Challenges for Men Groundhog’s day

Numbers 20: 14-21

Edom Refuses Passage

14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met: 15 how our fathers went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time. And the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers. 16 And when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. 17 Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, or drink water from a well. We will go along the King’s Highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.” 18 But Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through, lest I come out with the sword against you.” 19 And the people of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway, and if we drink of your water, I and my livestock, then I will pay for it. Let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.”20 But he said, “You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against them with a large army and with a strong force. 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel turned away from him.

What is going on in this text?  Who is Edom anyway?  As we pick back up in the book of Numbers we find the Israelites still wandering in the desert attempting to make it into the promised land.  The region of Edom was just Southeast of the Dead Sea and Moses was asking them for safe passage as they made their way north out of Egypt, through Edom, across the Jordan River and into modern day Israel.  However, Edom refused them passage and threatened to kill them all if they were to walk through.  Our first response is probably one of disgust because how dare they be so mean to God’s people!  However, if we try to walk in an Edomite’s shoes for a second anyway…Moses’ message was from your brother, Israel…Israel was Jacob’s name given to him by God.  Edom was Esau’s descendents.  The twins who fought like cats and dogs due to Jacob’s taking possession of the blessing of Isaac away from Esau.  Esau hunted down Jacob and years later actually made peace with him.  But Esau’s descendants had no love loss for Jacob’s people.  They totally disregarded their plight in Egypt and didn’t trust them at all.  Of course the Israelites were numerous and probably presented a pretty big force that would seem threatening.  God was not happy with this though and declares destruction on Edom due to this sole event.  He abhorred their pride and their lack of friendship to their own brother.

Obadiah, years later, declares God’s judgment upon Edom,

10 Because of the violence done to your brother Jacob,
shame shall cover you,
and you shall be cut off forever.

Edom also pillaged Judah when Jerusalem was conquered by Babylon and the Judeans carried off.  Edom took their towns, their farms, etc.

One would think that what we should get out of this is never mess with God’s people…that would be a nice application, huh?  However, I just wanted to simply point out…it all started with Esau.

What will you do that will affect your children and grandchildren?  The soul that sins will die but the soul that is righteous will live.

Is this really practical?

Real problems deserve real answers, right?  However, the most practical answers don’t satisfy us…not really. “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried” – G. K. Chesterton

This statement is so profoundly true it is not even funny.  What does it mean?  It means that when someone says that Jesus is the answer to life’s issues…they are being literal and practical.  We don’t want to hear it though…it would be so much easier in life if someone would just give us a top ten ways to be a good husband….or top ten ways to make our children obey…or top ten ways on how to be happy.  If we could just receive practical advice then we could make the changes necessary so we might be able to manipulate those around us into making our lives easier.  We must be warned about our hearts – “they are desperately sick…” Jeremiah says.  We deceive ourselves if we think that there is a formula for finding true happiness.  The most practical advice…is solely this…follow Jesus.  Become like Jesus regardless of what happens in your life or how others around you behave.

Follow first and ask questions later.  Most of us have never really tried Christianity – it is too difficult.  The fanatical Christians should be left to their own cliques and efforts.  However, when we are faced with marital difficulty, physical difficulty, familial difficulty or financial difficulty we want to run to Jesus to get an answer.  He is the answer – he has showed us how to live, what should be important to us, etc.  The major problem in my life has always been my rebellion as I resist the difficult.  It still is the biggest issue in my life…i do not want to do the difficult things that Jesus calls for in my life.  You see, it would take discipline, it would take removing the goal of improving my own life, it would take removing the idea that all will be fine on this earth if I follow, it would take sacrifice and self-abasing that I do not find pleasant.  Losing my life instead of finding it…novel but difficult.  We all clamor for profitable answers, but are we really willing to pay the price for the most practical answers….living like Jesus.

i love to complain about complaining

Numbers 20: ² Now there was no water for the congregation. And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. ³ And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord! ⁴ Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? ⁵ And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” ⁶ Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them, ⁷ and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁸ “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” ⁹ And Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he commanded him.

Moses Strikes the Rock

¹⁰ Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹ And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. ¹² And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” ^{13 z}These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy.

Ok…great passage here…a lot is going on if we understand the history of the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt.  Boy, they complained a lot…of course we probably would be guilty of the same thing.  They walked for miles and miles in a most desolate place without hope of food or water for the long haul.  They traveled with everything they owned and I’m sure grew weary.  The Hebrews also felt like they were just following Moses into the wilderness blindly – that is why they are labeled by God as stiff-necked people and weak in their faith.  God took care of them every step of the way but yet they still found themselves not being satisfied.  This sounds all too familiar to me from two different angles.  First of all, as a person following God, I don’t know how many times I have found myself griping over the silliest of things.  Why is it tough for me to trust God?  Shouldn’t it be tougher to not trust God?  I mean…little kids have it great…no anxiety, no worries, just reliance on their parents is all they need.  How simple would life be if I would just trust God instead of having this insatiable appetite for my own comfort?  Secondly, I can feel for Moses in this story…he isn’t really happy about this whole situation and pretty much has what I would call, a Jonah moment.  Jonah was angry with God because God had compassion on Jonah’s enemies…now obviously the Hebrews were not Moses’ enemies, but he is frustrated with their complaining and seems to have a bit of an attitude with God on this one.  He does what he is told but like a spoiled kid he shouts at the people, calling them names, and smacks the rock 2 times as if to make an issue of their incessant complaining and lack of faith.  God actually calls Moses out for his fit and bans him from leading the people into the promised land.  Wow, harsh.  It makes one wonder if this was a one-time thing with Moses or if he had a habit of complaining himself – not about God necessarily but about everyone else.  God’s action at that rock was definitely an act of grace…despite it all, he gave them water.  Of course, the water probably wasn’t cold enough or something…gotta complain about something.

Steady dedication

The American political leader Adlai Stevenson called patriotism “not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”  Sometimes I wonder if we put too much emphasis in our own lives on the emotion that carries us from one moment to the next.  If we are excited about something then we are dedicated.  As soon as the emotion runs dry we tend to find another horse to ride for awhile.  The dedication we should have in our Christian life should be a steady dedication of a lifetime and not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion.  Some have asked me, “What is wrong with me?  Why don’t I feel God working in me anymore?”  Well…it is possible you are not seeking God but instead seeking for your idea of what God feels like.  To spend our lives searching for just the right feeling in order to base our life commitments on is not only somewhat misled but downright nefarious.  The Lord God created us to search with our mind, our hearts and our strength/will – not that we should ignore emotion but it sure shouldn’t be the basis of faith.  Steady dedication shows true love.  Steady dedication is the mark of one convinced and following.

Challenges for Men

Hey…in case anyone is interested…i send out a newsletter for men periodically.  It is just a look at a particular Scripture and some short comments.

We are working our way through the book of Numbers right now.  My goal is to work through some Bible books that I have never really studied completely through before…I hope it can be an encouragement to you.

It will not be emailed to you daily or anything – we get enough email  - but every once in a while.   If you want to be added to the list – please comment and leave an e-address.

Let’s Go!

Wow we had 38 men show up at our first Men’s Leadership Bible Study!  Now I am excited, but unfortunately there is enough cynicism in me that pushes me to think that there is no way every man will come back week after week.  However, I am praying for exactly that – I know how important the areas are that we are going to be covering concerning faith and family.  Our world has a strange affair with the ideal man…one part of us wants to be sentimental and desires nothing more than to be incredible and sensitive husbands and fathers…while the other side of us refuses to “settle down” or “sell out” our own manliness.  How do we end up being godly men in a world that thinks like this and acts accordingly?  Our wives deserve better from us….our kids deserve our leadership and our Lord especially deserves our commitment.

Come guys!  Next Sunday at 5:15pm for family meal and 6pm for study.

Leadership for Men

We are starting a bible study on Sunday nights called Leadership 101 for men.  I have been pushing this for some time with all sorts of men in our church.  The social landscape is changing drastically in my opinion and it is vital that men start becoming spiritual leaders.  Our children are in danger of never really knowing the bible, our wives are sometimes ignored into depression, our church is becoming a historical relic which is to be admired but not taken seriously.

Men, I plan on challenging all of us as much as I possibly can with what the Scripture calls us to as men following Christ.  You are challenged in the arena of sports, play and work but how seriously do you take your faith?  How seriously do you consider the spiritual leadership is so desperately needed in your home, in our church, in our community?  The study will be split up into 4 modules.   The 4 modules are as follows:  Self-discipline – leaders must learn to follow first; Leading your family; Leading the church and Leading the community.

Young men!!  Men, from age 16-30…it is vital for you to take part.  Life is not going to get easier to live as a Christian, so please, heed this warning and start to get serious about seeking to be a godly man!

Gentlemen, it starts this Sunday at 5:15pm for food for the family and 6pm bible studies and childcare for the whole family.

It is going to be easy to make excuses as to why you shouldn’t come.  The weather, football on tv, “family night”, etc. You have to ask yourself, would any of these things keep you from going to the grocery store if your family was starving?  Would you not go to the emergency room if you or someone in your family was very sick?  All the excuses would go away in these instances…however we allow the opportunity of leading our families spiritually with little concern…this is what I am talking about…it is time to be men who follow God.

Trigger Happy TV

My day off was spent watching a lot of youtube.com…Drew told me about trigger happy tv – hilarious stuff…

you if you haven’t seen it – check it out – here is one of my favorites

Time for some new year predictions

top ten predictions for 2010

10.  Tiger Woods will play golf again but sporting an outift from his new clothesline featured in Kmarts everywhere right next to the Martha Stewart aisle

9.  people will invest a lot of money this year in gold only to find out sometime at the end of the year that scientists announce that gold is just a pretty rock

8.  the indianapolis colts will go to the Super Bowl and then sit their starters

7.  michael jackson will be found alive and well working at a hardee’s in Flint, Michigan

6.  there will be fighting in the Middle East

5.  bake sales and car wash type fundraisers will increase this year – not for schools or churches but for personal mortgages

4.  the top grossing movie of 2010 will be a movie called “the Peanut Gallery” a dramatic and violent look at the real Howdy Doody

3.  95% of Americans who acquire a new cat this year will name their cat, “Frank” for no apparent reason

2.  churches everywhere will start giving away free Wiis for perfect attendance in Sunday School

1.  a train will go through Neoga at least one time