A Time of Darkness, for Egypt - Exodus 1

Exodus 1, A Time of Great Darkness

It had started out so well...

At the end of Genesis, we see that Israel's children escape certain starvation through Joseph, who although sold into Egypt as a slave, according to God's plan had risen to a position of great influence and power, and had wisely saved not only himself and his family, but all of Egypt.

Exodus begins with a recap of who among the children of Israel had made the journey, and tells us that those mentioned, that whole generation, lived the rest of their lives in Egypt and had all passed away, leaving their descendants to thrive and multiply in Egypt. 

I'm sure to those children of Israel who had traveled to Egypt, it seemed that the future of their descendants was secure.  They were in Egypt, fed, and taken care of.  They had been given the entire land of Goshen as their own.  Their family was well acquainted with, and friends to, the family of Pharaoh himself.  When that generation passed away, they probably did so without worry for their children and grandchildren, they were leaving them well taken care of and set for the future.

An adversary rises up, out of fear...

In verse 8-10 we read, "Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.”

The people of Israel had not done anything wrong, they were not acting as enemies of the Egyptians.  Their ancestor Joseph had in fact, saved Egypt from ruin and famine. Yet this new Pharaoh didn't know their ancestor Joseph, he looked around his land and saw a people, larger in number than the native Egyptians.  A people with different customs, different beliefs, a different language.  A people with a different God.  A people who wouldn't have believed, as the Egyptians did, that Pharaoh himself was a god, or in the other gods of Egypt such as the sun god, the god of the Nile, or even the god of fertility, who took the form a frog.

Statue of Heqat, the Frog Goddess,
about 2950 BC, Predynastic Period,
 Late Naqada III Period to early Dynasty 1,
 travertine - Cleveland Museum of Art

Seeing a people so different from his own people, the pharaoh feared, he feared that these people who had never threatened him in any way, would continue to grow and take over his country, and at some point would turn on him and his people.  He was motivated and controlled by one of humankind's strongest emotions... fear.

The preemptive strike...

In the grip of his irrational fear he did what people with irrational fear often do, he struck out at them first, before they had a chance to strike out at him.  He took a preemptive strike. He set taskmasters over the people of Israel "to afflict them". He made life extremely hard for them, put them in bondage, made slaves of them.

While their ancestor Joseph had risen from a position of slavery into a position of power and influence, his descendants now fell rapidly from a position of security and safety into a position of slavery and hardship. It probably seemed to them as if the were spiraling into a abyss of darkness, but it is doubtful that even they knew just how dark it would become.

Total blackout...

As things grew darker for the people of Israel, God continued to bless them. They grew stronger, their numbers grew larger, in fact it seemed to Pharaoh, that the more he afflicted these people, the more they multiplied and grew... and with their growth, the power of Pharaoh's fear grew as well.  This fear prompted him to take a terrible course of action.

This Pharaoh hardened his own heart against all that was decent, and ordered the Egyptian midwives to murder the Hebrew sons at birth. We'll read later about how God hardened the next Pharaoh's heart, but make no mistake, that Pharaoh hardened his own heart first as well. How do we know this? We know this because he continued in the decrees that this one started.  He hardened it to the point of murdering helpless newborn babies. He hardened his own heart against the cries of the babies and the wails of mothers' lamenting their little boys. Later, God would finish the hardening of his heart, but only after Pharaoh had made the choice to reject all that was decent and good, only after Pharaoh had ignored his own conscience until finally, God let it be seared and stopped speaking to Pharaoh through it. The book of Romans speaks of this kind of hardening, of how as man repeatedly suppresses the truth of God and ignores the wisdom freely offered to them, God eventually turns them over to a debased mind, basically telling them that since they choose over and over not to know God, He will allow them to continue not knowing Him, and will seal and finalize the deal of their hard, rebellious hearts.

While this order of the king seemed like a total blackout of hope for God's people, God had a plan in the works to free them.  The real shadow was in the heart of Pharaoh, because he chose not to know God or be thankful toward Him, Pharaoh's foolish heart was darkened to the point of total blackout.  Meanwhile, God's deliverance of his people was at hand.

Point of Action

God speaks to everyone in their conscience, even those who don't actually know Him still hear from Him in general terms of right and wrong.  It is a frightening thing when one continues to ignore this voice. Dear reader, do not harden your heart against God.  He loves you.  If you are already a believer, He will speak to you about what he wants you to do in your walk with Him, heed Him do not harden your heart.  If you do not yet know Him, He is speaking to you that He wants you to welcome Him into your life, He is reaching out to you, calling to you.  All you need to do is respond, ask Jesus to reveal Himself to you, tell Him that He is welcome in your life.  Don't harden your heart like Pharaoh did, because it is short trip from the choice to harden your own heart to the point of total blackout, where you won't hear Him anymore.

Don't harden your heart against the love of Christ, revealed in His word.

Be sure to check back Saturday February 4th for the next post.

Colossians 2-3

Its been so long since I posted. I won't make any promises this time about any new approach or new frequency of posting, rather, I will just share what the Lord showed me today in my time with Him.

Colossians 2:20-3:4 "Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—  “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.
 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory."

The way to walk the Christian walk is not to lay on yourselves rules and regulations, but rather, to so fill your focus with the things of eternity that the temptations of this world pale and fade away from view.

So often Christians get this backward, telling themselves, "I can't have this, I can't touch that, must not look upon that, need to stop thinking about this thing..." And that just doesn't work.  Instead, we need to so shift our whole focus, that thoughts of Christ, of Heaven, of eternity, crowd out thoughts of sinful or selfish desires.  We need to turn our backs on those things, and turn our faces to Christ, to be so consumed by His glory and beauty that these other things are no longer even attractive to us.

So today my prayer is that Christ will be ever before me, present in my thoughts, central in my mind.

Are You Qualified for Ministry?

Then Moses said to the Lord, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."

So the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind?  Have not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say."  Exodus 4:10-12

Have you ever believed that God had called you to do something, but feared that you were just not qualified for that roll? 

Perhaps God has called you to teach Sunday School, but you have no experience as a teacher, and feel that you don't really know how to handle children.

Maybe God has prompted you to lead a Bible Study or a home fellowship, but you feel you are just not designed to be a leader.

It could be that God has asked you share your faith with a friend, neighbor, or even a total stranger, and you don't think you can find the right words, or that you know the Bible well enough to explain it to someone else.

You could be a parent who knows that God has called you to homeschool your child, yet you question whether you are smart enough, have enough patience, or will be able to get by financially while at the same time committing that much time and energy into your kids.


Or possibly, God has even called you to formal ministry, asking you to become a missionary in a foreign country or a pastor, and you question your ability to handle such a roll, don't know if you are academically inclined for the study such a roll calls for, or feel you have some other  roadblock to that ministry.

That is how Moses felt when God spoke to him from the burning bush and told him that he was chosen to deliver the children of Israel from bondage. First he presented God with many questions about how it would work it out, first of all saying, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"  He was in essence asking God, "Are you sure you've got the right man? I'm no one important."  In one sense this attitude was right, he was not looking to himself to try to accomplish this deliverance, perhaps because he had tried that before and it had failed, he knew that he alone could not deliver anyone. (See Exodus 2:11-13 to learn what happened when Moses tried to deliver in his own strength.)  However, although part of his attitude was right here, after God assured him that He would be with Him, Moses continued to question.  He asked what to do if the children of Israel did not believe that God had sent him and what if the Pharaoh didn't believe Him, all of these questions God answered patiently. 

Then Moses pointed to his own inadequacy as a speaker, saying he was slow of speech, as if  God would not already have known every strength and every weakness within the man He created.  So God once again patiently answers Moses, reminding him that it is He, God, who created every person.  It is He who made each one with their inborn strengths and weaknesses, even disabilities.  He was aware of every weakness, and yet had chosen Moses, and promised to be with him and with his mouth to teach him what to say.

Who knows, if Moses had stopped questioning God at this point, and simply obeyed, perhaps God would have healed him of his speech impediment, we will never know, because Moses continued on trying to get out of God's calling.  Asking the Lord, "Oh my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send." (Exodus 4:13)  Moses was saying, "God, I know you are saying that you will be with me, and that you will give me the words, I know that you are promising to bless this endeavor, but still, I'd rather not do it.  Please find someone else, and leave me here to tend my sheep."  God became angry at this point, but still did not revoke His call on Moses, rather He sent Moses a helper, a partner, to speak for him.

So back to you, has God called you to do something?  If He has has, know that you do NOT need to be "qualified".  God has selected you for the task knowing full well that you are not qualified He knows every weakness, every flaw, every disability in your physical, mental, and spiritual makeup.  He is aware of you impatience, or lack of education, or inability to concentrate.  He knows your fear of public speaking and you inexperience at the task at hand.  He even knows all your past sin, the things you've done that you think make you not good enough to serve Him, not only that, He even knows your future sin.  Yet, He is calling you anyway. 

It is He who made you.  He is the one who gave you whatever abilities you do have.  Moreover, He is more than capable of putting within you the abilities that you don't yet have.  If He has called you to something, He will equip you.  He will give you strength, the wisdom, and the skill you need to accomplish what He asks you to do.  He will use you in spite of your weakness, so that you will know that it is not you who is really doing the work, but that it is He working through you.

What you must do is obey.  It is fine to question God enough for clarification, to ask Him what the next step is, but once He tells you that next step, you must be willing to take it.

As I've said, who knows if God planned to heal Moses' speech impediment had he obeyed right away? Moses asked God legitimate questions, and was answered and reassured, He had clear leading, having heard the voice of YHWH Himself, yet He asked God to send someone else.  Perhaps in doing so he missed out on a wonderful blessing of miraculous healing from the hand of God.  God is good, and still blessed Moses and his ministry immensely, still used Moses in a mighty way, but it is possible that Moses missed on personal blessing through his reluctance to trust and serve the Lord.

Don't make the same mistake as Moses.  If you have God's clear leading and clear calling, go ahead and ask God enough questions so that you know what action He wants you to take next, but once you know that, go ahead and act on what He has told you, take that first step in faith, trusting God to take care of whatever difficulties arise.

When All Hope Seems Gone

Today's thoughts are on Exodus 1-2

"So Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "Every son who is born you shall cast into the river..." Exodus 1:22

Imagine the sense of hopelessness you would experience, if you were a pregnant Hebrew woman in Egypt at this time.  Knowing that if God blessed you with a boy, the enemy would try to turn that blessing into a curse, and rip the baby from your arms to cruelly murder him by drowning, even his little body likely becoming food for the crocodiles rather than being mourned in dignified burial.  Would you pray earnestly that God please send you only daughters?  Would you try to escape to another land? 

What if, when your time came to be delivered, and your heart surged with joy at the sound of a healthy baby's cry, you looked and felt your heart sink like a stone as you realized the beautiful, healthy baby was a boy.  Would you at this time perhaps, contemplate suicide?

This is the situation the mother of Moses faced.  Pregnant, knowing that if she had a son she would see him murdered.  She must have hid her pregnancy, because after she gave birth to her son, she continued to hide the newborn for three months.  Imagine those three months, living almost entirely within the walls of your house, terrified.  Every time your baby cries you rush to quiet him as quickly as you can, praying the whole time that God will deafen your enemy's ears.  Wondering what on earth you will do when the child gets too big to hide, knowing that at some point you will have to deal with Pharaoh's command, but looking down into your baby boys sweet face, and telling yourself, "Not today.  Surely I keep him hidden, keep him with me, just one more day." 

Finally, one day, she realized that she could just not keep him hidden any longer.  His little body was growing, his lungs were strong, when he was younger, she could leave him sleeping alone for a time, and go about whatever her work was, making an appearance in public so people wouldn't wonder what had become of her.  Now though, the baby is awake more, is cooing and playing, and cries louder, he is no longer content to sleep large portions of the day.  She realizes that there is no way that she can continue to hide him, but she also knows that there is no way she can bear to see him cast into the river.

So, in desperation, all real hope seeming to be gone, she prayerfully prepares a little basket boat.  She seals it carefully, so that it is watertight.  She carefully lays the baby's favorite blanket in in to wrap around him.  Then she places her beloved son into the basket, which probably looked so much like coffin to her, and closed the lid.  Then she placed her precious child into the very river that he seemed doomed to drown in.  As the basket began to drift away, she probably felt as if her very heart and soul were drifting away, down the river.  She knows that all reasonable hope for her child is gone, if an Egyptian doesn't find him and cast him into the river, a crocodile is bound to turn the basket over,  or eventually it will drift far down the river and her baby will be alone, with no one to care for him and feed him, and will slowly die.   All rational hope is gone, yet this mother dares to hope, she hopes enough to try, to make the little ark.  Perhaps her hope was just the irrational desperation of a mother about to be bereaved, with little real faith involved.  Or perhaps, trusted God enough to know that he would take care of her child.  Either way, it really didn't matter, she had enough hope, enough faith, to act on it and put her child in the basket rather than allowing him to be cast into the river, and that was enough for God to work with.

If you read the rest of the passage, you know that the daughter of Pharaoh himself is the one who finds the baby.  Surely, this is not what the mother expected.  The one family that she least wanted to find her child is the one that does, but God intervenes.  God causes Pharaoh's daughter to fall in love with the little baby in a basket.  And then, she hires the baby's own mother to care for him, whereas before she had to hide and fear her child's death, now she not only does not need to hide or fear, but is in fact being paid wages to just stay home and raise her own child!

So here, the mother of Moses has handed over the very hope of her heart into God's hands, has abandoned what matters most to her into His care, deciding that whatever He chooses is best, even if what He chooses is to take her child from her.  And God, in His infinite wisdom and mercy, places her child back into her arms, this time protected by the very one who sought to kill him before.  In doing so, He was not only answering the prayers of this mother's heart, but was already preparing the answer for the prayers of the whole nation, preparing for the deliverance of His children from bondage, something that would not happen for over 50 years, but which God was already acting on.

What about us?  When the world around us seems to crumble, when the economy fails and we don't see how we will pay our bills?  Are we ready to trust God?  To seek Him and ask Him to show us what He might want us to hand over to Him, trusting that His will is best, even if it is not what we would choose?

A Year Coming to an End

Well, 2010 is coming to an end, and 2011 is starting.  Obviously I have not had the time to update this blog daily, or even weekly.   I read the Bible pretty much every day, although like everyone I have those days when I fail in this area.  I just don't have the time to write a devotion every day.

So my new goal for this blog is to post at least twice a month, devotionals, commentaries, Bible studies, or just my thoughts on spiritual matters. 

For my own quiet time each day I am going to be reading through the Bible in a Year, to make this easier, I am going to be using The Life Principles Daily Bible it is a neat Bible, it is the entire text of the Bible divided into daily readings.  You read the a couple of chapters from the Old Testament, some verses from Psalms and Proverbs, and usually at least a chapter from the New Testament each day.  Within each of those categories, you are going in the order that you find the books in your regular Bible.  For example on January 1st the readings go like this; Genesis 1:1-2:25, Psalm 1:1-6, Proverbs 1:1-7, and Matthew 1:1-25.  Now on January 2nd, you continue where you left of in each of the books above, Genesis 3:1-4:26, Psalm 2:1-6, Proverbs 1:8-9, Matthew 2:1-23.  This continues, and when you finish a book you go on to the next, for example, Genesis is followed by Exodus...  what makes this different from other similar reading plans is that it is all divided up for you, so that you just take the Bible and open to the date, and there is the scripture divided as I've described above.  It simplifies things not to have a reading plan on a separate paper that (for me) always manages to get lost, leaving me wondering how far I'm supposed to read that day.

It is also interspersed with thoughts and teachings from Charles F. Stanley, but while I like him and his teachings, that is really not what drew me to this Bible, what really drew me to it was the simplification of the "read through the Bible in a Year" plan.  :)

So, between now and the end of January, if I keep to my resolution regarding this blog, there will be at least two more entries!  :)

Look to Him, New Start Devotions- Day 3

Today's devotion is on John 3.

In the first three verses of this chapter, we see Nicodemus, a Pharisee, come to Jesus and acknowledge that He is from God.  Nicodemus comes at night, no doubt to avoid the persecution that he would have encountered if the other Pharisees knew he had come to see Jesus.  He has seen the signs and wonders, and has believed, and he wants to learn more, so comes to Jesus, seeking answers.

Jesus tells him that to see God's kingdom, a person must be born again, or as some translations say, "born from above".  To get an idea what Jesus is talking about here, look back at the following passage from chapter 1.

¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: ¹³ who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13, New King James Version)

We can see that it is by believing and receiving Him that we have the right to become His children, born not of blood (or natural descent),  not of flesh, and not because another person wills it, but because of God's will and plan.

Continuing on with chapter 3, we see that Nicodemus, not understanding all of this, asks Jesus how it is possible for a grown man to born again, since obviously he cannot return to the womb, and Jesus tells Nicodemus that one must be born of water and the Spirit.

Now some people believe that Jesus was speaking of baptism when he said, "born of water", however, there are at least two reasons that this interpretation doesn't really make sense.  First, if we look again at John 1:12-13, we see that it is through receiving Him that we become God's children, it says nothing about baptism.  Also, if we look at the very next thing sentence Jesus said to Nicodemus, it is "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."  This would indicate that when Jesus says, "born of water" he is talking about the physical birth, and the water he refers to is the water of the womb.

He tells us that we must not only be born of water (natural birth), but that we must also be born of the spirit, which is done by believing in Him and receiving Him, which means to welcome Him into your life as who He really is, God.  We may not fully understand this, and Jesus talks about this when He says that, "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” I believe that when He says that He is telling Nicodemus that just as one does not understand where the wind came from, we can't fully understand God's work in the New Birth, but we do know that His work is true.  Ecclesiastes 11:5 expresses a similar statement about the work of God. 

       As you do not know what is the way of the wind,
      Or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child,
      So you do not know the works of God who makes everything.
       (Ecclesiastes 11:5, New King James Version)

Nicodemus then questions more, wanting to understand how this can be, how it can happen.  It would seem that he wants to believe, but that he still has doubts, and isn't quite sure yet.

Jesus' response to him is first a gentle rebuke for unbelief, but then He goes on to tell Nicodemus exactly what needs to happen in order for Nicodemus to receive this New Birth.  Jesus did not hold out, demanding perfect, unwavering faith free of all doubts.  Jesus saw that seed of faith and that desire to know more, and Jesus told Nicodemus what was needed.

Jesus talks of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness, and says that He too must be lifted up in the same way, so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life.  To understand this illustration Jesus uses, we must look back into the Old Testament book of Numbers.  

⁴ Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on the way. ⁵ And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” ⁶ So the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died.
⁷ Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
⁸ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” ⁹ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. (Numbers 21:4-9, New King James Version)

Now, a serpent in scripture usually represents sin or evil, so why is Jesus using it here to point to Himself and His work on the cross?  Well, the Bronze serpent in Numbers was a clear picture of the judgment for the the people's sin, and if we look at Colossians 2:13-14, we see that God nailed the judgment of our sin to the cross just as the symbol of the Isrealites judgment was put on that pole.

¹³ And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, ¹⁴ having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14, New King James Version)

 You see, it clearly tells us that the handwriting of requirements, which is the judgment scripture declares on our sin, was wiped out, taken out of the way, nailed to the cross.  In the same way, the bronze serpent, the symbol of the judgment of their sin, had been put on the pole and lifted up.

The Bible also says in 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." Jesus was made sin for us, and was nailed to the cross that we might become righteous in God's sight!  So, in looking at the serpent which Moses lifted up, we see a clear picture, not only of the judgment of our sin, but, since a serpent represents sin, it is a picture even of the sin itself being nailed to the cross.

Another thing to notice is this, and it relates back to Nicodemus' apparent doubt mixed with the seed of faith.  When the Israelites were judged with these serpents, and a person was bitten, they were not told that they had to do  anything other than look to the serpent on the pole to be saved.  They did not need to crawl over to it in their own strength, they did not need to beg, they did not need to bargain.  It was not even required that they have unwavering faith that looking at the bronze serpent would save them.  They simply had to have enough faith to do what they were told to do.  They were healed even if what they were thinking was,  "Well, I am not sure that this is really going to work, but Moses says that if I look at that thing I'll be saved from death, so I guess I should at least give it a try."  Even if they had doubts, if they had enough faith to just do what they were told and hope for the best, they were saved.

It is the same with Jesus.  He took our sin and the judgment for it and nailed it all on the cross with Him, and to be saved we simply have to do what He says, which is to look to Him for salvation, to receive Him.  We may have doubts in our minds at times, but if we have even enough faith to just come to Him and ask, He will save us.  If we will look to Him in spite of our doubts, that is enough faith to save us.

We may think that because we have a little doubt, that means we don't have faith, but in God's eyes, if we have enough faith to just look to Jesus even though we aren't sure, we have saving faith.  It is in the act of looking to Him and receiving Him, even though we doubt and don't understand, it is in that act that we are saved, and it is in that act that our faith will be strengthened.  If you are reading this and you want to come to Jesus, but like Nicodemus you are hesitating because of some doubt, I would urge you to put you faith in Jesus despite your doubt, look to Him and ask Him to save you.  He will not disappoint you.

Perhaps the best known verse in this chapter is "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  (John 3:16).  I believe though, that much value can be found in the context of this verse.  Verses 15-18 taken altogether make it clear that all who believe in Him and look to Him to save them will be saved, but those who do not believe and therefore refuse to look to Him for salvation are condemned.  Why would anyone choose not to look to Him?  Verses 19-21 make it very clear, it is because they do not want their sin exposed.  They do not want to come into the light, so they stubbornly refuse to look to Jesus and they die in their sin.

The rest of the chapter goes on to confirm all that Jesus said, as John the baptist points his own followers to Jesus, essentially telling them to look to Him.  Then John also reiterates the main point of the passage as He says, " He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36)

Lord, I thank you for taking the judgment for my sin upon yourself and nailing it to the cross, wiping out my debt.  Lord, I pray for those who might read this, for those who already have looked to you for their salvation, I pray Lord that you will use this to increase their thankfulness to You for their salvation.  For those who have yet to look to You Lord, I pray that they will realize their need.  That they will see that sin has left them with a debt that they cannot pay, but which you have paid for them, and all they need to do is look to You and receive the salvation you offer.  Lord I pray that you would help them to have enough faith to take action in spite of their doubts, to look to You even though they are unsure, and ask You to save them.  In your precious name Jesus, Amen.

Our Need

Today's devotional is on John 2.

In this chapter we see Jesus' first miracle, and really the beginning of His public ministry.  It begins at a wedding, a happy event which is threatened by the lack of preparation on the part of those who planned it.  They are out of wine, which symbolizes joy in the scriptures.

Jesus meets the need at hand by providing wine from the water jars, which were part a ritual of purification practiced by the pharisees. It is interesting to note that these water jars were handy, but the wine, which was a huge part of a wedding celebration, was not.  These water jars were used for tradition of hand washing which was followed  by the pharisees, but which, according to Jesus, was a tradition of men, and not a commandment of God.  We can see Jesus' opinion of this tradition in another Gospel account:

³ For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. ⁴ When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.
⁵ Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?”
⁶ He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:


      ‘ This people honors Me with their lips,
      But their heart is far from Me.
       ⁷ And in vain they worship Me,
      Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
 ⁸ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.”
⁹ He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. (Mark 7:3-9, New King James Version)

Despite this, Jesus takes the preparation for this legalistic tradition of men, and uses it to bring forth what is needed at the moment, wine, the symbol of joy.  Jesus often takes our efforts, even when they are misguided or done with wrong motives, and uses them to accomplish His will and glorify Himself.

Later in the chapter we see Jesus in Jerusalem for the passover.  While there He drives out the money changers and merchants from the temple, and when confronted and asked to show what authority He has to do these things, He predicts His own death and resurrection, but no one understands what He means at that time. Later, after His predictions are fulfilled, the disciples remember and understand.

There is much to be gleaned from this chapter, and a verse by verse analysis of it could get quite meaty, but for me what stood out most to me was the last three verses.

²³ Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. ²⁴ But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, ²⁵ and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. (John 2:23-25, New King James Version)

It is implied in these verses that Jesus must have done many more signs than what is specifically told about in the chapter, because many believed in His name after seeing those signs.  Here the scripture says a curious thing, it says, "He did not commit Himself to them..."  this made me want to look further into it.  Because Jesus is not uncommitted.  He came here to earth committed to the task of saving our souls.  He was committed to that cause to the point of death. Yet the passage says He did commit Himself to them.   I was fairly certain byt he context what it meant, but I wanted to verify for myself that I was correct, so I looked up the word in my Strong's Concordance.  Here I found that the word used means "to entrust with your well being", it went on to say as an example, the way that Christians should commit their lives to Jesus, which implies a total entrusting of oneself.

So the passage does not imply any lack of commitment or wavering on the part of Jesus, rather it is a sad commentary on the condition of the human heart.  These people were the ones who saw His miracles and signs, and who believed in Him, and Jesus knew their belief, but also knew the condition of their hearts and because of that He knew He could not trust them or put any confidence in them.

The problem is that although they believed, they had not yet been transformed.  Their belief was a mental assent to the truth of what they had seen with their own eyes.  This is why, a short time later many of these same people would be shouting, "Crucify him!!!" It was basically the same problem experienced by Peter, who believed and followed, yet when it really counted, denied Jesus.

The problem is that our hearts, without the transforming, cleansing work of the Holy Spirit, are desperately wicked and deceitful, capable of the heinous sin and betrayal, and not worthy of one ounce of trust. (see Jeremiah 17:9).

What we need is the transforming power of His Holy spirit.  This begins with our need to be made new, to be reborn (which is an issue that is addressed in the next chapter of John), however, even after this rebirth we still carry with us the old sinful nature, which scripture calls our "old man" (see Romans 6:6, Ephesians 4:22, and Colossians 3:9).  Because of this "old man" our hearts hearts are still not trustworthy on their own.  We must continually ask Him to search our hearts and show us anything that needs to be confessed and cleansed away.

We need to be continuously renewed and continuously influenced by His Holy Spirit.  Once we undergo the initial transformation of rebirth we are still being continuously transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2), which is both a supernatural act of God and an act of our free will, an act which we do by presenting ourselves to Him, for Him to do with what He pleases (Romans 12:1). 

Once we are reborn, once we have that new nature in Christ, we are still continuously transformed from glory to glory, and how is that transformation accomplished?  It is by gazing with an unveiled face at the glory of the Lord through worship, prayer, and reading His word.

¹⁵ But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. ¹⁶ Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ¹⁸ But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:15-18, New King James Version)

We may not see Him in His full glory yet, rather we gaze at him as if in a mirror, but the more we gaze upon what we can take in of His glory, the more we are transformed and the more of His glory we will be able to see, and the more of His glory we see, the greater will be our transformation.  And one day, we will be freed from this sinful flesh and be fully transformed, able to enter into His presence and see Him face to face. (1 Corinthians 15:50-52, 1 Corinthians 13:12, Revelation 22:3-5)

Lord, I pray that you will search my heart, show me anything within me that I need to confess, that I need to give over to you and let you cleanse away.  Transform me Lord, draw me into Your presence, that I may gaze upon Your glory, for I know that no person can gaze upon Your glory and remain unchanged.  Transform my heart more and more into Your image.  I give myself to You, a living sacrifice, do with me what You will.