Edodus 4
24 As Moses was on his way to Egypt, he stopped at a resting place for the night. The Lord met him there and tried to kill him.
25 But Zipporah took a flint knife and circumcised her son. Taking the skin, she touched Moses' feet with it and said to him, "You are a bridegroom of blood to me."
26 She said, "You are a bridegroom of blood," because she had to circumcise her son. So the Lord let Moses alone.

I noticed this for the first time today and it really surprised me.

It's pretty scary that God would want to kill one of the main characters of the Old Testament before he completed God's assignment. I guess it shows again, that God doesn't need any of us. We should constantly thank Him for His mercy and grace. We had better take seriously any covenant between ourselves and God.

References:
Exodus 4:24-26
New Century Version (NCV)
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

The story of Moses' calling to speak for God has a special meaning for me.

I have always been somewhat of a computer geek. When I first felt a calling to go into ministry, I wondered if I would be a part of a "media ministry" somewhere. The funny thing is, the further I went into discerning the call, the more I realized that I feel called to preach the gospel.

I identify with Moses, because I don't feel like a talented speaker. Moses tried everything he could to get away from it.

"What if the people of Israel do not believe me or listen to me? What if they say, 'the Lord did not appear to you'?" he said.

"Please, Lord, I have never been a skilled speaker. Even now, after talking to you, I cannot speak well. I speak slowly and can't find the best words."

Then the Lord said to him,"Who made a person's mouth? And who makes someone deaf or not able to speak? Or who gives a person sight or blindness? It is I, the Lord. Now go! I will help you speak, and I will teach you what to say."

God doesn't promise him that he will instantly be a great speaker. He promises him that he will teach him what to say.

That should give us all hope that when it appears that God doesn't instantly grant us the ability to do what He has asked of us, maybe He is teaching us.

I've heard it said that God doesn't need you for your strengths. He wants you for your weaknesses, so that His glory can shine through you. I believe this now more than ever and can't wait to see what He has in store for my "weaknesses."


References:
Exodus 4:1, 10-12
New Century Version (NCV)
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

One of the things that I have learned from the story of Abraham is that God is a God of chances. Abraham showed a lack of faith on several occasions, but when he came back, God always forgave him and blessed him.

In Chapter 12, God tells Abram, "leave your country, your relatives, and your father's family and go to the land I will show you." It seemed as if Abram would do as God instructed, but he didn't. He "went down to Egypt to live because there was so little food." He then sold his wife to the king for "sheep, cattle, male and female donkeys, male and female servants, and camels." The Lord was looking out for him though and sent disease on the king and his people to allow Abram to escape.

God then proceeded to promise Abram that his descendants would be too many to count.

"Abram believed the Lord. And the Lord accepted Abram's faith, and that faith made him right with God."

Again, Abram lost his faith and proceeded to have sex with his wife's servant to have the first of the descendants that God promised him. Did he not believe that God would provide?

Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, if your faith is as big as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. All things will be possible for you."

Abrams faith must have been the size of a mustard seed, because he was saved through it and God was true to His word and blessed Abram as Abraham. Through God's belief in him, Abram became the man of faith God claimed him to be.


References:
Genesis 12:10
Genesis 12:16
Genesis 15:6
Matthew 17:20

New Century Version (NCV)
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

I am just starting "my" ministry and already I struggle with thinking in terms of "what is God's plan for His kingdom or His church" rather than "what is God's plan for my life and ministry." I pray that I will always keep Him first and foremost.

This brings me to a thought I recently had about the New Testament. Instead of reading about the actions in terms of who they are happening to, I'm trying to read it in terms of it's impact on Jesus.

Traditionally, I have thought about Peter denying Jesus and thought about how bad Peter felt afterwards. Now I think more about the impact it had on Jesus. He was in His last days, and one of His most trusted friends denied Him. If He hadn't already told Peter about it, can you imagine the shock it would have been to Him? I'm sure it still was very hurtful to Him, and served to make Him even more human.

Another aspect that I thought about was when Jesus was on the cross, and He told John to take care of His mother. Again, being God, He knew she would be ok, but the human side of Him must had been in agony knowing that His mother was losing her first born son. I can only imagine seeing the hurt on your parents face and knowing that it must happen that way.

Reading it from God's perspective instead of a human perspective has given me new insight into what it's all about.

I know these New Testament thoughts have been off topic, but I needed to share that. After all, it's all about JESUS.


Lord, I pray that "my" ministry is truly yours. I pray that you will keep all of us humble and that we will never lose track that all glory belongs to you.

I've always had a problem reconciling the Genesis account of creation to science and to itself.

My pastor and I had a conversation recently regarding the apparent contradiction between the Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 accounts of creation.

He pointed out that in Genesis 1, the word for God is "elohim" which means just "God." In Genesis 2, the words are "yhwh elohim" which means "Lord God," signifying a more personal view of God.



So, I take it to mean that Genesis 1 is the big picture, whereas Genesis 2 is the beginning of the real story of God's desire for a personal relationship with mankind.

As far as science goes, I think that we run the risk of losing the very purpose of the Bible when we try to use it as a science text book.
I read the other day from a book published in the 1930's about the reason that the Earth was shown as being created before the sun in Genesis. Many religions of the day worshiped the sun and stars. God wanted us to understand that mankind was the center of His creation. The easiest way to express that was to place that first in the story of creation. The sun and stars came along later to serve a purpose for man.

An important theological point that is lost when you try to view the Genesis creation story from a scientific viewpoint.

That being said, we can't "compartmentalize" our lives. Everything must point back to God. When science/culture/poltics/psychology/etc. disagree with the Bible, God's Word must take precedent.

I do think however, that there are so many holes in the creation story of Genesis that it makes me question how literal it is meant to be taken.

Chapters one and two do not agree with each other.

Based on a literal interpretation, the Catholic Church once thought that the Earth was the center of the universe. That has been proven false.

There is no mention of other planets or their moons, yet they exist.

In Gen 4:14, Abel says,

“Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

Who are these people? This is the first mention of anyone other than Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel.


I say these things not to say that the Bible is wrong. I say them to prove that there are too many things that we don't know (and will never know in this life) about the creation to make it such an "important" aspect of our theology.

I have a very scientific minded friend who couldn't get over these issues. Not the Bible, but people telling him he had to believe the whole Bible literally or believe none of it was a huge stumbling block for him. It took the literal voice of Jesus to bring him to salvation. Since that time, he glosses over the creation issue and will not discuss it with anyone. The only thing that matters is that Christ spoke to him and he is now saved.

I believe the real purpose of Genesis is to make these points:
1. God is the creator of everything in existence.
2. Mankind is the center of that creation.
3. From the beginning, God has given mankind freewill, which has been used by man to try to become as gods.
4. God knew this outcome and planned for the sacrifice of His Son for our salvation.


New Century Version (NCV)
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

I noticed that in Gen. 3:3, Eve mistakenly tells Satan that they were not to eat of the tree, nor even touch the tree for they would surely die.

3 But God told us, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch it, or you will die.' "

In Gen. 2:16, where God gave the command to Adam, He said nothing about just touching the tree.

16 The Lord God commanded him, "You may eat the fruit from any tree in the garden,
17 but you must not eat the fruit from the tree which gives the knowledge of good and evil. If you ever eat fruit from that tree, you will die!"

It seems that God expected Adam to communicate this command to Eve, as she had not been created yet, and he failed.

Is this an example of how man, even from the beginning, has not really understood his role as spiritual leader?

Some have said to me that at least Eve knew what God had said, even if she took it one step further; but expanding on God's law may be part of what kept them from being able to keep the law.

New Century Version (NCV)
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.