From Three Mountains, God Speaks:

Reading through the Bible this year, I am recognizing common threads that run throughout the Old Testament … the gospels … David’s songs … Solomon’s wisdom. (This shouldn’t come as a surprise: throughout thousands of years and dozens of human writers, it was the same Author telling the same Story.) 

Day 35 - Exodus 20-21, Matthew 23: 13-39, Psalm 28: 7-9

Terror: In Exodus, God outlines 10 commandments from atop Mount Sinai. From the midst of a dark cloud. With trumpets blaring. Complete with peals of thunder and bolts of lightning.

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear and kept their distance. They said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

Thankfully, Moses was a willing intercessor; he entered the cloud that shrouded the Lord and received His commands for Israel. But the inapproachability of God, that awe-full distance, moved God’s chosen people to reject Him for a golden trinket of a god, one far less terrifying and far more manageable.

God’s treasured people neglected His law and turned to their own way: man-made idolatry.

Community: Following these 10 most familiar commandments, God’s beautiful heart shines forth in subsequent commands: mutual respect, justice and mercy for the oppressed, integrity and humility in community, and sincere worship. The flavor of these commands (if not the specifics, which can sound odd to our modern-day ears) is savory and satisfying, full of the ingredients that create a life of harmony and sacrificial love.

Woes: Flipping over to Matthew 23 was like flipping a coin to its other side. Unlike the people of Israel at the foot of Mount Sinai, huddled in fear before Yahweh, the Pharisees commended themselves as good teachers and exemplary law-followers.

And yet.

Just as those at Mount Sinai rejected the true God for a handmade imitation, so the Pharisees rejected the true God for their own misguided imitation of His laws.

Jesus didn’t pull any punches in his diatribe:

“You keep the letter of the law, but neglect God’s heart: justice mercy and faithfulness! You should have practiced them both.”

“You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”

Like Israel at Mount Sinai, the Pharisees neglected the true intent of God’s law and turned to their own way: self-exalting legalism.

Sorrow: Afterwards, Jesus wept. Perched on the Mount of Olives, he lamented over his people:

“Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longer to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.”

(Only days later, he would weep on this mountain again, agonizing in prayer with His Father on the night of his arrest.)

Victory: Ultimately, it is yet another mountain, Mount Zion, which embodies the triumph of God’s kingdom and the dwelling place of His chosen people. Joyous worship replaces the terror of Mount Sinai; true righteousness in Christ replaces self-righteousness; and God’s people flock to Jesus ... the One who has fulfilled all the Old Covenant commands ... the One who welcomes His chosen people as righteous ones, made perfect in Him.

… you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them… the sight was so terrifying that Moses said “I am trembling with fear.”

But you have come to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to his sprinkled blood…” 

(Hebrews 12:18-24)

So, what is God saying to us from atop these mountains?

Don't turn away from Him in fear; turn to Him in faith.

Resist the urge to create a safer, more manageable god; exalt Him, not yourself.

Live a life of Love and Mercy and Justice. In His name.

Let Him take you under His wing.

And worship Him with great joy!

Impossible!

Reading through the Bible this year, I am recognizing common threads that run throughout the Old Testament … the gospels … David’s songs … Solomon’s wisdom. (This shouldn’t come as a surprise: throughout thousands of years and dozens of human writers, it was the same Author telling the same Story.) Those threads weave a tapestry that reveal our desperate straits and God’s glorious redemption in Christ.

Day 26 – Exodus 3-5 - Matthew 18 – Psalm 22

What if they don’t believe me?

What if my clumsy speech gets in the way?

God, please send someone else! Anybody but ME!

No matter how patient God was in instructing him, Moses always had another “but...”. In his eyes, it was inconceivable that he could speak to Pharaoh in the ways Yahweh was saying, even though God was calling him to. Impossible!

We must gather our own straw now to make bricks – but still make the same quota.

Moses, you have made us abhorrent to Pharaoh and brought us nothing but anguish!

Then when Moses confronted Pharaoh, as the Lord had called him to, the Israelites suffered even more harshly under the Egyptians, and subsequently blamed Moses. How were they to make the same number of bricks, with NO straw?! What Moses was asking of Pharaoh simply wasn’t possible, and could never come to pass. He would never release them to worship their God. Impossible.

How can I become like a child, Jesus, which You say is the only way to Your kingdom?

How on earth can I forgive, and forgive, and then forgive again?

What Jesus tells us to do is surely impossible. I’m a middle-aged woman, not a bright-eyed child. I struggle to forgive the same sin/sinner seven times. But 70 times 7? Who are we kidding?!

Do you know that Jesus truly understands these questions? He Himself came face to face with the impossible. In Psalm 22, we hear his anguished cry, penned centuries before He cried it from the cross:

Why are you so far away when everyone is mocking and injuring me?

Come quickly and help me!

His pleas met with silence from the Lord. He suffered without God’s intervention; He suffered at the hands of those for whom He suffered.

Impossible that the Father should abandon His Son! We cannot comprehend it, until this glimmer of hope in the final verses of the psalm:

His story shall be told to all coming generations. And all humankind shall come and declare His righteousness to a people yet to unborn—that He has done it. It is finished!

In His resurrection, God’s impossible requirements and promises were fulfilled!

Our all-powerful eternal God declares some things to be impossible:

It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
But not impossible for Jesus! (Hebrews 10:4)

It was impossible for death to keep its hold on Jesus.
And so God freed Him from the agony of death. (Acts 2:24)

But as for those things that look impossible to us – for God to fulfill His jaw-dropping promises, for us to follow Him in the ways He calls us to – Jesus has this to say:

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Reading through the Bible this year, I am recognizing common threads that run throughout the Old Testament … the gospels … David’s songs … Solomon’s wisdom. (This shouldn’t come as a surprise: throughout thousands of years and dozens of human writers, it was the same Author telling the same Story.) Those threads weave a tapestry that reveal our desperate straits and God’s glorious redemption in Christ.

Day 15 – Genesis 33 & 34, Matthew 11, Psalm 14

The Good: Jacob had every right to fear the visit from his brother Esau – the one he had deceived and stolen from. But in a stunning twist, instead of avenging himself, Esau gave a broad forgiveness and a long-awaited, albeit fragile, resolution to the decades-long conflict. The seething hatred and jealousy between the usurper and sensualist gave way to a brotherly, albeit cautious, embrace.

The Bad: Then, Jacob’s daughter is raped. And – if it were possible - the reaction of her family is as horrific as the offense. Simeon and Levi go to brutal lengths to exact their vengeance (not God’s justice) upon the entire people of Shechem.

The Ugly: And Jacob was basically absent! Once he and his sons had arranged for Dinah to be married, he apparently sat back into his passivity. Wouldn’t he have suspected what his sons were about to do? Or was he so focused on trying to keep peace that he didn’t notice their angry energy? When Jacob learns of the slaughter, he rebukes his sons - not for their godless behavior, but for making him an outcast in the land.

The history of humanity tells the same story over and over again. When we see forgiveness and reconciliation, our hearts swell with hope. When we hear tales of violence and selfish rage, our hearts sink in despair. If I didn’t know the ultimate end of the story (Jesus wins!), these biblical narratives – and my own narrative - would inspire nothing but hopelessness.

What are we to do?

Jesus issues an invitation to the likes of us in Matthew 11:28

“Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”

Rest from your fear, from your rage, from your hopelessness, from your shame. From your self-righteousness and taking things into your own hands. From your desire for vengeance, and your vain self-protection.

Psalm 14 declares plainly that we are incapable of that kind of rest, apart from Him:

They have all turned aside,
They have together become corrupt;
There is none who does good,
No, not one!

Oh, that the salvation of my people would come out of Zion!

Praise God, for His salvation has come to us! In His Son, who became sin for us, so that in Him, we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).

In him alone, we can lay down the ugly yoke of sin. In him alone, we can find rest and hope for our souls. In him alone, we can choose His good path and let him tell His story of salvation through us.