The Simple Life

…and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle." And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him. Numbers 20:7-9 ESVST   Moses went to God. God answered the dilemma. The people were "satisfied" for now. This stopped the complaining. The people did not realize their complaining was against God, even though they directed it toward Moses and Aaron.   My complaint today, too, is really against God. In this case, the situation of being without water gave the people a chance to trust God and see Him again pour out His blessing on the people. Instead, as mentioned in previous thoughts, the focus on being thirsty trumped any possible joy they could have possessed. It seems as if the mighty hand of God, which appeared to be on display,...

Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them. Numbers 20:6 ESV   Moses and Aaron got what typical ministry leaders, who are effective, get. They got blamed for the problems and forgotten when times were good. They got yelled at for the personal mistakes of the people and criticized for not helping prevent the mistakes in the first place.   Christian leadership often is in the crosshairs of criticism, yet they are the first called upon in times of crisis. This is much like our nation, which wants to kick God out of the schools and government until there is a school shooting or the Twin Towers fall. Then, instead of kicking Him out, we call all people to pray to Him. Then, as time goes on and we get involved in life, we again forget the one who gave us what we have.   Moses and Aaron did the right thing here. In a leader's life, often the only place to g...

Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them. Numbers 20:6 ESVST   Moses and Aaron were being blamed, once again, by the people they loved and served for being ones who had a grand scheme of putting them all to death for the sake of the Egyptians. The whole process of the Exodus seemed to be forgotten as the present hardships eclipsed the mighty power and work that God had performed on their behalf. The memory of the Red Sea, food from the sky, cloud guidance, fire night lights, and protection from enemies are forgotten as the current thirst crisis develops.   This would be interesting to read if it were not so accurate in describing the problems we continue to struggle with today. Today, circumstances will call for my attention, and they can easily eclipse my view of how great and powerful my God is. I will want to spend time unscrambling what is scrambled...

Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” Numbers 20:2-5 ESV   Assembling against the God-appointed leader is not a good idea. Expectations will either allow a person to be content or destroy a person. You will be disappointed if you believe that the leaders in your life or God's purpose are to make you comfortable. God gives us significance, not a life of ease. A life of comfort and ease is mutually exclusive to significance, meaning your focus is on you, not God or others.   Often the focus on ourselves ...

‘And whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and anyone who touches it shall be unclean until evening.’ Numbers 19:22 ESV   We often do not want to apply this idea of being contaminated by others. We want to think that no matter how "germy" a person is, we will not catch their illness. This is not true and is not taught in the Bible. God makes it clear that we can be contaminated and that those of us who become weakened by the contamination of sin will be in no position to help those who need our help.   Pure is not 99.9%; pure is 100%. Contamination usually starts small, yet because it is placed in the right environment for growth, it eventually flourishes. Effective people have learned to respect the power of contamination, limit their exposure to it, and ensure the environment around them would not be conducive for this contamination to grow.   The church today has been majorly infected by the diseases of sin in the world. Instead of avoiding it, we embra...

Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. Numbers  19:11-12  ESV   God is concerned with the various diseases we so easily catch from each other. Many of the tragedies of sin are contagious and disastrous. Those who are physically sick can infect those who are well. Those who are spiritually ill can infect those who are spiritually well. God, in His infinite wisdom, warns us against touching either one.   We often ignore what He has said, yet the message is not strange, and is applicable in many cases. If someone is drowning, you are warned not just to jump in and grab them in that they will drown you, too. If someone is in an emergency situation and being affected by live electrical currents, you would be foolish to touch them, even if you...

These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai. Leviticus 27:34   Who shall stand against the commandments of the Lord? Who can challenge what He has said?   Those who think God is unkind and a tyrannical ruler do not know Him. Those who believe God's ways will rob them of the pleasures of life do not know Him. Those who are disappointed in God do not know Him. Those who are angry with God do not know Him. Those who think they know better than God do not know Him or themselves. Those who believe that God's ways will leave them on the outside looking in do not know His ways.   There is an answer to these problems. So spend time getting to know God. To know God is to love Him. To know Him will allow you to rest in Him. To know Him will enable you to enjoy the life He has given you. There is no other way to achieve significance and security. https://www.podbean.com/relate365

And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. Leviticus 26:12   God desires to walk with us, to be with us, and to spend time with us. On the other hand, Satan would desire nothing more than for us to be distant from God.   In Psalm 91, we are told that those who dwell in the shelter of God will remain in His shadow. Dwell, walk, stay by, and seek Him. If I remain close to God, I will be in His presence. That is obvious, but so often overlooked. The troubles in my life come from my desire to go it alone, to walk apart from God, and thereby remove myself from the shadow of my Almighty Father. My choices of how and where I spend my time will matter. I need to make my priority today my time--time I spend with God, and time I spend with those I love. I will not regret abiding in my Father's shadow.     https://www.podbean.com/relate365

‘If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.’ Leviticus 26: 3 -4   Cause and effect clauses are sprinkled throughout the Scriptures. If you do this, then this will happen.   If you overeat and exercise too little, you will gain weight, or if you do not maintain a budget, you will not be able to meet your financial obligations. We want to eat and be lazy and not gain weight. We want to spend money as we feel, not as we should or plan, and we still hope it works out.   If I love God today and walk with Him, I will enjoy the benefits of doing so. I will have significance and security and be in His shadow or His protection. If not, I will not be in such a place.   As an old teacher, I taught my students the idea of cause and effect regularly. As an older man, I have written a book entitled  Ideas Have Con...

‘Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then you will dwell in the land securely.’ Leviticus 25:18   Life is much simpler than we make it out to be. All I need to do is to listen to God. It is that simple.   We make things hard because we add rules and regulations to things that need no rules and regulations.  For example, some think they need to have rules about what they watch on television or at the movies. In reality, there is no rule, just a guiding principle found in Philippians 4:8 which states the following: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”   If the movie or television program does not fit the principle God has put forth clearly in His Word, then you need to exclude it from your "acceptable" list. Those who need to decide th...

‘In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property. And if you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another. You shall pay your neighbor according to the number of years after the jubilee, and he shall sell to you according to the number of years for crops.’ Leviticus 25:13 -15   The year of Jubilee is an exciting expectation. God is always concerned with making sure those who have made mistakes in life have a chance to right the wrongs. In God's system, the children of those who, for some reason, needed to sell their land would not need to remain "landless." Land sold or taken away due to debt was to be returned. There was always hope when the people of God lived as the actual people of God.   Throughout the Scriptures, we are told to care for those in need, to empower, yet not enable, to equip, but not give a handout. We are to focus on what we can do to improve someone else's life.   Because our government c...

The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord.'" Leviticus 25:1 -2   There is always more to do. There is always the opportunity to keep ourselves so busy that the people we stay engaged with become strangers, and the God we serve seems distant.   We must schedule a time to be with those we love. First and foremost is our time with God, our Father, the Creator and sustainer of all life. Then time with our family and our friends follows in importance. We need "face time," not just time.   The idea of the "Sabbath" becomes a chore for those who love God and others little and themselves much. It is a delight to those in a real relationship. In some respects, the idea of a "Sabbath Rest" is a barometer of whether we have a relationship or an arrangement with the one(s) we love. What is your barometer readin...

'And you shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord.' Leviticus 22:32 -33   Normalizing God's name is evil. God is in an exclusive category. He is unique, holy, one-of-a-kind, perfect, and loving. There is none like Him now, nor has there ever been any like Him.   We cannot and should never use His name without great purpose, respect, and love. We are told this in the Ten Commandments, yet we seem to allow our culture to speak louder than God's Word, and the name of God has become somewhat of an expression rather than a name that represents the Creator and sustainer of all life.   It is easy, even for the evangelicals of this world, to profane God's name-to claim that God told them to do something, say something, or move jobs when God was silent, and the person just wanted to use God's authority to silence any possibl...

You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.’ Leviticus 20:22 - 23   Why would we want to follow those who are blind? Why follow those who do not get it? Many Godless people are trying to control the national dialogue. The Supreme Court is not supreme, and democracies have never dictated truth--just majority opinion. Yet, most of our information comes from the media and government.   We are warned about walking in the customs of the Godless, and we see how God views such a lifestyle. What is it we do not understand? Why do we covet those who have nothing, and wish, even though we have everything, that we could somehow get some of their nothing? The Godless have little to offer in the way of any real hope and change.   We can be stran...

‘If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.’ Leviticus 20:10   This is a severe punishment. God has always considered a breach of commitment a serious problem. He calls our unfaithfulness to Him adultery. He makes it clear that we should not lie, that our "nays" should be "nays," and our "yeas," "yea."   Commitment is the key to an abundant life.  It is a commitment to God, to loving Him with all our heart, soul, and mind, and it is a commitment to others. The Bible is clear and very repetitive in this directive.   No wonder it is so hard for our people in this day and age to commit. For many, the fear of missing out is the greatest fear in their life. All things revolve around what others are doing, talking about, and feeling so they do not miss out. Facebook, Twitter, Instant Message, and the like have become addictions. We are addicted to others, events, and perc...

‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.' Leviticus 19:9-10   God is always interested in having His children take care of the poor. It seems evident that the very planning of the harvest included a plan to leave a specific amount of grain for those needing it. Imagine that, planning, from the beginning, to help those in need.   I wonder how many businesses today make a plan, or sit at the board table and discuss how the "harvest" will ensure people in need are cared for. In a rough year, I wonder if the plan would still be to make certain provisions for people experiencing poverty.   I remember talking to a business owner and suggesting that he "tithe" his workforce. He...

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, 'You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.'"  Leviticus 18:1-2 This is a recurrent theme in Leviticus as well as the entire Scriptures-(qadosh (קָדוֹש, 6918) holy. The Semitic languages have two separate original forms of the root. One signifies purity, and the other means devoted. Pure. What is purity? Is the goal 99.9% or 100%? Does it matter? Ask your spouse if 100% is the standard for purity with them, and you will have your answer.  Devoted means having a strong love or loyalty to someone. How devoted should one be to God? What is it that makes us give in?  Eventually, the children of Israel made decisions based on their common sense--what seemed best for them and others. They mixed God's truths with their apparent logic, and ended up with a very messy life. Mixing truth and error will always result in "terror."    https://www.podbe...

You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.' Leviticus 18:5   When a person begins to understand that they need not completely understand God to obey God, they begin to understand. This command is more than just a directive for us to observe; it is the key to a meaningful life.   What is being said here is plain and simple. For those who choose to keep the statutes and rules of God, those statutes and regulations will be the cause of life, real life. Think of how consistent this message is. Jesus told us later that in Him is life. We understand that Jesus died not only to save us from Hell, but to give us life, and give us life more abundantly.   For now, the choice is yours. Listen, which means not just hear but obey, and you will see God's statutes and rules be the catalyst to life. Listen only with your ears and ignore what you hear, and you will continue to search for significance and security.  ...

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'I am the Lord your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God.'" Leviticus18:1-4   You shall not do as they do is the principle here. Because we can look forward from here and see how the cultural norms of the cities they occupied destroyed them, we know that God meant what He said to protect, help, and ensure life as it was meant to be.   Hezekiah was one king who understood this principle and destroyed the "detestable" things. Lot made a self-centered choice, pitched his tent toward Sodom, and before long, was in Sodom as a Sodomite. Accepting sin, and being tolerant of evil, is the first step toward destruction. It is as foolish as touch...

If the disease breaks out again in the house, after he has taken out the stones and scraped the house and plastered it, then the priest shall go and look. And if the disease has spread in the house, it is a persistent leprous disease in the house; it is unclean. And he shall break down the house, its stones and timber and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them out of the city to an unclean place. Leviticus 14:43-45   Leprosy is a terrible and very infectious disease. Anything that touches a leper becomes unclean and dangerous. God commanded His people to go to great lengths to avoid contact with the disease and to clean whatever it touched.   Sin is often compared to leprosy and is the leprosy of our day. Those involved in sin are dangerous to themselves and those they "love," and even those with whom they have casual contact. Those who are unaware of their sickness or those who would hide their condition are the most dangerous, for they can spread their germs ...

"For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy." Leviticus 11:45   There is no greater authority than the Lord, and there is little doubt about how His people should live. Those who claim to love God but are consumed by this world have lied to themselves and God and will pay the price. Those who believe this world was made for them to enjoy have prostituted themselves and will find themselves worn out, anxious, lonely, depressed, angry, and eventually numb.   Those who have understood and listened to God find no real or lasting pleasure in the things of this world. It is not as if they have not found pleasure, for they have, in a temporary sense, and they don’t need to continually grab the things of this life and world to satisfy in an awkward attempt to put meaning in their meaningless life.   Meaning in life comes from holy living. It comes from a life lived the way it was meant to be. It is foun...