A Detour Through Seymour

Reading Through the Bible in 2010 (Jeremiah 4-6)

"Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'" Jeremiah 6:16

I was impatient! It was a beautiful day and I wanted to get to the lake. Usually our trip takes us two hours and fifteen minutes. That never seems long to me. But all summer every trip to our lake house has taken two hours and forty five minutes. Why? Because of the detour through Seymour!

"Charlie," I lamented, "When will the road be open so we don't have to take this detour? Why would anyone want to drive twenty miles out of their way to go through Seymour, Wisconsin anyway?"

"Hey," he replied, "Didn't you see the sign? This is the home of the hamburger. If somebody in Seymour hadn't invented it - no hamburgers! How would we have had that hilarious scene in 'The Pink Panther' about haaambergers?"

"You're funny," I retorted, "but this seems like a major waste of time to me."

Do you ever notice how many times life seems to take detours? We have wonderful plans for the day - the week - the year - and suddenly something comes up. It might be a knee injury or a loved one with cancer. Maybe it's an unexpected job loss or a relative's sudden need. A phone call and there's a road block - a formidable yellow and black fence saying "Road closed. Take detour." We have to abruptly change our familiar habits and take the new unknown way.

God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah to warn the people of Judah that they were headed in the wrong direction. They were determined to go their way and not God's way. If they had changed their course in response to Jeremiah's pleas, they would have gone back to the "good way" and "found rest for their souls." But instead they said, "We will not walk in it." (Jer. 6:16) Their stiff necked refusal to follow God's road block caused them to take a long detour of their own making - all the way to eventual exile in Babylon.

But something happened in that detour to Babylon. After the Jewish people returned from their days of exile, they were different. They never worshiped idols again. You might say they'd learned their lesson. By the time they came back to the "old paths" they were a changed people.

God's detours in our lives have significant lessons for us. We come through them different people if we approach them with the right attitude. If we agreeably receive them as His way instead of our way, we too, come through changed. All of a sudden we have a better understanding of the lives of others - what they are doing, what they are feeling, what they are experiencing. Detour can become "da tour." Seymour can become "See more." "DA TOUR" to "SEE MORE" about others who live along the country roads of our lives.

Enough said, I'll close. After all, it's lunchtime and what would life be without a good hamburger anyway?

Set Aside

Reading Through the Bible in 2010 (Num. 26-27)

“Then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying; ‘Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd.’

And the Lord said to Moses; ‘Take Joshua, the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him.’ “ Num. 27:15-18)

I am now on a first name basis with the athletes of Olympic Games: Vancouver.

Apolo – Congratulations on being America’s most medal-decorated Winter Olympian.

Kim – You are the queen of figure skating!

Joannie – What mental strength you showed. Winning the bronze medal four days after the sudden death of your mom. Wow!

I’ve loved them all but do you know what has struck me most about the Games? The families! Nodar’s grieving parents and Axsel’s reflective father. Apolo speaking about his relationship with his dad, “We are a small family, just the two of us." Lindsey Vonn, stepping atop the podium to receive her downhill skiing gold medal, smiling down at her mother and siblings, including the brother who had her initials shaved into his hair, the “L” on one side, “V” on the other.

The families – the love, the support, and the encouragement that they gave each competitor - will be the image that sticks with me after the Games are over.

Today’s Scripture is all about family – the family of God. Once again we see why Moses is such a great leader.

The Lord instructs Moses to go up to Mt. Nebo and take a look at the Promised Land. But then He says that after he has seen it, he will die. “For in the Wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to hallow Me at the waters before their eyes.” (Num. 27:14)

What had happened that kept Moses from entering the land of his forty-year destination?

The people needed water – always the greatest need of the Israelites in their wanderings. God told Moses to speak to the rock and water would come out. Instead, Moses chided the people as rebels and struck the rock twice with his rod. Water came gushing out but God wasn’t happy with Moses.

The great man of God had sinned. In his anger, he had joined with the rebels. Instead of trusting God by speaking and making his request; he hit the rock, not once but twice.

I find myself agreeing with the commentators who say that the rock symbolized Jesus Christ. Jesus was struck for our sins on the cross where He bore the wrath of God for all of our spiritual rebellion – past, present, and future. When he said, “It is finished, “ the debt was paid forever. He rose from His grave to sit in heaven at the right hand of the throne of God. He is our Lord and High Priest and will never ever be struck again. We, who know Him as our Savior, only have to ask to receive the Living Water that we crave from day to day.

Moses and the Pentateuch represent the law and the Ten Commandments. No one can be saved through the law because all have sinned. No human can ever keep the law perfectly and enter heaven. Only one recorded sin kept Moses from entering the Promised Land. Moses represented the Law that cannot allow for one exception. “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” (James 2:10)

Once again we see Moses model great leadership. There is no griping or displeasure only acceptance for God’s discipline in his own life. His reply to God shows his love and concern for the Israelites. He pleads with God and says, “Give them a good leader then. One who will be there for them, “who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd.” (Num.27: 17)

God answers the great prayer of Moses. He names Joshua as the new leader and instructs Moses to have Eleazar the priest anoint him. Moses does just as he is commanded and continues to keep on keeping on serving the Lord.

What an amazing “family man!” Moses is set aside as Israel’s leader, but his heartbeat is for the future of the Israelites. “Don’t let them be like sheep without a shepherd, “ he pleads. The athletes have the backing of their families win or lose. Because of his great love for the family of God, the Israelites have the support of Moses in the midst of his own heartbreak.

What do we do when we lose our competitions and suffer great disappointments? How do we react when we are seemingly “set aside” on our sometimes “not so joyful journeys” through life? Do we quit or do we keep on serving the Lord wherever He has placed us, remembering, like Moses, it's all about God and His great plan for His family?

Whining and Dining

Reading Through the Bible in 2010 (Numbers 19-20)

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” Numbers 20:7-8

Are you as hooked on the Olympics as I am? Watching the athletes’ dedication to being the best in their field is an inspiration. I love the stories that are featured each night about the lives of the competitors.

During a feature on Norwegian alpine skier, Axsel Lund Svindal, his father described Axsel’s horrific skiing accident at Beaver Creek in 2007. Skiing down the mountain he fell and landed on his neck. Axsel sustained a concussion, terrible facial lesions from his own knees, and many abdominal injuries. After undergoing extensive surgery, he spent two weeks in the Vail Hospital. The young skier said that as he lay there, he had a wonderful view of the Colorado Mountains. Looking at the slopes day after day, he was inspired to ski again. Many months of grueling physical therapy later, he was back. Now he’s won a gold, a silver, and a bronze medal at Vancouver.

Speaking of his son, the father shook his head and said, “He just has a lot of mental strength. Some have it and some don’t.”

Some have it and some don’t. Some would look out of a hospital bed and, viewing the mountains through incredible pain, whimper, “That’s it, I’m through with skiing.” Axsel saw them calling him to a spectacular comeback.

Numbers 20 is such a dramatic chapter. We see who has it and who doesn’t. After 38 years of wandering, the Israelites are right back where they started in the Wilderness of Zin. As the chapter opens, Miriam, the sister of Moses, dies and is buried at Kadesh Barnea

Imagine Moses’ thoughts as he grieves for his sister, remembering - the stories of how she had watched their mother hide him in the bulrushes when Pharaoh’s daughter found him as a baby, how she had danced and sang after the crossing of the Red Sea, how she had become leprous at the hand of God when her jealousy of Moses overcame her, and how she had been healed by the Lord Himself when her brother prayed for her. When we bury our loved ones our grieving is so poignant and reflective. Was Moses any different? I don’t think so.

As the chapter moves on, Moses is abruptly called back to deal with his whiny flock. The Israelites are out of water and whom do they blame but Moses and his brother Aaron. This seventh great murmuring against Moses and God is so similar to all the others. They wail, “And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.”

Once again Moses and Aaron fall on their faces before God and plead for these obstinate people. The Lord instructs them to take the rod, their visual symbol of His power, and speak to the rock and water will come out – enough water for all of the Israelites and all of their animals.

Moses takes the rod, but he is tired and exasperated and he doesn’t obey God. He strikes the rock twice and water comes out. We can understand his deep vexation with the Israelites. All leaders come to this point at times. Surely it is okay for Moses to get a little overwrought.

But God speaks to Moses and says, “Because you did not believe Me to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”

After forty years of leading this cantankerous group of people, Moses is not allowed to go into the Promised Land because of one irreverent outburst? At this point most of us would go into our tents, throw ourselves on our pallets, and become the greatest whiners of all.

But not Moses. He goes on to confront the unhelpful king of Edom who refuses to let the Israelites cross his country in spite of Moses’ ardent offers to comply with his wishes as they march. Then, still in Numbers chapter 20, Moses escorts his brother and his nephew to the top of Mt. Hor as God has instructed. There, according to God's instructions, he strips his own brother of his priestly garments and puts them on Eleazar his son. He watches his brother die on the mountaintop and then comes back down with Aaron’s son, the new priest.

Now that is a person with mental strength! What a role model for all people who serve in the ups and downs of leadership. Moses never got into the Promised Land. He spent the rest of his earthly life still in charge of leading the whiners. Later, his body was buried in the heathen land of Moab.

But it was only his body. His spirit went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. We see him in the New Testament meeting with Jesus on the Mt. of Transfiguration. One day we will sit across the table from him in heaven at the marriage feast of the Lamb.

Maybe we can ask him, "How did you do it all so well? Compaining was never on your plate. No wonder God called you the humblest man that ever lived."

Axsel’s father said, “Some have it and some don’t.” Moses sure had it.

What about us? What's on our plates? Are we spending our days whining like the children of Israel? Or are we faithfully performing the work that God has called us to do - knowing that one day we will be dining with the God of the universe - and Moses?

The Banker and the Golden Calf

.“So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.” Ex. 32:20

Reading Through the Bible in 2010 (Ex. 32-34)

Yesterday I got bent out of shape. It was over a financial matter and it made me very irritable. The combination of numbers and finances can do that to me. Over the course of the day I sent off two e-mails to the person I was dealing with at the bank expressing my frustration. I was okay with sending them. After all, I have a right to be upset don’t I? I was okay until….

I read my daily devotion from Jerry Bridges. Quoting from it: “What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself?” (Matt. 22:39) Among other things, this would mean that you never show selfishness, irritability, peevishness, or indifference in your dealings with others. You take a genuine interest in their welfare and seek to promote their interests, honor, and well-being. You never regard them with prideful superiority or talk about their failings. You never resent any wrongs they do to you, but instead are always ready to forgive. You always treat them as you would have them treat you.”

I thought about my e-mails. Were they something I could be pleased about? Didn’t they actually express peevishness and irritability and indifference in my dealings with my banker?

“Well, that’s fine for Jerry Bridges to write in his devotional,” I thought. “But I’m still frustrated!”

When I went to write in my blog, nothing came. It was like God was saying to me, “Before we get on with life, there’s something that needs to be dealt with here.”

I prayed, “Well, Lord. I confess that I displayed sinful behavior and I’m very sorry. But, do you remember that You said, “If we confess our sins, You are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness?”

“Yes, I remember that,” the Holy Spirit seemed to be saying, “But there is more. There are consequences to your behavior.”

This morning I got up and reread the devotional. I noticed something that I had never noticed before. Written across the top of the heading were the words, “Transformational Thoughts for Your Spiritual Journey.” The God of details strikes again. Aren’t I writing about my joyful spiritual journey?

So, I picked up the phone and called the bank. I apologized for the tone of my e-mails. My banker said, “Don’t worry, I’ve seen worse,” and laughed heartily. We actually had a good productive talk. Whew, saved again by direction from the Lord!

But, I must confess to you, that my aspiration is not to be a little better than “worse.” I want to please the Lord Jesus Christ whose goal is to present me as His bride one day as part of “a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Eph. 5:27)

What does all this have to do with our reading today?

Aaron and the Israelites blew it big time. While Moses was on the mountain, meeting with God in the cloud for forty days and forty nights, they grew impatient waiting for Moses to come back. So they decided to make God in their own image in the form of a golden calf. God had just written in stone, with His great finger, “No other gods, and no images of gods.”

When Moses and Joshua came near the camp, they could hear the people singing and worshiping the molded calf. Moses became so angry that he threw the stone tablets down and broke them at the foot of the mountain. Why did he do that? It was a dramatic object lesson. Actually breaking the tablets of stone in front of the people symbolized the nation of Israel’s great sin in breaking God’s commandments.

There were many consequences from this sin. A severe reprimand from Moses, a blatant lie from Aaron, a multitude of 3000 disobedient people dead, and even a desperate plea from Moses as he offered himself in their place for God’s atonement – a removal of God Himself as Moses symbolically moved his tent outside the camp. Moses was called back up on the mountain for another forty days and forty nights. Before they could get on with their journey, there was a lot to be dealt with.

In these days of grace, it’s so easy to read this and say, “Those people were so stupid.” But, isn’t it shockingly easy for us to break fellowship with the Holy Spirit through disobedience and willfulness? Just like Jerry Bridges’ devotional. Just like me.

Charlie and I met Jerry Bridges once. We had dinner with him. He was a normal person down to earth and pleasant. He was human just like us. But, the power of the Holy Spirit in his life made me want to be just like him. Thanks, Jerry, for a great devotional reminding us about the transformation God wants to make in us along our spiritual journey.