Category: Morning Musings

Morning Musing: Exodus 34:19-20

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“The firstborn male from every womb belongs to me, including all your male livestock, the firstborn of cattle or sheep. You may redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a sheep, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one is to appear before me empty-handed.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When you use something that belongs to someone else, the owner typically expects to either receive it back or else receive some sort of compensation for your using it. Credit companies charge interest. Stores expect you not to take the shopping cart home with you. Your neighbor would like you to give his blower back sometime (and preferably still in good working condition). How should we respond to the fact that God created and owns everything in the world? Let’s take a look at some expectations He expressed to Israel, and talk about what they might have to do with us.

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Afternoon Musing: 1 Corinthians 2:12-14

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***I couldn’t call this a morning musing because it is so late in the day, but it’s not long enough to qualify as digging in deeper into anything. So, you get an afternoon musing today. Enjoy.

“Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I used to love looking at Magic Eye images. Do you remember those? It was a picture that upon an initial inspection just looked like an abstract artistic design on the page. It was just visual nonsense. Even looking closely didn’t change that initial impression. But if you looked at them in just the right way, all of a sudden, the page came to life. There was shape and depth to the image that had previously looked flat and lifeless. It wasn’t always easy to maintain an ability to see what was really there. That took some work and intentionality, but the more you looked at them, the easier seeing what was really there became. If you weren’t willing to take the time and do the work to learn how to see them, they were never anything more than gobbledygook on the page. I have reminded of late that something very much like this is true with life more generally. Let’s talk about it.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 34:18, 22-25

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“Observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. You are to eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, as I commanded you, for you came out of Egypt in the month of Abib. . .Observe the Festival of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the agricultural year. Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory. No one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God. Do not present the blood for my sacrifice with anything unleavened. The sacrifice of the Passover Festival must not remain until morning.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

There are eleven federal holidays in the U.S. The oldest four are Christmas, New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Independence Day. Labor Day, Memorial Day, and Veteran’s Day were added later. Three of the days (Washington, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Columbus) celebrate specific individuals. More recently, progressives have sought to convert Washington’s and Columbus’ days to President’s Day and Indigenous People’s Day, but neither of those are officially federal holidays. The latest addition to the list is Juneteenth, celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation. What we celebrate as a people helps to define for us what we consider most important. As God continues to review the covenant with Moses, He makes sure to mention the celebrations He wants Israel to have. Let’s talk about what we celebrate.

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Morning Musing: Matthew 14:13-14

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“When Jesus heard about it, he withdrew from there by boat to a remote place to be alone. When the crowds heard this, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd, had compassion on them, and healed their sick.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

A devastating hurricane recently smashed its way through my region. The impact on my own community was barely noticeable. We endured a few hours without power and some water seeping in the basement of the church building. A couple of hours west of here, though, was not nearly so fortunate. I recently heard a colleague who did mission work in Libya during and in the aftermath of their civil war say that if you took away the guns and the violence, the worst affected areas look very much like a war zone. To say the response to send and bring relief and help has been overwhelming would be an understatement. One disaster relief organization quickly mobilized to have 2,000 beds available for volunteers to help with the recovery effort and has found themselves having to manage 20,000 applications to help. And the vast majority of this response has come from Christians. Why do followers of Jesus do this in a way that goes so very far beyond what the adherents of any other worldview do?

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Morning Musing: Exodus 34:10-11

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“And the Lord responded, “Look, I am making a covenant. In the presence of all your people I will perform wonders that have never been done in the whole earth or in any nation. All the people you live among will see the Lord’s work, for what I am doing with you is awe-inspiring. Observe what I command you today. I am going to drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hethites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.” (CSB – Read the chapter)‬‬

One of the things that stands out in the Old Testament narrative is all of the ways God reveals Himself to the people of Israel through powerful, miraculous actions that could only have been accomplished by Him. He wanted the people as clear as could be that He was God and about what kind of a God He was. We see so many different examples of these kinds of actions on God’s part, in fact, that it’s easy for us to wonder a bit why He doesn’t still do that kind of thing today so that a skeptical world can have an easier time believing in Him. The truth is that He does. We simply have to learn to see properly. Let’s talk about it.

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