Fearing God and Finding mercy

Although I was impressed at the number of complaints uttered by God’s people recorded in Numbers -about not having water, food, meat, not being sure if they were going to make it, being bored at the manna God provided, etc- the opening chapters in Deuteronomy showed me very clearly the danger of forgetting God in the middle of prosperity. One of the passages that cuts me down to size is this:

11 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. 17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 8:11-20)

This passage says clearly how forgetting God may happen: by not acknowledging our place before Him. Fearing God does not mean to live terrified at every corner that He may send a thunderbolt to punísh our every misdeed. Fearing God means to realize in our hearts that all our hope is found in God’s mercy and nothing else. This was what God’s people acknowledged when they saw the fire and heard His voice in Mount Sinai at the giving of the law:

24 And you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live. 25 Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die. 26 For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived? 27 Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say and speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’ (Deuteronomy 6:24-27)

The fact they were still standing on their feet was because God wished it to be so. Otherwise they would be dead. They acknowledged this and God commended their mind by speaking to Moses:

…And the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. 29 Oh that they had such a mind as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever! (Deuteronomy 6:28b-29)

And we are no different than Israel. We don't know any better. Indeed, we are like Israel at every point of our earthly lives even as we walk with Christ. We complain because we desire to rule our little worlds. We want our way rather than God’s way.

But God speaks in the middle of our foolishness, reminding us His great deeds, revealing His character and issuing warnings to steer us back on track in our every breath. Debtors to mercy we are.

---
A debtor to mercy alone
Of covenant mercy I sing
I come with Your righteousness on
My humble offering to bring
The judgments of Your holy law
With me can have nothing to do
My Savior’s obedience and blood
Hide all my transgressions
From view

The work which Your goodness began
The arm of Your strength will complete
Your promise is yes and amen
And never was forfeited yet
The future or things that are now
No power below or above
Can make You Your purpose forego
Or sever my soul from Your love

My name from the palms of Your hands
Eternity will not erase
Impressed on Your heart it remains
In marks of indelible grace
Yes I, to the end will endure
Until I bow down at Your throne
Forever and always secure
Forever and always secure
Forever and always secure
A debtor to mercy alone

1998 (c) Sovereign Grace Music.

P.D. You can find the song here.

God still gives more grace!

Last Saturday at youth group we ended our series on James. And I had the privilege to close it. After reading the book alltogether two verses each around the circle of chairs we made, I stood up front, shared a few verses and then invited volunteers to share what they believe God did in their lives throughout the series. Every one participated. Praise God!

No other verse was more appropiate for opening up than this:

If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.(1 Cor 8:23)

In other words, if the knowledge I've received does not move me to love God more and to love my neighbor as a fruit and expression of loving my Maker, then I don't know yet as I should now. In fact, I may "know" my bible from cover to cover yet keep a heart impenetrable to God's truth.

And I think most of us got the point. Praise God!

For instance, it was encouraging that none of us praised a particular speaker or a given teaching. It was refreshing also to realize that most of us did not give advice on how others ought to be applying a particular truth but rather confessed our weaknesses and how particular passages shed light into our reality or struggle. Some of the leasons we got from the book related to having joy amidst pain, realizing the deadliness of the tongue, seeing the difference between heavenly and earthly wisdom, acknowledging prayerlessness, confessing sinful complaining, etc.

Several verses and thoughts were shared that night. I can not say my favorite verse is the following but I can surely acknowledge that it still affects me today:

But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6)

To this magnificient observation about God and his character, what am I to do?

Just fall on my knees and worship Him alone.

"Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth." -- Jesus praying to his Father for us (John 17:17).

Enlarge my heart to love Thy mercy!

Something that has always intrigued me while reading what we've come to know as the parable of the Good Samaritan is Jesus' choice of characters. Why would he pick a priest and a Levite at the opening of the story? Answer: to show us the ugly face of merciless religion.

Jesus begins the parable saying that robbers had beaten a man "...leaving him half dead"(Lk 10:30). Next, he introduces us the priest and the Levite and his reaction toward the so-badly-wounded man.

31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

At this point, the audience is surely puzzled. This is strange behavior. Isn't it?

Perhaps not so with the most educated ones. Surely they had a way to explain this strange behavior. More than that. To justify it.

"Of course they had to pass him by! Haven't you read in Numbers what happens to the person who touches a dead person?"

11 Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. 12 He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. 13 Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him.

"See what is at stake? The risk of being cut off from Israel! See all the hassle he'll have to endure? He is to cleanse himself! Guess how long that takes? Seven days, man. Seven days! Guess how many times is he to do that? Twice. Guess what happens if he misses that? He is still unclean! Nope. This is a serious matter. No way. He needs to get away from the dead man. If I were him, I'd do the same...Ah, one more thing. I'm a priest and a Levite like these guys. I'm totally justified in my doing. You know why? Look. Remember what we put in the water for purification? Ashes of a heifer. Guess in whose sight is the animal to be burned? Me. You know what the Law says I am to do next? That I must wash my clothes and bathe and that I shall be unclean until that evening. Extra time unclean! Nope. Thanks. All the more a reason to run away from this dead man."

"5 And the heifer shall be burned in his sight. Its skin, its flesh, and its blood, with its dung, shall be burned. 6 And the priest shall take cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn, and throw them into the fire burning the heifer. 7 Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. But the priest shall be unclean until evening. 8 The one who burns the heifer shall wash his clothes in water and bathe his body in water and shall be unclean until evening. 9 And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and deposit them outside the camp in a clean place. And [the ashes] shall be kept for the water for impurity for the congregation of the people of Israel; it is a sin offering. 10 And the one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. And this shall be a perpetual statute for the people of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them.

But something is missing in the excuse this priest/Levite gives to himself: The man who is lying in the middle of the road is not dead.

"Yeah, that's true. Sure, I could have taken him with me. But what if he died on the way to the inn? I'll be unclean! No way. Moreover, I've got business to take care, man. Sorry. I can't go for that."

Excuses come and go and stay the same. They're just that: excuses.

How often that's ME! I still remember the day I left behind a man on a street begging for help. And the lady who mumbled a word as she stretched her arm looking me on the eye. And countless young boys who sell candy and chocolate bars on the combis. And the ocassional former drug addict who sells products to keep their NGO running. Some of my excuses? I'm in a rush. I'll help the next one. I've already done it. All what they ask is money. If I had food in my hands, I'd give it to them instead. Or what if they are just pretenders? Or what if they are lying? Or what if there is a mafia behind them? Or what if...

The mind really gets creative in times like those. Fear takes over compassion and mercy...

Yet most of the times, I leave the scene burdened, wishing to do more and seeing myself so little, so inadequate, so in need of help not to waste my life in trivial pursuits...

Would you enlarge my heart, O Lord?

33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii [3] and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

P.D. Why would Jesus end it this way? Answer: That I may show others the mercy He is shown me. And no other place like Calvary for me to learn to grasp its depths...

Feasting on Leviticus

God spoke to me. Yes, He still does it!

I’ve just finished reading Leviticus and although my heart doesn’t seem to enjoy it as much as other parts of the Bible, I got something from it. Just a few days ago, I was reading chapter 23 and some things stood out:

“26 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 27 “Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement…”

That passage reminded me of a talk I had with a Jewish guy who used to work at my former workplace. He was so passionately talking about the Day of Atonement. He even bought the Chronicles of Narnia in Spanish (he even told me he thought Aslan was a type of Moses until the last book where he got disappointed it wasn’t like that!). But he couldn’t see his need for a Hope that was calling through an unworthy servant. He’d rather keep the feast and keep partying and parking his SUV in a forbidden place. Sad but true.

But the passage that really landed on my heart was this:

“33 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 34 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths [4] to the Lord.[…] 39 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. 40 And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. 41 You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

“Celebrate my feast.” I got it.

“Take branches of palm trees (Jesus coming into town!) and rejoice before God.” Sure, Jesus is coming to visit me! Will I miss my visitation?

“Celebrate my feast. Celebrate my feast. Dwell in booths.” Sure, but why?

“43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God”

That made it.

As I paused a minute in my soul, I thought of the trials I’ve been enduring lately and lamented on how prone my soul was to flee from Jesus rather than run to him. I heard God clearly: “Remember me. I brought you out of darkness into light, from slavery to freedom: I am the Lord your God”. He didn't utter those words as though He were needy but rather because He knew I was in need of Him.

Unlike Israel, I don’t live in a booth. I got food, people who care for me, clothes, a bed where to lie at night, and so many things. Israel's harsh wilderness was not like my present wilderness.

But there is a sense in which I am like them when I despise God’s manna… So, am I grateful? Or am I complaining about my current situation and secretly wishing I was in Egypt “enjoying” the deceitful, empty and overhyped promises of sin? Would I pray or complain?

Yes, Lord. I need you to remind me that I remember you. Where else will my soul find rest? Where else can I experience joy everlasting? Forgive my poor little heart that longs to see you without glasses.