Should We Count Those Blessings?

My son Sean and I made a trip over to Destin to meet some folks who were coming over from Panama City to buy his 85 Fiero GT. yes, I suppose selling that car was a blessing for Sean, but that's not where I'm headed.

After (and before the call from the new Fiero owner whose new car was dead beside the road - altenator, bummer :( ) we went over to Best Buy to get my wife a new mic for her PC. She talks to her mother in Macon GA almost every night via video chat. (Technology reaches Middle Georgia, film at eleven.)

We went in, avoided the siren-song of electronic devices and headed up to the checkout. After a slightly embarrassing reminder of my absent minded nature (scanned the debit backwards), we completed the checkout and exited, but not until the clerk said "have a blessed night".

Walking to the car, I commented to Sean, "what was that?" It's pretty rare here on the coast to hear any expressions like that. "I don't know if you should count that one", he replied, "the tattoo on the guy's neck was a wiccan symbol."

My theologically informed and cogent reply?

"Oh."

So gentle reader, do we count that blessing or not?

Christianity in the year 2007 - one among many.

Now back to the previously scheduled reality programs.

When God Writes A Story

1 So the LORD sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: "There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. 2 The rich man owned many sheep and cattle. 3 The poor man owned nothing but a little lamb he had worked hard to buy. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man's own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. 4 One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing a lamb from his own flocks for food, he took the poor man's lamb and killed it and served it to his guest."

2 Sam 12:1-4 (NLT)

It's taken me many years of hearing and reading this passage to fully appreciate what it says - to David, and to us. I'd like to think I'm not a newbie at reading and interpreting the Bible, but it is not just another book. But every now and then I get taken deeper into the words and the Word.

So here we have the prophet Nathan, David's pastor, coming before him to tell him a story that God had given him. It was a story written perfectly to capture the attention and the heart of David. It took him back to the days he was the youngest in a poor family scratching out a living herding sheep. Those long hours of solitude for David with the flock must have included times when he carried young lambs in his arms. And what child wouldn't have had a favorite? One that he named - that he treated as his very own.

As David listened, his experiences connected with the story and brought it to life. So much so that he identified with the poor man and burned with anger - and wanted to act!

God, the author Who knows each reader intimately, can do that.

He has done that.

In Jesus.

If I could ask one thing of everyone - Christ-followers and pre-Christians, it would be to have them read every account of the life of Jesus in the Bible. His life was God's Word written in flesh, and watching it changed a group of people who through His Spirit's power - changed the world. Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of 1st John's beginning shows how the Story affected them.

1-2 From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in— we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we're telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. 3 We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy! 1 John 1:1-4 (MSG)

As we stand on the cusp of another holiday season, why not spend the next two months reading the Story God has written just for us.

Grace and peace,


David

Was Uriah Living His "Best Life Now"?

I cannot get the David and Bathsheba story out of my mind.

What David did was so wrong on so many levels it just slays me. And then I think about the man whose life was taken from - Uriah.

I don't think I'd be exaggerating if I said that David and Uriah knew each other on a "Band of Brothers" level. They had after all been at war together, scrambling over the rocks and hiding in the mountains as Saul pursued David and his band. The respect Uriah had for David, and for David's God was obvious - he was a convert to Judaism who had given up his home, his heritage, and his gods to follow the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

That along should have been enough to stop David from ever sleeping with Bathsheba.

But it wasn't.

And when called, Uriah came. But when David tried to get Uriah to compromise his integrity - he wouldn't. And that refusal ultimately cost him his life. Understand, Uriah had done absolutely nothing wrong. He was the epitome of a godly warrior. In the height of arrogance, David even trusted in Uriah's integrity by sending his death warrant in Uriah's own hands, knowing Uriah would not break the seal on the scroll.

And when the plan was told to Joab, he executed it well. Uriah was to be sent to the wall, and everyone else was to pull back, leaving Uriah to die alone.

But he didn't.

17 Then the men of the city came out and attacked Joab, and some of the men from David’s soldiers fell [in battle] ; Uriah the Hittite also died.
2 Sam 11:17 (HCSB)

Those men would not leave their trusted friend to die alone. What a testimony that Hebrew men would give their lives for a Hittite convert. Must have been an awesome man.

So tell me Joel Osteen, was Uriah enjoying his victorious life - his best life now?

I Don't Like That David

Yesterday the message was rooted in the text in 2 Samuel 11 where King David commits adultery with Bathsheba and just continues sinning. He descends into the gutter and digs a basement. His sin gets blacker and blacker, and blacker.

I do not like that David.

Did that come out like Dr Seuss?

“I do not like green eggs and ham I do not like them Sam I am.”
"I do not like them here or there! I would not like them anywhere! I do not like green eggs and ham! I do not like them, Sam-I-Am!"

I'll have to look at the tape, but that's what my lasting impression of this morning's message was. But I was genuinely stunned to see the man spiral out of control and drop out of relationship with God. All week long I kept reading the passage. Even went back and read every single Scripture dealing with David's life to see where it was he might have gone wrong.

It just bothered me. Still does.

I don't want to be that David.

It seemed to me that God had given great guidelines for the Kings of Israel to follow, that would have prevented David from falling - had he followed them. In Deuteronomy, it's clear - "don't take a bunch of wives because they will turn your heart away from God. Don't get too wrapped up in stuff, because that too will take your heart away from a focus on God."

So David gets to be king of a united Israel and immediately adds a bunch more wives and builds a Taj Mahal of a palace.

Guess he's not the only one who has done that, and why campaigns that tell us "Don't drink and drive", "Just say no", even "only you can prevent forest fires", won't work on someone who has decided to do whatever he wants to do.

I don't like people like that. Who know what's right and then do what's wrong.

Especially when they are me.

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy on me a sinner, and strengthen me through your power that I might reflect your love in my words and in my deeds. Lord hide me so far beneath your greatness that I can see nothing but you and desire nothing but to stay fixed to you.

Well, for many, it is just that

The Church has become like a group of people in the waiting lounge of an airport...They’ve bought their ticket and they’re waiting for their flight home. Meantime, the entire city around them burns. And every once in a while, they send out a specially selected person to try to recruit more people to buy tickets.

Pernell Goodyear

The Book Stack

Just thought I'd mention what books I have stacked on my desk right now.

Since I'm working through the life of David on Sunday Mornings:
A Heart Like His, Beth Moore
David - Charles Swindoll

Since I'm working on the life of Christ within this David:
My Utmost for His Highest, both original and updated versions
disciplines for the inner life - Benson
So You Want To Be Like Christ? - Swindoll
He Speaks Softly - Benson
No Holds Barred - Mark Roberts
Posers, Fakers, and Wannabes - Brennan Manning
Ordering Your Private World - Gordon McDonald

Since I'm Desperate To See God's Church Succeed In Its Vocation:
Out of Their Faces and Into Their Shoes - Kramp
Radical Reformission - Driscoll
The Church of Irresistible Influence - Lewis
How Should We Then Live - Francis Schaeffer
Simple Church - Thom Rainer
The Disciple Making Church - Bill Hull
Conspiracy of Kindness - Steve Sjorgen
Church Planting Landmines - Rohrmayer
Natural Church Development - Schwartz

And some others working their way into the reading rotation:
Living the Questions In Matthew - The Navigators
Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods - Rick Warren
The Incredible Patience of God -Adams
The Preaching Event - John Claypool
The Jesus Creed- Scot McKnight
Traveling Lightly - Eugene Peterson

I read everyday, a lot. I'll pick up one book and read it a while, then another. If I'm in study mode for a sermon or series, I'll devour everything I can on that text, context, and culture. So these are just the books that are here today. Stay tuned.

For Better Or Worse

"...for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, ..."

I had the honor of being a part of the wedding of Nate and Amanda Albert this weekend. Good times. I always enjoy talking with the groom before weddings. They are usually worried about what to do. I remind them that when the bride comes down the aisle, no one looks at the groom.

Until the vows.

Then people pay very close attention to how the groom promises to live this life of love he is promising his bride. I always have, and I was reminded this weekend that other people do too.

The people that gather at weddings generally have some stake, some connection to either the bride or the groom, and want to know that the one they love will be loved "...for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in heath...", in other words - all the time. So we take vows before God and in front of witnesses that we will do just that.

Nate and Amanda did.

It's Tuesday now, and the newlyweds have been married three whole days. Wonder how many of the "or" provisions they have experienced? :)

You know, every person who decides to pledge their troth to Jesus has to learn how to love for better or worse too. The Holy Spirit places people within groups of other Christ followers called churches. Every one you meet there is a sinner who owes their place in the kingdom to Jesus' love, not anything that they did. And they will sin again, and sometimes hurt others. What then? It's easy to love people when they are lovely, but what about the times when they aren't?

And as we live, worship, grow and serve together, we live out our "vows" (to Jesus) by the way we love each other. Scripture records a few prescriptions that will help.

34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."John 13:34–35

12 This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.
John 15:12

10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.
Romans 12:10

16 Live in harmony with each other. Don't be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don't think you know it all! Romans 12:16

8 Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God's law. Romans 13:8

19 So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up.
Romans 14:19

5 May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Romans 15:5

7 Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. Romans 15: 7
.
13 For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don't use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.
Galatians 5:13

2 Share each other's burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.Galatians 6:2

2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love.Ephesians 4:2

32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.Ephesians 5:32

13 Make allowance for each other's faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.1 Thessalonians 3:13

This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

God has placed you in relationship with your brothers and sisters in Christ. That's no accident. So go back to basics - make sure we fulfill our vows to love one another.

For better, or worse.

The whole world is watching.

Grace!

David

Great quote

“So long as there is a human being who does not know Jesus Christ, I am his debtor to serve him until he does.”-
Oswald Chambers

When Is Conversion Really Conversion

"I see dead people."

Scary, that.

But the prospect that in our efforts to reach people that we may go too far in accommodating their present state rather than challenging them to repent and embrace the truth of the gospel is scarier by any order of magnitude to me.

Over on awaiting rain is a scary look at just how this can happen.

Thanks Bill.

Wakeup Call

Long night. Called out at 9:30 for a two hour counseling session, get back home and spend some time winding down and read... HT "Sets and Service"

“Why, if we have the timeless truth of the gospel, do we need to concern ourselves with culturally relevant ministry? Because if we don’t, the message of the gospel gets confused with the cultures of old. The unchurched think that Christianity is a retrograde culture rather than a living faith. Our job is to remove the “extra” stumbling blocks of culture without removing the essential stumbling block of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:23). Unfortunately, the stumbling block of the cross has too often been replaced by the stumbling block of the church. Most people aren’t being recruited by other religions; they are being confused by the practice of ours.”

Ed Stetzer, Why is cultural relevance a big deal?

"Most people aren't being recruited by other religions; they are being confused by the practice of ours."

BOOM! Ok, I'm awake.

Preaching Christ

We have said that you must preach the gospel every week--to edify and grow Christians and to convert non-Christians. But if that is the case, you cannot simply 'instruct in Biblical principles.' You have to 'get to Jesus' every week.

Tim Keller - Preaching in the Postmodern City part 3

Great article.

How Far Is Too Far?

We're participating with a group (Faith Comes By Hearing)that's trying to get the Bible into places where even written languages haven't come yet. They use technology to take the spoken word to people groups that haven't yet been reached by the worthwhile efforts of Wycliffe or SIL translators.

Their September 12th press release said that:

Faith Comes By Hearing is releasing Audio Bibles in seven additional languages, bringing the total number of languages with Bible recordings to 260. Faith Comes By Hearing and its partners are working to offer Audio New Testaments in 2,000 of the world’s 6,809 languages by the year 2016.

I'm convinced those folks are like the offensive linemen of evangelism, getting the Bile into the "heart language" of people so they can hear of God's love for them. It costs $948 to translate one book of the Bible and get it into MP3.

This morning, I get an email from Thomas Nelson publishers touting their newest offering...... drum roll please!

The Nelson Designer Series Giant Print Bible

Now there is a Giant Print Bible that is a perfect gift for the women in your life. This Designer Series New King James Bible has center-column references, self-pronouncing text, topical running heads, messianic prophecies with stars, 8 pages of maps, and a concordance.

And it's only $39.95 in the Thomas Nelson exclusive New King James Version.

While I have nothing against Thomas Nelson, the NKJV, or even "women's versions", at what point will we realize that getting the Bible to people who don't have it is far more important than another design on the cover?

The marketing of Bibles in this way is approaching the gagging point.

Limits

It was Monday, the day when we catch up on everything we didn't have time for during the weekend and oh yeah, rest. Bunny and I were out and about - in Destin, then across to Ft Walton Beach, winding up at a craft store. We bumped into a lady who was parked in front of the wall of yarn, which happened to be on sale. She had a dozen or so skeins of yarn in her arms and was looking like she needed help, so I offered to go get her a buggy.

"No, if I have a buggy I will fill it. I'm trying to limit myself."

We had a good laugh over that, and true to her word, I saw the same lady at the check out with no more yarn than she could carry.

Don't you do that too?

I've seen (and been) people who limit their food intake by saying "I'll only get one plate full", and then defy all the laws of physics in attempting to get a metric ton of food on that platter.

I wonder if we do that with love too.

Set limits, I mean.

One of the things I love most about Jesus is that He never did that.

The rich young ruler comes up and smugly insists that he has kept ALL the commandments since he was a young boy. Yeah, right.

21 Jesus felt genuine love for this man as he looked at him. Mark 10:21 (NLT)

Jesus then asks him to live those commandments out, not just observe them, by giving everything he owns to the poor and come follow.

22 The man's face clouded over. This was the last thing he expected to hear, and he walked off with a heavy heart. He was holding on tight to a lot of things, and not about to let go. Mark 10:22 (MSG)

The young man had decided beforehand just how much he would love Jesus. When Jesus saw what the man needed in order to unleash a real love for God and for others, His words pegged the man's limits.

What about you?

What if the place God has you now is what He would use to expand your limits?
What if those people you cannot stand to be around are there precisely because God wants you to drop your rights for His righteousness?
What if all those "hateful" people you see on TV are there to help you realize that God will tolerate no hate in you?

Are there limits to your love?

Grace!

David Wilson

Well, it _is_ the blues

"Yes, I'm gonna get me religion, I'm gonna join the Baptist Church/ You know I wanna be a Baptist preacher, just so I won't have to work" — Son House, "Preachin' the Blues"

uh, don't know when that was true

Can You Reach Seekers and Be Missional?

One of the great concerns as I lead our folks out from the mother ship and into those strange new worlds of our neighborhoods, the offices, and the places we live is whether or not the emphasis on pushing the main thing away from the Sunday morning gathering and into everyday life will decrease our effectiveness at reaching seekers.

Yes, I do lose sleep over things like this.

My however many years I have left mission is to reach people for Christ. If I'm not seeing our church being more effective in that, no matter how many disciples we have becoming more mature, we've missed the point.

So I look for people who are successfully pulling off both and shamelessly steal from their ideas. Here, Bob Roberts Jr. gives great insight into pulling it off. Read the article. Print it out and give it to your leadership. Put his ideas into practice along with your own.

Then write me and tell me what they are so I can steal them too.

Crash!

We distributed the New Testament on CD Sunday morning to everyone who would take a copy. The idea behind it is to spend the next 40 days going through the NT. If a person devotes just 28 minutes a day, the goal can be reached. So I started the Mp3 in iTunes yesterday as I studied for tonight's teaching.

Listening to the way Matthew paints his picture of Jesus and His ministry was really interesting. Not pouring over the text in a Bible like I usually do, I was forced to slow down and listen. It played all afternoon.

I love hearing about Jesus - what He did, and especially who He is. And listening as the disciples tried to figure Him out and understand His Kingdom mission was cool too.

So I'm rolling along, enjoying the scenery, and I get to this:

21 From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that he had to go to Jerusalem, and he told them what would happen to him there. He would suffer at the hands of the leaders and the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, and he would be raised on the third day.

22 But Peter took him aside and corrected him. "Heaven forbid, Lord," he said. "This will never happen to you!"

23 Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, and not from God's." Matt 16:21-23 (NLT)

Crash!

Ah, Peter. As we say in the South, "God bless him." He wanted to do right, but it just wasn't in his nature to do right for too long. He just couldn't grasp the concept of living life with God at the core.

I was reading about computer hard drives yesterday, comparing features, speed, etc., then I came across a pretty important measurement that I had forgotten about.

Mean Time Between Failures

Yep, every hard drive is going to fail. Not a question of if, but when. So the manufacturers rate the average time each hard drive goes between a catastrophic failure and let you know up front. Obviously you want to choose one that's expected to go a long time before it crashes.

Peter's mean time between failures was pretty short back then. But turn over to the book of Acts and you'll see a different person emerge - a man of boldness and purpose, who is firmly in the center of God's will. Sure he still has "glitches", but he's God's man, looking at life through the eyes of the heart of God.

The difference? The Holy Spirit.

Friends, a life totally surrendered to God - living in the wisdom and the power of the Holy Spirit - will reduce your "mean time between failures" just as it did for Peter. Won't you decide right now to stop living for yourself and turn everything in and about your life to Jesus?

I can't wait to see what great things God is going to do. (And hear about what He did!)

Grace!

David

They listened to his heart.
Little - less - nothing! - and that ended it.
No more to build on there. And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.
(from Out, out, by Robert Frost)

It's the anniversary of one of the worst events to befall my generation. The attacks on America that beautiful day in September were a shock to our collective soul. For a while, we rallied - uniting as a people against the hate that would drive some to spend their life's blood as casually as a coin tossed in a fountain. For a time, we cared - cared about those killed, cared about those wounded, cared about doing something about the evil that spawned such hate.

For a while we stepped back and considered just how brief a life we have.

We even thought about God.

Then, since we weren't personally affected, we went back to the mall, back to you tube and MySpace, back to our American lives.

Because life goes on.
Because that's what we do.
Because it's hard to focus on what really matters and exclude the trivial.

That's not a new development.

19 As they left, a religion scholar asked if he could go along. "I'll go with you, wherever," he said. 20 Jesus was curt: "Are you ready to rough it? We're not staying in the best inns, you know." 21 Another follower said, "Master, excuse me for a couple of days, please. I have my father's funeral to take care of." 22 Jesus refused. "First things first. Your business is life, not death. Follow me. Pursue life." Matt 8:19-22 (MSG)

Harsh, isn't it?

You'd have to look further into the culture to realize that what's happening here is that the religion scholar wants to place a down payment on salvation rather than putting himself fully into Jesus' care. His father almost certainly wasn't dead - grieving people did not go to public gatherings like this one. His father might have lived for 10-20 more years.

Jesus was challenging the man to decide right now to follow Him - no hesitation - nothing held back. He wanted the man 100% personally invested in a changed life.

Jesus first today. Jesus first tomorrow. Jesus first everyday of your life.

Can you do that?

It goes against everything this culture tells you - against everything you've learned. You've been trained to be superficial.

Decide to follow Him. Not just one time down the church's aisle, but everyday.

For without Jesus, you are dead.

Harsh isn't it.

But oh so true.

Shalom,

David

How we're seen, how do we see?

There are so many people I love, who don't love Jesus. They range from folks I admire from afar who may be standouts in their field of work, to people I bump up against as I go my way, to people I'm close to and know me intimately.

And as I pray, and as I ache for them to know Jesus, I am vaguely conscious that not only are we inhabiting parallel universes - me in the Christ-centered life(with all my flaws and failures in following it) and they in theirs, and not only are we at times talking past each other - but when I look at the church and they look at the church, we see radically different things.

An article today in Relevance examines a recent Barna Group survey of how the church is viewed (particularly by young unchurched Americans, but it also lists other group's reactions).

For me, it makes me want to lead New Hope to be even more outwardly focused and to try to infuse within the DNA of every NewHopian a keen understanding of the role of grace in the life of a follower of Jesus.

The questions the article ends with are valid, and I repost them here.

The church needs to stop being “in your face” and start focusing on service, sacrifice, humility, and grace.

Ask yourself these three questions:

1. Are we cultivating a heart for outsiders?
2. What kind of Jesus are we to outsiders?
3. How can we become know as true Christ followers?

My greatest fear in this life is that I would let my representation of Jesus be so twisted from His example of grace and truth that someone might turn away from a relationship with God because of me.

The Searchers

It's been five days now, since adventurer Steve Fossett took off from a private airstrip near his home and disappeared. The area in Nevada that it's presumed he may have crashed in is so remote and so rugged that the only way to really search it is from the air. So planes, helicopters, and even satellite imagery are being used in an effort to find Steve.

Last night, I got an email from Amazon asking me if I'd like to help. Since I'm a tech geek, I signed up for their "Mechanical Turk" program that essentially keeps you in the loop on new technical advances. So I guess since Steve Fossett is someone who has contributed greatly to those advances, the folks at Amazon are counting him as one of their own and enlisting everyone they can - even people thousands of miles away - to find the lost by pouring over Google maps images of the search area..

Whatever it takes. Reminded me of another search party.

1 By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. 2 The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, "He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends." 3 Their grumbling triggered this story.
4 "Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? 5 When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, 6 and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, 'Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' 7 Count on it— there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue. Luke 15:1-7 (MSG)

They can count me in.

I come from a long line of people who know what it's like to be lost, and who are trying to follow the example of Jesus, who left everything to find sinners like me and bring them home.

Grace and peace,

David

Moses Has A Bad Day

There was a book I read a few years ago, a children's book called " Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" . In it the authors presented a day in the life of Alexander, a young boy whose day just turned out badly.

It happens to all of us.

And how we react can help us get a grip on just how much we reflect the character of God.

1 In early spring the people of Israel arrived in the wilderness of Zin and camped at Kadesh. While they were there, Miriam died and was buried.
2 There was no water for the people to drink at that place, so they rebelled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The people blamed Moses and said, "We wish we had died in the LORD's presence with our brothers! 4 Did you bring the LORD's people into this wilderness to die, along with all our livestock? 5 Why did you make us leave Egypt and bring us here to this terrible place? This land has no grain, figs, grapes, or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!"

Num 20:1-5 (NLT)

Moses buried his sister Miriam at the place when his greatest disappointment as a leader had taken place. Kadesh was where the people of Israel refused to trust God to deliver the promised land to them. So God sent them away, into the wilderness for 38 years.

During that time frame, Moses has heard an unending murmur of criticism and rebellion from the people. He had interceded with God again and again for them. And today was just another Groundhog day, as the people complained like they had the day before. At least he could go to God and know that God would be mad at the people too.

Nope.

Moses and Aaron went to meet with God. His glorious presence appeared and instead of wrath, God granted the people's request. Instead of affirming Moses, God told him to go and bless the people with water for themselves and their livestock. Moses wasn't pleased. He did as he was told, but can you tell anything about his attitude from what he said once he assembled the people?

"Listen, you rebels!" he shouted. "Must we bring you water from this rock?" Num 20:10 (NLT)

Uh, Moses. "We?"

Got a frog in your pocket? Big Queen Elizabeth fan? Too big for the little people?

God is the author of miracles, not Moses. He alone deserves the glory. Then Moses compounds his error by not speaking to the rock, but striking it with his staff. The people never realized Moses had sinned. They got their water and God got the glory. But Moses knew that he had deliberately disobeyed God.

Because of Moses' actions that day, he was prevented from going with his people to the promised land. Sounds harsh, doesn't it.

But really, Moses left God's presence that day and decided he'd do what God told him, but he'd do it his own way. Did the people deserve God's grace? NO. They were classic gripers and complainers sired by a previous generation of gripers and complainers.

Here's the deal though.

Where God gives grace, we cannot decide to "fix things" and deal with the people who don't deserve it - our way. There's only one way to obey God, and that's to obey His instructions.

When we have a bad day, when we are stressed, stretched and strained to our limits - we do NOT get a free pass from God. He expects us to obey when every thing's going well, and obey when everything is not.

And even though people might see us doing things that would seem to say that we are a person following Jesus closely, our heart and attitude may very well reveal that we aren't doing them for God at all, but for the praise of people.

Moses had an opportunity that day to show that God was Holy, set apart, beyond all human ability. Instead of pronouncing God's grace, he shouted in his anger, and assumed credit that wasn't his.

It was a bad day for Moses.

So how do we guard against such behavior?

On those days when you are being pushed to your limit, by work, by people, by whatever - pray!!! pray for God's peace, for His heart, for His wisdom. If you look at the situation and see it as beyond your ability to bear, then confess that weakness to God and let His strength flow through you.

Moses was a person just like we are, with a faith that had to fight it's way through everyday life. He had lots of successes in his walk with God, but on this one day he let his own emotions lead him out of God's will.

Guard your heart friends. Guard your heart.

Grace!

David

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