Bibledoorajar: Ready To Listen?

     From Elim, God had Moses lead the children of Israel into the Wilderness of Sin. It was not pleasant, and the true nature and character of the people erupted. The bellyaching and grumbling about the Wilderness and the lack of food escalated. The people put down Moses and God also by swearing their oaths by His name. It would seem that God would have been so upset with their responses that He would have yelled from Heaven, sin, sin, sin! Bad. bad, bad! Get it, you are a sinful bunch! But instead, He just said, are you ready to listen ("Behold"). This is what I will do in response to your rebellious unbelief. "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And, so, He did. They were His people.

      When the angels announced the birth of Jesus, they used the word "behold". 'World, are you ready to listen? God is so loving that He is sending His Son'. The apostles Paul and John put it these ways:

1. "where sin abounded that grace did much more abound" (Romans 5:21).  
2.  "see what marvelous love the Father has given to us,  that we might be called the sons of God (John3:21)

     May we learn the lesson of the wilderness of sin. That is who we are. But thank God He loves to the point of providing for us no matter what through Jesus. It is truly a marvelous love!

Bibledoorajar: His Creative Works

     The next place where the Jews stopped after their terrible reaction at Marah was the place called Elim. It was as if God wanted His people to realize that, even in a time of crisis, when they continue to contemplate His Goodness and creativity things will improve. At Elim they not only found water, they found abundance. It was an veritable oasis of lushness.
     I was talking with someone this past week who is going through a deep crisis about how coping has its' demands. I was bouncing off what we always told folks on Psychiatry: that somewhere entwined in his crisis is opportunity. Or, as the old folks used to say, "there's light at the end of the tunnel." From the Hebrew point of view, that is not just a platitude. For to the devout Jew seeking the Divine in the midst of crisis meant taking their eyes off the problem and perceiving God in His radiance (glory). Thus, the Light at the end of the tunnel. I encouraged this young man to go back to his roots. He was raised in a Christian home and was taken to church and perhaps it would be good for him to regain his innate godly perspective on things. That Light, that Radiance is, after all, creative. It is, after all, miraculous. It is, after all, an oasis of lushness. Where better can we go for help than that? Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel even as God restores our hope. It restores our resilience. We find Elim and restoration. We find peace.
     Perhaps there is not a greater example of focusing on the Light at the end of the tunnel, than the life and works of the Apostle Paul. That fellow experienced many a crisis in his ministry and life, but He never took his eyes off the goodness and creativity of the Lord. He had met Him following a crisis (blinded on the road to Damascus) and had waited to literally see light. An when it returned it was an oasis of lushness---brilliance to be shared with believers for generations to come. No, light at the end of the tunnel is not just a platitude when one realizes we are speaking of the Light that is ever creative, ever full of grace and mercy.
                      
                           "I wandered so aimless, life filled with sin
                             I wouldn't let my dear Savior in
                            Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night
                             Praise the Lord, I saw the light....."
                                                                    Hank Williams

                             "Shine, Jesus, Shine..."
                                                                    Graham Kendrick


"The Word became a human being and lived with us, and we saw his Sh'kinah (Glory of God)"
                                                                                            John 1:14

Sh'kinah: the One who dwells. Is Jesus dwelling in your heart today? Is He your Light at the end of the tunnel?

Bibledoorajar: Seeing the Tree's Properties

     When Moses stood there with those unhappy people who had found bitter water to drink, he was not in touch with the fact that there was a tree with sweetening properties right in front of them. He had to be shown the tree by God.
      Is it not true that we moderns are so much like the people of old? We rejoice and praise God for His goodness toward us with one breath and gripe and complain about what the day three days hence  brings us. But God who knows all about His children sometimes has to drive us to a place where we do not take Him for granted in our circumstances. Jesus does, after all, promise that He is always with us. God loved the Israelites so much that He put them in the presence of a tree that would sweeten their water. That was its' property: to sweeten. Of course, they did not see its' properties. That had to be revealed to them.
He has loved you and I so much that He has revealed a tree that held His Only Son. We can behold its' properties: everlasting love, redemption, full salvation, grace. And, on and on it goes. What happened with that tree for the Israelites was real. The tree that bared the Savior was real,  is real, and will always be real. And God helps us see it. Over and over.
So when we are "three days" out from rejoicing and we find ourselves bitter about our circumstances, we might want to ask God to allow us to see all the properties of "the tree on a hill far away". Only God can push us toward it when we become bitter. How great is His love for you and me. The experience of the Israelites at Marah is for our admonition (1 Corinthians 10) lest we forget.

"I saw One hanging on a tree"

John Newton