Category Archives: The Ways of God

Along the Way to Bethlehem

Part One

As the new year begins, and thinking back on the Christmas season, I noticed a couple of things. One, the New Testament began with a connection to the Old, a continuation of God’s story. Secondly, I noticed that the very first chapter of the New Testament revealed the greatest reason of all for the Christmas season, the primary reason why Jesus came!

First, the continuation from Old to New. Notice the very first verse of the New Testament, “The record of the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah (Christ), the Son of David, the son of Abraham.” Abraham shows up the first time in Genesis 11:26, “Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.” A few verses later, in Genesis 12:1-3, God speaks to him. “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go forth … To the land which I will show you; And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you … And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

The rest of the Old Testament, in one way or another, tells the story of God’s interaction with Abraham (his name was changed from Abram to Abraham) and his descendants. David was a distant descendant of Abraham, and Jesus was an even further descendant. In fact, it was well over 2000 years from Abraham to Jesus. God is apparently in charge of history on a long-term scale, Old Testament, New Testament, and continuing!

Now, the second thing I noticed was in the dream of Joseph, a small-town carpenter whose fiancé was pregnant, and not by him! He was most certainly in emotional turmoil, yet we are told that, “… Joseph … being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.” But God interrupted his plans; “… behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:18-21)

 Wait! Don’t miss the reason here stated, “He will save His people from their sins.” That’s it! The point of it all, the reason for the season! From Genesis 3 onward, it’s been obvious that the problem above all problems is sin! Everything God has done since that point (and even before then) has been to save us from the sins that cause all our problems! In fact, the New Testament tells us how Jesus accomplished this goal; in the gospels, and then throughout the entire New Testament, to the very end of the last book, Revelation!

No room here to tell the “how” this was accomplished, but I have to ask myself how well this goal is being accomplished in my life, daily? And in your life? Have you been saved “from” sin? Are you being daily saved “from” sin? Or, do you just go along sinning daily and expecting that the Scripture meant only to save us from the ultimate, final, eternal, result of our sins? If you’ve been saved from slavery, you are not still a slave. If you’ve been saved from drowning, you are not still in the water! If you’ve been saved from sin, you are not continuing to live a life dominated by sin!

Listen, Jesus came to save us FROM our sins!

Desperate to Know the Ways of God

Great desperation filled his voice as Moses bowed low before God, as he cried out for mercy! So much had happened, yet he knew he was incapable of dealing with what was yet to come.  Inside this “tent of meeting” (Ex 33:9) God was speaking, “Depart, go up from here … I will send an angel before you … for I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, and I might destroy you on the way” (Ex 33:1-3). Afraid to attempt the impossible without God’s presence, Moses cried out for mercy!

Through the series of dreadful miracles (the ten “plagues” that had fallen on Egypt), through the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea on dry ground, through the daily giving of the miracle food “manna” and finally through the hearing of the Voice of God from the mountain top, the nation had come from Egyptian slavery to the barren wilderness! Into the very presence of God Himself, at the base of Mount Sinai.

Having heard the Ten Commands from God Himself, the people had then watched Moses climb upward and disappear into the cloudy heights of God’s Presence. And they had waited for his return. And waited. And after many days he had not returned.

So, without a prophet and without a tangible god that they could see and touch, in fear and disobedience they reverted to the days of Egypt, making for themselves a god, a golden calf, an idol. Even though the Second of the Ten Commands had forbidden idols! “So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play” (Ex 32:6). But there was no peace. Far above, on the mountain top, the Lord saw. “Then the LORD spoke to Moses, ‘Go down at once, for your people … have corrupted themselves’” (Ex 32:7).

What happened next is difficult to know. God was seemingly ready to destroy them all, but Moses cried out, interceded, entreated God, prayed for His mercy, and reminded God of His past promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the ancestors of these disobedient people. And equally hard to explain, “… the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people” (Ex 32:14)! Moses ran down the mountain with the two stone tablets on which God had engraved His Law, the Ten Commands, and “… as soon as Moses came near the camp … he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain,” (Ex 32:19). The Law had already been broken and now the Tablets of the written Law were shattered. Moses ground the golden calf to powder, scattered it on the water and the people were made to drink it. Further judgement came and people died, slaughtered. Finally, an exhausted and emotionally overwhelmed Moses turned back to the Lord. As he desperately prayed for these people, Moses even begged that if God would not forgive their sin, then God should “… blot me out from Your book which You have written!” (Ex 32:32).

And so, God had stated, “… I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, and I might destroy you on the way” (Ex 33:4). Then, in desperation, Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me.” Further, Moses reminded the Lord that He had said to Moses, “I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight” (Ex 33:12). Moses is confused, frustrated, and hurt, but he quickly gets to the heart of the issue, “Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You …” (Ex 33:13)!

Ah, there it is, the need of Moses, the nation of Israel, both your need and mine! If Moses, who by this time we think should have known God and His ways better than anyone, this Moses to whom God spoke “… face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend” (Ex 33:11), if Moses prayed this prayer, then certainly you and I need to pray it unto God! We need to know God! And therefore, as the first and most obvious way to know Him, we must learn His ways! We must pray, “Lord, let me know Your ways that I may know You.”