's presence among them, to see what they should do. Should they pack up camp and move on? Look and see if the pillar of cloud or fire over the Tabernacle has lifted. Should they remain where they were? Look and see if the pillar of cloud or fire remained in place over the Tabernacle. The indwelling Holy Spirit is God's presence among us, individually and collectively. He is our pillar of cloud or fire. If we constantly look to Him for guidance, He will show us when to camp and when to travel!

Genuine Faith - I Peter 1:6-7

"There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world."

As Christians we talk a lot about faith and we profess to have faith. However, in this passage the Apostle Peter says that we can have faith, but until it is put to the test by the trials of life it is not genuine faith.

When your faith is actualized by circumstances that you cannot control, substantiated by events on which you did not plan, and authenticated by challenges that exceed your abilities to accomplish them, then you are are entering into the uncharted territory of your faith called genuine faith.

When life becomes a matter of life or death and faith is all you have, then what you have is genuine faith.

When you are at the place where all you can do is plead for God's mercy and accept His will, that is the place where genuine faith begins.

When put to the test and you endure, your faith becomes authentic and real.

Why does faith work this way? To be a professional athlete requires a lot of practice, years of practice. To be a disciple of Jesus requires the practice and exercise of faith in Him.

With practice and exercise, faith is refined and strengthened and it becomes genuine--the real thing.

But why do we want genuine faith if it is so difficult and agonizing to attain? We do it because Jesus suffered and died to redeem us.

Peter goes on to explain in the following verses: "You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls" (vs. 8-9).

A Perverse Salvation - Mark 15:15

"So to pacify the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He ordered Jesus flogged with a lead-tipped whip, then turned him over to the Roman soldiers to be crucified." Why was it necessary for Jesus not only to suffer an agonizing death, but to have severe cruelty and indignity inflicted upon Him? In addition to being flogged with a lead-tipped whip by Pilate's order, Jesus was also:

• Taunted, struck on the head, spit upon, and mocked by a large number of Roman soldiers (vs. 16-20)
• Verbally abused and mocked by people passing by the place where He was executed (vs. 29-30)
• Mocked by the Jewish religious leaders (vs. 31-32)
• Ridiculed by the criminals who were executed alongside Him (vs. 32)

While it seems that the immensity of the indignities that Jesus suffered were almost perverse, it was somehow necessary because of the extent of human depravity. In other words, the magnitude of His suffering expressed the enormity of His salvation. Although I can't exactly explain why Jesus had to suffer so much, I do know that the dignity with which He endured indignity was (and is) transformative: "When the Roman officer who stood facing him saw how he had died, he exclaimed, This man truly was the Son of God!" (vs. 39). He must be the Son of God redeeming us to endure so much in such a way. So, let the way that Jesus suffered and died define the way that you live!

God Is Thinking About You - Psalm 139

"How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can't even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!" (vs. 17-18). It's hard to imagine that the Creator of the universe, our Heavenly Father, can think about you so much! This psalm assures you that not only does God think about you constantly, but:

1. God knows you completely: "O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me" (vs. 1).
2. God made you to be extraordinary: "Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous--how well I know it" (vs. 14).
3. God has your life all planned out: "Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed" (vs. 16).
4. God abides with you to help you accomplish His plan for your life: "I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!" (vs. 7).

If God put so much effort into planning and creating you, then it is no wonder that He is thinking about you. Are you thinking about Him?

A God of Distinction - Leviticus 22:31-32

"You must faithfully keep all my commands by putting them into practice, for I am the Lord. Do not bring shame on my holy name, for I will display my holiness among the people of Israel. I am the Lord who makes you holy." Previously in this chapter, God explained to the people of Israel that when they made an offering to Him with an animal sacrifice, the animal must be without any defects. In other words, their worship must be deliberate and honest because God is holy. Worshiping a holy God required their worship to be true and without pretense and the best way to ensure that was to offer an animal without any kind of physical defect. A defective animal could be one they likely needed to dispose of in order to maintain the integrity of their herds and so no personal sacrifice would be necessary. Their offering would be meaningless--an empty ritual. Interaction with God requires meaningful and deliberate participation from us because He is not just any god, He is the holy God! We did not create Him; He created us. Therefore, God is distinct from His creation and His creation worships Him. The only way we can approach God to have this meaningful interaction is if we ourselves are holy. But holiness is not something we can attain; it is imputed by God Who is holy. Once imparted upon us, however, holiness is something we maintain by putting God's commands into practice!

Opportunity Knocks - Mark 6:37

"But Jesus said, You feed them. With what? they asked. We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!" Before Jesus performed the miracle of feeding the 5,000, He first commanded the disciples to feed them. Now His command could be interpreted in two ways. Either Jesus was commanding the disciples to let Him empower them to perform the miracle or He was trying to teach them a lesson about God's miraculous provision. We usually interpret His command to the disciples in terms of the latter, but let's take the perspective that He was actually commanding them to feed the 5,000. This being the case, they clearly failed to obey His command. So why did they fail to perform the miracle? Because they viewed the situation as a personal problem not a divine opportunity. Their immediate response to Jesus's command was to explain the way they would do it--"work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people"--which, obviously, was not a viable solution to the immediate situation. Don't we often take the same approach to life--as though it is full of problems to overcome rather than miracles to be performed! What if the disciples had responded, "Absolutely Lord, with your help we can do anything for your glory!" and allowed Jesus to empower them to feed the 5,000. Think about it. Is your life full of personal problems or divine opportunities? "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:13).

Walking in Freedom - Psalm 119:44-45

"I will keep on obeying your instructions forever and ever. I will walk in freedom, for I have devoted myself to your commandments." How do laws set you free? Don't laws bind you? Psalm 119 is a Hebrew acrostic poem. There are twenty-two stanzas, one for each successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Each of the eight verses within each stanza begins with the Hebrew letter named in its heading. The unifying theme of the psalm is love for and obedience to God's law or word. Several Hebrew words are frequently used in the psalm to represent God's word and are translated as instructions, laws, words, regulations, statutes, commands, decrees, commandments, and promises. In these verses the psalmist says that because he obeys God's instructions then he walks in freedom. In other words, adherence to God's word will set you free. Jesus said, "And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). When we live according to God's word, then we are set free from the law of sin and death because we live in the truth of God's salvation and are no longer subject to God's wrath. The Apostle Paul says that unless we belong to Christ, then we are under the control of sin: "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death...He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins" (Romans 8:1-3). So freedom is a matter of what controls you--sin or God's truth. Obedience to God's word sets you free from the power of sin so that you can walk in freedom.

Master of the Universe - Psalm 115:1

"Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness."

In this Psalm of thanksgiving for God’s blessings, the Psalmist ascribes all glory to God, who is the true source of hope and blessing.

People deny God’s presence or power because they may not see or hear Him. But God is in the heavens and though unseen on the earth, He still yields all power and authority over the physical realm in which we live.

So, God is deserving of all glory and praise.

God is truly the Master of the universe!

That His power and authority are at work in this world in ways unseen to us is demonstrated in the parable of the seed growing secretly in Mark 4:26-29.

In the parable Jesus told about a farmer who planted seed in the ground. The seed sprouted and grew continually even though the farmer did not observe it or understand how it happened. Nevertheless, a leaf from the seed pushed through the ground and then heads of wheat were formed and finally the grain ripened (Mark 4:28).

The meaning of the parable was that the growth and consummation of God's kingdom in this world and in individual human lives does not depend on our action,  although we participate by spreading the good news of the Kingdom.

But, we can't grow God's Kingdom. Only God Himself.  He's the Master of His Kingdom, the Master of the Universe!

Still, we are responsible to scatter the gospel seed so that God can harvest souls for eternal life!

So to God goes all the glory because of His unfailing love and faithfulness toward us!