David Bahn – Reflections – Page 82 – Light from the Word and through the lens

When will we ever learn? [Minor Edit #2!]

September 15, 2023

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

Acts 7:1, 30-43

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” ²And Stephen said:

“Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. ³¹When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ³²‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. ³³Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵“This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. ³⁷This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ ³⁸This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. ³⁹Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, ⁴⁰saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ⁴¹And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. ⁴²But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

“‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
    during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
⁴³You took up the tent of Moloch
    and the star of your god Rephan,
    the images that you made to worship;
and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

Big Bend Dry Waterfall -II | Big Bend National Park | May 2023

As I’ve said before*, “The Old Testament is one giant object lesson on what does not work.” I think maybe Philip Yancey said it. His book, Disappointment with God, offers an insightful look into three significant questions about God: Is God unfair? Is he silent? Is he hidden? The point Yancey makes about God is that when God spoke directly with men and women it didn’t work. Adam and Eve sinned even though they had it all. When God sent judges and Kings to lead his people (at their request!), that didn’t keep Israel from going astray and falling into great sin and idolatry. When God sent the prophets, the people and leaders didn’t listen.

Moses said to the people of Israel 3500 years ago that God would raise up a prophet like him from among them. That may have been somewhat of a farewell address. It comes in Deuteronomy the last book of Moses as he bids farewell to his people before they go on into the Promised Land and before he dies.

But let’s be clear about what does and does not work. Nothing apart from God’s goodness and grace works in the final analysis. I believe that God was guiding people toward himself, the redemption and salvation he has for us.

There was a faint foreshadowing of the ultimate deliverance of God in the Exodus of the Jewish nation and their ultimate entrance into the Promised Land. That faint shadow has become reality in Jesus’ life, ministry, suffering, death and resurrection. It’s full expression and ultimate experience will be on the Great Last Day when Jesus returns and all of his people are brought into the promised New Heaven and New Earth.

Once we’re there, we’ll join in an eternal paean of praise for God’s glorious grace. This is how Paul expresses this in Ephesians 1:3-8:

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. ⁴Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. ⁵God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. ⁶So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. ⁷He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. ⁸He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

All the trials, missteps, misunderstandings, and failures – those things that didn’t work – will be forgotten. Tears will be wiped from our eyes. And we will be forever with our Lord, having learned how truly good, gracious, and glorious he is. One day we’ll learn it fully!

* “As I’ve said before,” is a progression of quoting others. First time, “As Philip Yancey has said…” Second time, “As I’ve said before…” Third time and every time thereafter, “As I’ve always said…” I may almost be able to say, “As I’ve always said…” about this quote very soon. I’ve quoted Yancey many times.
When will we ever learn? [Minor Edit]

September 15, 2023

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

Acts 7:1, 30-43

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” ²And Stephen said:

“Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. ³¹When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ³²‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. ³³Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵“This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. ³⁷This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ ³⁸This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. ³⁹Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, ⁴⁰saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ⁴¹And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. ⁴²But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

“‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
    during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
⁴³You took up the tent of Moloch
    and the star of your god Rephan,
    the images that you made to worship;
and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

Big Bend Dry Waterfall -II | Big Bend National Park | May 2023

As I’ve said before*, “The Old Testament is one giant object lesson on what does not work.” I think maybe Philip Yancey said it. His book, Disappointment with God, offers an insightful look into three significant questions about God: Is God unfair? Is he silent? Is he hidden? The point Yancey makes about God is that when God spoke directly with men and women it didn’t work. Adam and Eve sinned even though they had it all. When God sent judges and Kings to lead his people (at their request!), that didn’t keep Israel from going astray and falling into great sin and idolatry. When God sent the prophets, the people and leaders didn’t listen.

Moses said to the people of Israel 3500 years ago that God would raise up a prophet like him from among them. That may have been somewhat of a farewell address. It comes in Deuteronomy the last book of Moses as he bids farewell to his people before they go on into the Promised Land and before he dies.

But let’s be clear about what does and does not work. Nothing apart from God’s goodness and grace works in the final analysis. I believe that God was guiding people toward himself, the redemption and salvation he has for us.

There was a faint foreshadowing of the ultimate deliverance of God in the Exodus of the Jewish nation and their ultimate entrance into the Promised Land. That faint shadow has become reality in Jesus’ life, ministry, suffering, death and resurrection. It’s full expression and ultimate experience will be on the Great Last Day when Jesus returns and all of his people are brought into the promised New Heaven and New Earth.

Once we’re there, we’ll join in an eternal peaen of praise for God’s glorious grace. This is how Paul expresses this in Ephesians 1:3-8:

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. ⁴Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. ⁵God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. ⁶So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. ⁷He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. ⁸He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

All the trials, missteps, misunderstandings, and failures – those things that didn’t work – will be forgotten. Tears will be wiped from our eyes. And we will be forever with our Lord, having learned how truly good, gracious, and glorious he is. One day we’ll learn it fully!

* “As I’ve said before,” is a progression of quoting others. First time, “As Philip Yancey has said…” Second time, “As I’ve said before…” Third time and every time thereafter, “As I’ve always said…” I may almost be able to say, “As I’ve always said…” about this quote very soon. I’ve quoted Yancey many times.
When will we ever learn?

September 15, 2023

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

Acts 7:1, 30-43

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” ²And Stephen said:

“Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. ³¹When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ³²‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. ³³Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵“This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. ³⁷This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ ³⁸This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. ³⁹Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, ⁴⁰saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ⁴¹And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. ⁴²But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

“‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
    during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
⁴³You took up the tent of Moloch
    and the star of your god Rephan,
    the images that you made to worship;
and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

Big Bend Dry Waterfall -II | Big Bend National Park | May 2023

As I’ve said before*, “The Old Testament is one giant object lesson on what does not work.” I think maybe Philip Yancey said it. His book, Disappointment with God, offers an insightful look into three significant questions about God: Is God unfair? Is he silent? Is he hidden? The point Yancey makes about God is that when God spoke directly with men and women it didn’t work. Adam and Eve sinned even though they had it all. When God sent judges and Kings to lead his people (at their request!), that didn’t keep Israel from going astray and falling into great sin and idolatry. When God sent the prophets, the people and leaders didn’t listen.

Moses said to the people of Israel 3500 years ago that God would raise up a prophet like him from among them. That may have been somewhat of a farewell address. It comes in Deuteronomy the last book of Moses as he bids farewell to his people before they go on into the Promised Land and before he dies.

But let’s be clear about what does and does not work. Nothing apart from God’s goodness and grace works in the final analysis. I believe that God was guiding people toward himself, the redemption and salvation he has for us.

There was a faint foreshadowing of the ultimate deliverance of God in the Exodus of the Jewish nation and their ultimate entrance into the Promised Land. That faint shadow has become reality in Jesus’ life, ministry, suffering, death and resurrection. It’s full expression and ultimate experience will be on the Great Last Day when Jesus returns and all of his people are brought into the promised New Heaven and New Earth.

Once we’re there, we’ll join in an eternal peon of praise for God’s glorious grace. This is how Paul expresses this in Ephesians 1:3-8:

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. ⁴Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. ⁵God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. ⁶So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. ⁷He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. ⁸He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

All the trials, missteps, misunderstandings, and failures – those things that didn’t work – will be forgotten. Tears will be wiped from our eyes. And we will be forever with our Lord, having learned how truly good, gracious, and glorious he is. One day we’ll learn it fully!

* “As I’ve said before,” is a progression of quoting others. First time, “As Philip Yancey has said…” Second time, “As I’ve said before…” Third time and every time thereafter, “As I’ve always said…” I may almost be able to say, “As I’ve always said…” about this quote very soon. I’ve quoted Yancey many times.
Does cred mean anything to you?

September 14, 2023

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

Acts 7:1, 30-43

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” ²And Stephen said:

“Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. ³¹When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ³²‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. ³³Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵“This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. ³⁷This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ ³⁸This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. ³⁹Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, ⁴⁰saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ⁴¹And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. ⁴²But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

“‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
    during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
⁴³You took up the tent of Moloch
    and the star of your god Rephan,
    the images that you made to worship;
and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

Big Bend Dry Waterfall | Big Bend National Park | May 2023

Do you know what cred means? Check out these quotes:

The optional carbon-ceramic brakes add cred to the M in front of the Gran Coupe’s 8 and better withstand the abuse of a track day.—Austin Irwin, Car and Driver, 18 July 2023

World of Hyatt The brand added considerable indie cred in 2018 with its acquisition of Alila Hotels & Resorts and Thompson Hotels.—Katie Seemann, Travel + Leisure, 3 June 2023

Merriam Webster says that cred means: CREDIBILITY specifically : the ability to gain acceptance as a member of a particular group or class.

Moses had cred. Stephen lists it out here:

“This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.³⁶This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. ³⁷This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ ³⁸This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us.

It’s a way of saying he’s the real deal. He’s worthy of our trust. He’s the one we need to follow. He is no faker. Not a wannabe.

There are others who would deserve to be considered the real deal: Saul of Tarsus (who will soon take the name Paul when he goes to the Gentiles with the Good News of the gospel). Peter, son of Zebedee. Justin Martyr. Jan Hus. Martin Luther. These don’t mail it in when it comes to their faith. They put their lives on the line. They are sold out to Jesus.

You likely can name others. They are people worth listening to. They merit our attention. They deserve our respect.

But Stephen is teaching a lesson to these Jewish leaders. He’s setting them up when he praises Moses because he knows they and the generations before them failed to listen to Moses as they should. In fact, Peter will make a point some time later saying, “So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? (Acts 15:10)

All those attributions of greatness given to Moses were meant to point people to him as God’s chosen leader. Even those who considered him their great leader failed to follow him as they should. Even we who put Jesus above all others fail to follow him as we should.

But we try to follow Jesus because he redeemed us, and forgives us when we fall short. That’s something Moses could not do – at least not to the full extent that Jesus did. Jesus’ cred includes his miracles, teachings, faithfulness even to death, and his resurrection from the grave. He has shown himself to be worthy of all honor and glory, faith and love, trust and obedience.
What is your idea of God?

September 13, 2023

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

Acts 7:1, 30-43

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” ²And Stephen said:

“Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. ³¹When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ³²‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. ³³Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵“This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. ³⁷This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ ³⁸This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. ³⁹Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, ⁴⁰saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ⁴¹And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. ⁴²But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

“‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
    during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
⁴³You took up the tent of Moloch
    and the star of your god Rephan,
    the images that you made to worship;
and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

On the Way to Box Canyon | Big Bend National Park | May 2023

Compare these two statements:

God cares for us out of his fatherly, divine goodness and grace.

I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow.

The first is from Luther’s Small Catechism. The second one is from Matthew 25:24.

The first one is the statement of one who fears, loves, and trusts in God above all things. This is one who sees God as redeemer and ruler – not as ruler and judge (in the pejorative sense of the term). The first one is from one who sees God as ruler and redeemer. Between those two understandings of God is a chasm of eternal proportions.

The Hebrew in Egypt accused Moses of usurping the role of ruler and judge. God had determined that he would be redeemer and ruler. The former would question every order, directive, idea, or motive of Moses. God had intended that Moses be followed, trusted, obeyed, and honored.

Consider how you think of God. Is he one to be followed, trusted, obeyed, and honored? Or is there a place in your life that you reserve to yourself, thinking that God is only ruler and judge. Do you see God as good and gracious, just and loving? Or do you think of him as aloof, judging, and condemning; one to be appeased. The way you think of God will shape your willingness to fear, love, and trust him. It will determine whether you call on God in humility, awaiting his answer, or you cower in fear and do all you can to stay out of his way, and off his radar.

Sometimes we forget. Surely the Hebrews did – as Stephen testifies here. They abandoned Moses and rejected God’s gifts, making a false idol, a golden calf. It’s a wonder that God didn’t completely reject them. But even though they had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years before they entered the Promised Land, eventually the Hebrew nation did enter the Promised Land.

All this is by God’s grace. That grace reaches to us as well, when we realize we’ve thought wrongly of God and failed to trust him. Think of God as redeemer and ruler. Fear, love, and trust in him.

Say outloud or in your heart: He has redeemed me. I will live under him in his kingdom. Check this out:

Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord,

who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death,

that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom

This is most certainly true. – from Luther’s Small Catechism, 2nd Article of the Creed
I guess it shouldn’t surprise me

September 12, 2023

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

Acts 7:1, 30-43

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” ²And Stephen said:

“Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. ³¹When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ³²‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. ³³Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵“This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. ³⁷This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ ³⁸This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. ³⁹Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, ⁴⁰saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ⁴¹And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. ⁴²But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

“‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
    during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
⁴³You took up the tent of Moloch
    and the star of your god Rephan,
    the images that you made to worship;
and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

Trumpet Lily-II | Big Bend National Park | May 2023

I guess it shouldn’t surprise me, but it does. When things about Jesus crop up in the Old Testament I’m surprised. Sometimes it’s obvious: A virgin shall conceive… Other times it’s more subtle, like this one, God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. In either case the promise of a Savior reaches far back, even to the foundations of time. God told Satan, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head and you will bruise his heel. This is known as the protoevangelium, the first gospel promise.

Here we have not only the promise that God will raise up a prophet from among his own people, but the example and identification of Moses as the ruler and redeemer. Moses was the great deliverer for the Old Testament people of God. He brought them out of slavery in Egypt. And I have a special place in my heart for those enslaved brick-makers. I worked in a brick factory for the 7 months after graduating from college and prior to entering the seminary. I know a thing or two about making bricks. I know the hard cold facts, or rather the hard HOT facts. A 1500 degree kiln running through the middle of the building was fine in the winter time. But come summer…no thanks! And Egypt would likely be more of a continuous summer. There may not have been a 1500 degree kiln, but it’s certain there wasn’t an airconditioned break room! Brick making is hard work.

And Moses delivered them from that abject life of pain and suffering. This was the great salvation event for the people of God in the Old Testament times. It was their go-to memory and source of encouragement. God had delivered them mightily. He would surely do it again.

But Stephen’s testimony is clear: in spite of God’s deliverance through Moses, the people rejected him and decided they wanted to go back to Egypt.

I guess that shouldn’t surprise me either. We’re living that dream now 3500 years later. We have been delivered from sin, death, and damnation by the curtain-splitting death and earth-shaking resurrection of Jesus. We’ve been saved. But we too want to go back to Egypt. We give in to temptation. We yearn for the forbidden fruit. We are a broken people who need Jesus, but too often we look to other redeemers and rulers.

Yet there is no other. We must not return to Egypt, but rather return to our Lord. For in Jesus alone is found true refreshment, satisfaction, comfort, peace, and joy.
Who Someone Is Really Matters (Re-Post)

September 11, 2023

I had a glitch with this post so I’m reposting it. Nothing new here, just a repost of today’s blog.

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

Acts 7:1, 30-43

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” ²And Stephen said:

“Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. ³¹When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ³²‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. ³³Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵“This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. ³⁷This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ ³⁸This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. ³⁹Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, ⁴⁰saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ⁴¹And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. ⁴²But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

“‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,
    during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
⁴³You took up the tent of Moloch
    and the star of your god Rephan,
    the images that you made to worship;
and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

Walkers Along the Trail with Lens Flare | Big Bend National Park | May 2023

I love caller ID. When I get a phone call from “Unknown,” I gladly let it go to voicemail. If they need to talk with me, they can leave a message. Most often times they don’t. There are, however, some times I’ll answer because I’m expecting a call from someone and that someone might be Richard Richardson or whatever name shows up on the caller ID. It’s just helpful to know who’s calling.

Not too long ago I was having a conversation with a member of a congregation I was serving at the time. There came a theological issue to which I truly needed to speak. The gentleman was claiming that an idea or practice he believed in was the only way properly to be true to our identity. Theologically he was mistaken. I confronted him, “You don’t really believe that.”

“Yes I do,” he replied.

“You don’t mean that. That’s just not true to our theology,” In insisted.

I later learned that his son was a pastor and he was espousing the ideas his son was claiming to be true. Or at least that was this man’s understanding of it. It’s helpful to realize that even though I’m talking (in person or on the phone) with someone I think I know, I may not really know who that person really is.

And who someone really is matters.

Moses needed to know who was talking with him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the burning bush. It was vital because he was to have a major assignment: leading God’s people out of slavery in Egypt. God made it clear. The Lord said, “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.” Gulp. And Moses [understandably] trembled and did not dare to look.

Humans may have good ideas. I may need to speak with someone. I may need even to contradict what they are saying. But if it’s God, I’d better be doing more listening than speaking. And as I listen, I must listen with fear and trembling, faith and love, humility and trust. For God may have an assignment for me. In fact he does. His assignment for all of us is to love him first and most, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. As his children, we are also sent – not to Egypt, but wherever we go – with the message of his grace and truth in Jesus. Let’s listen well, fear, love, and trust him, and obey when he calls.

PS: I’m writing this at Camp Lone Star just outside of LaGrange, Texas. Twenty-two years ago I was here for this same conference when I saw the jets fly into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. It’s a solemn memory that is vivid yet today. Lord have mercy and heal our world from this evil.
Today’s Psalms for September 10, 2023

September 10, 2023

Please pray these psalms with me on this Lord’s Day

Psalm 10:16-18

The Lord is king forever and ever;
    the nations perish from his land.
¹⁷O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
    you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
¹⁸to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
    so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

[Note: This entire psalm puts into context the profound expression of faith that comes at the end. It’s worth the read if you want to appreciate the importance of these truths.]

Psalm 40:4-5

Blessed is the man who makes
    the Lord his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
    to those who go astray after a lie!
⁵You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
    your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
    none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
    yet they are more than can be told.

Psalm 70:1-4

Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
    O Lord, make haste to help me!
²Let them be put to shame and confusion
    who seek my life!
Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor
    who delight in my hurt!
³Let them turn back because of their shame
    who say, “Aha, Aha!”

⁴May all who seek you
    rejoice and be glad in you!
May those who love your salvation
    say evermore, “God is great!”

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
²    Serve the Lord with gladness!
    Come into his presence with singing!

³Know that the Lord, he is God!
    It is he who made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
    and his courts with praise!
    Give thanks to him; bless his name!

⁵For the Lord is good;
    his steadfast love endures forever,
    and his faithfulness to all generations.

Psalm 130

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
²    O Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
    to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

³If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
    O Lord, who could stand?
⁴But with you there is forgiveness,
    that you may be feared.

⁵I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;
⁶my soul waits for the Lord
    more than watchmen for the morning,
    more than watchmen for the morning.

⁷O Israel, hope in the Lord!
    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
    and with him is plentiful redemption.
⁸And he will redeem Israel
    from all his iniquities.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016.
Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Same Old Same Old…

September 8, 2023

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

Acts 7:1, 17-29

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” ²And Stephen said:

¹⁷“But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt ¹⁸until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. ¹⁹He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. ²⁰At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, ²¹and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. ²²And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

²³“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. ²⁴And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. ²⁵He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. ²⁶And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ ²⁷But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

Devil’s Walking Stick-II | BIg Bend National Park | May 2023

“Tell me a story about the olden days,” we would ask our grandmother. She would regale us with tales of a late-night encounter when a car turned into her country house’s long driveway. She took her shotgun, went out on her second-story porch and shot into the air. The car quickly left. She told that story many times, and other ones as well. We loved to listen to her stories.

There was an entertainment factor in our enjoyment. We were miles from town when we visited there, and no cable TV back then beckoned for our attention. But there were also morals we learned. There are bad people in the world. You need to defend yourself without hurting others if possible. These and other lessons were embedded into our hearts as we grew up – even though she never really said, “The moral of that story is…”

As Stephen recounts the story of Joseph and Moses, and the Hebrews in Egypt there was also an entertainment factor. Not mind-numbing distraction, but engagement in the hearer’s hearts and minds. There were also morals to these sagas. God was at work in Joseph, Moses, and even Pharaoh. They were living their lives as best they could. But they likely had little knowledge of the far-reaching impact of their actions. Surely they didn’t think that Stephen or anyone else would be reciting these accounts centuries later.

But here he is. And the stories he is recounting are of eternal consequence. They are part of the grand sweep of the story of God’s redemption. That grand story is rooted in real people, over real time, facing real challenges, and serving to advance a narrative that would climax in the birth, life, teaching, suffering, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Stephen will get to that soon.

This story is all one long woven tapestry stretching from the first moment of creation when God said, “Let there be light,” to the final day when Jesus returns and restores all broken, lost, and fallen things to their full beauty and glory. This story is not only true, or even most certainly true, it is eternally true and of the most profound significance of any story ever told.

Let’s lean in and listen well!
Adoption

September 7, 2023

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

Acts 7:1, 17-29

And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” ²And Stephen said:

¹⁷“But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt ¹⁸until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. ¹⁹He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. ²⁰At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, ²¹and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. ²²And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

²³“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. ²⁴And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. ²⁵He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. ²⁶And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ ²⁷But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

Devil’s Walking Stick-II | BIg Bend National Park | May 2023

One of our grandsons is adopted. It’s a wonderful story in so many ways. He is a delightful child who is full of life and offers challenges to his parents much like his father and uncles did in their younger years. Andrew, however, may have taken some boyish stunts a bit further. He once rode his bike into a parked car because he was riding with his eyes closed! We love Andrew! We don’t really think of him as anything less than 100% part of our family.

Certain controversies surround adoptions these days. Foreign adoptions are not easily accomplished. Concerns about loss of cultural identity, or challenges of governmental regulations clog the process. Some children are left with rescue groups in places when they cannot afford even to feed their children. Adoption seems so loving yet tragic in those cases.

When Moses was adopted it was literally a matter of life or death. Pharaoh had decreed that all the Hebrew boys be left to die upon birth. After he was born his mother cared for him for three months, but could conceal him no longer. She left him in a reed basket in the Nile River. Found by Pharaoh’s daughter, Moses was adopted and raised in her home. This would set the stage for Moses’ education and major impact in the story of God’s redemption of his people in Egypt.

Two things come to mind for me out of this. One, we are all adopted into God’s family unless we are of Jewish ancestry. What a privilege we have along with all the true children of Abraham. It’s an adoption by the grace of God which we enjoy by faith. We enjoy fully the privileges of family membership.

Second, God uses whatever circumstance we find ourselves in to shape us for his purposes. Whether we have a large part to play in the story of God, or only a supposed extra in the drama, we’re all adopted into God’s family and have a place in the family business.