“So they camped or traveled at the Lord’s command, and they did whatever the Lord told them through Moses” (Numbers 9:23, NLT).
When Israel was in the wilderness, God led the nation with a pillar of cloud or fire. The pillar regularly appeared as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When the pillar settled over the Tabernacle and the camp of Israel, it represented God’s presence and protection.
“There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold.” (I Peter 1:6-7, NLT).
As Christians we talk a lot about faith and we profess to have faith. But, in this passage the Apostle Peter says that until our faith is put to the test by the trials of life, it is not genuine faith!
“O Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You think of him? Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow” (Psalm 144:3-4, NASB).
Do you ever in your mind step out of your life and try to see the big picture, try to put your life in perspective, try to look at it from God’s point of view? If you do, you might see things the way David did in this Psalm. You might see that in the big picture of things, your life is like a breath or a shadow. You’re not here very long and your life in this world is soon forgotten.
Now, I’m not trying to be pessimistic or deterministic. I’m trying to make a point. We have a backwards view of life. We live our lives in this world like they are the main reality and life after death is the “afterlife.” But the reality is that eternal life is the real reality and our lives in this world are just an introduction, a pre-life training for eternity. And death is our graduation to eternal life!
“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!” (Psalm 139:17-18, NLT).
It’s hard to imagine that the Creator of the universe, our Heavenly Father, thinks about me! After all, doesn’t He have a universe to manage?
This Psalm assures us that not only does God think about each one of us constantly, but:
“If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:43-48, NASB).
This saying of Jesus alludes to the very last verse of Isaiah, which speaks of the punishment for rebellion against God as endless destruction.
John had asked Jesus what to do about someone who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name but was not part of the group of His disciples. Jesus answered not to be so concerned about someone doing good in His name but be concerned about false teachers. Be more concerned about someone who causes others to stop trusting in God or prevents them from ever starting to trust in God.
“Taking a child, He set him before them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, ‘Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives me does not receive Me, but him who sent me'” (Mark 9:36-37, NASB).
I am a trinitarian. I believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I believe that God reveals Himself to us in the Bible as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. My comprehension of God and my personal experience of God is trinitarian.
I want my children to have a complete and accurate knowledge of God as they grow up. Yet, I’m not sure that I really completely understand the Trinity.
So, how do you explain this complex trinitarian theology to your children when you don’t really understand it yourself?
“If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all” (Mark 9:35, ESV).
We live in a success-oriented society. So all you high achievers may want to know how you achieve success in the Kingdom of God!
Achieving success in God’s Kingdom actually occurs much differently from achieving success in this world. Kingdom success doesn’t come by promoting yourself or by exerting power and influence over others. It doesn’t even come by working harder and longer than everybody else.
“It is good for me that I was afflicted. that I may learn your statutes.” (Psalm 119:71, NASB).
You probably have never experienced problems or sickness and said to yourself, “That was good!” Sure, we’re taught that the problems of life can work for our good (see Romans 8:28), but we still don’t like to have problems. We don’t like to be hurt or sick. We don’t rejoice about affliction!
“I will keep on obeying your instructions forever and ever. I will walk in freedom, for I have devoted myself to your commandments” (Psalm 119:44-45, NLT).
Don’t laws control you? Then, how do laws set you free?
Psalm 119 is a Hebrew acrostic poem. There are twenty-two stanzas, one for each successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Each of the eight verses within each stanza begins with the Hebrew letter named in its heading. The unifying theme of the Psalm is love for and obedience to God’s Law or Word.
“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His godly ones” (Psalm 116:15, NASB).
With Easter approaching it seems appropriate to be thinking about death. And the good thing about death!
While Easter is the time we celebrate the Lord’s resurrection, we should also remember that the only way human beings enter into eternal life is through the death of the physical body.
Steve's Bible Meditations 