YOU LET THE WOMEN LIVE?

“Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the community leaders went to meet them outside the camp. But Moses was angry with the army officers, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds coming in from the battlefield. Moses asked them, ‘You let the women live?’”
Numbers 31:13-15

I was reading over this portion of scripture last night as I was preparing to film another one of my Torah portion videos, and something began to burn inside of me. I have read this passage before, so it wasn’t like this was my first time in reading it, but there was a different feeling this time. I noticed as I then began my small budget filming, which is no more than me talking into a cheap video camera, that I was getting mad on the inside. I was beginning to have a revelation right as I was speaking. I was beginning to feel a holy hatred suddenly.
Perhaps a little background is needed here. In the few chapters prior to this verse we read of the account of Phinehas (Num 25). It was he who took a spear and drove it into the stomach of an Israeli man and Midianite woman, thus breaking the curse that God was pouring out. God then honored him because he had zeal enough to stop the interbreeding of God’s people with those God never intended for His people to mix with. Why? Because the Midianites represented sin. Their ways were not the ways of the one true God.
It is in Numbers 31 that God said to Moses that the army of Israel was to take vengeance on this people. With this direction, Moses sent the army out and they killed the kings of Midian. However, just as King Saul did in his time with the Amalakites by reserving life for the ones he chose despite what God had ordered (I Sam 15), so the people of Israel did here. When Moses went to meet up with the army, he found the women and children spared. The command of God was to kill all, not to spare. This disobedience angered Moses and he questioned, “You let the women live? Why, these are the ones who – because of Balaam’s advice – caused the people of Israel to rebel, breaking faith with God in the Peor incident, so that the plague broke out among God’s community.”
The account continues, but I must stop because I feel so strongly the point that is being made in this account. It is the same holy vengeance that rises in me when I read of Saul in I Samuel 15. God expects to be obeyed. He doesn’t counsel us just because, but because there is purpose. He directs us so that sin is kept from our camp. But in letting these women and children survive, Israel was giving themselves the chance to be swayed again. These people, these Midian’s, did not worship God. They worshiped foreign gods, and they swayed the men of before in disrespecting God along with them and serving idols.
This anger rises in me as I read this account because I know of too many who have done the same. God has commanded they split from this evil, yet they stay connected, they keep a portion back, and they leave the door open. But I cannot help but wonder if this anger rises in me because I see it in myself. Am I too holding back a portion that God has repeatedly told me to get rid of? Am I, in essence, letting the women live when God has commanded to kill everything? Brothers and sisters, we have to kill the women. And no I am not speaking of our physical woman, but of our sin. She, sin, must die as God has commanded. Let us then be obedient to kill what God tells us to kill, to close the door that God commands us to close. If we fail, we leave ourselves open only to another plague.

GOD'S GOT YOUR BACK

“The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Exodus 14:14

A few days back I was chatting on two different occasions with friends on Facebook. In one instance as I was reading the words typed, I began to feel as though God was saying to her that He was going to work things out concerning her employment. In the other instance, as we were going back and forth, I literally had the pages of my Bible blow and land on I John 5:18. This would not have been so strange except for the fact that there was no wind blowing in the stagnant office. But what was it about this verse God was speaking? Perhaps the part that reads, “…the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him.”
I honestly began to think to myself, as I later shared with my wife, that maybe God was not only using me to encourage these ladies in their trials, but perhaps He was also working to encourage me in mine. As I am sure you have felt at times also, life is hard. Truth be told, the enemy is constantly working to pound us down. Remember that game Whack-A-Mole? There are days when I literally feel like I am the mole that the enemy continues to hit and keep down. But despite what the enemy does, there is one key we must remember. That key is that the Lord fights for us.
We see this truth in I John 5:18, where we are told we are kept safe and the enemy cannot harm us. We see this truth in Romans 8:31, where we read that if God is for us, who can be against us. And we see this truth in Exodus 14:14, where when standing on the banks of the Red Sea, with Egypt ready to pounce, God delivers the Israelites. “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” But what I love about this Exodus scripture is that it defines me. Why did God tell them to be still? He told them to be still because like me, they were running around in fret of what they were going to do. They could do nothing. They could not escape. And they could not redeem themselves. So because of this God told them to be still and watch His hand fight for them.
I am a numbers guy, and outside of history, math was my next best subject in school. Maybe it is for this reason that I find the next bit so exciting. It is true that when the Bible was written it was not divided with chapters and verses, yet still I think that we find the Holy Spirit at play in how we read the Bible now days with these divisions in place. That said, this promise that God would fight comes in Exodus 14:14. So then, what does the number “14” mean? To write fourteen in the Hebrew one uses the letters yod and daleth (יד), which together signify a hand on the door, or better yet, the opening of a prison door and the allowance of deliverance. It is in this verse that God states He will fight for the Israelites, and it is in the number fourteen that we find the meaning of deliverance and release. Coincidence?
Now with the number fourteen defined, let us look at a few other key “14’s” in the Bible. Numbers 14:14 shares, “And [the Egyptians] will tell the inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, O LORD, are with these people and that you, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that your cloud stays over them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.” To me this shows not only God’s releasing Israel from their prison, but the power of God’s hand when on the door. Proverbs 14:14 reads, “The faithless will be fully repaid for their ways, and the good man rewarded for his.” Is it not safe to say that in this verse we again see the hand on the door, opening to God’s outpouring of blessing and deliverance?
Granted this is not true of each “14”, we can still see this definition of deliverance and release in other passages. It is in Judges 6:14 that God says to Gideon, “’Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midan’s hand. Am I not sending you?’” God again was fighting for Israel and sending His servant Gideon to open the door of imprisonment. Or how about in Daniel 6:14 where we see the king so distraught that until nightfall he was determined to rescue Daniel from the prison of the lion’s den. We may even want to recall I Samuel 13:14, where we read that King Saul had acted foolishly and already the LORD was looking for one who would open the door of imprisonment by having a heart to follow God’s command.
So what am I trying to point out here; what am I trying to make us aware of in all these verses and numerology? The answer is one thing. I am wanting us to understand that on those Whack-A-Mole days, when it seems like all we know is the prison of our situation, god has His hand on the door, opening it to our deliverance and release. There really is nothing we can do, just as there was nothing Israel could do when standing on the banks of the Red Sea. But what we must remember to do is be still and trust that God has our back and will fight for us.

FREEEEEE-DOM!

“What the Messiah has freed us for is freedom! Therefore, stand firm, and don’t let yourselves be tied up again to a yoke of slavery.”
Galatians 5:1

In the year 1995, one movie alone took Scotland and the rest of the world by storm. That movie was Braveheart. In the retelling of the life and events of William Wallace, writer Randall Wallace sought to honor the praised Scottish hero of times past. It is at the end of the movie that now caught and being tortured, William Wallace yells out, “FREEEEEE-DOM,” as the cloth of his cherished fair-maiden floats gently to the ground. However, in reading the true events of Wallace’s life, Wallace suffered a different death. It is believed that the defeat of the Scottish army at Falkirk was also the defeat of William Wallace’s glory in the eyes of the nation. For the next quarter of Wallace’s life, he would continue to fight for freedom, but never be given the authority he had once possessed prior to this defeat. The worth of Wallace as a warrior for Scotland may have been lost, but the greater loss was the worth of Wallace in his own eyes. With little to live for, Wallace simply gave up on himself, or so it would seem. Long before he declared his final words he had already returned to slavery.
As I was driving into work yesterday this same concept struck me as I was meditating on the scripture only to be confirmed later on in the day when listening to a podcast by Perry Stone. The sad revelation is that so many people get freed only to return to slavery. Jesus speaks of this in John 8:30-38. It is here that Jesus tells us the return to sin is the return to slavery. Furthermore, “So if the Son frees you, you will really be free” (Jn 8:36). If we are really free then why do we return? With this thought then, I want to direct our attention today to words penned by Paul in Galatians 5:1 where he writes, “What the Messiah has freed us for is freedom! Therefore, stand firm, and don’t let yourselves be tied up again to a yoke of slavery.”
May I suggest that one of the main reasons we find ourselves returning to slavery has to do with our stance. Paul warns us that the way to stay free is by standing firm. This term of standing firm or standing fast in the Greek is STEKO, meaning to stand in persistence and keep one’s footing. This is the same term used by Paul in I Corinthians 16:13 where we are told, “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.” I am reminded of the product Stucco and the firm grasp it holds against the conditions of nature. This binding agent is applied wet but hardens to a very dense solid. In many ways we too are to be on guard, persistent toward the forces of the enemy like Stucco to the forces of nature, courageous, and strong. The question is, are we? Are we persistent against the enemy and his desire to bring us back into slavery, or is our footing found in our standing in mush?
Once we have experienced the freedom that can only be given by the LORD, we are to not allow ourselves to be wrapped up again in the slavery that once bound us. This in essence was the true downfall of William Wallace. Despite his victories in battle, the one loss at Falkirk pushed him to see himself again as a defeated Scotsman. His footing moved from solid and persistent to standing in mush, opening the doors of slavery. When he did pass away, and if he did indeed cry out, “FREEEEEE-DOM,” as portrayed in the movie, was his victory chat only because he would no longer be slave of his own demise? I cannot answer this, but I can take note that for myself I want to declare freedom now from the sin that has for so long enslaved me. Furthermore, I want my footing to be solid as opposed to wavering and allowing a return of slavery and bondage. The Messiah’s sacrifice has freed me, once and for all, but unless I stand firm I am subject to return. I do not want this for myself, nor do I want this for you.

BANKING ON IT
“Isaac prayed to God on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. God heeded his prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant.”
Genesis 25:21

Being married now, I find myself being asked a new series of questions. People ask about our home and if we are finished with mixing our décor styles. Please ask if we are going to be getting a minivan to tote the whole family in one car (which we just got this last weekend). People ask how we are adjusting as individuals and as a family unit to all the changes. But occasionally people ask if we are planning to have any more children. It is for these people today that I write this devotional.
Are we going to be having any more children? I cannot answer that fully, and here is why. While the desire is there, the ability is not. Back in 2005, following the birth of my daughter, my wife at that time and I decided to have no more children and I had the ‘man surgery’ done. But I cannot say that that may have been the wisest decision. I knew even back then that I wanted another child and I began to regret my decision within hours of the procedure. Now, married again with a total of four little ones running around in the house, I feel a fullness as well as an emptiness. While the quiver may be full, the desire to add another youngster to the home still weighs on me.
In my alone morning moments with God this past Monday, I was reminded of a verse talking about prayer for a barren woman. I am sure you know the verse. It is Genesis 25:21. “Isaac prayed to God on behalf of his wife, because she was childless. God heeded his prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant.” For Isaac and Rebekah, I feel the feelings may have been the same. He had a fullness in that he had a wife, but he lacked the pitter-patter of little feet. The difference in their story, though, was that she was barren as opposed to him having had a procedure done. Shortly after their wedding they found themselves in a position where children were not coming. So what was the action taken? Isaac prayed.
Isaac had seen the faith of his father, Abraham. He had seen God work His miracles as he himself had been a miracle. So in learning that they would be unable to have children, Isaac prayed to God on behalf of his wife and asked that her womb be opened. God heeded his prayer. Soon after Rebekah became pregnant and gave birth to not one child, but two. But I want you to notice something in this fact. The enemy was at work. Abraham had been promised that he would be the father of many. Abraham had in all eight sons. But only one of those sons was the true promised son. But now the true promised son from whom the promise would continue was faced with the fact that his wife was barren. Right there the promise could have ended, the devil could have won, and God could have been named a liar. But, Isaac prayed.
This speaks to me because it gives me hope. Just because I have gone under the knife does not mean that God cannot work a miracle. I have talked with people who have had body parts pop out of nowhere, have had ears and eyes open, and have been healed of deadly diseases. If God can do all that, can He not mend back together my man parts to function and produce another child? I will answer for you…YES! So I stand in faith that it will happen. And this is just one area. I stand in faith that the promises in the Bible will happen to me. I am reminded of Deuteronomy 28 where God speaks via Moses that the people are blessed coming and going, are the head and not the tail, and are the lender not the borrower. It may be hard to see this knowing I have a student loan I am still paying and truly am the borrower, but again I stand in faith that what God has said will come about. Nothing is too hard for God, and this ‘thing’ of having a baby is ‘nothing’ difficult in His eyes. So, will I have another child? All I can say is we will see…but I am banking on it.

DECISIONS
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Over this past weekend I was helping my wife unpack some boxes from our moving and stumbled upon one of my first journals following my divorce. As I flipped through the pages, I found one of my early entries talking about the decisions I was making at that time. This trip down memory lane got me to thinking over the past twenty-four hours, and I would like to share a few thoughts with you if you have a minute or two. Before I jump into my enlightenment, however, I think it is best that we define the word ‘decision’. According to Webster, decision is defined as the act of deciding; a conclusive judgment, determination, or firmness; or the power of making up one’s mind easily and moving into action.
Some decisions are easy to make, like what clothes to wear, or what to prepare for dinner. Others are not as easy to make, though, such as choosing a mate or deciding on which college to attend. Still other decisions are thrust upon us, like the final needs of a passing relative. And some decisions we have power over, like deciding how many children we will have and when to begin the family. We make decisions daily, such as whether to exercise or not, what to watch on the television, whether or not to answer the phone when it rings, and giving 100% to our job today instead of the 50% we normally give when the boss is not looking.
But what about our decisions when it comes to living for Christ? Looking in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, we read of a warning we should keep fresh in our minds concerning our decision making process. This passage reads, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” It is here we are told first to fear God and keep His commandments. This word ‘commandments’ is the Hebrew word MITZVAH, meaning laws. In Exodus 24:12 we see the relationship of this word to the stone tablets and Ten Commandments. And it is these commandments that again we are being told by God to keep fresh in our mind. Why? Because this is the whole duty of man. In keeping His mitzvah we have our purpose while in refusing to follow His commands we have our ruin. An example of this is Adam and Eve. The command to Adam and Eve was to not eat of a certain tree, for death would happen if they did. Yet, while we can argue they were deceived, the fact is they ate. The blessing of the Garden was gone and death was found. True, they did not die immediately, but they suffered a death far worse…the knowing of what was, and the knowing they could not have it back. Their decision to not obey the command ended in death.
Yet as we continue in this text, however, we read that every deed, good or bad, will be known. Basically what this means is that every decision we make will be exposed. Each one of our MA’ASEH, our deeds, pursuits, undertakings, and achievements, will be made known. Every one of our ‘ALAM, concealed actions or secrets, will be presented for viewing. There is no decision, good or bad, that can be hidden from the judgment of God. This concept reminds me of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, who thought no one would know when they changed their minds on the price they would give the apostles. When the home sold and the money was in hand, they pocketed a little and thus found physical death for their decisions. What they thought they could hide was brought to light by the Spirit of God. There is nothing we can hide from God and I know this well. Back in 2000, I was convinced that I could hide my pornography addiction from my then wife and friends. This thought pattern went on for months and I remember saying boldly to God, “I’m too good to get caught.” Within the next twenty-four hours my world came crashing down as God exposed me. I had been able to hide it from those close to me, but could not hide it from God.
Daily I make decisions, be it good or bad, that I will one day answer for. But then why is it that so many of my decisions are made so hap-hazard? I am not talking about what shirt I choose, but rather what I choose to do when no one is around. In college I heard that the definition of ‘integrity’ is what you do when no one is looking. Who am I when it is just me? What decisions do I make when it is just me? What determinations do I allow myself to choose when I think no one else will be affected by my actions? Does my integrity prove that I fear God? And I am not referring to a fear as if God is going to strike me down with a stick, but a fear as in reverence. We are told in John 10:27 that His sheep know His voice and listen. So, do we?
I can only answer that question for myself. If I was to be honest with you, my answer is that some days my decisions bless Him and in reverence I obey Him. As such, my actions, determinations, and decisions are all based on what God requires. However, there are other days where the decisions I make reflect an answer that is ‘me’ centered, and what will accomplish ‘my’ will. This challenge of right decision making is for all of us, though. Will we consider our decisions? The man who allows himself even a single stray, a single bite of the fruit, or a single lie, wakes up later only to find that Eden is no longer where he walks. It is because of this death sentence that our decisions can bring us to that we should all make our decisions wisely, and in the fear of the Lord.

DON'T MESS IT UP
"Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; so she said to Abram, 'The LORD has kept me from having children. Go sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her.' Abram agreed to what Sarai said."
Genesis 16:1-2

Sometimes when I write these devotionals I am triggered by a word or phrase I hear in a song or read in a book. At other times I am inspired by a memory or something going on in my life. It is in these times that God begins to work through that avenue, whatever it is, to prompt me into what is next. And sometimes in these moments of prompting, God shares with me a nugget concerning my future. But it is only a nugget, never anything more. In feeling and seeing these nuggets lately I have come to a point where I am asking God, "Why so little? Why not show me or tell me everything?" It’s funny how we can hear God if we really listen.
I know the answer, even if I do not always want to admit it. The answer is because I would find a way to mess it up. I would follow the steps of Abraham and walk right onto the path of my trying to be God and take matters into my own hand. Take a look at his life with me. In Genesis 15, Abraham, at that time still called Abram, spoke with God about his family line. He was concerned that should he pass, he had no son to give his wealth to. Hearing this heartfelt cry, God responded, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars - if indeed you can count them. So shall your offspring be" (Gen 15:5). God was showing Abraham his future, sharing with him a promise of what was to come.
But like us, Abraham got antsy. Here he was with promise in hand, but time was slipping away from him. When was this promise going to become real? When would the family start being birthed. Years were slipping out of reach and he wasn't getting any younger. Then an idea came about. Sarah, Sarai at this time, offered her maidservant to Abraham so that he could perhaps build a family with her. I laugh at this knowing the outcome, but wonder if I too would have done what Abraham did. Abraham agreed (Gen 16:2). He agreed, slept with Hagar, and a child was born. But the child was a child of contention and eventually both Hagar and Ishmael were forced out from the camp. God had plans for Abraham to have a family, but he stepped out before God. His playing God became his error.
When the time was right, when God deemed it right, Isaac was born. Finally Abraham was holding his heir, his son, his promise. The promise came with lessons spanned over twenty five years, but still it came. And this should be hope for us. You see, there are times when God tells us something and gives us a peek at the promise. But that does not give us the right to play God and force more. It is in these times that we must sit back and allow God to teach us the things we too need to learn so that we do not mess it up. Our promise too will only come when God deems the time. Do not give up on the promise, though. Hold on to it, but let God bring the fullness in his time.
I end today with perhaps an example from my own life. Following my divorce I questioned my next steps in life. I hunkered down with God for a few years, after trying my hand once more at dating, and found that God had a plan still for me. Little by little, as I allowed myself to heal, God began to give more nuggets. Three years back, the nugget He gave me was that I would be married again. He didn’t tell me how I would meet her, what she would look like, or where she would live. He only told me that I would marry again. I could have played God and forced something to happen, but it would have only made a mess. Instead, I waited on Him like He asked of me until, one day, we crossed paths. On June 8, only days from now, I will marry this woman that I know God has picked out for me. I say all this to point out that when we do it God’s way, it cannot be messed up.

WHERE YOU LEAD
“’And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’”
Matthew 6:13

I am a map-guy. I know we live in a day and age where the GPS can tell us our every turn, but I have to admit I am a guy who loves to look at a map. Maybe this is a trait I inherited from my dad who would study an atlas for hours. Or maybe I am just old school, as I am also the kind of guy how has an e-reader but still prefers an actual book as opposed to the electronic version. Either way, I find myself now days as I saw my dad doing for years, just looking over the map and studying each turn and possible landmark. It isn’t that I do not trust the GPS or have problems listening to ‘Glenda’ give me instructions through her robotic voice, but I want to see it for myself. I want to be sure that the road I am on is indeed the road I need to be on.
Now I will say that even with a map in my hand, I still manage to get lost. This happened just last March when I was returning home from Texas. I knew that the 380 would eventually join me to the I-30. Yet somehow I had gotten lost and had to resort to ‘Glenda’ helping me for a minute to get back on track. While this happened in reality, I find it happens to me spiritually as well. There have been many times when I am following a spiritual map, only to find that somewhere along the way I managed to get lost. Honestly, in these moments I find myself lost because I gave into to the sights, to the temptations. I cannot help but wonder how many temptations I have given into simply because I did not pray as Jesus directed.
To His disciples, Jesus gave instructions on how to pray. In the final piece of this prayer He spoke on temptation and our request to not be led into it. But I have to say that if I am not praying not to be led into it, it seems as though being in it gets easy. And temptation in this verse is more than just putting a plate of cookies in front of a kid, it is the word PEIRASMOS, meaning trials, experiments, and moments of proving. Jesus showed us to pray that we would not be lead, EISPHERO, or brought to, moments of proving, but we would instead be delivered. This word for ‘temptation’, however, is the same word found in I Corinthians 10:13, where we read that no ‘peirasmos’ has seized us except that which is common to man. These temptations are common to man, and they work to capture us. Would it not be wise then to pray that we not be lead to them?
And what is the reciprocal? The reciprocal then is the prayer for deliverance from the evil one. Jesus taught us near the end of His prayer to pray for deliverance, RHOUMAI in the Greek. This word translates as a rescue. We all will find ourselves in moments where we will need to be rescued. Rescued, though, from what? We need to be rescued from the evil one. This is the Greek word PONEROS, translated as labors, hardships, pressures, toils, or perils. We so many times think of this as the devil and his cohorts, but it is so much more than just a person. It is any trap that the person can also lay out to catch us. It is the hard times, it is the vise-grip of life squeezing us, it is the losses, the frustrations, and the flat out pains. In all these moments do we not find ourselves screaming out, “Enough!” At that moment we just want to be delivered. And the great news is God is able to deliver us.
Jesus taught His disciples to pray, and in each piece of this prayer His power was spoken. God’s name was praised, His kingdom was spoken and His will was agreed to. Our daily needs were named and provision was made. Our sins blocking us from our blessing were confessed and we also spoke forgiveness to those offending us. And finally the request for direction was made, and deliverance called out for in the moments when we have been trapped. There is so much power in this prayer, and there really is no way I can sit in church and speak these words so monotone anymore. This prayer is a prayer of strength, not of boring hum-drum life. These are the words of Christ, written in red, and dripping with power.