Month: October 2023

Morning Musing: Exodus 15:22-24

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“Then Moses led Israel on from the Red Sea, and they went out to the Wilderness of Shur. They journeyed for three days in the wilderness without finding water. They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water at Marah because it was bitter – that is why it was named Marah. The people grumbled to Moses, ‘What are we going to drink?'” (CSB – Read the chapter)

There are some stories that just stick with you. One my dad told a lot when I was growing up, and which I have now told my own boys often enough that when I start it they say, ‘We know. You and Grandpa have both told us before,’ is about one of his teachers in school. Every day the teacher would flip a coin. If it was heads, they had a pop quiz. If it was tails, they didn’t. Sometimes life throws tests our way that we don’t want or expect. How we handle those, though, matters a lot. They both test and reveal our character. Israel didn’t get very far into their journey before they experienced one of these tests. It became a story that would eventually be told a lot. Let’s talk about it.

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Do Miracles Matter?

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This week we are tackling the second tough question that is sometimes thrown at the feet (or in the face) of followers of Jesus in our series, Confident in the Face of Hard Questions. The Scriptures talk about all kinds of different miracles that were performed by Jesus, the disciples, or one of the prophets in the Old Testament. In a world that prides itself on being modern and scientific and able to explain everything by means of purely empirical methods, these stories represent a pretty stout challenge to accepting the claims of Christianity. It would be easier if we could explain them away or otherwise get rid of them and just stick with the things Jesus said. But is that the best path forward? Do miracles really matter? Let’s talk about it as we move into this second part of our journey.

Do Miracles Matter?

It’s not much of a secret around here that I am a Kansas basketball fan. And, just because I want you to know that I am fully aware of Jesus’ command to love our enemies, I am not going to bring up the 2022 Championship at all…even though it would have worked really well for this illustration. You’re welcome. I want to turn the clock back just a little bit further than that to the 2008 season. That year, KU was playing in the Championship game against a Memphis team everyone knew was going to win. KU had been good all season, but Memphis was just better. And, although the game was close at times, with about 2 minutes left in the game, we were down by 9 and everybody knew it was over. Then we scored, and the gap closed to 7. Then we got a stop. Then we scored again, but so did they. Back and forth it went with our slowly chipping away at their lead. Finally, the clock had ticked all the way down to just seconds remaining in the game. And we had the ball. After a frantic inbounds and scramble to get someone open, freshman guard Sherron Collins (who would go on to have a very successful career at Kansas) got the ball into the hands of junior point guard Mario Chalmers who sunk a three from way beyond the top of the key with 2.1 seconds remaining to tie the game, sending it into an overtime that we won decisively. 

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Digging in Deeper: 1 Peter 1:3

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“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

As far as the world is concerned, the way of Jesus is a way of weakness and failure. Well, weakness in a world dominated by what is perceived as strength invites aggressive people to challenge and persecute those who are given the unfortunate label. Those people and institutions and even nations that are thought to be weak are made into targets. They can become scapegoats for all kinds of problems. Eventually they are seen as less than fully human, and once that particular line is crossed in the minds of their adversaries, a whole range of awful things suddenly fall within the realm of reasonable, acceptable, and even good to do to them. The apostle Peter, who had once fully bought into the world’s narrative of strength, opens his first letter by offering praise to God because of the living hope He has given us through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The trouble with a resurrection hope is that it starts with a death. In this case it was a voluntary death that was not resisted. The world sees that as weakness and responds accordingly. How do we live with a living hope in a world that doesn’t understand such a thing?

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 15:17-21

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“You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your possession; Lord, you have prepared the place for your dwelling; Lord, your hands have established the sanctuary. The Lord will reign forever and ever! When Pharaoh’s horses with his chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought water of the sea back over them. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. Then the prophetess Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women came out following her with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them: Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted; he has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the clearest indicators that God was the ultimate author of all the Scriptures via the inspiration of His Holy Spirit is the sheer number of times and places where one part makes reference to another part. Backward-looking references are certainly easy to explain. The later authors simply had to be familiar (very familiar sometimes) with the earlier documents. Forward-looking references (prophecy), though, are harder to understand apart from two things: God’s inspiration, or a much later authorship of some parts of it than we think. In this final part of Moses’ song of praise (whose exact ending point in the text isn’t totally clear), we see an example of this. Let’s talk about this last stanza, what follows, and what we can learn from this whole thing.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 15:14-16

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“When the peoples hear, they will shudder; anguish will seize the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom will be terrified; trembling will seize the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan will panic; terror and dread will fall on them. They will be as still as a stone because of your powerful arm until your people pass by; Lord, until the people whom you purchased pass by.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I used to love watching chef Alton Brown’s Food Network series, Good Eats. He made really good-looking food, of course, but his big thing was exploring the science behind it. And the series was really creative in doing that. It was quirky, fun, educational, and highly entertaining. There really has not ever been another cooking show like it. One of Brown’s big things throughout the series was that he hated single-function kitchen tools. Everything needed to be able to serve more than one purpose. Although Brown publicly walked away from at least his Baptist faith a few years ago, I like to think that he would have appreciated the fact that God rarely does anything for a single purpose. This next stanza in Israel’s song of praise celebrates this. Let’s talk about what’s going on here.

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