No Glory, No Beauty

Posted on February 6, 2024 by Pete

“Clothes make the man.” The saying’s been around awhile. Given the state of our fashion industry — whether that’s a formal tux or a “pre-shredded” jeans — I’m thinking this age-old proverb still holds some sway. This past weekend went to an open-air shopping mall in San Diego with three of my girls. Look at the mall’s directory, and of the 171 stores there 93 are categorized as fashion retailers (that doesn’t include the larger department stores). Whole lot to choose from. After all, clothes make the man, garments say something about the girl.

And as I read in Exodus this morning, the old adage holds true — at least in one particular case.

“Then bring near to you Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the people of Israel, to serve Me as priests —  Aaron and Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.”
. . .
“For Aaron’s sons you shall make coats and sashes and caps. You shall make them for glory and beauty. And you shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them, that they may serve Me as priests.”

(Exodus 28:1-2, 40-41 ESV)

For those called to minister before the LORD in the holy place, not just any wardrobe would do. Their garments would be special garments. What they wore would make a statement. What they wore would be unlike what anyone else wore. Their apparel would be holy apparel. Their clothes would be consecrated clothes. Their clothes would be for glory and for beauty.

Makes sense. Not that they were dressing up just so they could be putting on the Ritz, but that what they wore would say something about who they were and what they were doing. They were priests before the Most High God. They were entrants into His holy presence. They brought the people before God. They represented God before the people. You better believe not just any old clothes would do. And so, what the LORD commanded Moses to have tailored for His priests was something that would speak glory and beauty.

It’s got me thinking about my High Priest, the Lord Jesus, and what He wore (or didn’t wear) when He left the Father’s presence in order to dwell among us.

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.

(Isaiah 53:1-2 ESV)

No glory, no beauty. That’s how Jesus presented when He entered our world. He took off His garments of glory when He was born in the likeness of man. He emptied Himself of His resplendent beauty when He assumed the form of a servant. For though He is the great High Priest, He came to offer Himself as a once for all sacrifice.

“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

(John 1:29 ESV)

No form or majesty that we should look at Him . . . no beauty that we should desire Him. The clothes He wore at His first coming did not make the Man, for the Man willingly putting off His heavenly garb. Clothed with humility, not arrayed in glory. So that “being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Php. 2:8).

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

What grace! What beauty! What glory!

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Reject Equine Tendencies

Posted on February 5, 2024 by Pete

As I work through my daily reading plan, one of the things I’m watching for are commands to obey. This morning, I found one.

Be not like a horse or a mule . . .

(Psalm 32:9a ESV)

How’s that for a command to obey? At first blush, it seems pretty simple to comply with — after all, my genetic pool isn’t equine. But chew on it a bit in the context of the David’s full song and maybe (actually, pretty likely) it’s not the gimme I’d like to think it to be.

David’s song is a “Try it! You’ll like it!” song. Set to an “I was blessed, you can be blessed too” melody. What did he experience? Forgiveness.

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
 whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity,
 and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

(Psalm 32:1-2 ESV)

David had experienced the divine blessing of sins forgiven, of sins covered, of sins no longer counted against him. The blessing of realizing a burden lifted, for when he tried to hide his sin from God, when he tried to ignore it and keep silent about it, “my bones wasted away through all my groaning all day long” (Ps. 32:3). (There’s not a more miserable saint than a saint who’s not dealing with their sin.)

The alternative to keeping silent about his sin?

I acknowledged my sin to You,
 and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”
 and You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

(Psalm 32:5 ESV)

I acknowledged it . . . I didn’t try to cover it up . . . I confessed it . . . and You forgave it.

And I was blessed, says David.

David’s conclusion? You can be blessed too.

Therefore let everyone who is godly
 offer prayer to You at a time when You may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
 they shall not reach him.

(Psalm 32:6 ESV)

I prayed, sings David, you pray too. I acknowledged my sin, you should acknowledge yours also. I refused to cover my transgressions through self-justification, instead placing myself under the cover of a cross-bought justification, you should do likewise. I talked to God about my iniquity, you should talk to Him about yours as well. Now is the time for sins to be dealt with, not when the floodgates of judgment are opened.

That’s when I encountered the command to obey.

Be not like a horse or a mule,
 without understanding,
which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
 or it will not stay near you.

(Psalm 32:9 ESV)

Reject equine tendencies. Don’t be like a wild stallion that needs to be broken. Don’t be like a stubborn donkey that needs to be forced into compliance. Instead, repent, pray, confess, and ask for forgiveness — willingly, humbly, contritely, submissively. And confidently — for, “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1Jn. 1:9).

Be blessed or be broken? How do I want to feel inside? Repent or reject? How do I want to deal with the guilt inside? Cover it up or be covered? How do I want to stand before the God who knows me inside?

Don’t be like a horse. Don’t be like a mule.

Hmm . . . think I’m gonna take this command to obey to heart.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Little By Little

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Pete

It isn’t a term for the impatient. Not something you want to press upon the avidly ambitious. Somewhat out of sync with our instant gratification nature. But it’s a phrase that’s caught my attention and one that, as I chew on it a bit, seems to be the normative way of God.

And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.

(Exodus 23:28-30 ESV)

Little by little . . . Noodle on that.

The land was theirs. Promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. A done deal. Taking possession of it was as certain as was their deliverance from Egypt. It was gonna happen. What God begins; God finishes (Php. 1:6). But it was gonna happen little by little.

Practically it wouldn’t have made sense to entirely empty the land first and then move the people in. There was infrastructure to be maintained — cities and towns to be kept from falling into ruin and fields needing to be tended in order to maintain their fruitfulness — while the people of God settled into, and grew into, the expanse of all that had been promised them. No, God in His wisdom and for His purposes knew that the possessing of the promised land would need to be a little by little thing.

Little by little . . .

God can do whatever He wants to do however He wants to do it, but I’m thinking that little by little may be the normative approach for the people of God receiving the promises of God. That we aren’t rescued from the slavery of sin one moment and then walking in practical sanctification the next. That there needs to be increase in order to fully possess. That we need to patiently grow in order to practically know “what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1Cor. 2:9).

Little by little . . .

Knowing the fullness of what’s promised is going to take some faithfulness to the process. We need to learn how to put on the new man (to put on the new woman) while gaining experience with doing battle against the flesh through the power of the Spirit.

Little by little . . .

It’s a faith thing. Especially when we inevitably experience the failure thing. When we encounter those inevitable times when we seem to be losing ground and need to realize afresh that the only solid ground we have to stand on is the ground at the foot of the cross — the ground of the gospel.

Little by little . . .

By His grace. For His glory.

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Where Grumbling Abounds . . .

Posted on January 31, 2024 by Pete

Chewing on Exodus 16 this morning, and there’s repetition — boy, is there repetition.

The newly delivered-from-Egypt, on-their-way-to-the-land-promised people of God, being fresh off of walking through a walled-up Red Sea, find what you’re gonna find in the wilderness, the land between deliverance and promise. And what’s that? Not much. After all, it’s the wilderness.

They’ve seen the mighty hand of God deliver from slavery. They’ve walked under the glory of the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. But they should know that leaving the land of what was doesn’t automatically and immediately put you in the land of what will be. So, the wilderness should be a place to be expected, a place to trust in the LORD who walked you out of Egypt and has said He would walk with you into a land of promise. But instead of trusting, what do they do? They grumble.

Eight times, in Exodus 16, the reader is told, and told again, that the people grumbled. What’s more, and kind of ominously, four times it’s ensured that we know that the LORD heard their grumbling. Uh oh!

They’re grumbling. He’s hearing. Is the hammer coming? Cue the Jaws music.

And then I read this, the LORD’s response to His people’s grumbling:

“I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.'”

(Exodus 16:12 ESV)

I have heard the grumbling . . . you shall be filled. Wanna talk about grace? That’s grace. (Pull out the brown colored-pencil and shade it.)

Wanna know something about the God who delivers with a mighty hand? Well, as Moses will discover up close and personal in a few chapters, He is “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Ex. 34:6).

It’s not grace just so empty bellies might be filled, but grace so newly redeemed souls might know more fully the nature of their Redeemer. Filled with bread in order to know that I am the LORD your God. Grace for our good. But also grace for His glory.

Wilderness wanderers — especially those new to the wilderness — are gonna be tempted to grumble. Even veteran sojourners will, at times, succumb to weary whining. But blessed are those who hunger, for they shall be filled. Sure, better to taste the LORD is good when we’re trusting, but what of a God who provides bread from heaven even when we’re grumbling on earth? How gracious is that? Pretty gracious!

Oh, to grumble less and trust more. To look confidently to my Deliverer when the desert’s particularly dry, and not to long again for Egypt and crave the fake food of the world.

But to also know that whether I’m faithful or faltering, my God is always faithful and that those He has delivered from death He will deliverer to life, and life abundantly.

Thank God that where grumbling abounds, grace does more abound.

Not to be cavalier in our testing, but to have confidence in His trustworthiness.

Not to presume on His goodness, but to rest in the gospel.

The good news of grace. And grace for His glory.

Amen?

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The Cry of Deliverance in Its Fullness

Posted on January 29, 2024 by Pete

Flying down to the Golden State tomorrow morning to see kids and grandkids, so decided on doing a double reading in my reading plan this morning. It bore the unexpected fruit of picking up on one of those repetitive drumbeats often found in Scripture. An echo which reminds me that deliverance from one master is really for the purpose of serving another.

Ask someone who’s read Exodus (or has watched Charlton Heston in “The Ten Commandments”) what Moses’ ask was of Pharaoh and most are gonna be pretty quick to quote that famous line, “Let My people go!” And they’d be right. Mostly.

This morning, I’m chewing on the reason behind the ask.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve Me.” ‘ ”

(Exodus 9:1 ESV)

Encountered that they may serve Me three times this morning. That’s three of the six times it is spoken by Moses’ during his showdown with Pharaoh. Three times that arrested my attention and reminded me that while salvation is about freedom, that freedom is found in serving the Lord.

Let My people go isn’t just about being delivered from the tyranny of a wicked taskmaster. It’s also about being delivered unto the rule of the True Master. It’s about having ownership transferred and becoming the servant of Someone else (1Cor. 7:22, Gal. 1:10, 1Pet. 2:16). Not about being released from bondage in order to serve myself but being bought with a price so that I’m no longer my own and now belong to Another (1Cor. 6:19-20).

But at its core, the servanthood of deliverance is different. I was reminded of this too in another reading this morning.

“Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” ~ Jesus

(Matthew 11:28-30 ESV)

My Deliverer is now my Master. My Redeemer, now my Lord. But my Savior is also a Shepherd.

My task is to trust Him as He leads so that I might know His rest. A rest found in taking upon myself His yoke which is easy and knowing that whatever “burden” he calls me to bear will be light, for He bears it with me. Saved from slavery in order to serve Another. Saved for my good but saved for His glory.

“Let my people go, that they may serve Me.”

That’s the cry of deliverance in its fullness. The cry of deliverance which leads to flourishing.

Deliverance by His grace. Deliverance for His glory.

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For You I Wait

Posted on January 26, 2024 by Pete

It really couldn’t have gone any worse. The people believed Moses when he told them that “the LORD had visited the people of Israel and that He had seen their affliction” (Ex. 4:31a). They bought into the plan, Moses and Aaron would go to Pharaoh and tell him to let God’s people go. They started thinking about what they’d need to pack for their journey to the promised land. “Finally!”, they thought. “This is it!”, they thought. “Let’s get going!”, they thought. “This is going to be great!”, they thought. And so, “they bowed their heads and worshiped” (Ex. 4:31b). But things didn’t quite go as anticipated.

Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. The ask was made. The ask was refused. The ask resulted in greater hardship than anyone could have imagined. While making a daily quota of bricks for the Egyptians with the straw they provided was hard labor, being expected to make that same quota without being given straw was unfathomably ludicrous. And then to be beaten for missing quota!?! So much for the plan.

Thus, whereas before the people had believed Moses, they now berated him, “The LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us” (Ex. 5:21).

So, you can hardly blame Moses when he has questions of his own.

Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have You done evil to this people? Why did You ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people, and You have not delivered Your people at all.”

(Exodus 5:22-23 ESV)

Moses was a theologically astute servant — God was sovereign and God was all-powerful and thus what had just happened with Pharaoh was God’s doing. Moses was an obedient servant — though a reluctant recruit at first, nevertheless he obediently submitted to his recruiting and went and did as he was told to do by God. Moses was a confused servant — he had gone to Pharaoh according to plan, but the plan bombed. Moses was also an honest servant — “Lord, You have not delivered. Lord, why?”

Relatable? I’m thinkin’ . . .

Not that many of us are called to confront political powers with audacious asks, but all of us are called to navigate this world with the ways of the kingdom. To walk a path which, at the least, seems often a half-bubble off plumb and which, more often than not, seems like swimming upstream. But the calling comes with a promise. A promise that deliverance is waiting. That the work begun will be the work finished. That the world we’re to leave will be replaced by a better world. But when things don’t play out how we thought they should have been planned out, can’t we relate to Moses’ confusion and to his question? ”Lord, why?”

Read also in Psalm 25 this morning. And the dots that get connected for me are that often God’s response to my “Why?” is to “Wait!”

To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in You I trust; let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none who wait for You shall be put to shame . . .

Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day long. . .

Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me! Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in You. May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You.

(Psalm 25:1-3a, 5, 20-21 ESV)

Why, Lord? Wait.

Why, Lord? Hang on, linger, keep expecting. Tarry, be patient. The promise is sure. Joy comes in the morning (Ps. 30:5). You just don’t know when the morning’s gonna be.

The “what” is certain. The “how” is often a mystery. Thus the “why” is understandable. But knowing “Who” — trusting God, finding refuge in Him even as we look to Him for His deliverance — is what makes possible the “wait.”

Relatable? Like I said, I’m thinkin’ . . .

For You I wait.

By Your grace. For Your glory.

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Gen S (A 2018 Remix)

Posted on January 25, 2024 by Pete

From year to year, it’s pretty infrequent that I remember this year how a passage hit me in previous years. The nice thing about getting older is that it’s “deja vu all over again” more often than not. But not so when it comes to Psalm 24. I take in the psalm this morning and immediately I’m thinking, “Gen S!” — the Generations that Seeks Him. I’m a boomer, currently we talk a lot about Gen Z, the “zoomers”, oh, but to be part of that generation marked forever as seekers! So, I went back in the archives and enjoyed some thoughts from 2018. Here they are again with a tweak or two.

I’m a baby boomer. That’s how my generation is referred to by those who talk of the characteristics of people born during certain time periods. And that’s all I had to do to be a baby boomer . . . be born. I cannot not be a baby boomer. I might wanna be cooler and wear a Gen X t-shirt. Or try to be more hip and wear knee-less, tight jeans and think I can roll with Gen Y, the Millennials. Or whip out my electronic device and let others know I’m as with it as one of those Gen Z influencers. But that’s not how it works. I’m part of the generation (and there were a lot of us, hence the “boom”) that was born post-World War II, between 1946 and 1964. So, I’m a baby boomer. Done deal.

But as I’m hovering over Psalm 24 this morning, I’m chewing on another demographic that I’m also part of. And, in a similar way, I’m part of that group through nothing I did or could have done. It isn’t a generation of people I was physically born into, but an ageless, eternal cohort of men and women I was born again into. A generation that I think of as Gen S.

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah

(Psalm 24:3-6 ESV)

My “people” are those who can ascend the hill of the LORD. Those allowed access to His holy place. Those invited within the veil to behold His glory.

We are distinguished in that we have received blessing from the LORD. In fact, though dwelling on earth, we’ve been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places (Eph. 1:3). What’s more, we have also received righteousness from our God — a righteousness credited to our account apart from works (Rom. 4:6). Thus, marked as those who seek Him, we might think of ourselves as “Generation Seeker” — as Gen S.

We didn’t earn Gen S status; it was bestowed upon us. Such privileged access before the LORD of all the earth “and the fullness thereof” (24:1), such abundant blessing by the One from whom all blessings flow, is due solely to the fact that we have been counted among those who have clean hands and a pure heart. And this not of ourselves, it too is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8).

Clean hands not because of our goodness and perfection, but hands made clean through the shed blood of Another. A pure heart not of our own making — for naturally, mine was a heart of stone encrusted with sin. Instead, a pure heart because it’s a new heart. Clean hands and a pure heart, gifted by the God or our salvation.

Such is Gen S, the generation of those who seek Him.

We didn’t behave our way into this generation. We were born again into it. Because of the Father’s Sovereign determination. Through the Son’s sacrificial death. By the Spirit’s soul-regenerating dynamic.

Though once lost, we were found. Though once blind, now we see. Though once in bondage to sin, now living in freedom. Though once wandering aimlessly, now seeking the face of God.

We’re part of Gen S. Not because of who we are, but because of what He has done. (Thanx again, Casting Crowns)

We’re members of that generation that seek Him. Not because of what we’ve done, but because of who He is.

Gen S by grace alone. Gen S for His glory alone.

Amen?

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Conversion

Posted on January 24, 2024 by Pete

Yeah, I don’t think it’ll make word of the year anytime soon.

Reading in Acts 15 this morning and I encounter a word that I don’t think gets used much in the church anymore — though it did a generation ago when I was first saved (at least in the circles I was saved into). But depending on how you look at it, while the word may stand in stark contrast with today’s worldly mindset, it may in fact be far more compatible than we realize.

For 2023, Merriam-Webster’s word of the year is Authentic. While used often in the context of a plumb line and filter for Artificial Intelligence, or as the goal for social media users and influencers, where authentic has arguably found its greatest attachment is as an adjective connected to identity. Our culture places a premium on being your authentic self. On seeking and speaking your authentic voice. On you being the authentic you. And, because it’s authentic, it must be accepted as being what’s true, beyond question, and thus demanding to be enthusiastically embraced.

So, in light of 2023’s word of the year, how’s a word such as the word I encountered in Acts gonna play in our current cultural climate?

So, being sent on their way by the church, [Paul and Barnabas & Co.] passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.

(Acts 15:3 ESV)

Conversion. Not a likely candidate for word of the year, but it’s the word I’m chewing on this morning.

There’s a number of ways we tend to describe disciples of Christ. Words like believer, and follower. Terms like those who have asked Jesus into their heart; who have been born again; who have been saved by the blood. But when’s the last time you heard anyone in your church talk of those who had been converted or had experienced a conversion?

Conversion. This particular word is found only once in the entire New Testament. Used to describe a group of people who were “authentically” idolaters but now were unashamedly followers of the risen Son of God, Jesus. A people who once were oriented one way, but now — in a 180-degree turnabout sense — are now headed in a very different direction.

So, how does talking about conversion line up with the cultural goal of embracing one’s self? See, what I mean . . . the implications of being converted, of doing a 180, are at odds with the world’s view of what it means to be authentic.

But what if the world has it wrong (and it does)? What if conversion is really the most authentic way to authenticity? What if being converted is really about becoming who we were created to be?

For those whom [God] foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.

(Romans 8:29 ESV)

We were created as image bearers of God (Gen. 1:27). So, we are our most authentic when we bear the image of God. Thus, to be conformed (likely another unpopular word in a world enmeshed with being authentic) to the image of His Son is to land where we were always meant to be. That what we are apart from Christ is really the deep fake. That what our world thinks life should be about is really the deceptive lie. That the form we are shaped into by sin is the antithesis of the image we were created to bear. And thus, we need a conversion.

We need a supernatural event that translates us from darkness into light. That reorients us from self to others. That redefines authentic by replacing ourselves as the standard to be embraced with the Son and the once forever exchange He offers — our sins taken on by Him and His righteousness credited to us so that, by His power, we might practically and authentically live out what it looks like to be righteous.

Conversion. Might be a word worth using a little more often. But don’t think it’s gonna make word of the year anytime soon. And yet, isn’t it the converted who are truly on the path to being authentic? I’m thinkin’ . . .

By God’s grace. For God’s glory.

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Stay in the Game!

Posted on January 23, 2024 by Pete

Had lunch with a brother last week. The food was good, but the fellowship was great. Not much talk about the weather, didn’t dwell on sports, but our conversation touched on different aspects of the kingdom and our relatively small place in it (mine a lot smaller than his). We talked as “senior saints” might talk, drawing on experiences and lessons learned over many years of gaining experience and learning lessons. And something he said last week came to mind this morning as I read in Acts.

Honeymoon’s over for Paul in his gospel preaching ministry. Sure, many are still being saved but the opposition is growing. When Paul went into a new city or region with the good news, it seems it was not a matter of if but of when the local Jewish leaders would rise up against this Jesus proclaiming turncoat who was once a Pharisee of the Pharisees.

In Lystra, “Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead” (Acts 14:19). Ouch! Talk about your occupational hazard. Talk about your hostile work environment. Talk about a lack of a safe space. Talk about being in an unhealthy situation. Talk about the life of Paul and his faithfulness to his charge to “carry My name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” and “how much he must suffer for the sake of the Name” (Acts 9:15-16).

So, Paul escapes with his life and heads down the road to Derbe where he persists in preaching the good news which so often is provoking in some bad behavior. But then (what’s he thinkin’?), he returns to Lystra.

When [Paul & Co.] had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

(Acts 14:21-22 ESV)

Continue in the faith. That’s what sparked the memory of my friend’s story of the advice he gave to a young man looking for the secret sauce for ministry. His counsel? “Stay in the game!”

Continue in the faith. Remain in, persevere in, hold fast to, be true to, abide by what you hold to be true about Jesus and what He has said about following Him. As Peterson puts it, Paul urged them “to stick with what they had begun to believe and not quit” (MSG). Stick with it. Stay in the game.

The way of Jesus is the way of the cross (Mt. 10:38, 16:24). The way of the cross is the way of opposition, hardship, pain, and suffering. Don’t let anyone try and tell us the journey will be, or must be otherwise, for through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.

So, how do you prepare for the many tribulations. How do you get ready for the hardships? How do you go through whatever you’re gonna need to go through? Continue in the faith. Stay in the game.

Not in our own strength. Not by our own self-discipline or through our own self-determination — those are gonna fail at some point. But through the power of the risen Christ who dwells within us through the promise of the resident Spirit. By abiding in Him and He in us.

“Keep on keepin’ on” is how another friend of years gone by would always say it. “Stay in the game” according to my friend during lunch last week. Continue in the faith says the Spirit through the eternal word of God.

Only by His grace. Always for His glory.

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An Abomination

Posted on January 22, 2024 by Pete

“The law of first mention.” Not sure if it’s really a “law”, but as a young believer, more than once, I remember being exhorted to take note of the first time a word or phrase is used in Scripture, or the first time something or someone appears, for it might have a particular significance. This morning, a second encounter with a word sparks noodling on its first mention.

The word? Abomination. What do think of when you hear that word? Where do you think it might first be found in Scripture? If you’re like me, you might be surprised. You might also be left a bit in wonder.

This morning’s reading in Genesis (a likely place to find a “first mention”) deals with Jacob & Co.’s relocation from Canaan to Egypt. Upon being reunited with Joseph — the son who Jacob thought was dead but in fact was alive and had become king (sound familiar?) — Jacob is told by Joseph how to secure the best land in this foreign land.

When Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”

(Genesis 46:33-34 ESV)

An abomination to the Egyptians. I read this and remembered that this isn’t the first time I’ve encountered that phrase. Last time it was also in the context of a reunion; at the banqueting table where Joseph reveals himself to his brothers.

They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.

(Genesis 43:32 ESV)

First mention of abomination? Describing how Egyptians viewed Hebrews. Second mention? How Egyptians viewed shepherds. Hmm . . . Chew on that for a bit.

Egypt, in Scripture, is representative of the world. It is a type of the place, principles, and practices from which the people of God are delivered. It’s the place they were to leave. The place they would be told not to return to. The place where they’ll be tempted to retreat for help when the going gets tough. But when it comes right down to it, it will always be the place of slavery and bondage, for the people of God are an abomination to the world. The world, under the rule of the prince of darkness, can’t help but abhor those in covenantal relationship with the King of Light.

What’s more, Egypt is disgusted by shepherds. What does that say for us who would own the Lord as my Shepherd?

Much more to noodle on and develop with this thought. But there’s something here, something which identifies us, the people of God, as the first abomination. An abomination in Egypt. At odds with the world. Whether we’re tempted to embrace the world, to enjoy the world, or try and find refuge in the world, if we are God’s chosen people, if we are the sheep who know the voice of the Great Shepherd, then we’re not really gonna find our place in the world. ‘Cause if we are faithful to Him, we’ll be an abomination to them.

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” ~ Jesus

(John 15:18-19 ESV)

An abomination. Like I said, hmm . . .

By His grace. For His glory.

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