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Bible reading for Nov 23.  1 Chronicles 18. "So David reigned over all Israel, and he administered justice and equity to all his people." (18:14)  WHAT'S WRONG WITH THANKSGIVING? Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year. It's so satisfying to have an entire day just to give thanks to the Lord and to enjoy his many blessings of family, friends, and good food. Sadly, this year due to the pandemic many will not be gathering in person with family and loved ones. But every year the sad problem with Thanksgiving remains the same -- the joy and gratitude don't last for very long! It's a precious, short period of time when we are all together, thankful to God, satisfied, content, getting along with each other. For a brief moment all seems right with the world! For a brief moment... and then the squabbling returns, the complaints, the discontent, and selfishness and greed and unhappiness. For a moment -- for some briefer, for some longer -- we see how happ...

Bible reading for May 14.  Numbers 23. "For from the top of the crags I see him, from the hills I behold him; behold, a people dwelling alone, and not counting itself among the nations!"  (Numbers 23:9)  TWO ORACLES. The chapter records the first two oracles of Balaam.  This Midianite seer, despite his desire to curse Israel, speaks God's blessing upon them (see Gen 12:2-3). God is able to draw a straight line with a crooked stick (Spurgeon). Just as he spoke through the donkey, so now he speaks through Balaam. Read more in  yesterday's post on the enigma of Balaam .  THE PEOPLE OF GOD. I'm struck by the language God uses to describe his people. They are a people set apart (v 9) and upright (v 10). God is with them (v 21) and has delivered them from slavery and made them like kings (v 21). They are powerful like a wild ox (v 22) and fierce as lions (v 24). These attributes contrast with much of the behavior we have seen, and will see, from the ...

Bible reading for May 5.  Numbers 12-13. "But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, 'Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.'" (Numbers 13:30) WHEN GOD'S PEOPLE DO POORLY. The discontentment among the people even seems to affect Miriam and Aaron, Moses' siblings. They had two complaints , one unspoken and one spoken: a) Moses had married an Ethiopian woman; and b) Moses was (too) supreme in his authority as spokesman for God. As to the first, Moses' wife, Zipporah, is usually described as a Midianite, but she may have been of African descent.  Or perhaps, she had died and Moses remarried, and his new wife, a believer in Yahweh, was of Ethiopian background.  Either way, the resentment from Miriam and Aaron was that Moses married outside the tribe. But further, they maintained that God spoke through them just like he did through Moses, which was not true. Moses, however fallible as a man, was unique in his...

Bible reading for May 4.  Numbers 11. "And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes..." (Num 11:1) AND SO THE COMPLAINTS BEGIN... Instead of talking TO the Lord about what they needed, they talk ABOUT him, with grumbling and complaining in their voices. The people are tired of manna and want some fish on the grill.  The problem of ingratitude is one of the fundamental sins of the human condition (Rom 1:21).   Adam and Eve, and we their descendants, do not like the boundaries which God places for us .  We want more, we want better, we want something else, something other than this.  And so we murmur in such a way that God gets the blame. At root is unbelief -- we don't believe that God cares or is able to provide what we need. The LORD says to Moses, "Is the LORD's hand shortened?" (11:23) That is, is God's power limited? We must always remind ourselves that God is able, and that he cares for us as his childre...

Many families like mine, I know, have a time around the Thanksgiving dinner table where we share "what we are thankful for."   Sometimes, especially with younger children, there may be long pauses after we've thanked God for our family and pets.   So, it's time to think ahead and get a running start on gratitude.  Here's what I came up with this morning... God exists, and you are not him.  God reigns, not chance!  God rules over creation and history, working all things according to the counsel of his most wise and glorious will.  Give thanks for these truths!   God is unchanging in his essence, nature and purposes. God is good, his steadfast love endures forever, he is infinitely wise and powerful, and he is not capricious or evil. Give thanks that he is trustworthy! God has made a beautiful creation: trees, mountains, animals, and many other things.  For all things bright and beautiful, great and small, wise and w...

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe..." (Hebrews 12:28 ESV)  Gratitude is the third of three things the Heidelberg Catechism says is necessary to know in order to live and die happily in the Lord: The misery of our fallen-ness (guilt), how we are redeemed (grace), and finally,  gratitude the basis of our subsequent living... Question 2 . How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou, enjoying this comfort [of a saving relationship with Christ] , mayest live and die happily?  Answer: Three; the first, how great my sins and miseries are; the second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries; the third, how I shall express my gratitude to God for such deliverance .  (Heidelberg Catechism, 1563) Here are some quotes regarding gratitude, it's nece...