LIKE FATHER, NOT LIKE SON (1 Chronicles 22)

You are not the one to honor me by building a sanctuary--you've been responsible for too much killing, too much bloodshed. But you are going to have a son and he will be a quiet and peaceful man. (1 Chronicles 22:7-10)

David wanted to build a temple for God, but God said no, his son would build it instead.

Today's verses led me to think about how different David and Solomon were.  Oh, they had some major traits in common. They both had a heart for God, an almost unhealthy interest in women, and musical/writing ability.

David was a man of bloodshed, and Solomon lived in a time of peace. But the difference relies on more than military conflict. It's also a matter of their personalities.\\

David wore his heart on his sleeve. He danced before the Lord with abandon. He bought the threshing floor where the plague ended with his hand over his heart, "I won't offer something to God that cost me nothing." He grieved his son's death and his friend Jonathan's death deeply.  Whatever David felt, the kingdom knew--that included the times he went to war.

In that sense, Adonijah and Absalom were probably a lot more like David than Solomon ever was. Absalom was furious about what  happened to his sister and let it color his judgment. Perhaps David secretly favored Absalom as his favorite son, because he reminded David of himself. Adonijah had the gumption to make himself king when David was close to death.

While young Solomon waited, not acting--probably realizing the time wasn't right, like David when he was in the caves so many years before.

Instead God chose the son the least like David as the next king. Quiet, peaceful Solomon, the son who would rather negotiate a settlement than fight it ought, who could listen to all sides of an argument and come up with a solution that was fair and best for all. Part of his wisdom was supernaturally, God-enhanced. But by nature he was a lover and not a fighter.

And Solomon knew how to be tough. He followed through on his father's final wishes to get rid of threats. When his son become king, people complained to him on the high taxes and work force required by Solomon. But he didn't usually do the dirty deeds himself.

Of course God's choice of Solomon as king shows His mercy--as He included Tamar and Rahab in Jesus's ancestry, now Bathsheba joins those other shady women. God chose the offspring of the union between David and his one-time-mistress-now-wife as a king.

God chose two wildly different men as the kings of Israel's golden age. Both leaders, both committed to God--but very different.

News flash: God doesn't use a single type of individual to lead or for any needed tasks. Certainly He calls a wide variety of people to write!.

Question: Are you  more of a David or a Solomon? Or someone else?

TAKE COURAGE (Deuteronomy 34 - Joshua 2)

Joshua's knees were shaking.

That's the feeling I get as I read the first chapter of Joshua. He clearly had a hero worship for Moses (in describing him after his death, he said Moses' eyes were still clear and he walked. He pointed out that no other prophet knew God face to face like Moses.

Joshua was no slouch. He had been there from the time they left Egypt. He and Caleb came back from spying the land excited, ready to march to war. He went with Moses at least partway up the mountain.

And when God named Moses's successor, He called Joshua.

Still, Joshua quaked. Twice God admonished him, "Strength! Courage!" The people of Israel demanded the same thing, when they agreed to follow him.

How hard it must have been to lead, following in a giant's shoes. Harry Truman must have felt when taking over from FDR.  He originated the phrase, "the buck stops here," but Joshua would have agreed.

Called to lead, doubting his ability, Joshua needed something from God. And God delivered.

In chapter two, the Israelites crossed the Jordan River on dry ground. Anyone remember the Red Sea?

Courage Personified

But before that, God gave Joshua a promise.

• I won't give up on you. 
• I won't leave you.
• You are going to lead this people to inherit the land.

God trusted Joshua to finish the job.

God remained with Joshua. He didn't abandon him to do it alone.

The job of leading God's people belonged to Joshua--whether he wanted it or not. 

I love those three promises. At the moment, I'm struggling a bit with insecurity about my writing, longing for some concrete confirmation that God still has grand things ahead for me. (I'm hopeless. I've written twenty-five books. Why do I remain so frightened? Ask my fellow authors. I know I'm not alone.)

Strength of heart not of body

God won't give up on me. If He gives me something to do, He'll make it possible for me to do it. (Not saying it will be easy.).  He won't get up and leave midway through the process.  He'll be with me unto death and beyond. And whether I want to write or not--for now it's God's job for me. I can't escape Him or my calling. So, strength! Courage! The tangible confirmation will come, eventually. But for--God says to gather my strength and courage and get to work.

Whatever call God has made on your life--He makes those same three promises to you. 

So--strength! courage! Get going. 

BALAAM, SAINT OR SINNER? (Numbers 22-25)

Balaam is best remembered for his talking donkey. God gave a donkey a human voice! (I've always been more surprised that Balaam answered when the donkey spoke, as if it didn't surprise him.)

But I can't quite decide how I feel about the man. The king of the Moabites, Balak, called Balaam to pronounce curses on the Israelites.

Nothing strange about that. Israel's kings called in God's prophets, to hear God's word on the subject of their enemies. At times, the prophet didn't say what the king wanted to hear, any more than Balak wanted Balaam to bless Israel four separate times.

Although the Moabites worshipped Baal, it appears that Balaam worshipped Israel's God. He asked for seven whole-burnt-offerings (very levitical of him). He inquired of GOD, not of god, and pronounced the blessing God had for the Israelites.

Balak refused to pay Balaam, since he had failed to deliver.  The man suffered for doing God's will.

Up to this point, Balak sounds like a hero to me. Yes, he was willing to accompany Balak, to accept his money, but in the end, he gave God's message.

Definite hero material.

Then we get all the way to Revelation, where Jesus says to the church at Pergamum, "There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality."

That part of the story is left out of Numbers. Perhaps greedy for the money Balak had promised him, Balaam pulled him aside. "I can't curse the Israelites. God won't let me. But this is what you can do to get them to bring God's anger on them all on their own. . ."  And he outlined his plan for the Moabite women to seduce the Israelite men. It worked brilliantly, and 24,000 people died.

Almost a hero . . . but he failed in the end.

No wonder Joshua and the Israelites killed him when the conquered the promised land.

LEADERSHIP IN GIVING (Numbers 7-8)

In the first chapter of Numbers, Moses appointed one man from each tribe of Israel to assist in taking the census.

By chapter 7, we see that those men had grown into leaders. They worked in a clearly coordinated, planned, effort, to present offerings for needs they perceived in beginning Tabernacle worship.

In chapter 8 we read the repetitive list of silver and gold vessels, grains, incense, livestock. Each tribe gave exactly the same items, none of which were commanded by God. They gave willingly and in a coordinated effort.

But back in chapter 7, they began with a very practical need: wagons to carry the furnishings of the Tabernacle, and oxen to pull them.

Their offering flummoxed Moses. I can see him now, scratching his head, asking God what he was supposed to do with the unexpected offering. He must have been puzzled, because God had to spell out the answer: "Receive these so that they can be used to transport the Tend of Meeting."

I love it. Men recognized as leaders, acting under Moses's direction, and then acting on their own initiative. And the first thing they wanted to do was to give back to God. They did nothing to puff themselves up.

May our leaders today do the same.

THINK FOR YOURSELF (Numbers 1-2_

Surprise, surprise, yesterday was the end of Leviticus! So today we dive into Numbers.

I have a looming deadline, so I am going to encourage you to think through the nibbles today. These are the verses that jumped out at me today. As usual, I made a note of the verse, and my initial reaction. 

I look forward to your comments!  Even if you don't comment, I hope they will start you thinking and salivating for more of God's truth.

• Numbers 1:1-5  "writing down the names of every male."  Comment: writing down 600,000 names? On clay tablets or on papyrus?  That would have taken a lot of supplies!
• Numbers 1:4-5  "Pick one man from each tribe who is head of his family to help you. These are the names of the men who will help you."  Comment: First God says, you pick, then He tells them the names.
• Numbers 1:52-53  "The Levites are responsible for the security of The Dwelling of The Testimony."  Comment: The original Swiss Guard
• Numbers 2:9  "The total number of men assigned to Judah, troop by troop, is 186,400. They will lead the march."  Comment: Men assigned to Judah included the men of Judah AND the men of Issachar and Zebulon. The other three leading tribes were Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan.

I invite you to inspire me and feed my soul today!  And thank you.

LOOKING FOR A LEADER? (Exodus 32-33)

Make gods for us who will lead us. Exodus 32:1-3 MSG.

 If I am so special to you, let me in on your plans. Exodus 33:12-13 MSG

 Today I read the story of the golden calves, that ridiculous, foolish, shortsighted decision by the Israelites while Moses was on the mountain. 

Reading the account today, I see that both the Israelites and Moses were impatient. They wanted to know "what next"? But they sought their answers in so very different ways. 

The people begged Aaron "make gods who will lead us." 
Think about that. How can gods that we make ourselves lead us? We might as well make a list of pros and cons or toss a coin. 

Even so, I see a bit of myself in this mistaken quest. As a professional author plagued with health problems, I schedule my days so that I can accomplish my work at a steady pace, no last minute pushes (been there, done that, and I can't any more). 

It's a tool, and a good one. But I tend to overdo. When I was a teenager and a friend showed up unannounced, my aunt informed her, "She can't see you now. You're not on the calendar."

Yup, I can depend too much on my schedule and not allow God to change my plans.

And oh, boy, how Moses's prayer echoes so many of my own. "I know I am special to You. But how about letting me in on Your plans?" 

And God's answer to me is about what God told Moses, although I haven't received any unique, cleft-in-the-rock visits by God. He still doesn't tell me what's next--He reassures me of Who's next--God. He is my constant companion and will guide me where I should go. 

Follow God--and don't rely on man-made tools. Easier than it sounds. 

HIGHER STANDARD (Exodus 4)

God said to Moses in Midian: "Go. Return to Egypt. All the men who wanted to kill you are dead." (Exodus 4:19, MSG)

God repeated the order He had already given to Moses at the burning bush: It's time for you to go back to Egypt. He had answered all of Moses's questions and sent Aaron to meet him. Moses had taken the first step: telling his father-in-law Jethro that he was leaving. 

After Moses had taken the first steps, God stepped in with the reassurance, "all the men who wanted to kill you are dead." 

Why didn't God say so in the first place? Why did God wait until after Moses obeyed to offer reassurance? 

All along, God seems a little abrupt with Moses. If I wrote dialogue like occurs between God and Moses, when He says "And who do you think made the human mouth?", I might say he snapped. God got downright angry when Moses said, "Please send someone else." 

On top of all of that, God didn't deliver that piece of vital information until Moses was packing his bags. 

Purely a guess: But I think God wanted to toughen Moses up. You know that verse that says God won't give anything more than we can handle? I have often retorted that I wish I was weaker, so I wouldn't have to endure so much. (You've read bits and pieces of it in this blog. If you want to read a fuller story of my travails, starting with my daughter's suicide, check out my other blog, http://darlenefranklinwrites.blogspot.com/)

In the near future, Moses would face off with the most powerful ruler of his time, the Pharaoh of Egypt. He would spend 40 years (and not the maximum of eight years afforded to an American president) leading the people of Israel through the desert, their security and well-being resting on his shoulders. Moses had to have absolute, clear-cut, no-questions-asked kind of faith in God to fulfill his calling. 

Of course God supernaturally enabled Moses.

But along the way He toughened him up. Starting with calling him back from Egypt. 

If it ever seems like God has given you more than your fair share of trials--maybe God has something extraordinary He is calling you to do.