Waiting Is the Hardest Part

Leave a comment

God has an answer to all of the injustice and unrighteousness around us. It’s a pretty good answer too. The trouble is that the timing of His answer isn’t what we want it to be. This is what Habakkuk experienced in his conversation with the Lord about the brokenness of his culture. It’s what we often experience in our similar conversations and complaints. As we continue in our new teaching series, Asking God Hard Questions, we are going to see some encouragement God gave to Habakkuk and talk about why it is still important encouragement for us to receive today.

Waiting Is the Hardest Part

I grew up in the age of Nintendo. The Atari, of course, changed the world by ushering us into the era of the universally accessible video game, but the Nintendo took things a giant leap forward. And the most famous and most enduring icon of the age of Nintendo (that can still earn over a billion dollars at the box office, almost 40 years after its release), is Mario. Do you remember playing the original Super Mario Brothers game on the original Nintendo? Man, I do. I played every level of that game more times than I can even begin to count. I mastered the infinite lives hack in world 3 level 1. I made speed runs where I saw just how fast I could get through the whole game. I think the fastest I ever did it was 15-20 minutes. That’s not completely terrible, but it’s also not very good when compared with the world record. And, yes, there’s actually an official Guinness World Records category for fastest original Super Mario Brothers completion time. The current world record is 4:54:63. Well, the Guinness Record is a fraction of a second slower than that, but the guy who set it later unofficially beat his own record. For comparison, the fastest time possible to finish the game period (and which has heretofore only been achieved by a computer) is 4:54:26. In other words, a human is on the cusp of achieving what we previously only know to be computer-enabled perfection. 

Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Matthew 11:25-30

Leave a comment

“At that time, Jesus said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, because this was your good pleasure. All things have been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal him. Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke up on you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Well, we made it. This past Tuesday was election day in the U.S., and from all reports, it came off without a hitch. That doesn’t mean everyone was happy with the results, but it nonetheless came and went, and the sun still rose on Wednesday morning. As far as I have heard, there weren’t any violent protests of the results. In fact, perhaps the biggest surprise (beyond the results themselves) was that we fairly well knew the outcome by Wednesday morning. I was fully mentally prepared for chaos of some sort and a season of national uncertainty that lasted through at least Friday. But that didn’t happen. After all the turmoil of the last two presidential elections, this one felt normal. Everyone voted, we had results by morning, and now the country is preparing to move forward. Today, in light of the election, I want to talk about something else entirely. Well, that’s not totally true. We’ll still have the election in mind, but let’s take a moment today to remember there are things bigger than politics.

Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Exodus 35:30-36:1

Leave a comment

“Moses then said to the Israelites, ‘Look, the Lord has appointed by name Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. He has filled him with God’s Spirit, with wisdom, understanding, and ability in every kind of craft to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze, to cut gemstones for mounting, and to carve wood for work in every kind of artistic craft. He has also given both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, the ability to teach others. He has filled them with skill to do all the work of a gem cutter; a designer; an embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen; and a weaver. They can do every kind of craft and design artistic designs. Bezalel, Oholiab, and all the skilled people are to work based on everything the Lord has commanded. The Lord has given them wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work of constructing the sanctuary.’” (CSB – Read chapter 35; read chapter 36)

Leadership matters. Nothing of significance happens without good and effective leadership. The last piece that needed to be put in place before Israel was going to be able to build the tabernacle was leadership…but not from Moses. Moses could do a lot of things, but as far as we know, he wasn’t a craftsman. To build something like the tabernacle, Israel was going to need craftsman. So, God raised some up. Let’s talk for a minute today about Bezalel and Oholiab, and what the most effective leadership looks like.

Read the rest…

Morning Musing: Exodus 35:10-19

5 Comments

“Let all the skilled artisans among you come and make everything that the Lord has commanded: the tabernacle — its tent and covering, its clasps and supports, its crossbars, its pillars and bases; the ark with its poles, the mercy seat, and the curtain for the screen; the table with its poles, all its utensils, and the Bread of the Presence; the lampstand for light with its utensils and lamps as well as the oil for the light; the altar of incense with its poles; the anointing oil and the fragrant incense; the entryway screen for the entrance to the tabernacle; the altar of burnt offering with its bronze grate, its poles, and all its utensils; the basin with its stand; the hangings of the courtyard, its posts and bases, and the screen for the gate of the courtyard; the tent pegs for the tabernacle and the tent pegs for the courtyard, along with their ropes; and the specially woven garments for ministering in the sanctuary — the holy garments for the priest Aaron and the garments for his sons to serve as priests.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Although I’ve never read it, there’s a rather famous from several years ago called “I, Pencil.” The whole thing is about how a pencil is made from the standpoint of the pencil itself. Pencils seem like remarkably simple things, but their construction is far more complicated and convoluted of a process than you might imagine. The whole argument of the author is that no one really knows how to make a pencil. It takes all of the different people involved each doing what they know how to do in order to bring one into reality. God was directing the people to build a place for worship, where they could go and experience His presence. Putting it together was going to be a group effort.

Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Exodus 35:4-9, 20-29

22 Comments

“Then Moses said to the entire Israelite community, “This is what the Lord has commanded: Take up an offering among you for the Lord. Let everyone whose heart is willing bring this as the Lord’s offering. . .Then the entire Israelite community left Moses’s presence. Everyone whose heart was moved and whose spirit prompted him came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its services, and for the holy garments. . .So the Israelites brought a freewill offering to the Lord, all the men and women whose hearts prompted them to bring something for all the work that the Lord, through Moses, had commanded to be done.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

How is God’s work accomplished? The answer is in all kinds of ways, but there are two basic categories into which all of these different ways can be sorted. The first category is when God does His own work by Himself. Creation would be an example of this kind of work. No one helped Him with that. It was all God from start to finish. Salvation also falls into this category. The second category is when God does His work through us. This is a much larger category because it’s how God usually works. We see this kind of work happening as Moses finally calls the people to begin the actual construction of the tabernacle. Let’s explore what’s going on here.

Read the rest…