Snapshots: Day 93

The Snapshot: “ Moses and Aaron… fell facedown and the glory of the Lord appeared to them.” (Num 20:6) Two amazing lessons here. The first must surely be that when you face opposition, go and tell Father about it. When Moses & Aaron did that, the Lord turned up in a big way. Awesome. But there is another terrible lesson here because Moses went out – with God's instructions – and lost his cool with the people and was not the example he should have been – and was stopped entering the Land as a result. Had the glorious experience in God's presence made him feel special so he reacted badly? (see v.10) I don't know but whatever great times we have with God, let's always hang on to humility; we're just His servants after all. He's the One with the power.

Further Consideration: We have just observed two lessons from one action. It can often be like that with Scripture, we can learn more than one thing from a passage or verse, what is more they may be almost opposite lessons. Here the first lesson was about prayer and relying on the Lord, while the second one shows how we can then blow it and not rely on the Lord. I think this is a lesson we have observed more than once in this series of these snapshots of the scripture as we work our way through the Bible, picking up on key issues along the way.

It is a truth that, when we are insecure in God's love, we are not willing to think about, that on day 1, I can be a real ‘saint' and then within 24 hours, a day later, I can utterly blow it and reveal a real ‘sinner'.

And so this truth comes through scripture again and again, as we see it in Moses who starts with a good intention in Egypt but then blows it and has to flee, then be called to amazingly lead Israel out and so 99% of the time then he gets it right (as in our verse above) but still shows his sinful humanity propensity and steps over the line of acceptable behaviour. He is still a human being in need of God's salvation through Christ on the Cross.

But for the moment he is a shining example to us. The people do what ‘people' are prone to do – grumble, complain and generally be objectionable, demanding answers, and so rather than try to appease them (as many leaders do) he falls down prostrate before the Lord, a sign of being in total submission to the Lord, utterly reliant upon Him. And then, as they do this, the glory of the Lord appears, God turns up in a big way, as He tends to do at times of big crisis when we turn to Him! But He doesn't just turn up, He instructs Moses on what to do next. He is going to meet the need of the people, all it needs is Moses to be a willing, able, humble servant who will obey and do what he is told – while maintaining a right heart!

Snapshots: Day 94

The Snapshot: “ Make a snake and put it on a pole.” (Num 21:8) Israel had blown it again and so God sent snakes to wake them up. Any who were bitten were to go to the snake on the pole and when they looked at it they would be healed and saved. Jesus paralleled himself to the snake (Jn 3:14,15). Of course it was a snake in the Garden (Gen 3:1) that led us astray and brought death. When they faced the snake, when we come to Jesus, they and we face our sin, our failure and our guilt, and then God removes it all and life flows, but it only comes when a person faces up to these things. Saying sorry is the easy part, facing our frailty and failure and, with His help, turning from it so we are transformed by His life, that's the hard part. Offering a sacrifice always is (see Rom 12:1).

Further Consideration: The further we go through the Scriptures the more we will find the same lessons cropping up; we need to hear them again and again if we are to learn from them and heed them. Three particular things appear to stand out from this incident.

First, we get it wrong. We've acknowledged that here before but in a world where people “make excuses for our sins by calling them shortcomings or natural weakness, or by attributing them to temperament or environment”, as one prophet of recent years said, there is this tendency to whitewash our actions. No, the Lord says face them, call them what they are, Sin. Israel had sinned.

Second, there is this requirement to face and acknowledge this sin before others. Confess your sins to one another (Jas 5:16) is wisdom from on high that knows that confession is drawing a line in the sand and saying to a friend, pastor or whoever, I stepped over it, but I won't do it again. Israel had to face their sin publicly.

Third, there was God's salvation. He declared through Moses that whoever went to the pole and looked at the bronze snake would be healed. It is interesting that in the UK at lease this snake is a sign used on hospitals, a reminder of the healing purposes of God.

Now perhaps there is something else that we could consider and that is being a member of the congregation who has not sinned. Supposing you had not been bitten but a neighbour or a family member had been. Attitude is important at this point. Do we laugh and say, “Serve you right!” because that is what we sometimes do when we see the world suffering the fruits of their ungodly and unrighteous living? Surely the response should be gentle caring and encouragement to go to the pole, go to Jesus, seek his healing, his forgiveness, his cleansing, his wisdom to put a messed up life right. And yet to do that graciously is difficult and needs just that – grace. May we have it.

Snapshots: Day 95

The Snapshot: “ who are these men with you?” (Num 22:9) When God asks questions, He always knows the answers, He just wants to hear what we say. Balaam (Num 22-24) is an example of someone who said he wanted God's will, but all the time when there was an option that might benefit him, he kept glancing at it. Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and money,” you can't have opposing goals in life (my kingdom or His?) When Jesus met with ‘sinners' it was to save them. When we do, what is our goal? A heart wholly set on God is the surest thing to keep us from straying off God's path for us, a determination to abide by His word with no compromise. That will open the door to His Spirit, to His blessing. Let's go for it!

Further Consideration: As one modern writer has said, “when God lovingly shines His light on an area in which we fall short of His standards, it is an act of mercy. The divisive sword comes, but its intent is to cut us free of the net that ensnares our hearts”. That very much applies to what we were saying in the previous snapshot about facing our sin, but it also applied to Balaam – though he apparently neither realised that nor responded to it.

I always remember a picture that an old preacher gave many years about, when he spoke about watching cows in a field surrounded by an electric fence. Despite there being plenty of grass in the field, some of the foolish cows stretched their necks under the bottom strand of wire to see how far they could chew the cud on the other side. Reading Balaam's story, it strikes me that he was just like that. He knew he should not be bringing bad advice to these foreigners who wanted him to curse Israel, but then they did keep offering him money and that temptation kept him there, just seeing how far he could stretch under the wire of God's limitations.

Snapshots: Day 96

The Snapshot: “ Do not make us cross the Jordan.” (Num 32:5) There are so many lessons from this often somewhat unsavory book. Israel are approaching the Land from the east and two tribes petition Moses to be allowed to stay there. It was good land for their livestock. The trouble was, they were one nation and as a people they all needed to go in and take the Land together; it needed all of them. Paul taught that we are all a part of the body, the church needs all of us (1 Cor 12:12-26). The trouble is, life is very busy, there are so many calls on it. It will be all right, there are plenty of others God can use, He doesn't need me. No He doesn't ‘need' any of us but He wants to bless all of us and that happens when we turn up.

Further Consideration: The concept of the ‘body of Christ' can sometimes be an embarrassing one, especially when we want to opt out. I really do believe in ‘holy dissatisfaction', the prodding of the Holy Spirit to help us face the shortcomings of modern church life, and I have watched numbers in recent years dropping out of church life. But, as I have pondered these things long and hard, I have come to various conclusions.

The first one is that when we find this holy dissatisfaction growing within us, make sure it is holy. If it is of God, He will be giving it to you to encourage you to pray for the church and examine your own approaches to the various activities that make up church life. If it is the enemy, it will be to get you to drop out and become vulnerable and even over critical of those who remain. Don't let him do that.

The second thing is that ‘some church is better than no church'. Yes, you may feel it falls far short of what God wants for His church (and it does) but your presence is still needed in it. You can still bless others in it, even if generally it isn't up to scratch. Maybe God can use you as an instrument to help change it – but you need to be there.

The third thing is that when we do drop out of church life we drop out of a ‘feeding zone' and that makes us weak. We perhaps take for granted the amount of input we receive from fellowshipping together, from worship, from prayer, from hearing God's word. These things feed and strengthen and build us.

The fourth thing is that when we drop out we become vulnerable to attacks from the enemy across the full gamut of our lives in a way not previously known. We fail to understand the protection that comes from being a living active member of the body.

Snapshots: Day 97

The Snapshot: “ This is their journey by stages.” (Num 33:2) It's not very exciting reading but it is a record, initiated by God, of where Israel had travelled with God, and it was important to remember. What an interesting picture, our lives as a journey with God. It is a very well worthwhile exercise (I've done it) to sit down and write a list of key high points (and low) of our lives. When I did it, it helped me face weaknesses and failures but it also allowed me to see the wonder of God's blessing that has been on my life so many times. I have marvelled at where we've had the privilege of going, the people we've been privileged to meet, the amazing experiences we've had – all because He led. Big steps, little steps, all important in the walk with the King of Kings. Walk on!

Further Consideration: I think that taking our lives for granted almost verges on sin sometimes. I mean, think about it. From the moment you turned to Christ all those years (or months) ago, God has been there working in you and through you, changing circumstances and helping you in the circumstances, and there was not a moment when His eye was not on you (read Psa 121 & Psa 139). Yes, the truth is that probably 99% of the time we were not aware of those things, but that doesn't make them untrue.

Yes, there were good times – and we've said this before recently – where life was just good and we had great experiences, and there were not so good times where it went wrong, either by our own activities or of those of the world around us, but whatever it was, He was there with us in it all.

Yes, we live in a ‘fallen world' where the world goes wrong, life gets messy and complicated sometimes, and even occasionally the sky seems to fall on us. Yes, it can be that bad, but in the midst of it, in the midst of confusion, in the midst of the anxiety, in the midst of darkness, He was still there, He never left us and was always there working for us, even though in the cloud of pain we lost sight of that for a moment. It was just like that for a moment as Jesus carried your sin and mine on the Cross and the enemy railed against him (catch it prophetically in Psa 22), that it all blotted out the presence of the Father who I am convinced never left him (what loving father abandons their son in the midst of a crisis?) and he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46)

Yes, He was still there, through the bad times as well as the good times that go to make the rich tapestry of life, so remember those and give thanks, and keep on giving thanks. Amen? Amen!

Snapshots: Day 98

The Snapshot: “ the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the desert.” (Deut 1:1) On the plains of Moab (1:5 & 34:1,8) Moses paused up. He's near the end of his journey. The people will shortly enter the Land but he won't. It is a significant time. Deuteronomy is the long record of his instructions to Israel there on the plains (except for ch.34 added by another recorder). At the end of it, he declared to them, “They are not just idle words for you – they are your life.” A book full of exhortations to obey the Lord, reject idol worship, and live for God. They could never say they weren't told. A blueprint for a nation blessed by God, but the trouble is blueprints get lost and forgotten. Israel forgot that. We have our New Testament; may we never forget this blueprint for blessing.

Further Consideration: In some ways Deuteronomy is quite repetitious with similar sounding calls to obedience coming and calls to keep from idol worship, and so on, but we need repetition if we are to remember things. I teach a group about strengthening memory and of course the use of repetition is one such way, so don't be put off by reading the same things more than once – we need that!

I wonder how Moses felt on the plains of Moab as he taught Israel over a number of days. His memory clearly went back to the times of their failures because we see him reminding Israel of them in the early chapters. We need reminding of such times, if for no other reason than to remind us what not to do again. It also reminds us how gracious God is for putting up with us. Yet in the midst of that there is the warning of being held accountable. Many lessons.

So perhaps Moses is very much aware of how vulnerable Israel are to getting it wrong and so he keeps on saying the same thing to try to get them to get the message to obey God in the new land. But at that point he has the recognition that he will not be going in with them. He has a date with God in heaven, so they will be going in without him. Mixed emotions surely. Regret at having blown it at the rock? Regret at not going in, perhaps? Or maybe relief that he's come to the end of his road with Israel. It has often been a tough time and he's now 120, it's now time to go home. I wonder if he felt like the apostle Paul felt centuries later: “The time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim 4:6,7)

Snapshots: Day 99

The Snapshot: “ so that you may enjoy long life.” (Deut 6:2) Some people think Christianity is all about turning up in church, and being religious, but it's not, it's so that you “may enjoy long life.” Enjoy – take pleasure in, take delight in, get benefit from. Long life = a life under the protection of God. It doesn't always work like that, loved ones get picked off by the enemy (e.g. martyrs), or taken into protection by the Lord (see Isa 57:1), but mostly it is clear that where He can, the Lord intends long life, a life of blessing, a redeemed life, a restored life for His children. Some lifestyles are self-centred and self-destructive, ours are intended to be God-centred and life-releasing. No guarantees but ask for daily protection (Mt 6:13) and provision as you walk righteously with Him.

Further Consideration: I have recently found myself again seeing how we so often fall short of God's good intentions for us. I found myself writing in another context that the end result of the Father sending Jesus to die for us was that we may enter into a new life where we a) enjoy God, b) enjoy each other and c) enjoy His world. Put together a summary of that might be, “that you may enjoy long life”.

As we noted above, in this fallen world there is no guarantee of a long life, but it is surely God's desire for us and implied with that word ‘long' there is the sense of goodness, enjoyment and fruitfulness, and all of those things come out in the bigger picture conveyed by Moses for Israel, and now for us through Jesus. Anything less must miss the heart of God for us.

But think about those three aspects I mentioned above. First, enjoying God. Waiting on Him, knowing His presence, knowing His word imparted to us, knowing His blessing, all of these things communicate His life to us, an enjoyable, wonderful life, a life that brings energy, power and vitality to us. This all part of the package of this relationship. I wonder how much of that we appropriate?

But then there was enjoying each other. Stop and think about your family experience. Enjoying one another within a family is fairly easy to understand, or do we take one another for granted? But then there is ‘church'. Is your experience one of ‘services' or ‘liturgy' or ‘meetings' or does the pleasure of being with other like-minded people come to mind first of all when you think of church?

Snapshots: Day 100

The Snapshot: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deut 6:5) Jesus decreed this was the first and greatest commandment (Mt 22:37,38). How easy and clear cut it sounds, and how often it is used as an exhortation by preachers. How might it be summarised? Go all out for God. Right! But do I do that every minute of every day? Honesty says no. It is my intention and it is surely the undergirding commitment that I have, but the reality? Two things follow: first I need His grace, His enabling and, second, I need the Cross to cover my ‘falling short'. Yes, I incline my heart in His direction in my daily walk but without these two things, hopeless! The command simply focuses my need of Him in these ways.

Further Consideration: I have always found Joshua's words a great challenge: “ But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord .” (Josh 24:14) I am also reminded of Peter's response to Jesus: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (Jn 6:68) In both verses there is this challenge – if not God then who or what, and the answer isn't just, “‘There is no one else,” but more, “It's a no-brainer because God is so wonderful you would be silly to lean on anyone or anything else.”

But then we turned to the Lord. We came to the end of ourselves and His hands of mercy were stretched out to us and we received the salvation through Christ that He held out to us. Mostly, I suspect, it wasn't love. We didn't really know what that was. It was only later we came across such verses as the starter ones above. My wife is one of the really honest ones when she so often says, “I just don't know what I am feeling.” Isn't love supposed to be a feeling? Well yes, as I have got to know more and more of Him and experienced more and more of His blessings, I have had that feeling, that deep feeling of strong affection, as a dictionary says. But most of the day I don't go around with my heart and mind directed towards heaven with a nice warm fuzzy feeling, it just isn't like that.

Snapshots: Day 101

The Snapshot: “ you are a people holy to the Lord your God.” (Deut 7:6) This verse follows an exhortation to not be like the pagans that the Lord will drive out of the Land. God had called Israel to be an utterly different people, a unique people, His people who have been redeemed from the fallen ways of the world and given a new blueprint as to how to live – and it is different from everyone else in this fallen world. That is also our calling (1 Pet 2:9), to live in relationship with the Lord God Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth (Gen 14:19,22) and be a different people, not in a super-pious, arrogant way, but as a cleansed and purified and humbled people, full of love and goodness, a people utterly reliant on their God. May it be so.

Further Consideration: When I was younger there was a time when people seemed to get themselves in a twist about holiness and in retrospect those who focused on holiness mostly seemed to demonstrate a distinct lack of it. In the Hebrew the original word from which we get holiness seems to express ‘separation', while the equivalent Greek word in the New Testament seems to signify ‘pure'. Put together the idea seems to be separation to God, consecration to God. When this applies to God, it suggests separation of a perfect (pure) Being from material creation, and especially from mankind!

When there is a relationship between a person and God, that person takes on the holy nature of God. Holiness we might suggest, rubs off (see Ex 30:29, Lev 16:18). The fact is that when we came to Christ we entered into close relationship with God, and the reality of that was the presence of His Holy Spirit who now indwells us. The fact that the New Testament refers to us being “in Christ” also suggests the closeness which Jesus himself spoke about when he spoke of the vine (him) and the branches (us) – see Jn 15:4,5 and so again and again we see this unity that perhaps we take for granted, a unity that makes us holy.

Initially it was seen in Israel: “ Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.” (Lev 19:2) so when Jesus prays, “ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity,” (Jn 17:23) we cannot but infer that within this oneness comes this holiness. So, when Peter calls us “a holy nation,” (1 Pet 2:9) he knows we are this separate, distinct, pure, consecrated-to-God people. Whether we like it not, understand it or not, we ARE holy because He is holy.

Snapshots: Day 102

The Snapshot: “ It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity.” (Deut 9:5) There is a principle here that undergirds salvation for Israel and for all Christians. He repeats this in verse 6 and adds, “for you are a stiff-necked people.” Stiff-necked means stubborn and full of pride. I define sin as self-centred godlessness that results in unrighteousness. That is the propensity or inclination that every human suffers from. It is not because we were good that God saved us, quite the contrary, we needed saving because we weren't good (Lk 19:10, Jn 3:17, 12:47) Never believe you can earn God's blessing, you can't. He gives it freely to whoever will receive it. We aren't what we are by our goodness but by His grace. Let that humble us and release praise in us.

Further Consideration: I believe it is a lesson that we all struggle to learn, the new believer and the aged saint alike – that actually striving to be good is not what impresses God. Israel needed reminding that they were the nation they were, not because one day Jacob decided to become a big family and a big nation, but because God blessed the Patriarchs and, yes, did give Jacob a big family that grew into a nation, but they all ended up slaves in Egypt with no hope of getting out. It was then that God did what He had said long back, delivered them out of Egypt into the Land He had promised them. They were a new people, a new kid had arrived on the block!

Imagine the United Nations today and now imagine Israel had never existed but suddenly the events of back then occurred now and so one day their representatives turned up at the UN and were ask, “Who are you, where have you appeared from?” Answer: “We are Israel, a nation God has brought into being.” Question: “Why did He do that?” Answer: “We're not sure, something about being a light to the rest of you, to reveal Him to you.” Response: “Right! But why you, is there something special about you?” Answer: “As far as we can see, nothing at all, except He chose us because our father, Abraham responded to Him and let him bless him.” Silence.

Snapshots: Day 103

The Snapshot: “ Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.” (Deut 11:16) The call not to fall into idol worship may appear dated but it is as relevant today as it was then. Our idols may be different but they are just as real. Ever heard of ‘Pop Idol' . that's the world being honest – we make celebrities an idol. Numerous TV quiz shows hold out the offer of quick big money. Affluence and making money become an idol. Self-concern, ambition and success are also often idols. An idol? Anything or anyone we exalt above God, the false values of the materialistic consumer society with its glamourous technology that so easily wins our hearts and our attention. No wonder so many are poor in spirit.

Further Consideration: Imagine it, it is twenty years in the future. It is Christmas and your partner presents you with a wrapped parcel. You tear it open with eager enthusiasm – yes it is, it is one of the new laptop quantum-plus computers with almost unlimited capabilities. It will rule everything you do: it will run your house, your vehicles, your wellbeing and the nanobots in your blood stream keeping you healthy, your business, and your leisure. You have just risen above the mob, there are hardly any of these around and now the world is your oyster, you are made! How wonderful, how incredible, how unreal.

Unreal that it won't happen? No unreal in that it won't solve all of life's problems, it won't make you a nicer and better person. The fact that you have a brain chip implant that accesses information and makes you a super-person of data, again changes little when it come to the type of person you are. You can still have the tendency to be self-centred, arrogant, brash, uncaring and so much more. Indeed the technology has made you more godless than you were before. You see no need for God now you have become a super-human. But you still have rows with your partner, your teenage kids still break loose and rebel against you, you still engage in office politics and put down competitors by fair mean or foul, and you are still vulnerable to the various ‘doomsday' threats that become ever more real as every day passes. And there is still God – He has not changed, He still watches benevolently over mankind, pleased at some of the progress, saddened that still we have that same old propensity to self-centred godlessness that the Bible still calls ‘Sin'. Everything had changed, and nothing has changed.

Snapshots: Day 104

The Snapshot: “ There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.” (Deut 12:7) An unusually long quote because it is so powerful. “In the presence of God”. There is that capability for us human beings, we can be in God's presence. “you… shall eat and rejoice.” Bodies enjoying the provision of God, minds rejoicing in what He has done. “everything you have put your hand to.” The whole of your life has a good feeling about it. Why? “because the LORD your God has blessed you”. That is His intent for His people – not that they be miserably religious, but be blessed, successful and rejoicing. Is that a description of our lives?

Further Consideration: The biggest lie I have heard the enemy utter in my lifetime is that God is a harsh, bitter, hasty, malevolent God. It is a lie uttered by those bitter in spirit against ‘religion' and it is uttered in ignorance and it reveals its speakers for exactly what they are. The thing about it, is that it is the exact opposite of the truth.

So what is the truth? God made a wonderful world for us to enjoy, and that came as a mix of the provision of the things of Creation with the senses that He has given us through which to enjoy those things. And it was all ‘very good' (Gen 1:31) And He told us how to enjoy it – take everything but one exception – and WE grabbed the one exception, basically saying, no, we can do what we like, and we have carried on like that ever since.

But did God give up on us? No, He knew it would happen and He planned accordingly to send His Son from heaven to deal with it. How might we summarise all that? He blessed us with provision and then He blessed us with a means of salvation. ‘Blessed' means He purposed and acted to bring good to us continually. We see it again and again in the Bible if we will take the trouble to read it and think about it.

Snapshots: Day 105

The Snapshot: “ Be careful not to neglect the Levites.” (Deut 12:19) The Levites were God's servants who held the heart of the nation together – worship of the Lord at the Tabernacle. How easy it is to take for granted the servants of the Lord, whether that refers to the elders or the deacons or the Sunday School teachers, the musicians and worship leaders, the guys who oversee the sound at meetings, the ladies (as it tends to be) who make coffee, the man (as it tends to be) who drives the church mini-bus, and lots more of those unsung heroes who faithfully, week by week, just get on and do that which blesses the rest of us. Occasional thanks is good but how about dreaming up other ways we can thank these people for their faithful servanthood. Let the body bless the body.

Further Consideration: There are various peoples in the Bible that we are called to care for, those who are poor and in need (e.g. 1 Jn 3:17), widows and orphans (e.g. Jas 1:27) but these are caring for those where there is shortage. The ‘caring for the Levites' is a different sort of need, it is caring so that these people can get on with their job of ministering to God and enabling the rest of God's people to minister to God. In that way, this giving and caring is especially significant because, yes it has a human objective but that objective in turn has worship for God as an objective. When we care for these people we enable God to be honoured more fully.

The apostle Paul used the physical body as an analogy of the people of God, referring to us as ‘the body of Christ' (Eph 4:12) and he spoke of us all as parts of this ‘body' (1 Cor 12:27), some parts being ‘weaker' (v.22), some parts simply being different from other parts (v.15-19), some parts being hidden away (v.23,24). The point he makes is that we are all different but we need one another (v.25,26) not only for fellowship but that through that fellowship a bond of love be built that links us more strongly to one another and strengthens us and enables each of us to perform our part to the best we can (Col 2:19, Eph 4:16) as directed by the head, Christ.

‘Caring for the Levites' means caring for those parts of the part that are visible as they serve the Lord and opening the way for the rest of us to bless the Lord and be blessed. But be careful that we do not look down on servants. In some quarters there is this mentality that sees the minister as an employee and thus seek to be as economical as possible

Snapshots: Day 106

The Snapshot: “ See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.” (Deut 12:32) How easy it is to skim over God's words and give token agreement. Consider Jesus' words, “ Love each other as I have loved you.” (Jn 15:12) That means that we look out for the best for all God's children, we don't have favourites (and create cliques), we don't speak against one another, we stand up for one another and think the best of one another, we will put ourselves out for one another, and so much more. But what do we often see? The absence of this list. It should not be and must not be. It is for leaders to preach and teach it and demonstrate it and challenge when it is absent. Just one part of God's word: don't take away from it, obey it all. No excuses.

Further Consideration: As I have come back to this snapshot after a brief interval, I wondered why I had chosen Jesus' command to love one another – I suspect it was because it is such a basic or fundamental command that should separate us out from others – this love of God demonstrated and exhibited, and yet there are many other commands in the New Testament that are equally important. Of course there is love the Lord your God with everything you have, but we have considered that one previously.

So let's take one that does not have such a wide application, “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up.” (Jas 4:14,15) A call to church leaders to pray for those in the congregation who are sick so that they will be healed. Wow! There's a challenge or do we try and sidestep it and say that God doesn't heal today like Jesus healed in the Gospels? But is it no longer true that, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever ?” (Heb 13:8) What part of ‘forever' don't we believe?

What was our starting point? “See that you do all I command you.” Sounds a bit like Jesus' instructions, “ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…. teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Mt 28:19,20) So yes, it does involve loving God with all our heart, loving one another, praying for one another, and all doing the works of Jesus, whatever it is he put before each one of us.

Snapshots: Day 107

The Snapshot: “ celebrate the Passover of the Lord your God.” (Deut 16:1) Jaded Christians in a jaded world can so easily lose sight of the wonder of the celebrations of the Faith. Passover is our Easter. How easy it is to demean the days (Good Friday and Easter Day), relegating them to times just to send a card (even if you go that far). Yet these days celebrate the heart of the Christian faith, Jesus coming and redeeming us. Time for major celebrations! Then Christmas, a time where presents, food, drink, parties, cards, all go to drown the reality of the wonder of what happened, the Son of God coming to earth. Times of declaration and proclamation and then celebration. Clear the debris away and bring to light the wonder of the Gospel the world needs to hear.

Further Consideration: Negative changes in how we think and how we express our faith, take place very slowly and because it is slow, we so often fail to realise what is happening. This, I believe, is true of so much of what is happening in the Christian world. There are pressures on believers, pressures that come from the world, and we simply don't realise most of the time what is happening.

I am sure this is not true everywhere and in every local church, because diversity is our saving grace, but this call to Israel to celebrate the Passover is not some secondary almost mundane commandment to be lost among the many other commands in the Law. This call, brought by Moses to Israel on the Plains of Moab, says, when you get into the Promised Land, when you go through all the activity of war, ousting the inhabitants and then settling in your new country, establishing new homes, growing crops and so on, when you do all this, don't get so taken up with it all that you forget to maintain the basics.

Remembering AND celebrating Passover was bringing a reminder, year after year, of the wonders of what God did for you, delivering you out of slavery in Egypt to give you a land of freedom of your own, to make you His special people in the world. It remembers God doing something for you that you on your own were incapable of doing. God did it for you and it was miraculous, so don't forget that because if you do, you will stop remembering who you are, how special you are, and all that God has done for you.

Snapshots: Day 108

The Snapshot: “ The king… is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law” (Deut 17:16,18) Deuteronomy is filled with remarkable gems. This chapter virtually prophesies what will happen in the days of Samuel (see Deut 17:14,15 and 1 Sam 8:4,5); the Lord knew what would happen, but look at the guidelines given for such a king: He is to write out the Law (v.18), read it all the days of his life (v.19a) and follow carefully all the words of this law (v.19b). This king is to establish his reign on the Law of God, ensuring that the design of God for His people is followed throughout the nation. If every king had done that, there was promise of God's blessing. “One nation under God” so the US pledge of allegiance goes. If only it was, if only we were.

Further Consideration: Psalm 2 comes as a complete contrast: “The kings of the earth rise up   and the rulers band together   against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,   “Let us break their chains   and throw off their shackles.” (Psa 2:2,3) What folly, what misunderstanding! Instead of realising that God's Law given to Moses was His blueprint, His design for how He has designed us so we can work best, live in peace and harmony, people full of pride see this design as restrictive.

The trouble is that ‘rulers' are so often prone to pride, feeling that they are all-important, not realising that it just needs some form of sickness or illness to bring them down. Nebuchadnezzar (see Dan 4) had to have a bout of insanity before he came to his senses and then he worshipped the Lord.

In our starter verse above, Moses was prophesying what would happen in the days to come and gave express instructions how the king, whoever he was, was to keep on the right path before the Lord – but not only reading the Law but by writing out a copy for himself. He wasn't just to rely on the copy that the priests had, he had to have his own copy and to make it more memorable, he wasn't to delegate the job to a scribe, he was to write it out himself. Now to my understanding Saul never did that and as a result he got in a mess!

Snapshots: Day 109

The Snapshot: “ Let no one be found among you who … is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.” (Deut 18:10,11) Such a person was “detestable to the Lord”. It is quite clear. Stay away from the occult or those who use the occult. Isaiah applied it: “should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?” (Isa 8:19) Going to a medium is ignoring or rejecting God; He is the one we should consult. When Saul consulted the medium of Endor (1 Sam 28) she was scared out of her life when God sent Samuel back who prophesied Saul's destruction the next day. We dabble with such things at our peril and need to seek God's forgiveness and deliverance from any evil effects that come from the deceiving mouths of such people.

Further Consideration: Every now and then I come across people who talk so casually about having been to a séance or consulted a fortune teller and it leaves me wondering why the church is not teaching these things. Moses was quite clear – these things are detestable (hateful and repugnant) to the Lord, and we should be quite clear. Elsewhere in the Law it declared, “ A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.'” (Lev 20:27) That is how serious it was.

Many people just do not realise the effect of getting involved with the occult. Let me suggest some things I have observed over the years.

First, those who get involved with the occult (and this probably means reading the cards, playing with Ouija boards, going to seances or fortune tellers) find it very difficult to comprehend the Gospel or understand spiritual realities. There comes a blindness to these things. Second, such people are so often blighted by fear. Third, they become locked into lies that the enemy spreads through these things, lies that are often built on half-truths so they almost seem to have an air of truth about them – but they are lies which stick in the mind. Yes, the enemy knows your present circumstances and your present fears and so builds on them but only God knows the future

Snapshots: Day 110

The Snapshot: “ If someone is found slain…., and it is not known who the killer was…” (Deut 21:1) The state of California, the land of Hollywood, had over 1700 murders in 2018, the worst state in the USA. The number of homicides for the whole of England and Wales for that year was 732. The Law of Moses laid down rules for how to locate guilt and make atonement before God if there was a killing. Murder was a rarity. Which is the more civilized, California, part of a nation apparently ‘under God', or Israel under the Law of Moses? The reality is that with daily reports of murders, muggings or knifings, we have become blasé about deaths. In Israel, the requirements of the Law insisted that the leaders of the community took responsibility.

Further Consideration: What is amazing about this passage in Deut 21 is that it is not about the death penalty which is often so contentious (not because of the right of the state to take a person's life, but because of the possibility of there being an injustice and an innocent man might be executed sometimes) but about the attitude of the community when a murder has taken place but no guilty person has been found. Trying murderers is about bringing justice, about the victim having society stand up for him or her and for their name, but in this case, justice cannot be seen to be done, so what can be done?

In a fallen world where sometimes things don't work out well, there is here the case where society – or those leaders of it who are responsible before God for it – needs to stand before God and declare before Him (and be accountable to Him) their innocence and the fact that despite having done all they could, they have not been able to find the killer and therefore they recognise that justice has not been done for the murdered person.   

It is a way, if you like, of upholding two things. First, there is the concept of justice and the need for it in society. For the Israelites they had to take a sacrifice and wash their hands over this holy activity before God declaring before Him their innocence and their inability to bring justice about. This is where the act of washing your hands – as Pilate did (see Mt 27:24) – comes from, an act that says, “God, we as the leaders of your people stand innocent of this innocent blood shed – hold us accountable if you will.” How awesome, leaders of society taking responsibility before God for the bad things in society that they have not been able to resolve.   

Snapshots: Day 111

The Snapshot: “ All these blessings will come on you … if you obey the Lord your God.” (Deut 28:2) Chapters 27 and 28 are remarkable chapters of great clarity, chapters of curses and blessings respectively. A ‘curse' is a divinely imposed penalty and a ‘blessing' is divinely imposed good, and they come on disobedience and obedience respectively. When Paul was to say, “ Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows,” (Gal 6:7) he was reiterating in shorthand what Moses brought in the Law: there are always consequences in respect of what we do. It is a sign of the many problems of modern Western societies that, as a society, we have abandoned the design of God. The signs are increasingly there to be observed. When will we learn?

Further Consideration: I repeat, when will we learn. I see Christians drifting, those who disdain ‘church' (and yes, there is much to be critical about because it is made up of imperfect people – less imperfect hopefully than all those outside) and think they can get by on their own outside that community of people we call church.

But the blessings of God that Moses spoke about, and to which Paul implicitly referred, come on obedience, in whatever form it is seen in response to God's word. For example, “let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another.” (Heb 10:24,25) How can you encourage one another when you are not with one another? Don't we realise that ‘church' is a resource area for our spirit, a place to receive of the Lord, even if the worship or the preaching is lacking something of the Spirit?

The ‘blessing' that God brings is first an awareness of Himself which in turn brings peace of mind, and an awareness of being loved. These things may not flow every day – because battles rage, disruptions come, distractions are imposed – but they will be there. With that awareness comes the realization that we can talk to Him, offload our worries, receive His wisdom and direction, and those things in themselves impinge on our physical world and it is changed – we are blessed. In the face of the follies of the modern Western world, I find myself coming back again and again to Jesus' parable of the two house builders (see Mt 7:24-27) about how to stay upright in the face of the storms of life of which, in our modern world, there are many. The answer to all these problems that we try to pretend are not there, is obedience, hearing the words of Jesus and putting them all into practice, not just the obvious ones, the ones we like, but the ones we will find when we regularly read His word.

Snapshots: Day 112

The Snapshot: “ The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us.” (Deut 29:29) We live in a world of increasing spiritual ignorance. You watch TV quiz shows and see people stumble over the simplest Bible questions and realize many generations today have not been through Sunday School at the very least. But also we are told that few Christians read the Bible regularly and then we wonder why so many Christian lives seem so superficial and vulnerable to enemy attacks. God is a mystery but He has revealed so much to us through His word the Bible. If we don't read it we disdain His love in providing it for us. If we do read it regularly we will be fed and strengthened and find a new underpinning to our lives that will anchor them. May it be so.

Further Consideration: I finished the previous study with reference to Jesus' parable of the two house builders that teaches about listening to Jesus and then doing what he says, and couldn't help adding, putting them all into practice, not just the obvious ones, the ones we like, but the ones we will find when we regularly read His word. There it is, and there we come to a crunch point of modern Christian life that I referred to in the Snapshot, the failure of so many modern day Christians to read their Bible.

Well known preacher and writer, R.T.Kendall, in his 2019 book, ‘Word & Spirit' declares, “it is sadly true today that most Christians – whether liberal, Evangelical or Charismatic – do not know their Bible .” Why don't they know it? Because they don't read it. These are the things God has revealed to us and which, therefore, belong to us.

Francis Chan in his challenging ‘Letters to the Church' says, “Most Christians have heard all their lives that, ‘the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow and discerning the thoughts and intention of the heart (Heb 4:12). We've heard it, but do we believe it? If we genuinely believed that the Word of God was this powerful, what would we do? We would read these words and expect them to have a life of their own… if we really want to come before God with clean hands and a pure heart, we need to have a greater awe and longing for His Word alone.”

Snapshots: Day 113

The Snapshot: “ the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.” (Deut 30:4) A most incredible prophetic promise brought by Moses that will be fulfilled some three hundred years in the future after the Exile. However God disciplines, He always seeks to restore us to Himself. He wants us to know that before it happens, long before it is needed so that we live in the security of that. He knows the future, He knows our propensity to get it wrong in the days ahead, but His will is declared – He will always be working to bring us back, to restore us to Himself. When we are bad-hearted, grumpy, accusative, unpleasant, silly, thoughtless, He will still be there watching and waiting and WILL still be working to redeem us from all this. How wonderful!

Further Consideration: Within this prophecy from Moses, there are two major lessons that are as valid today as they were in Israel's early centuries. The first is thing is the discipline thing. I've said it above, God disciplines. But what does that actually mean and why does He do it? It means that He brings pressures to bear on us that are designed to bring changes in us, to correct us, restore us to Himself, and so on.

But why does He do that? Because He loves us. In our modern Western world we see many parents who opt out of their parental responsibilities because they are self-centred and uncaring about the offspring they have (sometimes carelessly) brought into the world. But God is never like that, He reaches out to us and brings discipline.

Snapshots: Day 114

The Snapshot: “ the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Deut 31:6) It applied to Israel and it applies to us (see Heb 13:5) That is good news and bad. It is good news if our heart is turned to God and we want His help. It is bad news if we rebel against Him and thus become vulnerable to His discipline. The Lord's intent is always to bless His children but when they are being wayward, as a loving Father He disciplines them (Heb 12:6). His hand is always held out to impart blessing but when we turn our backs on Him, He knows the only way to get our attention is to do something – often allowing us to do our own thing in our bad state – that will go wrong, pull us up and remind us that blessings go with obedience.

Further Consideration: The mix of promises, exhortations and explanations that come from the Lord through Moses on the Plains of Moab before they enter the Promised Land bring warnings on one hand, as we saw in the previous study and we will see in the next, but also encouragements as we now see in our present verse. We dealt with the discipline issue in the previous study so let's see the other side of the coin now. In his various psalms, David referred to the good side of knowing the Lord and referred to Him in a whole variety of ways, for example: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;   my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” (Psa 18:2) The Message version spells it out even more graphically: “God is bedrock under my feet, the castle in which I live,   my rescuing knight. My God—the high crag   where I run for dear life,   hiding behind the boulders, safe in the granite hideout.” What a picture that conveys of a sense of security.