REMEMBER, REMEMBER, REMEMBER

"YOU SHALL SACRIFICE THE PASSOVER TO THE LORD YOUR GOD...YOU SHALL NOT EAT LEAVENED BREAD WITH IT; SEVEN DAYS YOU SHALL EAT WITH IT UNLEAVENED BREAD, THE BREAD OF AFFLICTION (FOR YOU CAME OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT IN HASTE), IN ORDER THAT YOU MAY REMEMBER ALL THE DAYS OF YOUR LIFE THE DAY WHEN YOU CAME OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT." DEUTERONOMY 16:23

The Passover: a time of remembrance for the nation of Israel being brought out of bondage and slavery in the land of Egypt by the Lord's powerful hand. The Israelites left in such a hurry that they grabbed their bread bowls and took them with them to bake the bread on the run. Because of this, for seven days each year during the Passover, they were not to eat any unleavened bread. Every time they took a bite of bread they were to remember!

Unleavened bread is called the bread of affliction. God sees us in our affliction. Affliction means "the cause of continued pain of body or mind, as sickness, losses, etc., an instance of grievous distress; a pain or grief."(1) Our pain is real. First, there is the spiritual pain of separation from God, when we have not come to know Him as He truly is. Then there is the emotional, mental, and physical pain of life: death of loved ones, lost jobs, broken relationships, illness, depression, earthquakes...just to name a few. Here's the funny thing: God wants us to remember. We usually do the opposite: run from the pain, shut the door, and throw away the key trying to forget the past or the present, but by doing so, we forget what God has done for us to rescue us, redeem us, and restore us. (2)

When you look up the word "affliction" in the Old Testament, intertwined in many of the verses are two repeating thoughts: the Lord is in the midst of our affliction and new life and joy is brought forth out of affliction. Here are several examples:

An angel of the Lord told Haggar, Sarai's maid, that she would bare a son and name him Ishmael "because the Lord has given heed to your affliction." (Genesis 17:11)

Leah named her firstborn Reuben, "because the Lord has seen my affliction." (Genesis 29:32)

Joseph named his second son Ephraim because "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction." (Genesis 41:52)

Hannah, the mother of the great prophet, Samuel, prayed, "If You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me" (I Samuel 1:11) that she would dedicate her first born son to the Lord all the days of his life. And she did, plus had three more sons and two daughters born after him!

How can we rejoice if we do not remember? It says at the beginning of Exodus, when Moses told the Israelites that God was about to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians: "So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord was concerned about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction, then they bowed low and worshiped." (Exodus 4:31)

Our response is not to continually look back, stuck in the past, reopening old wounds and not allowing them to heal. It is like a cut on a finger. We doctor and bandage it. Over time healing occurs and the pain goes away. When we look down, however, we are reminded by the scar that we once hurt our finger. In the same way, our call is not to keep drudging up the pain but give it to God so He can heal our hearts. Only through Him can we stop, reflect, remember, then turn and rejoice and worship God through the risen Messiah, who is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. He was sacrificed for our sins so that the penalty of death would "pass over" us onto Him. This is cause to celebrate! This is cause for feasting!

How about you? Do you know our loving Heavenly Father, who delivers you from sin and bondage? If not, fall on your knees, ask for forgiveness and accept the love and grace He freely offers you through His Son, Jesus Christ. 

Do you know Him but are stuck in the past with your memories of pain and disappointment? If so, open up the Bible and be reminded of all the great and mighty things He has done and ask for your mind to be renewed when you think on the past. 

Are you in the midst of suffering? Then cry out to Him because He sees your pain and gives heed to it.

Have you been delivered and set free? Then remember the great victories in your life and recognize God is your healer and redeemer. Bow low, worship and celebrate the new life He has given you! Follow the example of David: "I will rejoice and be glad in Your lovingkindess, because You have seen my affliction; You have known the troubles of my soul." (Psalm 31:7)

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(1) Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

(2) Disclaimer: There are times to run. If you are being tempted, you are called to flee from that temptation. you are to flee from immorality. And if you are in a dangerous relationship, you need to flee and seek help from others.

A HEART AS COLD AS STONE

"BUT I WILL HARDEN PHARAOH'S HEART THAT I MAY MULTIPLY MY SIGNS AND MY WONDERS IN THE LAND OF EGYPT. WHEN PHARAOH WILL NOT LISTEN TO YOU, THEN I WILL LAY MY HAND ON EGYPT AND BRING OUT MY HOSTS, MY PEOPLE THE SONS OF ISRAEL, FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT BY GREAT JUDGMENTS." EXODUS 7:4-5

We are linear people. We see things one-sided, believing that if only good things happen to us, goodness will be derived. God is multi-faceted, a glorious prism arrayed with splendor and color and majesty, where the same events can produce drastically different results side by side, heart by heart.

Ten plagues are about to be cast upon the nation of Egypt. In the same verses God calls them signs and wonders but also calls them judgments and plagues. God says that He is performing these signs to harden Pharaoh's heart but He is perfoming these signs so Moses can tell his sons and grandsons to "know that I am Lord." (Exodus 10:1-22. Same God. Same events. Different results.

Here is how it is played out: Over and over, when God speaks, Moses and Aaron listen and are obedient to do as the Lord commanded. Over and over, when Moses and Aaron present themselves before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to ask that he let the Israelites go, Pharoah will not let the people of Israel go. So the Nile River turns to blood, frogs jump into beds and bowls, locust eat the crops, darkness covers the land. Pharoah begins to bend, but he will not break. A total of 10 signs. His heart is hardened with each event until the last: when God strikes down the firstborn in every Egyptian household.

At the same time, with each encounter, you can see Moses' faith and confidence growing in this mysterious God, whose name is "I AM WHO I AM". (Exodus 3:14) When Moses first encounters God at the burning bush, Moses "hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God." (Exodus 3:6) By the time the Ten Commandments are written on the stone tablets, however, Moses is meeting with God face to face and asking to behold His glory!

Then again, when God asks Moses to go back to Egypt and speak to Pharaoh, Moses objects and says he is "slow of speech and slow of tongue." (Exodus 4:10) The Lord's anger burns against Moses. The Lord brings alongside Moses' brother, Aaron, as the spokesperson before Pharoah...well, at least in the beginning. By the end of the ten judgments, it appears that Moses has stolen the show and is doing all the speaking! His faith is growing at the same time that Pharoah's heart is turning cold towards God.

How about you? When darkness comes into your life, through disease or destruction or death, have you become embittered and closed your heart to God, or have you worshiped Him as Job did, despite the circumstances?

"NAKED I CAME FROM MY MOTHER'S WOMB, AND NAKED I SHALL RETURN TO THERE. THE LORD GAVE AND THE LORD HAS TAKEN AWAY. BLESSED BY THE NAME OF THE LORD." JOB 1:21

Which way will you chose? To turn away? Or to believe that He is at work through the circumstances? God is for you and not against you. Nothing can separate you from the love of God. Worship Him and fall at His feet in the good and the bad, in the laughter and the tears. Cry in His everlasting arms. Know with all your heart that, when darkness settles in, God is still at work in your life, no matter what the outcome, no matter what the suffering, and He will bring comfort and peace and that you may come to know Him as He truly is!

LET MY WORDS BE VERY FEW

"Then Job answered the Lord and said, 'Behold, I am insignificant, what I reply to Thee.  I lay my hand on my mouth, once I have spoken, and I will not answer, even twice, and I will add no more."  Job 40-35

God is in our conversations.  God is in our day-to-day dealings with others:  our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers, our families.  How many conversations are wasted?  How many of these discussions are dead-ends with wrong advise, wrong motives, wrong  perceptions?

I am a talker.  But today I don't want to say much--just sit at the feet of Jesus and listen instead.  I am even questioning writing anything down because then I will still be talking through my fingers.  Many a day we simply need to sit still and listen in awe to what God has to say through His word, through His creation, and through His Spirit moving in our hearts. So let's listen to some of His words of wisdom regarding speech instead.

"The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.  Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge." Psalm 19:1-2

"He who loves purity of heart and whose speech is gracious, the king is his friend." Proverbs 22:11

"Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.  Put away from  you a deceitful mouth, and put devious lips far from you." Proverbs 4:23-24

"He who gives attention to the word shall find good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.  The wise in heart will be called discerning, and sweetness of speech increases persuasiveness.  Understanding is a fountain of life to him who has it, but the discipline of fools is folly.  The heart of the wise teaches his mouth, and adds persuasiveness to his lips.  Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones."  Proverbs 16:20-24

How about you?  Are you training your tongue for sweetness of speech filled with sound wisdom from on high?  Are you allowing God to teach your words to be nourishing to the soul and healing to the bones?  Drink deep from His Word and from His truth, sit at His feet, listen, and day by day He will train your lips for righteousness because it will flow out of a wise and discerning heart.

These words, sung by Phillips, Craig, and Dean from "Let My Words Be Few"(1)  are a perfect summation:

You are God in Heaven

And here am I on earth

So I'll let my words be few

Jesus, I am so in love with You.

And I'll stand in awe of You, Jesus.

Yes, I'll stand in awe of You.

And I'll let my words be few

Jesus, I am so in love with You.

(1) Phillips, Craig & Dean. "Let My Words Be Few."  Let My Words Be Few CD.  Sparrow Records. 2001.

CAIN IS NOT ABLE

"Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is too great to bear!" Genesis 4:13

How many times do we blame God for the circumstances we have created--the messes that have muddled up our lives? Two sons are born to Eve and grow up together: Cain and then Abel.  One day they both approach the Lord with an offering.  Somewhere in the life of this little family God had made it plain and clear that a blood sacrifice is how you would come near Him, because "the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard." (Genesis 4:4)  What was Abel's sacrifice? A lamb.  Innocent.  Dead.  Bloody.  What was Cain's sacrifice? Produce tilled from the ground. Maybe a colorful array of fruit and vegetables with a bundle of wheat tied on the side--most likely arranged skillfully on a platter or in a woven basket. Nice. Neat. Tidy.  Beautiful to see and touch and taste.  Hmmm...sounds like the choice his mother made awhile back in the garden...

Cain becomes angry.  His countenance falls.  I don't think I would have wanted to be around him during this time.  There was a way back to God for Cain, but by God's way: through the blood of a lamb.  God tells him his countenance can be lifted up but instead Cain follows his anger, goes his own way, and kills his brother--an act that the Law of God later would consider punishable by death.

However, after Cain commits the murder, God is merciful in His justice by allowing Cain to live, but He curses the ground so it will not produce the beautiful fruits and vegetables that he so loved to till.  Cain only sees it as cruelty and that it is all God's fault.  The saddest statement found in the passage is this one:  "Then Cain went out from the presence of the Lord". (Genesis 4:16)  He chose his own path apart from God.  He stayed angry, didn't he?  Cain is left to wander the land in his rebellion.  Wander in his sin.  Wander in his anger.

A painful note is that what we do in disobedience affects others around us.  Just think of Adam and Eve and their loss.  One son dead; the other chooses to rebel.  When Eve gives birth to her third son, she names him Seth, which means "the appointed one, the substitute (for slain Abel)." (1)  Just think: every time Eve called out Seth's name for dinner, she was reminded of Abel.  Forever the birth of one son linked to the death of another.

How about you?  Where do you blame God for your choices in life.  Where do you "follow the ways of Cain"? (Jude 11)  God's grace is waiting to receive you back.  He gives you a way to find fellowship with Him again, but will you take it?  You may bear the scars of wrong choices made but you can still come back into the fold and in His presence or you can go it alone: bitter, angry, blaming God.  Don't walk away from the God who loves you, who redeems you, who buys you back.  He provides forgiveness through His Son, Jesus Christ, the ultimate sacrifice, the Lamb of God.  Go to Him in prayer and pour out your heart to Him. He is waiting for you there.

(1) Ryrie Study Bible pg. 11.  Copyright 1995 by The Lockman Foundation