bible

Reflection on Exodus 6:14-30

/ newlifenarrabri / Leave a comment

Scripture

But Moses argued with the Lord, saying, “I can’t do it! I am such a clumsy speaker! Why would Pharaoh listen to me?”

Observation

The clans and the ancestors of Moses and Aaron are listed.

Moses and Aaron are the ones to whom the Lord gave the commandment to go to Pharaoh to demand that he sets God’s people free.

Moses had said to the Lord, “I can’t do it!”

Application

It has been said that we can tell when it is God who calls us to a task by the fact that it is too hard for us in our own ability.

Moses felt that he was incapable of speaking to Pharaoh. This was despite the fact that he had been brought up in Pharaoh’s palace and given all the training and education necessary for being a government leader.

When God calls us, we are often most aware of our inadequacy. This is a good thing because it negates pride.

God does not call the most talented, or the smoothest speaker. Rather, He calls those who are available, and then He equips them for the task.

Just on 24 years ago, God ed Margaret and me to start a new church. We have no idea why it was us, except that we said “Yes” to the call.

We endured many years of very little in the way of salary. We enjoyed countless miracles of God’s provision. And so we persevered.

That is the story of many of God’s people, including Moses. After his initial attempt to rescue the Hebrew people, he fled to the desert and stayed there for 40 years. That was not the end of the story because, as inadequate as Moses felt, He was God’s man for the job.

Prayer

Help me Lord to trust you every day for the things and the skills I need to carry out your plan for my life. Amen.

Ephesians 3:18

/ newlifenarrabri / Leave a comment

Here is my commentary on Ephesians 3:18. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 3:18

“… may have power together with all the saints to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.”

Paul continues his prayer for the Ephesians (and us) that, having been grounded in love, they may have power to grasp how big is Christ’s love.

Paul’s desire is that “ all the saints” should grasp the magnitude of Christ’s love. This is not a journey of discovery just for the church in Ephesus, but a necessary understanding for the church everywhere and throughout history.

When Christians fail to grasp the love of Christ, we can be fearful about our future. We worry that we may have committed the unforgivable sin. We fret to make sure that all of our sins, no matter how trivial, we confess, keeping short accounts with God, as the saying goes.

For christian leaders, uncertainty about Christ’s love can lead us to legalism. It is so easy to define rules of outward behaviour, dress codes, and language usage in order to keep the flock under control. We don’t want our people to sin so we define the boundaries of acceptable behaviour to keep everybody safe. This was the sin of the Pharisees.

Sin and righteousness are not really about behaviour derived from morality codes. The real issue is abut our love for God, and His love for us. All sin is relational.

When we grasp the magnitude of Christ’s love, it changes everything. We no longer act from fear but from faith. Anxiety is replaced by joy.

To know that I am not just accepted by Christ, but loved by Him, means that I do not have to fear ever being rejected by Him. I can rest, knowing that I don’t have to prove that I am good enough.

Knowing that I am loved by Christ means I can be relaxed about my sins. That is not to say that I should be complacent about sin – Paul has something to say about that in the next verse. It does mean that when I do trip up in some way, I don’t have to expect a punishment. I don’t have to fear missing out on heaven. He does not reject His children.

To grasp the magnitude of Christ’s love is not about mental or cognitive knowledge. Love is experiential; it is revealed in its activity and understood in relationship.

I could read in the Bible that Christ loves me. it has to go far deeper than that. The knowledge has to go past the theoretical and be received in my heart. While ever the love of God is just a chapter in the Bible I have not taken hold of it.

When I think of the word grasp, it makes me think of a rock climber holding firmly to the face of the rock, or a person in the water clinging to a floating object. In both cases, the person holds on confidently and desperately. To cling means safety, but to let go means death.

Our experiential knowledge of Christ’s love is a life and death matter. In faith, we hold on to him because letting go results in death.

How big Is this love? Paul describes a four-dimensional measurement. Can we come to the end of Christ’s love in any direction? Of course not! it extends as far as we can imagine in any direction we can consider .

We cannot go around the love of God. We cannot go under it or over it. It surrounds us, as God Himself surrounds us, in every direction. If we want to escape His love we have to construct a bubble around ourselves that cuts us off from it. That bubble is called unbelief.

Key points in this verse

  • We are on a journey of discovery of the love of Christ
  • If we fail to grasp God’s love for us we will be led by fear or legalism
  • Understanding God’s love brings joy and freedom
  • This is heart knowledge not head knowledge – relational not theoretical
  • Understanding of Christ’s love is a life and death issue
  • We cannot get around God’s love

Reflection on Exodus 6:1-13

/ newlifenarrabri / Leave a comment

Scripture

“I will claim you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God who has freed you from your oppression in Egypt.”

Observation

The Lord tells Moses that not only will Pharaoh let the people of Israel leave Egypt, he will expel them.

The Lord is Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is the covenant keeping God, and He has heard the cries of His people.

Moses is to tell the people that the Lord is going to redeem them with a powerful arm and acts of judgement. He will bring them into the land He promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The Lord tells Moses to go back to Pharaoh and tell him to let the people go. He gives Moses and Aaron directions for the Israelites and for Pharaoh.

Application

The Lord is about claiming people for his own. This is not about slavery or control. It is a voluntary association.

How wonderful it is to know that the God f all creation is the God who claims me as His own. We are His people, the chosen ones.

He frees us from captivity- not the bondage of a national tyranny, but the bondage of sin.

We were made for more than the life most people accept as normal. We were meant for Freedom- the Freedom to love, the Freedom to live abundantly, the Freedom of living without sin.

Jesus died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice that makes this Freedom possible. All we have to do is to receive His forgiveness.

Prayer

Thank you, Lord, for the knowledge that you are my God and that I belong to you, my Creator and Redeemer. Amen.

Reflection on Exodus 5:1-22

/ newlifenarrabri / Leave a comment

Scripture

“Is that so?” retorted Pharaoh. “And who is the Lord? Why should I listen to him, and let Israel go? I don;t know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.”

Observation

Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh, asking him to let the people go into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord. Pharaoh refuses, saying he does not know who the Lord is.

Far from letting the people go, Pharaoh orders the oppression of the Hebrews to increase. From now on they are to find their own straw to make bricks with.

When the people protest, Pharaoh tells them they are just being lazy. The Hebrew leaders relay the order to the people, and they condemn Moses and Aaron for bringing this extra hardship upon them.

Application

Pharaoh was quite cynical about the God of Israel, the Lord. He claimed that he did not know who the Lord was, and therefore would not let the people go to offer sacrifices.

During the world- wide lock downs and restrictions of the Covid pandemic, it has been interesting to see the attitudes of politicians to various groups in different places. While rulers everywhere claim to be led purely by “science”, the actual rules imposed often seem to be arbitrary. Often churches have been considered expendable.

While not using the words attributed to Pharaoh here, the political class seemed to have the same attitude. “I don’t know the Lord. No, I will not let your people go.”

So pubs, restaurants, casinos and Black Lives Matter protests are considered less dangerous than churches. Perhaps this is true, in a prophetic sense.

As the Bible story unfolds, the Lord does set His people free, but Pharaoh and the Egyptians suffer greatly for opposing the Lord.

Prayer

Lord, I pray for freedom for your people in every nation where christians are persecuted. Lord set your people free. Amen.

Reflection on Exodus 4:18-31

/ newlifenarrabri / Leave a comment

Scripture

Then the people of Israel were convinced that the Lord had sent Moses and Aaron. When they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshipped.

Observation

Moses leaves Jethro, his father-in-law. He takes his wife and sons and heads for Egypt.

Along the way, the Lord confronts Moses. Zipporah, his wife, circumcises their son. Aaron meets up with them along the way, and they travel to Egypt together.

When they call the elders together to tell them all that the Lord has said, Moses also performs the miraculous signs. The people believe and they worship the Lord.

Application

After years of slavery and misery, the Hebrew people finally hear some good news. God is going to rescue them.

It must have been easy to believe that the Lord had abandoned His people and even forgotten about them. But Moses comes along with the message that the Lord has not forgotten them.

When we are feeling discouraged in life, how wonderful it is to remember that God has seen our misery.

This is not just a doctrinal statement. Yes, we know that God sees everything about our lives. Nothing is hidden from Him. More importantly, the Lord sees our misery and has compassion.

God does not just see our suffering- He experiences it and feels it as we do. How awesome is that!

God sees and feels our disappointment, our grief, our suffering, and our failing. He is not looking for things to smite us for, but He looks for reasons to show compassion, and He walks through our difficulties with us.

Prayer

Lord, I thank you that you see my misery, and you turn it into joy. You walk with me in the tough times and turn them into victories of your grace. Thank you. Amen.

Reflection on Exodus 4:1-17

/ newlifenarrabri / Leave a comment

Scripture

Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”

Observation

Moses asks the Lord, “What if they don’t believe me?” The Lord tells Moses to throw down his staff, and it turns into a snake. When he catches it by the tail it is restored to a staff. Then the Lord tells Moses to put his hand inside his cloak, and it is covered with skin disease. He puts his hand back in, and it is restored.

The Lord tells Moses that if the people don’t believe Moses’ words, they will believe these signs.

Moses then claims he is not very good with words, but the Lord says that He is the one who makes a man’s mouth and who decides whether he should speak. He appoints Moses’ brother, Aaron, to be Moses’ spokesman.

Application

Moses is having a conversation with the Lord who is speaking to him from a bush that burns without being consumed. Yet Moses is reluctant to go as the messenger of this powerful God.

The same Lord calls us to go to our friends and neighbours with the wonderful message that Jesus saves. Yet we have the same objections that Moses had- they will not believe me, they will think I am crazy.

To these objections the Lord says that He designed our mouths and can direct us to speak. It is His problem whether people listen or not.

The Lord gives each of us a message to take to a person or a group of people, perhaps even a whole nation. Whether it is the gospel message, a prophecy or a word of encouragement, we must trust God to speak through us, and leave the results to Him.

Prayer

Lord please give me courage and confidence in you so that I can share your message of salvation to the people I see each day. Amen.

Ephesians 3:17

/ newlifenarrabri / Leave a comment

Here is my commentary on Ephesians 3:17. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au

Ephesians 3:17

“… So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and grounded in faith…”

Paul is continuing his prayer for the Ephesians (and for us).

The previous verse was a prayer that they receive power through the Spirit of God. He finishes that sentence now.

The prayer to receive this power is directed to the result that ”Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”

Some theologians disapprove of “asking Jesus into your heart.” Jesus is in heaven so it does not make sense, they claim. Buy here Paul is explicitly stating that Christ does live in our hearts.

To state the obvious, this is not a reference to our physical hearts. There is not a Christ – shaped hole in our heart that Jesus slots into when we pray the sinner’s prayer.

The heart is often used as a synonym for the soul, which is the seat of our character, will, and emotions. Paul is praying that Christ will come and fill our souls.

That raises the question of what it means to have Christ in our hearts or souls. To me, it means that we give over that part of our being, our internal life to him. In other words, we are no longer self-directed, but Christ – directed. We are no longer living a marred, sinful life, but one which is clean and sinless. We don’t do what we want to do, but what Christ wants us to do.

The prayer is that Christ dwells in our hearts. He makes the place his habitation, his home, and is not just a visitor .

This means that we allow the Holy Spirit to direct us. We daily invite the Lord to be present in our hearts in everything, and seek to hand over our desires and plans to him.

This is a lifelong process that should not end this side of Heaven.

Some people seem contend to have Christ steer their lives at home and church, but work is a different matter where the customs and rules of the business world dominate.

Other people allow Him in sporadically. They might have a spiritual experience at a camp or conference, and they know that Christ is with them for a few weeks. But then it is back to the old ways until the next “high.”

Christ wants to dwell in our hearts – to stay there every day.

When Christ is dwelling in our hearts, then we can be rooted and grounded in love.

The word for love here is agape, the totally selfless and unfailing love that God has for us. With Christ dwelling in our hearts, the very embodiment of agape love, then we can know that we are loved unconditionally.

God’s agape love, transforms a person’s life. Many of us suffer feelings of shame, rejection, unworthiness, and so on. We have been hurt, bullied, or abandoned. But God’s love heals the traumas of living in a sin-filled world.

We need to be rooted and established in God’s love. Love, to be effective, needs to be constant. God’s love is constant, but our ability to believe and receive it is not.

To be rooted in God’s love means that we grow deep emotional and spiritual roots in him. Paul describes this as “by faith.” In other words, we taste the love of God and by faith we learn to live in it.

Trees that only grow shallow roots are vulnerable to being blown over in storms or dying of dehydration in droughts. Only trees that push their roots deep into the soil will live a full and long life.

We must push our roots deep into the love of God so that, even when God seems to be absent, we trust in his provision, persistence, and protection.

Key points in this verse

  • Christ wants to dwell in our hearts, that is to make His home there
  • We need to learn to be Christ- directed rather than self-directed
  • We need to put deep spiritual and emotional roots into God’s love
  • God’s love heals us of the hurts that come from living in a sin-filled world

Reflection on Exodus 3:1-22

/ newlifenarrabri / Leave a comment

Scripture

There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire form the middle of a bush. Though the bush was engulfed by flames, it did not burn up. “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself.

Observation

One day, while tending his father-in-law’s sheep, the Lord appears to Moses in a burning bush. The Lord identifies Himself as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

The Lord tells Moses that He is about to set His people free and so Moses is to go to Pharaoh and demand that he let them go. When Moses objects, the Lord says that He will be with him.

Moses then asks the Lord what name will he tell the people is the name of the God who has sent him? The Lord says “Tell them ‘I Am has sent you.’”

The Lord warns Moses that, although the elders of Israel will receive him, Pharaoh will resist until, through a series of miracles, the Lord will strike the Egyptians.

Application

This must have been an awesome sight for Moses to see- a bush that burned without being consumed. It was unusual enough for Moses to stop what he was doing and listen to the voice of the Lord.

One reason that we don’t hear the voice of the Lord is that we don’t make space for that. We live in a noisy world, surrounded by electronically generated voices clamouring for our attention. We live in an “always on” world,

To hear God, we have to silence the other voices. We need to turn our phones, computers and TVs off then learn to turn our anxious brain off as well. Then, as we focus on God, we can start to hear the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit.

It takes time, effort and conscious decision, but we need to do it to connect to the true God, the source of our life.

Prayer

Come Holy Spirit and speak to me in the stillness. Be the burning bush for me today. Amen.

Reflection on Exodus 2:1-25

/ newlifenarrabri / Leave a comment

Scripture

God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act.

Observation

A woman from the tribe of Levi gives birth to a baby boy, and rather than having him thrown into the Nile River as the law required, she keeps him at home for three months. Then she makes a little basket and floats him in the river.

Pharaoh’s daughter comes to the river to bathe and discovers the baby. She decides to adopt him. The baby’s mother nurses him until he is old enough to be weaned. When it is time for him to go to the palace, the boy is named Moses.

Many years later, Moses sees an Egyptian overseer beating a Hebrew slave. Enraged, Moses kills the Egyptian, but he realises that he has been found out, and so he flees to Midian. There he settles down and marries Zipporah.

Finally, God decides it is time to act to rescue His people,

Application

Sometimes we overlook the time frames in the Bible. Moses was about 40 years old when he killed the Egyptian, and he was in Midian for another 40 years before he was called by God to set His people free.

At the end of this chapter, God is thinking it is time to act on His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but still, from a human perspective, nothing is happening.

We might feel something similar about promises we have received from God. Maybe we have been praying for decades for a promise to come to pass.

God’s timing is not the same as ours. But His timing is always perfect.

We live in an era where faster is always better and fastest is still not fast enough.

God works on the principle that there is a right time, an appropriate time for everything.

The people of Israel had no idea of what do was about to do for them. It must have appeared that God had forgotten about them. In God’s time, the perfect time, a great rescue was about to be launched.

Prayer

Lord, please help me to be patient as I wait for your plans to unfold. Amen.