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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Sticking with It

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Pursuing a path of sacrificial living and surrendering to God’s call on our lives are very good and important things to do if we are going to have any chance to experience the growth and expansion of His work in our midst. But as good and important as they are, they cannot be a one-off affair. They have to be something we do and then keep doing over and over again over the long haul of life. This doing and then doing again is the substance of a third thing that is necessary if we want to see God’s work in and through our lives become more than we ever imagined that it could. Let’s talk about this third thing as we continue our series, Together.

Sticking with It

I grew up listening to rock and roll music from the 60s and 70s. That was what my own dad had grown up with and he was either listening to it or singing it or whistling it almost all the time. I took to it about as naturally as walking. It doesn’t hurt that it’s mostly all really good music. One of the songs out of that era I remember listening to more than most is called Cats in the Cradle by Harry Chapin. I suspect many of you have heard the song. It’s about a man who is so busy with work all the years that his son is born and growing up that he misses all the key moments and milestones in the boy’s life. Then, when things have finally slowed down for him and he’s ready to start pursuing a relationship with his son, the son is so busy doing his own life that he doesn’t have time for his dad anymore. It’s really a depressing song to be one of Chapin’s most popular. 

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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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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 34:15-16

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“Do not make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land, or else when they prostitute themselves with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices. Then you will take some of their daughters as brides for your sons. Their daughters will prostitute themselves with their gods and cause your sons to prostitute themselves with their gods.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the best explorations of the law of cause and effect currently on the market is the series of books, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Each book takes the reader deep into a thought-provoking exploration of piercing questions like, what would happen if you gave a mouse a cookie? Or a dog a donut? Or a moose a muffin? Or a cat a cupcake? Or even a pig a pancake? As you will soon discover upon reading one of these classics is that a whole lot of things will happen. The mouse will probably ask for a glass of milk to go with the cookie (who wouldn’t?). Then he’ll want a napkin and a straw and a mirror and all sorts of household adventures will potentially unfold from there until he winds up asking for a cookie, and the whole thing starts over. This is all silly, of course, but the books really do help young children begin to understand that like one domino striking another, actions have consequences which is an essential insight to have when navigating our way through this world. It’s an insight that lies at the heart of our passage for today. Let’s keep digging into one of the major guardrails God gave Israel for life in their new home.

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