A Glimpse Into What a Loving Father is like.

Leviticus 26:40-46 The Promise of Restoration

Day 30 of self-isolation. Had my outing for the week – an essential trip to our pharmacist to pick up our prescriptions and a much-needed excursion to Costco for groceries. Two new things at the drugstore today – they don’t take any leftover tablets you don’t need any longer and they re-arranged their store so you can only go in at the very front, the rest is closed off. If you want something from their shelves, one of the staff have to get it for you. And did I mention that they haven’t accept anything but debit and credit cards for the last few weeks. Meanwhile over at Costco, long line-ups outside [but much more comfortable and less congested inside], and now you don’t touch your purchases at the check-out [they take them out of your cart and put them back in or scan them in your cart], and there’s no more check what you have in your cart at the exit – they just count you so they can let someone else in.  Interesting times. There’s talk of a “re-opening of the country” and the world soon – two to six weeks depending on progress. But that will come in three phases – churches still left shut.

We press on with our study of the Word. Thanks for joining us and feel free to comment.  Hang in there.

The Passage

⁴⁰ ‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me— ⁴¹ I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies—or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, ⁴² then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land. ⁴³ For the land will be abandoned by them and will make up for its sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, will be making amends for their iniquity, ^[a]because they rejected My ordinances and their soul abhorred My statutes. ⁴⁴ Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God. ⁴⁵ But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord.’”

⁴⁶ These are the statutes and ordinances and laws which the Lord established between Himself and the sons of Israel ^[b]through Moses at Mount Sinai.

Footnotes:

a.     Leviticus 26:43 Lit because and by the cause

b.     Leviticus 26:46 Lit by the hand of

Thoughts on the Passage

The last part of this passage is God’s promise that there is hope even if we have seriously disobeyed Him for a long time. There are still some conditions, but God so much wants to forgive His people. Verse 40 requires us to confess our sin and the sin of our fathers. We need to recognize that when we sinned (and still sin today), while we may think it is usually against people (the store owner from whom we stole, the business contact we cheated, the spouse we betrayed), it is indeed a sin committed against God. It is an act of hostility against Him.

I find verse 41 most interesting. This is God admitting that He was acting in a hostile way towards His people in response. Is this admission related to the last phrase of verse 40? Not sure.

But if we humble our hearts and make amends for our sin, God says [in verse 42] that He will remember His covenant with Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham to have His people multiply. And God says He will remember the land. [God loves the earth that He created for His people.]

In verse 43, God expects that while the land is being replenished, God’s sinful people will be making amends for their sin as they recognize that they rejected his laws and that their soul hated His commandments.

And still, even during this time, even though His people have not fully repented (verse 44), and while they are in the land of their enemies, God will not reject them or abhor them to the point where He would destroy them as a people forever.  For doing so, would be breaking His covenant with them. He can’t do that – because is the Lord their God.

Instead in verse 45 He says He will remember them (for the sake of the covenant He made with their forefathers), and because He brought them out of Egypt in broad daylight (in the sight of all people) so that He could be their God.

Matthew Henry says that this restoration has basically three steps to it:

-- First, confession is required. This is confession by which God’s people are to give glory to God and take shame to themselves.
-- Second, there must be remorse and godly sorrow for our sins (verse 41) whereby our “uncircumcised hearts must be humbled”.
-- Third, submission to the justice of God in all His dealings with them, even in light of their sins.

And in return, Henry says, they will not be abandoned by God, and they will be remembered by Him.  

Chuck Smith summarizes this passage as follows:

[In other words, God says,] "I will preserve them as an ethnic group," which God has done. He kept His promise. He kept His word. No other nation; no other nation has had that same fate. Every other nation who has been without a homeland has disappeared as an ethnic group. Not the Jew; he has remained a Jew to the present day. God kept His word.

That’s the incredible God that we have as our God. He rewards our obedience; he punishes our disobedience; but He never totally rejects His people. If that is not what a loving Father is all about, then I have no idea what a loving father is.

For the Christian going through this Covid-19 experience in 2020, these promises of God can be claimed without hesitation – God will not abandon us and He will not forget us, regardless of the earthly outcome we or our loved ones may face.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

God Says You’re Traveling Alone For Now

Exodus 33:1-3: Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants, I will give it’: “And I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite – to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, lest I destroy you on the way.”

The Israelites were given instructions to move camp and head towards Canaan to the land that God reminds Moses He had sworn to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  We are reminded again that He promised it to their “descendants” and not specifically even these generations. God was basically implying, “Look, I’ll keep My promise even though these people have sinned again me.”

Here’s the good news. God promises that He will send an angel before them for their physical protection.  He promised them that they will have no problems with those they meet on the way or in the land of Canaan and names all the various tribes He will drive out to facilitate their travels. The Israelites as a whole (but perhaps not individually) are guaranteed safe passage to the land of milk and honey.

Now here’s the bad news. God tells them that He will not go with them as before when in Exodus 13:21 we read, “The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.” Now, I believe this was a really big deal for the Israelites. They had always counted on God’s accompaniment. Now they have to go it alone. Perhaps the best way to relay this feeling is to think of a young child who has been disobedient and their parents say, “Sorry, you’ve blown it. Now you have to do it alone.” We’ll see how the Children of Israel react in the next section of the chapter. Right now, we note God’s rationale for His decision.

In the last part of this text, God tells His People that He won’t go up with them to Canaan – He won’t be in their midst. First of all, we need to consider how much that decision hurt or caused sorrow to God Himself. I remember when our young children had defiantly disobeyed one of their parents and I had to spank them (yes, that was okay in my days and, in my books, still is). I would always end up saying, “Now this is going to hurt me more than it does you.” And I’d end up with just as many tears in my eyes. I’m sure God felt somewhat like that when He was sharing this news.

And His reason for taking such action is that they are an “obstinate” people. Try looking up some synonyms for that word. You get stubborn, pigheaded, inflexible, adamant, unmoved, persistent, and tenacious among other possible substitutes. Can you imagine feeling that way about your own children? God was so angry with them that He realized if He joined them on their journey, He may have come to the point of destroying them along the way.

We do not very often think of this but this passage indicates that God knows Himself well. It’s almost as if God has to fight His own emotions at times in order to stick with His promises. He withdraws temporarily to save His children and get them to their destination.

It hit me as I studied this that God also remains silent and at the sidelines of our lives today when we too are obstinate in one fashion or another. He certainly holds back His anger from us and He remains patient with us because He loves us to no end.

In this world of ours today, it is very difficult for many to imagine what I call a “real relationship with the one and only real God”.  And yet, for those of us who are believers, that’s exactly what you and I have – a “real” relationship with the “real” GOD. And it’s a love relationship – certainly on His part.  But that’s all the more reason why we can’t just keep on being obstinate – being lukewarm, being apathetic towards Him. We have a choice – call it quits or see it as the greatest investment for our eternity. My prayer is that you and I will find ourselves on the same side of the line having chosen to love Him back dearly.

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Sorrow, Trials, Storms, Crisis vs. Peace

I know that many of my friends and associates are indeed experiencing personal sorrow, personal trials, personal storms, and personal crisis.   I have done likewise over the 63 years of life I have lived so far and expect to do so again should I live very long after I push the "send" button on this post.

Life is indeed like that.  At this very moment whereas I am tired and have much on my mind, short of a very sick little grandson with a high fever, I am not experiencing much personal turbulence in my life.  But I know I will and I need to if I want to grow and be more useful tomorrow than I am today, to anyone else, including my grandchild.

However, as I watch the news and read the newspapers to keep on top of what is going on all over the world, not the least place of interest being Egypt, I have come to the following realization.  I feel the same sorrow, trials, storms, and crisis within me -- it's just not "personal".   It's "community" or "society" or just "mankind" related or based.

And I realized that it is God who also allows us to experience these global events in our lives for the same reason He allows us to experience personal calamities.  The sole purpose of these experiences "for me" -- I say 'for me' or 'for you' because God's purpose in allowing things to happen have multi-purposes simultaneously for more than one person at a time, for groups, for countries, and/or for all mankind --  is "so we might learn that God has power to sustain us and provide for us all things that produce earthly blessings and eternal benefits...All of God's children go through storms in their journeys through life."  (Charles F. Stanley)

What is important is not so much the experience itself or the event but the process of "going through" the experience or the event.  It is during this "going through" that Stanley says we can fully experience the "peace" He alone can give us.    People who "experience events" or more correctly those that "go through experiences" cannot and do not find peace in that process no matter what the experience is -- unless they find it in the God of the Bible and in His Son, Jesus Christ.

I hope you have that peace of HIS today for it alone can carry you "safely through" the experience or the event of life, to what lies beyond.  If not, I hope you'll have enough energy left in your difficult journeys to investigate it through the scriptures.

Psalm 34:8 says, "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man (or woman) who trusts in Him." 

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Jacob Makes His Decision About Sending Benjamin To Egypt - Genesis 42:35-38

Now it came about as they were emptying their sacks that behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed. And their father said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me.” Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my care, and I will return him to you.” But Jacob said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone is left.  If harm should befall him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”

I find it interesting that when one of the brothers had opened his sack to feed the animals en route back to Canaan, and found his money at the mouth of the sack, the others did not check theirs, but instead they discovered they had been treated the same way after they had reported to their father Jacob at home.  The Bible does not explain the reason for that.  Here is where we need to trust that this is indeed what happened.  The fact that it is unlikely does not make it totally untrue.  That is, it is physically possible for that to have been the case and thus we need to accept it as such.  In fact, that is not a bad way to approach much of scripture, unless something is totally impossible (and I’m not talking about events in the scriptures that involve the supernatural powers of God, but rather ordinary things within the realm of human possibility), then we should accept them as having happened rather than doubting the text.

All the brothers and their father were now dismayed as to what this returning of all their funds may mean in the long run.  Then Jacob starts to speak and says to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more.. .” Was he in some way blaming them, perhaps indirectly, for the loss of Joseph those many years ago? We don’t know for sure.  We do know that oftentimes, people hold such blame in their hearts long after an event and it takes another event to bring it to the surface.  Did he really feel in his heart they had not told him the truth back then when they said that Joseph must have been killed by an animal? We’re not sure. It is possible though that even if he did, the brothers must have wondered about it given his words.

In addition, it is interesting to note that Jacob, presuming the worse, already had Simeon as lost forever.  He was not prepared to take a chance of losing Benjamin, especially with them as he says, “. . . and you would take Benjamin.”  To Jacob, everything seemed to be closing in on him.  He felt attacked from every side.  And where was God in his life?

Sometimes, in the midst of family catastrophe, the words of the eldest son can often reason with a determined parent.  Reuben was that son and he tried just that.  In fact, he went one step further as he realized the seriousness of the situation and the need to get back to Egypt for more food and Simeon.  Reuben offered his father the lives of his own two sons if he did not return Benjamin to Jacob.  Can you imagine that?  Can you imagine the need for doing so?  We do not make statements like that today and even if some of us do, we seem to find ways to say afterward, “but I was only saying that to get his agreement, I didn’t really mean it.”  When you made a statement like that in those days, you would be held to it.

I doubt whether someone like Reuben could make such an offer today without checking with his own spouse.  Perhaps this is possible in some cultures, but not likely in today’s western society.  Did his wife agree?  Perhaps she did and she realized that for any of them to survive, her father-in-law would need to trust his sons to take Benjamin to Egypt.

You would think Jacob would have granted the brothers their wish given Reuben’s willingness to sacrifice his own two sons if they did not return Benjamin.  But he did not; at least not at this point.  Instead, he becomes adamant and tells them all that if they took him and anything were to happen, they (“you will bring”) would cause his premature death.  They text says they would bring his gray hair (his body) down to Sheol, the name the ancient Israelites gave to the ‘grave’ but it also meant ‘pit’ or ‘abyss’.  They first felt that Sheol was where they spent their afterlife, but it is not clear if they actually thought it to be a real place or just a way of describing whatever happens after death.  Later in scripture, in the New Testament, the word is replaced by word ‘Hades’.  And Jacob says, if anything happened to Benjamin, he would die “in sorrow” – definitely not a good way to die.

Perhaps this is a good place for us to reflect on how we will take advice from our children when we are older. Will we be able to listen to reason from the children we helped raised and the ones that have shown us love and care all of their adult lives?  That is what we should be aiming for.  My mother-in-law’s computer was acting up recently and she wanted a new one right away.  I tried to reason with her, explaining what we should try first, what we should consider, and how we should go about buying a new one for her, given her situation and our ability or inability to be available to service it when it needs it.  What a pleasant joy it was to have her receive the advice kindly, recognizing that there was some wisdom in it.  Would that all our parents could be so accommodating in their senior years.

It is also a good time for us to consider what it would take for us to die “in sorrow”?  As Christians, how long should that list be?  Should there be anything on it?  Or, no matter the circumstances of our death or the lives of those we leave behind, should we always go forward into an eternity with Christ in joy, not sorrow?  My prayer is that all of us can get to that state of mind, heart, and soul, that when the time comes for us to be no more in this life, to cross into eternity, that it would not be “in sorrow” but “in joy”.

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