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It’s Best To Get On God’s Side

Find Ways to Bless Israel!

Even though imperfect, Israel is the eternal apple of God’s eye. And God himself has promised to bless you for blessing them. So find ways to bless Israel. How? Pray for the nation regularly. Support Christian ministries that serve them on Christ’s behalf. Go there if and when you can—tourism is a great boon to their economy and an emotional lift to their national psyche. And speak out on their behalf when they are being unfairly criticized. No matter how much the world hates Israel, it is best to be on God’s side on this one!

The Journey // Focus: Numbers 24:9-10

“May those who bless you be blessed and those who curse you be cursed!” Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam.

It is popular to bash Israel these days. For that matter, hatred for the Hebrew people disguised as righteous indignation has been the case from time immemorial. But hatred for the Jew and the Jewish state is particularly noxious these days, especially in the media and in the academe. These institutions are not shy about intimidating those who do business with Israel, or have invested in anything related. In fact, there is a growing movement known as BDS—Boycott, Divestment Sanctions—whose stated purpose is to “end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians.”

But let the hater beware! Balaam’s words are as true today as they were thousands of years before Christ: May God bless those who bless Israel and may God curse those who curse Israel. There will either be blessings or cursings, depending on what posture one takes toward the people of God.

Of course, those who don’t accept the Bible as the Word of God don’t give a fig about the above quote, but this Divine blessing/curse is still in play. And at the end of the day, the Balak’s of this world will find that they are not fighting against Israel and their perceived mistreatment of the Palestinians (by and large, a red herring, in my opinion), they have been displaying their hatred for none other than God himself. And that is never a good thing!

Now this doesn’t mean that Israel can do no wrong. There are many Christians who seem to unthinkingly take that posture in their efforts to support the Jewish nation. The danger in treating Israel with kid gloves is actually something that even God didn’t do with his chosen people. When they were out of line, he called them out. When they abandoned obedience to his Word, God punished them. When they persisted in rebellion and idolatry, he sent them into exile. He even allowed the temple they built to house his glorious presence to be destroyed—twice.

As I have pointed out at previous times, God’s faithful love for Israel can never be separated from his fierce expectations of holiness from them. When Israel disobeyed, God sent punishment. So let’s be very careful in our love for God’s people that we don’t develop a wrong-headed kind of love for them. Blind Israelphile is no answer to anti-Semitism.

Likewise, we must never allow love for Israel to mean we turn a blind eye to the desperate needs of the Palestinians. They are human beings. They love their children as much as we do. They have hopes and dreams for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, too. And for the most part, they have been living under the oppressive and corrupt rule of their own leaders—and the results have been shameful. So when we have opportunity, all Christians should speak and act on the behalf of these oppressed. To do so, no matter who the oppressed are, brings a blessing similar to those who bless Israel,

If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. (Isaiah 58:9-10)

But never at the expense of Israel. Even though imperfect, they are the eternal apple of God’s eye. And God himself has promised to bless you for blessing them. Of course, there are those who will reinterpret the blessing as now applicable to all who are God’s people by faith in Jesus Christ, but I would remind you that “God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable” (Romans 11:28-29), a verse that is clearly referring to God’s sovereign election of Israel.

So find ways to bless Israel. How? Pray for the nation regularly. Support Christian ministries that serve that nation and seek to build relational bridges to them on Christ’s behalf. Go there if and when you can—tourism is a great boon to their economy and an emotional lift to their national psyche. And speak out on their behalf when they are being unfairly criticized (fair warning: that won’t be a popular thing for you to do).

God’s eternal posture is one of uncommon favor toward Israel. Keep that in mind; it is best to be on God’s side on this one!

Going Deeper: Pray for the health, security, prosperity and peace of Israel today.

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Thankfully, God’s Love Never Runs Out!

Trying Writing Your Own Psalm of Gratitude

If you’re sharing a Thanksgiving meal with family or friends today, there’s a chance that something will run out: the gravy, the stuffing, or the pumpkin pie. Thankfully, there is something that will never run out at your celebration: God’s love for you! Psalm 107:1-2 says, “Oh, thank God—he’s so good! His love never runs out. All of you set free by God, tell the world!” So why don’t you do just that: tell the world, or at least those you are with today. Write an “O give thanks to the Lord for he is good” psalm, and then, like the psalmist suggested, tell everyone how grateful you are. It will do you, and them, a world of good.

Going Deep // Focus: Psalm 107:1-2

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say this!

If you are sharing a Thanksgiving meal with loved ones today, there is a chance that something will run out: the gravy, the stuffing, or the pumpkin pie. Thankfully, there is something that will never run out that will be present at your celebration: God’s love for you!

I like the way The Message version renders the psalmist’s call to gratitude: “Oh, thank God—he’s so good! His love never runs out. All of you set free by God, tell the world!”

It is true—and it is more than just christianese: God is good—all the time! That is the testimony of my life—and I have a feeling it is true of your life as well. Certainly, I ought to be proclaiming God’s goodness to anyone who will listen, and even to those who won’t, much more than I do. Add to that the fact that I am, on my best day, not so good, and on my worst day, frankly, pretty bad, only adds to the brilliance of God’s overwhelming goodness.

The New King James translation of the psalmist’s words are even more meaningful to me: “Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” Mercy—I can really relate to that. Now don’t misunderstand what I’m saying: I’ll take either enduring love or enduring mercy—I can’t live without either one. Love and mercy are simply different facets of the same diamond we understand as the goodness of God.

But God’s mercy really speaks to me, and I’ll bet if you thought about, it, you would say the same. Someone said that mercy is not getting what you deserve. The truth is, you and I depend upon God’s mercy every single moment just to draw in the next breath, since the holy and righteous God has had every reason and right to annihilate us from the planet because of our sinfulness. Jeremiah said it well in Lamentations 3:22-23,

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

The entirety of Psalm 107 is simply giving one example after another of how God in his faithful love and enduring mercy has freed his people from what they deserve. And at the end of each example, the psalmist expresses the call to gratitude:

Oh, thank God, he is so good! His love never runs out!

I’ll bet you could write your own Psalm 107. In fact, that might be a good assignment for you on this Thanksgiving Day. And then, like the psalmist suggested, we should go tell the world. Now that’s a pretty tall order, so how about starting with the people with whom you will enjoy the holiday meal today? Write your psalm and share it with your spouse, your family, and your friends.

I am not sure how they will feel about it, but you will certainly feel pretty good. That’s what heartfelt gratitude to God for his faithful love and enduring mercy does.

Going Deeper With God: Write your own Psalm 107—a psalm of gratitude—on this Thanksgiving Day. And then, like the psalmist suggested, go tell the world of how thankful you are. Or, you could start with the people at the holiday meal today. Write your psalm and share it with your spouse, your family, and your friends. It will do you a world of good.

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If You’re Going To Speak For God

WARNING: Speaking for the Almighty Carries a Heavy Responsibility

The power to call out a judgment on someone is subject to God alone, not the prophet’s feelings. Likewise, the power to bless someone is within the purview of God alone, not the prophet’s favor. If you or someone you know claim to have a prophetic word of either blessing or cursing, then make sure that message is truly from God and not merely from human passion or opinion. If you fancy yourself a prophet, your prophetic responsibility is to speak when God says to speak, and shut up when God is silent. Don’t fill the air with prognostications simply because you have a “calling” or because you have an opinion. Speaking for the Almighty carries a heavy responsibility and must clear a very high bar.

The Journey // Focus: Numbers 23:11-12, 25-26

Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!” Balaam answered, “Must I not speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?” …Then Balak said to Balaam, “Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!” Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the Lord says?”

From our twenty-first century perspective, the interaction between the ancient prophet Balaam and King Balak is quite amusing. Balaam speaks for God, yet he is willing to moderate the message for money—he can be bought. And Balak seems to be willing to pay until his gets the prophecy he likes. Three times, in essence he tells Balaam, “no, that message from God is not the one I want. Let’s try another one!”

Of course, these men lived in a primitive time. They weren’t unintelligent, mind you, they just didn’t have access to the information you and I have. King Balak lived in a violent world, a survival of the fittest time, and the very real possibility of his nation (Moab) being wiped out by an invading nation (the Israelites) was a clear and present danger. So he was doing what he knew to do: get some insider information from the Divine and hope to goodness that information would save his skin—and his nation. As far as Balaam goes, he didn’t have the full revelation of God that we now do, so his information was often shaped by his circumstances rather than Scripture. That is not to excuse this prophet from pulling his prophetic punches for pay, it simply explains Balaam.

Now this story continues beyond Numbers 23, and ultimately Balaam gives in to the pressure to curse Israel. But he doesn’t do it directly through a verbal curse, but rather, he teaches the Moabites how to lure the people of God into sexual immorality. And in the process of God judging Moab through the sword of the Israelite army, this sometime-prophet of God is put to death. But at least in this chapter, he stays true to what God tells him by speaking only the Word of the Lord. And in the process, he leaves us with some helpful lessons for those who would speak for God today.

Here is one lesson: The power to call out a judgment on someone is subject to God alone, and it is not subject to the prophet’s feelings. Likewise, the power to bless someone is within the purview of God alone, and is not subject to the prophet’s favor or mood. In Numbers 23:8-9, Balaam responds to Balak’s efforts to influence a negative message:

How can I curse those whom God has not cursed?
How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced?

If you or someone you know claims to speak for God, then make sure that the message is truly from God and not simply from human passion or opinion. That is both a heavy responsibility and a very high bar.

Here is another lesson: God is not subject to human emotions. He will not be angry as quickly as we are—he is infinitely patient. Nor will he overlook sin like we do simply because we happen to like the sinner or are unwilling to speak a hard word. At one and the same time, God see things with utter moral clarity as well as an unassailably just character, yet he sees the wayward through eyes of a Father who longs to redeem through loving discipline rather than irrevocable judgment. Yet the fact remains, God’s faithful love can never be separated from his fierce holiness, and his fierce holiness can never be separated from his faithful love. Here is how Balaam said it in Numbers 23:19-20,

God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it.

One final lesson: If you fancy yourself a prophet, your prophetic responsibility is to speak when God says to speak, and shut up when God is silent. Don’t fill the air with prognostications simply because you have a “calling” or because you have an opinion. Notice this exchange between the frustrated king and the resolute prophet in Numbers 23: 25-26,

Then Balak said to Balaam, “Then neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!”
Balaam answered, “Did I not tell you I must do whatever the Lord says?”

Do prophets speak today? Of course, and we must be open to the prophetic word. But Scripture sets the prophetic bar very high, so let both the speaker and the listener beware. So whomever is going to speak for God, make sure it is God speaking, or keep quiet.

Going Deeper: Whether you have a prophetic word or simply what seems to be some relevant Scriptural advice, follow Balaam’s advice: just do whatever the Lord says!

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While You Sleep, God Stands Guard

He Is Ever Watchful!

While the Moabite king, Balak, is concocting his plan with Balaam to destroy God’s people, the Israelites are oblivious to this eminent danger. Yet God is ever watchful, protecting Israel by warning off Balaam from doing anything that would bring harm. While Israel slumbered, their God stood guard. That’s true for you, too. While you may stress over many things you can see, there are thousands more things you can’t see that would drive you insane if you only knew. But God knows, and while you sleep, he stands guard. Now if the Lord will keep you from what you don’t see, he will also keep you from what you do see. Either way, he is your Warrior God. And since God is in charge of your safety, why not give him all your concerns!

The Journey// Focus: Numbers 22:27-34

When Balaam’s donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, it lay down under Balaam. In a fit of rage Balaam beat the animal again with his staff. Then the Lord gave the donkey the ability to speak. “What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times?” it asked Balaam. “You have made me look like a fool!” Balaam shouted. “If I had a sword with me, I would kill you!” “But I am the same donkey you have ridden all your life,” the donkey answered. “Have I ever done anything like this before?” “No,” Balaam admitted. Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the roadway with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam bowed his head and fell face down on the ground before him.  “Why did you beat your donkey those three times?” the angel of the Lord demanded. “Look, I have come to block your way because you are stubbornly resisting me. Three times the donkey saw me and shied away; otherwise, I would certainly have killed you by now and spared the donkey.” Then Balaam confessed to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned. I didn’t realize you were standing in the road to block my way. I will return home if you are against my going.”

The story of Balaam and his donkey has to be one of the strangest and funniest yet most unusually instructive chapters in the Bible. Let me take those one at a time—strange, funny and instructive.

First of all, this account is a bit weird. We are not quite sure from just this chapter if Balaam is a true or false prophet. It appears that he was a man who actually heard from God, even though he was outside the community of Israel. He lived in a faraway place, and apparently was so famous for getting a word from the Lord now and again that the Moabite king would seek his favor. But from this and other chapters, we also learn that even while hearing from God on occasion, Balaam was far from perfect, for he was ultimately influenced by the possibility of more money and the potential for more fame:

They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong. (2 Peter 2:15)

Like Balaam, they deceive people for money. (Jude 1:11)

But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. (Revelation 2:14)

All five of the Midianite kings—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—died in the battle. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. (Numbers 31:8)

Now let me jump ahead and offer a thought that falls into the instructive nature of this story. No man or woman who speaks for God is perfect. Never forget that—especially in this day and age where prophetic voices fill the airwaves and compete for your financial allegiance. That doesn’t mean the message from an imperfect prophet is not from God—it may very well be. But for sure, just because a person claims to speak for God doesn’t guarantee that God is speaking through them. If you are listening to a so-called prophet, caveat emptor: let the listener have discernment. As was said about Balaam, it is hard to tell on the surface if those who claim prophetic standing are true or false. That is why you need to pray for discernment. That is why you need to stay grounded in the “more sure word of prophecy” — the Bible. And that is why you must get under the ministry of a local shepherd, where you can watch his or her life and doctrine closely.

Second, how humorous is this story? Really? A man talks to a donkey—and the donkey talks back: “The Lord gave the donkey the ability to speak. ‘What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times?’ it asked Balaam. Balaam shouted, ‘You have made me look like a fool!” Look like a fool—no kidding; the man is literally carrying on a conversation with a donkey. I suppose here is a case where a donkey made an ass out of a man. For reals, now look who’s saying “nay”.

“Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee?” And Balaam said, “Nay.” (Numbers 22:31, KJV)

Again, skipping ahead to the instructive observations to the story, among the many applications we could insert here, for sure, we can conclude that God has a sense of humor. If we step back and think about how he works in our lives, we would have to chuckle at the funny, sometimes ridiculous ways God has to use to get our attention. Learn a lesson from Balaam: Don’t make God get to the point where he has to use a donkey to get your attention. Listen the first time!

Third, the story is incredibly instructive in this over-arching sense: One of the most encouraging truths we can glean from Numbers 22 is not something that is actually stated in the chapter. It is happening all around it. You see, while Balak is concocting his plan with Balaam to destroy the people of God, the Israelites are oblivious to the eminent danger. Yet God is ever watchful, protecting Israel by warning off Balaam from doing anything that would bring harm. While Israel slumbers, their God stood guard.

And that is true for you, too. While you may stress and worry over many things you can see, there are thousands more things you don’t see that would drive you insane if you only knew. But God knows, and while you sleep, he stands guard. He is your strong tower, your shield, your defender, your warrior.

Now if the Lord will keep you from what you don’t see, he will also keep you from what you do see. Either way, he is your Warrior God. And since God is in charge of your safety, why not give him all your concerns!

Going Deeper: What are you stressing over today! Give it to your Warrior God. He will fight your battle for you!

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A Sneak Peek at Mercy and Grace

Sin Has Rewired Us From Gratitude to Griping

Let’s just admit that we are no different than the complaining Israelites. It is human nature. The Hebrews grumbled in the Old Testament, the Jews griped in the Gospels, the new community complained at the launch of the church in Acts, and before the day is out, the odds are hovering around 100% that you will get grouchy over some inconvenience related to God’s silence or slowness or lack of provision in your life. Me too! Unfortunately, original sin rewired us from gratitude to griping. Not to excuse or diminish the sin of complaint in any way, but thank God for mercy and grace that covers our fallen, shallow, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately faith. Today, offer a prayer of humble gratitude to God for his mercy and grace.

The Journey // Focus: Numbers 21:5-9

They spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

Same song, umpteenth verse: the Israelites are tested, they fail. They run into hardship, they complain. They are delivered by God’s mighty hand one minute, the next they are blaming him for abandoning them. Over and again in Numbers, we see this sad story of shallow, what-have-you-done-for-me-lately faith displayed by the people of God toward their God and his leader. And over and again, the Lord patiently puts up with their whining and complaining.

Now before we cluck our tongues at their weak and wishy-washy spirituality, let’s just admit that we are no different than the Israelites. It is human nature. The Israelites grumbled in the Old Testament, the Jews griped in the Gospels, the new community complained at the launch of the church in Acts, and before the day is out, the odds are hovering around 100% that you will get grouchy over some inconvenience related to God’s silence or slowness or lack of provision in your life. Me too! Unfortunately, we are just wired that way.

But thank God, here in this story we have a sneak peek at the mercy and grace of God that sustains us every single moment of our day. In the case of the griping Hebrews, God’s patience wore thin and he sent punishment upon them in the form of poisonous snakes. And they paid a painful price. Interestingly, however, when they called out to him, he provided immediate relief. Rather than going through a sacrificial ritual to remove their guilt and sin, God gave the Israelites a way to simply look to an uplifted cross and be healed from the iniquity that was leading to their deaths.

That was mercy! God removed from them what they deserved: just punishment. That was grace: he healed them even in their sinful, rebellious state. Mercy—not getting what we deserve. Grace—getting what we don’t deserve. That is God.

Even in the Old Testament, God was planning for a time when his Son would be lifted up on a pole to pay the once-and-for all full price for our sins. And all we would have to do, could do, would be to look to him and receive our salvation.

That is mercy: we deserved punishment, eternal judgment for our sin. But God placed our punishment on Jesus, who knew no sin. (2 Corinthians 5:21) He became sin on our behalf, so that we could become righteous before God. That was grace: we got redemption, the forgiveness of our sins through his grace. (Ephesians 1:7). Due to no righteousness of our own, through Jesus we received grace—God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense.

Thank God for mercy and grace. You and I would not be here if not for that!

Going Deeper: Offer a prayer of humble gratitude to God today for his mercy and grace.

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The Danger of Trying to Help God Out

He Doesn’t Need Our Help, Just Our Cooperation

God doesn’t need our help; just our cooperation. When we try to perfect his work, we end up taking his glory for ourselves, and that is always a dangerous path to tread. We must simply let God be God, and trust him to bring glory out of our situations in his way and in his time. Wherever you need God’s help—with a difficult spouse, a rebellious child, a harsh boss, an irritating co-worker—let God be God. He will do a much better job than you!

Going Deep // Focus: Numbers 20:7-12

The Lord said to Moses, “You and Aaron must take the staff and assemble the entire community. As the people watch, speak to the rock over there, and it will pour out its water. You will provide enough water from the rock to satisfy the whole community and their livestock.” So Moses did as he was told. He took the staff from the place where it was kept before the Lord. Then he and Aaron summoned the people to come and gather at the rock. “Listen, you rebels!” he shouted. “Must we bring you water from this rock?” Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with the staff, and water gushed out. So the entire community and their livestock drank their fill. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me enough to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land I am giving them!”

I feel for Moses on this one—I really do. Put yourself in his sandals: he’d led these rebellious, complaining, sin-prone Israelites out of Egypt and through the wilderness up to this point in the most miraculous way possible. He had mediated the ten plagues, parted the Red Sea, negotiated a daily supply of manna, strategized victory over enemies, delivered the Ten Commandments and clearly wore the approval of God on his shining countenance. Yet the people continued to complain about his leadership and doubt God’s record of provision.

Now they were complaining about having no water. And they were blaming Moses. And they were blaming God. And they were so misguided in their emotions that they actually talked about how glorious it had been for them during their slavery in Egypt. They were a difficult bunch, to put it nicely.

In response to this, Moses initially did what a good spiritual leader is supposed to do: he went to God. He an Aaron walked into the Tabernacle and fell flat on their faces before the Lord. And God graciously revealed his glorious presence to them once again. But not only that, but once again, God also provided a plan to reveal his greatness to the people by providing water from a rock. Moses was to call the people together and demonstrate to them once again the glory of the Lord and his gracious supply.

That is where Moses lost it. He called the people together, and understandably, he angrily yelled at them for their rebellious distrust of God. To make his point, he struck the rock rather than simply speak to it as the Lord had commanded. Moses’ emotions got the better of him, and instead of simply letting God do the supernatural in the most natural way, he thought he would help God out with a bit more dramatic flair.

Graciously, God still granted water from the rock, and both people along with livestock were rescued. Moses saved the day! But wait, Moses disobeyed the clear instruction of the Lord. And for that, God’s harsh punishment was to ban Moses from entering the Promised Land with the Israelites. Now to us, this seems like disproportionate punishment for a single, understandable sin, but God is God, he takes sin seriously, and he had his reasons for denying Moses what he had worked forty years to accomplish.

Now I suspect you think God was too hard on Moses. Me too. But we don’t know the whole story, so we will have to trust God on this one, since he never makes mistakes, and he is always kind, but his ways are too deep for us to always understand. I suspect, however, that one of the deal breakers in this incident was that in striking the rock, Moses took glory to himself rather than deflecting it to God. And God will not—let me repeat, will not—share his glory with another:

I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols. (Isaiah 42:8)

But wait—there’s more to this story. Fast forward to Luke 9 and you will see that through the grace of God, Moses actually got to experience the Promised Land in a way that the original entrance into Canaan could not compare—not by a long shot:

Jesus took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray. As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.  Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus.  They spoke about his departure, [literally, his exodus] which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. (Luke 9:28-31)

Now how cool is that! Moses, who had taken God’s glory from himself, and received the just punishment for it, now appeared in God’s glorious splendor inside the Promised Land. Moreover, he spoke with God the Son about a true and better Exodus, the deliverance for the entire human race from the ultimate bondage of sin and death through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Moses got to experience in far greater fashion than what he was originally denied.

So let me suggest a couple of polar opposite applications here from this interesting story: First of all, God doesn’t’ need our help; just our cooperation. When we try to perfect his work, we end up taking his glory for ourselves, and that is always a dangerous path to tread. We must simply let God be God, and trust him to bring glory out of our situations in his way and in his time. Wherever you need God’s help—with a difficult spouse, a rebellious child, a harsh boss, an irritating co-worker—let God be God. He will do a much better job than you!

Second, if and when you blow it, taking God’s glory for yourself, and taking the consequences that follow, it will be painful. But look for God’s grace. As John Newton said, “We serve a gracious Master who is able to overrule even our mistakes even our mistakes to His glory and our own advantage.” Don’t step on God’s lines, but when you do, hold out for grace.

God’s doesn’t need your help! He wants your cooperation!

Going Deeper With God: If there is an area of your life where you have been treading on God’s role, back off, repent and trust!

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The Ashes of the Red Heifer

A Powerful Prophetic Photograph of a Better Way

While some have manufactured eschatological mystery over this esoteric teaching about the ashes of the red heifer, simply put, this ritual required a ceremonially clean person to sprinkle a ceremonially unclean person—one who had touched a dead body—with water mixed with the heifer’s ashes, sprinkling them with a hyssop branch. But while this unusual ritual had meaning in the context of ancient Israel, more importantly, it was a powerful prophetic photograph of a better way that God had in mind to purify us once and for all through the cleansing power of Christ’s blood — thank God, the real and permanent answer to our defilement.

The Journey // Focus: Numbers 19:9-13

The ashes of the red heifer will be kept there for the community of Israel to use in the water for the purification ceremony. This ceremony is performed for the removal of sin. …This is a permanent law for the people of Israel and any foreigners who live among them. All those who touch a dead human body will be ceremonially unclean for seven days. They must purify themselves on the third and seventh days with the water of purification; then they will be purified. But if they do not do this on the third and seventh days, they will continue to be unclean even after the seventh day. All those who touch a dead body and do not purify themselves in the proper way defile the Lord’s Tabernacle, and they will be cut off from the community of Israel. Since the water of purification was not sprinkled on them, their defilement continues.

Holy Cow, this is a strange one! Right up there with the lost Ark of the Covenant, there is much mystery surrounding the Ashes of the Red Heifer among those who traffic in the apocalyptic. In a nutshell, the cultic belief concerning this one is that the original ashes of the red heifer have been preserved since Old Testament days, and the reappearance of these ashes is needed to institute the sacrifices of the rebuilt temple—the third temple that many believe will be physically rebuilt at the time of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

As I said, holy cow! Indeed, this is a strange belief that has absolutely nothing to do with how the end times will play out. But apocalyptic authors, whose tribe have certainly increased in modern times, are certain to get a lot of miles out of this manufactured mystery as they fabricate their junk eschatology and sell a few books, to boot.

Nevertheless, what are we to make about this teaching on the ashes of the red heifer? Allow me to offer a few observations. First, among the many unusual rituals God established for his people, this one is arguably one of the strangest. Unlike any other sacrificial animal, this animal was to be slaughtered, not sacrificed, and burned in its entirety. The Asbury Bible Commentary on this chapter summarizes it as follows:

Then the heifer was totally incinerated while the priest watched (Numbers 19:5). The red hide of the heifer symbolically added to the quantity of blood, as did the red cedar wood and scarlet wool (Numbers 19:6). Thereafter the ashes of the heifer were stored outside the city (Numbers 19:9), ready to be mixed with water and sprinkled on anyone who had become ritually impure due to corpse contamination (Numbers 19:17-19). The whole ritual is described as a purification from sin (Numbers 19:9).

Now think about this in a practical way before we consider the theological implication: Israel was a new nation in an ancient, war-scarred, barbaric world, fighting their way through the wilderness and into the Promised Land. There was a lot of death. Many Hebrews died, and of course, a whole lot more of their enemies died. There was also a great deal of death among the community of Israel from natural causes, and likewise, as punishment for their rebellion, upwards of two-million Israelites would die off during their forty years of wandering.

In a very practical sense, death was a reality of life. A a consequence, there was contamination from the bodies of the dead. And since God is a God of life, death and handling of the dead brought spiritual defilement that required separation from the holiness of God. While it may seem a strange way to deal with the dead, God ordered his people to handle corpses through this ritual practice as a way to keep his people distinctly his, set apart as holy unto himself. In this, God graciously gave the Israelites a way to deal with their dead, as every culture in every era must do, in a way that satisfied the needs of a community to grieve their loss and initiate the process of closure while at the same time recognizing the requirements of a holy God who cared enough about their loss to provide a process for their grief.

Yet theologically, this ceremony for dealing with the dead pointed to a more powerful death—the death of Jesus Christ. While in the situation described in Numbers required a ceremonially clean person to sprinkle the ceremonially unclean person or thing with the water of cleansing (water mixed with the ashes, sprinkled with a hyssop branch), the cleansing power of the blood of Christ is specifically contrasted as a much more effective and permanent answer to our defilement:

The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! (Hebrews 9:13-14)

Indeed, how much better is Jesus’ death as a cleansing agent that arguing over some manufactured mystery about the ashes of a red heifer. 1 John 1:7-9 reminds us, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

I’ll take the blood of Jesus Christ any day.

Going Deeper: Think about 1 John 1:7-9. Now, how grateful for you that Jesus is your perfect, one-for-all sacrifice? Why don’t you tell him that!