God Makes a Similar Promise to Moses In the book of Genesis, we meet Abraham. God takes a special interest in Abraham and gives him a bold promise. He pledges to make Abraham “into a great nation” (Genesis 12:2, NIV). What makes this promise even more incredible is that Abraham is seventy-five years old and […]
A Personal Essay About Encountering God, Prayer, and Hiding in a Prayer Tower The afternoon assignment at a writers retreat is to take a walk and describe our observations. Leaving the rest of the group in search of some needed solitude, I come upon a sign that simply says, “Prayer Tower.” I can’t ignore the […]
The Root Cause of Conflict is Our Egos, Even When We Hide Our Agenda by Citing Scripture In Numbers 12 we see a story of sibling rivalry, one at a spiritual level. Moses, the leader of the Israelites, is confronted by his sister, Miriam, aided by his brother, Aaron. The two pair up to oppose […]
Telling the Truth May Not Be Absolute The descendants of Jacob (Israel) are enslaved in Egypt. They are prolific and their captors fear their growing numbers. To curb their population explosion the king of Egypt commands the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, to kill every baby Hebrew boy as he is born. They do not. They […]
Look for Ways to Honor God In his letter to the Christians living in Rome, Paul talks about people who attempt to live life according to a bunch of religious rules, that is, the law. The result is that God is disrespected, not so much by the people themselves, but by those on the outside […]
Last week we talked about Moses’ mistake of hitting the rock instead of speaking to it. He did this in disobedience to what God told him to do. The Bible calls this sin. As a result of Moses’ mistake, that is his sin, he was only permitted to see the land God promised to give […]
For four decades Moses led the people as they wandered in the dessert. Once when they were thirsty, God told Moses to hit a certain rock with his walking stick. He did and water gushed out. Later on, the people again clamored for water. This time God told Moses to speak to a rock, but […]
The phrase “an eye for an eye” occurs four times in the Bible. The first three are in the Old Testament, in the Law of Moses. In these verses, it seems that Moses grants us permission to seek revenge. However, putting it into a historical context, some scholars say it was actually a command for […]
As a kid, I enjoyed watching reruns of Gilligan’s Island. One thing that amused me was that for three years Gilligan sported the same outfit, but his clothes never wore out. They didn’t fade, become threadbare, or fray. His shirt, pants, shoes, socks, and even his hat lasted in pristine condition for as long as […]
Once, when the Israelites were in the desert and thirsty, God told Moses to speak to a rock and water would pour forth. Instead, out of anger towards the people, Moses hit the rock with his walking stick. Water still gushed out, but God was displeased over Moses’ lack of following directions. Moses’ punishment was […]