On Taking Heed and Holding Fast…

As I read Deuteronomy Chapters 3 and 4 and Psalm 36 this morning my heart filled with grateful thanksgiving.  The God of the Israelites is mine and I am His. The Lord my God is a merciful God.  He will not forsake me, nor destroy me, nor forget His covenant with me. 

Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.  As Spurgeon has said, His goodness surrounds my steps and His mercy covers my missteps.  

Here are a couple of the verses that spoke to my heart as I read:

"And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, 'Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings; so will the LORD do to all the kingdoms through which you pass. You must not fear them, for the LORD your God Himself fights for you.'—Deuteronomy 3:21-22

Here Moses warns the people to take heed less they forget what God had done for them.  They had a possession to claim.  I was reminded that with God all things are possible.  He is on my side!  He fights for me!  Beloved…no matter what you are facing…

'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,'

Says the LORD of hosts.—Zechariah 4:6

Give us help from trouble,

For the help of man is useless.

Through God we will do valiantly,

For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.—Psalm 60:11-12

The second verse is from Deuteronomy 4…

Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal Peor; for the LORD your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor. But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive today, every one of you.—Deuteronomy 4:3-4

I am always encouraged when Scripture reminds us to hold fast.  The Lord, as He did for the Israelites, has taken each one of us who believe out of the iron furnace of Egypt.  He has brought us up out of a horrible pit and set our feet upon a rock. He established our steps and has put a new song in our mouths.  Beloved, we are the redeemed of God. It is God who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure.  Abide.

Oh, Father…Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows  well.  Help me to love you, to obey Your voice and to cling to You…for You are my life.  Look into my heart.  Show me those things that are not pleasing to You and lead me by your Spirit into the way everlasting. Help me to abide in You as You abide in me.  This is where my fruit will be found for without you I can do nothing.  Help me to carefully observe your statutes for this is my wisdom and my understanding.  The beautiful words of Ruth come to mind here:

But Ruth said:

"Entreat me not to leave you,

Or to turn back from following after you;

For wherever you go, I will go;

And wherever you lodge, I will lodge;

Your people shall be my people,

And your God, my God.

Where you die, I will die,

And there will I be buried.

The LORD do so to me, and more also,

If anything but death parts you and me."

You shall fear the LORD your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast, and take oaths in His name. He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and awesome things which your eyes have seen.—Deuteronomy 10:20-21 

But take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.—Joshua 22:5

Psalms 36

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD.

An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked:

There is no fear of God before his eyes.

For he flatters himself in his own eyes,

When he finds out his iniquity and when he hates.

The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit;

He has ceased to be wise and to do good.

He devises wickedness on his bed;

He sets himself in a way that is not good;

He does not abhor evil.

Your mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens;

Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

Your righteousness is like the great mountains;

Your judgments are a great deep;

O LORD, You preserve man and beast.

How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God!

Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.

They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house,

And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.

For with You is the fountain of life;

In Your light we see light.

Oh, continue Your lovingkindness to those who know You,

And Your righteousness to the upright in heart.

Let not the foot of pride come against me,

And let not the hand of the wicked drive me away.

There the workers of iniquity have fallen;

They have been cast down and are not able to rise."

In All Their Affliction, He was Afflicted…

Surely He has borne our griefs

And carried our sorrows;—Isaiah 53:4

Why are you cast down, O my soul?

And why are you disquieted within me?

Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him

For the help of His countenance.—Psalm 42:5

In all their affliction He was afflicted,

And the Angel of His Presence saved them;

In His love and in His pity He redeemed them;

And He bore them and carried them

All the days of old.—Isaiah 63:8b-9

"Then I said to you, 'Do not be terrified, or afraid of them. 30 The LORD your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.'—Deuteronomy 1:29-31

I have chosen you and have not cast you away:

10 Fear not, for I am with you;

Be not dismayed, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you,

Yes, I will help you,

I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.'—Isaiah 41:9b-10

These precious words from Scripture never fail to bring joy and comfort when my heart is depressed and disquieted heart.  What I face, He faces with me. I am not alone in this crazy world.  He is continually with me and will be with me holding my hand even as I enter into eternity.

I am in Christ…a member of His body. In Him I live and move and have my being. Jesus is affected by what affects me. He feels what I feel and sympathizes. He suffers along with me. 

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.—Hebrews 4:15-16

What a comfort it is to know that Jesus understands what we go through.   

Beloved… Believe God even when the darkness threatens to overwhelm your heart.  Jesus has gone before you and will be with you. He will make even the darkness light about you. Make His footsteps your pathway.  See your trials as opportunities to honor Him by trusting Him. 

Abide at His feet. Go to the Scriptures.  Find an anchor hold of truth.  Meditate on it. By His Spirit who dwells in you, grasp His promise, rejoice and be comforted. Allow His gracious love and care to flood your soul. He Himself is your companion and your great consolation as you navigate the darkness of this world into His kingdom of light…the kingdom of the Son of His love. 

Hope in God;

For I shall yet praise Him,

The help of my countenance and my God.—Psalm 42:11b

God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear,—Ps 46:1-2a

Trust in Him at all times, you people;

Pour out your heart before Him;

God is a refuge for us.

Selah—Psalm 62:8

1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress;

My God, in Him I will trust."

3 Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler

And from the perilous pestilence.

4 He shall cover you with His feathers,

And under His wings you shall take refuge;

His truth shall be your shield and buckler.

5 You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,

Nor of the arrow that flies by day,

6 Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,

Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,

And ten thousand at your right hand;

But it shall not come near you.

8 Only with your eyes shall you look,

And see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge,

Even the Most High, your dwelling place,

10 No evil shall befall you,

Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;

11 For He shall give His angels charge over you,

To keep you in all your ways.

12 In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

13 You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,

The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

14 "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;

I will set him on high, because he has known My name.

15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life I will satisfy him,

And show him My salvation."—Psalm 91

For I am Your Servant…

My daily Bible readings today sang one song to my heart...the song of a servant of the Lord.  Jesus, came as God’s Servant, lived as God’s Servant and died as God’s Servant.  In this, He is our greatest example.  When we have the mind of Christ, we have a mind that is clothed with humility.  A mind whose chief joy is to do the will of God. A mind who puts others before Himself...even to the point of willingly laying down His life for another.  All Jesus did here on earth, He did with the sole purpose of glorifying His Father in heaven. He did nothing out of selfish ambition or vain glory...but in lowliness of mind He esteemed others as better than Himself. 

With that said, here are the verses that reminded me of my position in His kingdom. 

The first was from the book of Numbers:

23 At the command of the LORD they remained encamped, and at the command of the LORD they journeyed; they kept the charge of the LORD, at the command of the LORD by the hand of Moses.—Numbers 9:23

Father...May my eyes be ever toward You. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so my eyes will look to You, my Lord and my God.  

Beloved...Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

The second was from Mark 9:30-37:

30 Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it. 31 For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.” 32 But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.

33 Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. 35 And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” 36 Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.”

Just as an aside here, I kinda got the impression that the disciples were feeling pretty convicted by Jesus’ question in verse 33.  Their silence was deafening. While Jesus had been talking about his coming suffering and death, the disciples were arguing about who among them would be the greatest.  Definitely not getting the humility message 

Jesus goes on to say that if anyone desires to be first, He shall be last of all and servant of all. 

Father...Your kingdom is so unlike the kingdom of men!  Weave these words of Jesus into my heart. Use them to make me more like Your Son, who did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.  Help me to be as a child before You...humble and trusting.  

The next verses were from the same chapter in Mark:

49 “For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. 50 Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.”—Mark 9:49-50

 I usually think of salt as something that makes food more flavorful, but it had other uses especially before refrigeration.  Salt in Jesus’ time was used as a preservative. It was included as far as I could tell, in every OT sacrifice. Jesus here tells us to have salt in ourselves. Beloved, Jesus is the salt in a believer...He gives flavor, He preserves, He cleanses and He keeps us from sin, corruption and death.  Romans 12:1-2 says this:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Jesus sacrificed Himself for us and in so doing preserved us who would believe from an eternity spent separated from Him in hell.  We are to do the same for others...it is our “reasonable” service. 

Father...May Your Spirit use Your word to produce the likeness of Your Son in me. May my presence preserve and protect those You have sovereignly placed in my life for Your good purposes. 

The last verse was from Psalm 31:

But I trust in the LORD.

7 I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy,

For You have considered my trouble;

You have known my soul in adversities,

8 And have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy;

You have set my feet in a wide place.

Father...in my role as a wife and a mom, You have set my feet in a wide place.   Placing me in this role has been such a grace to my heart not only because it enables me to see the joy that serving brings, but it also gives me ample opportunity to fulfill my God given role by serving the ones I love through love. Even when things have been hard Your merciful, gracious comforts have enabled me to rejoice.  You see me.  You have considered all my trouble.  You know what I go through because you walk through it all with me.  You know the way I take and have preserved me through all.  

May the love of Christ compel us (hold us fast) today. May His self-sacrificing love be what motivates and controls our thinking and our behavior. May our hearts and minds along with Paul’s be that of our Savior’s who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross. Help us today, by your Holy Spirit, to live not to please ourselves but to please You, for we are Your servants. 

For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. 6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death is working in us, but life in you.  13 And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak, 14 knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you. 15 For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God. —2 Corinthians 4:5-15

Numbers 33:1-49: Divine Details

At first glance this passage seemed pretty unexciting to me, and I was tempted to skip it.  I am so glad I didn’t because as I read the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and my eyes filled with tears.  Some of the thoughts that came to mind (not in any particular order) were that…

God keeps a record of my journey here on earth as I head toward my heavenly abode.  As His child, my life is important to Him. He cares about my every step and my every milestone.  Psalm 56, Psalm 139 and Malachi 3 came to mind as I read.  All three are beautiful testimonies of the love our God has for us, His children.

8 You number my wanderings;

Put my tears into Your bottle;

Are they not in Your book?—Psalm 56:8

16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.

And in Your book they all were written,

The days fashioned for me,

When as yet there were none of them.

17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!

How great is the sum of them!

18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;

When I awake, I am still with You.—Psalm 139:16-18

16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another,

And the LORD listened and heard them;

So a book of remembrance was written before Him

For those who fear the LORD

And who meditate on His name.—Malachi 3:16

When I was younger, there was much about my life and the lives of my little ones that I thought I would never forget.  Now that I am older, I see that the dailiness of life in this fallen world can blur our memories and cause them to run together.  I remember more impressions and generalities but not necessarily the specifics.  

Reading God’s testimony of the Israelite’s journey reminded me of how much I have wished over the years that I had kept a journal..especially when my kids were little. Every moment and milestone of their growing up was precious to me. It would have been a blessing to my heart and to theirs to have left to them a book of memories to look back on and remember how very much they were loved.  It is a comfort to my heart to know that my God has done just that. My journey, like the Israelite’s journey, is also His journey because He goes with me.  He has been there for all of it.  How thankful I am that He records it.  It is just one more way that He shows me how much I am loved.  

Here is what I didn’t see when I read.  Warren Wiersbe helped here. 

“The Lord commanded Moses to keep a list of the places Israel camped during their wilderness journey. Forty places are listed, starting with Rameses in Egypt (Num. 33:3) and ending with the plains of Moab, across from Jericho (v. 49). Israel’s exodus from Egypt is recorded in verses 3-4, and their march to and through the Red Sea in verses 5-8. Verses 9-15 take Israel from Marah to Mount Sinai, and verses 16-36 from Sinai to Kadesh, where, because of their unbelief, Israel failed to enter the Promised Land. Their thirty-eight years of wandering fall between verses 36 and 37 and are graciously passed over in silence. The passage from Kadesh to the plains of Moab is recorded in verses 37-49.”—Warren Wiersbe

Did you catch that?  Their thirty-eight years of wandering (because of their unbelief) are graciously passed over in silence.

About those years Jon Courson says this:

“In other words, the Father records exactingly and carefully every single spot where they pitched their tents in obedience to His leading. But when they were in sin, there’s no mention, no record, no memory as far as He is concerned.

How I like that! He remembers where we’ve been, but He forgets about our sin. He edits it out of the video, throws away the slide, erases it from His journal. That’s the kind of God we serve.

Why doesn’t He remember our sin? Because He sent His Son to die on the Cross in our place and shed His blood in order that it could be cleansed. What a price the Father paid to eradicate that memory, to clean up my story.”

Beloved…

29 "Then I said to you, 'Do not be terrified, or afraid of them. 30 The LORD your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, 31 and in the wilderness where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.'—Deuteronomy 1:29-31

7 I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD

And the praises of the LORD,

According to all that the LORD has bestowed on us,

And the great goodness toward the house of Israel,

Which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies,

According to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses.

8 For He said, "Surely they are My people,

Children who will not lie."

So He became their Savior.

9 In all their affliction He was afflicted,

And the Angel of His Presence saved them;

In His love and in His pity He redeemed them;

And He bore them and carried them

All the days of old.—Isaiah 63 7-9

"Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know."—John 14:1-4

On Making Everything about Us…

 "Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it. For He taught His disciples and said to them, "The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day." But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him. 

Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, "What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?" But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all." Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them,  "Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me."--Mark 9:30-37

To My Daughters…

This is so typical of us...of me!  Here Jesus is telling them that He is about to be betrayed into the hands of men who would kill Him and His disciples are arguing about which one of them was the greatest.  We so often make everything about us.  We relate everything to us and our situation. Matthew 17:23 even says they were extremely sorrowful after Jesus told them these things but apparently not sorry enough not to put their own aspirations and personal disputes aside and concentrate on Him. Our minds are so often on ourselves.  What hurts, how we look, what we are going to eat, what people think of us...what we think of them...the list is endless and oh, ever so boring.   I cry out with Paul here...who will deliver me from this body of death!

The disciples are too ashamed to tell Jesus what they were arguing about, but, of course, Jesus already knew.  The first lesson He teaches them is that the way up is down and the way down is up.   He who exalts himself will be humbled, he who humbles himself will be exalted.  He who loses his life here will gain it in the next...he who gains his life here will lose it in the next.  He who desires to be first shall be last of all and servant of all. If you really want to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. take the lowest spot and serve all....Live for others instead of yourself.  What an example we have in  Jesus who came as a Servant and gave His life as a ransom for many.  

He then  places a little child in their midst and takes him in His arms as an example of the least among them.  This is such a beautiful picture...please don't miss it.   Jesus is saying that treating the least among us with kindness is truly an act of greatness.  These are the ones that cannot do anything for us...that cannot return our kindness....the ones that can only take and not give. Our God does not show partiality. We are to see people with His eyes and receive them in His name.  When we do, it is as if we were showing this kindness to God Himself!  Jesus spent much, much time with the common people and the least among men.  He took time with the weary, the sick, the afflicted, the aged and the young and yes even the rich.  We are to do the same.

Jesus makes the way of the cross so clear and His teachings really expose our wicked hearts revealing to us our wrong motives and self life in all its ugliness.  We are all guilty of favoritism, of selfish ambition, of conceit and a striving to be the greatest while stepping on or over the least. Praying that by the power of His Spirit working and living in us we can put off our own selfish desires and ambition and allow Him to live through us. 

Love

Mom