Tag: Israelites

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A way out.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭12‬-‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Paul, just before this summary about temptations, commentates on the Israelites and the errors of their ways. He lists the things they participated in: celebrations with feasting, drinking and pagan worship (revelry); engaging in sexual immorality; and grumbling. If we wondered why God was so upset with them and judged them harshly, like 23,000 of them dying in one day. Now we know.

Paul takes the examples of the Israelites and brings it to the believers in Corinth. Corinth was a cesspool of sexual experiences, all under the guise of freedoms and rights to express themselves. Corinth went far beyond Israel’s own lust for idolatry. Paul makes it clear to believers – the “freedoms,” sexual interactions and feasts offering food to idols are in actuality participating with demons! In vs 19-20, he writes, “What am I trying to say? Am I saying that food offered to idols has some significance, or that idols are real gods? No, not at all. I am saying that these sacrifices are offered to demons, not to God. And I don’t want you to participate with demons.” This is why it is critical that we get control of our own desires so that the Holy Spirit can help us not sin, but also not play with demonic forces.

Verse 13 is powerfully famous for a reason. When (not if) we are tempted, the Holy Spirit will show us a way out! We have to see it and seize that lifeline to bear it or escape it. The commonness, or humanness that Paul writes about, is comforting to know that EVERYONE experiences temptations. They are not from God. They tailored from our own desires and specifically targeted by Satan. Our sins, although common are not similar to others sins. One person’s taste for an addiction has little to no effect on someone else. Paul’s words, inspired by the Holy Spirit are convicting and correcting, but they are also comforting! We all get attacked from within and without. But we are also all given a chance to escape and get free of those traps and snares designed to destroy us.

Prayer

​Dad,
As I read about Israel’s sins and begin to think how awful they were, my own soul bears witness that my sins are also before you. This makes it hard to see that I have been made clean by Jesus, but still face my own brokenness. I ask for courage to take that exit that is given to me at the time of temptation, so that I can truly be free. Thank you for your long suffering and mercy on me.

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Kicking God.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

The Israelite foremen could see that they were in serious trouble when they were told, “You must not reduce the number of bricks you make each day.” As they left Pharaoh’s court, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who were waiting outside for them. The foremen said to them, “May the Lord judge and punish you for making us stink before Pharaoh and his officials. You have put a sword into their hands, an excuse to kill us!” Then Moses went back to the Lord and protested, “Why have you brought all this trouble on your own people, Lord? Why did you send me? Ever since I came to Pharaoh as your spokesman, he has been even more brutal to your people. And you have done nothing to rescue them!” Exodus‬ ‭5‬:‭19‬-‭23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The opening scene of Moses and Aaron finally getting an audience with the Pharaoh, is filled with dictatorial vibrato. It’s a lot like trying to go and see the great and powerful Oz! Moses and Aaron deliver the words to Pharaoh and he scoffs at their request saying, “And who is the Lord? Why should I listen to him and let Israel go? I don’t know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.” We know the story, so when we read that we think, “oh, arrogant man, you will soon know God and his ambassadors VERY well.”

Moses tells Pharaoh something I had never seen before, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us,” they declared. “So let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness so we can offer sacrifices to the Lord our God. If we don’t, he will kill us with a plague or with the sword.” What? God would kill them? I don’t remember God saying that He would kill his own people? The Pharaoh doesn’t lay a hand on Moses or Aaron, but he does lay out a plan to make things even more miserable for the people slaving to build his kingdom.

“Pharaoh replied, “Moses and Aaron, why are you distracting the people from their tasks? Get back to work!” Then Pharaoh does what most narcissistic rulers do – he takes his anger out on the people Moses Aaron (and God) care about, declaring “No straw for you – find it yourselves!” Pharaoh directs Israelite foreman’s to quit providing straw for the bricks but still demand the same quota of the final product. Obviously, the Egyptian directors had a well working supply chain of getting straw to the Jewish foreman. Without the supply chain, the work slowed and thus so did the quota of bricks necessary to keep the massive building projects moving forward and on schedule. Really, this would have been a minor problem to the Pharaoh, just slowing down the completion of his own legacy. Egyptians Pharaoh’s, believing themselves to be gods, were obsessed with two things, the memory of their greatness and the amount of statues and buildings dedicated to their glory. This request to put a pause on the work just cut into the Pharaoh’s enormous ego. Pride started a chain reaction of blind stubbornness that would lead to tremendous loss, eventually the lives of all the firstborn males (both human and animal) in his entire kingdom. In this scene, where the Israelite foremen realized that Moses and Aaron had made the Pharaoh angry, they took their anger out on the two ambassadors God had sent to negotiate the Israelites’ freedom, saying, “you make us stink before Pharaoh!” Moses only option is to go to his own source of who he believes is the problem – he blames God for making things worse, not better!

This whole very long story is not about Pharaoh and his self-determined stubbornness to believe his own false narrative of being a god. It is not about the 400 years of enslavement of the nation of Israel, cementing a dark multigenerational slave mentality in the people. And, it’s not even about Moses’ story of going from a convicted murderer to a global leader of the nation of Israel, about two million people. The story is about God’s glory and the redemption of humanity shown through the full scope of what sin has done and what it will do without the savior – Jesus.

Pharaoh kicks the foremen. The foremen kick Moses. And, Moses tries to kick God – blaming Him for ever starting this. But God will not be kicked by our human frustration and little understanding of His ways. God tells Moses, “you ain’t seen nothing yet!” “Then the Lord told Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. When he feels the force of my strong hand, he will let the people go. In fact, he will force them to leave his land!” Exodus‬ ‭6‬:‭1.

Prayer

Dad,
Oh how little we see and understand of your ways! We may be able to look back and figure it out, but knowing your ways in the midst of suffering or frustration of current events takes enormous trust and faith. My first response is to look for immediate cause and effect! Who did this to me and why? I just can’t seem to see things from your perspective. So I must trust you. I must have faith that sees with different eyes and insight. As I piece together your grand plan, I begin to understand that you’ve got all things under control and that all of your ways are true, just and right. That your mercy and love are dedicated to our good, not our destruction. You give us every chance to kneel and submit to you! And in that moment and only in the moment will we find true life to the fullest. Thank You, Oh God.