FEBRUARY 12 "THE TABLETS YOU SMASHED"

A lot of the focus up until this point has been on Aaron and his total screw up, while Moses was on top of the mount with God. God says, "Chisel out two more stone tablets like the first ones......THAT YOU SMASHED." God could have so easily left that last part out, but He decides not to and throws it in right at the end of the sentence. Moses at this point must have taken a big gulp and said, " oh yeah, I did do that didn't I....would you believe me if I told you they slipped out of my hand? " No I guess you wouldn't cause you already told me I smashed them".  "That's right Moses, you smashed the stones that I, God, carved out with my very own finger!" I like the way God doesn't beleaguer the point, but He does address it to let Moses know, "that wasn't a good thing, just to let you know, but you're forgiven even though you have never even said sorry or asked for forgiveness".  Now this is not some new doctrine here that I am trying to present, that God automatically forgives our sin even when we don't ask for forgiveness, but what I am saying is that God gives us more Grace and Mercy than we give Him credit for. Moses has been through some craziness at this point, the shock of the golden calf, the revelry, his brother totally failing and succumbing to lewdness and revelry and then the 3000 that perished in the judgment sword fight. But yet in the midst of that, Moses lost his temper once again and smashed the tablets inscribed by God himself, not to mention Moses made them grind the dust from the golden calf, into the water and DRINK IT!  They saw the anger and temper of Moses flaring and in fear they drank. I don't quite recall God telling Moses to grind the calf into dust and throw it into the water and drink it. God is so gracious with us and in our times of wrath against God's stupid, stupid, faithless people, what's wrong with them.....He gently reminds us of our own selves, our own sins and what we have done that wasn't so great and haven't even said "sorry" because we are so fixated on other people's failures, but God also doesn't beleaguer the point...."just a reminder you did this, but's it's okay, I know you had a bad day, just bring me new stones and let's move on and oh Moses, show the same Grace with my people that I have shown with you and BTW, the burning and grinding of the calf and making them drink the water.....yeah...that wasn't cool and make sure you tell them that was your idea, not mine!"

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NOVEMBER 6 "DOES GOD STILL DO MIRACLES?"

 The Psalmist writes, "who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord!" I dare say, there are some reading this blog that might challenge that!"  They would say, "list them, I'm hard pressed to think of one! How'' your miracle life? Miracles go hand in hand with opportunity. We have our lives so structured and we don't venture out in faith, we keep it safe. Well then don't complain you have no miracles. Peter had to step out of the boat to experience a miracle, but don't forget there was a handful of other disciples that stayed in the boat, safe and experienced no miracle! You can have it both ways.  Christians who venture, in faith, are the ones that have the "lists of miracles" to write about.   "Does God still do miracles? In your intellect you say, "yes of course", but in your heart what do you say? God does miracle, yes! Does He do miracles for you? Do you encourage others to believe in miracles and now you need ...
Read more

NOVEMBER 21 "CLASS WARFARE IS AN UGLY THING"

     There’s no denying, James is not that fond of “rich people”.  If it was only this reference in Chapter 5, that would be bad enough, but James has taken jabs at the rich in other chapters as well. No doubt, James did not grow up with affluence of any kind. We know from the Gospels that Joseph and Mary (James’ parents) were poor. Historians believe that Joseph died at an early age, as he is not mentioned in the Gospels; except in the early stages of Jesus’ life. Now with Joseph dead, James & Jesus, probably had to work that much harder to make ends meet at home. Jesus himself takes a jab at rich people saying, “ it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of an needle than for a rich person to get into heaven ”.  I’m sure in the  Church  of  Jerusalem  where James was an elder, there were not many affluent people in that congregation. However we cannot deny that it was Joseph of Arimathea, an affluent man , a prominent member of th...
Read more

FEBRUARY 8 "ABANDONED IN MY TIME OF NEED"

   This may end up being one of the greater indictments against The Church of Jesus Christ at our judgement; that we abandoned our brothers and sisters in their most dire time of need. In our reading today, the Psalmist eludes to a time of great anguish in his life and because of this his strength is failing; he then goes on to say concerning his friends, "I am a dread to my friends....I am forgotten by them". Unfortunately, it is when we are not at our best that our brothers and sisters in Christ seem to get turned off by us and often abandon us when we need them the most! Why is that? Is it because of selfish reasons, after all, who doesn't want to hang around upbeat people full of joy and victory, but are there not times that we need to also grieve with those that are grieving?! Another reason is their weakness probably turns us off, "why are you even struggling with this ....what's wrong with you!!?" Thence, we're turned off and leave them to struggl...
Read more