Hatred and peace are closely related. There can be no peace without hatred of that which disrupts the peace. Tolerance of sin creates an environment that guarantees conflict.

I thank God for Jesus Christ who saves me from “the wages of sin.” May God grant me the spirit of Phinehas and the courage to drive a spear through the heart of my own fallen desires.

Balaam was stuck for a reason. God wanted a word with him. I’ve been similarly stuck, crammed into a tight, dark space and rendered motionless by people and circumstances beyond my control. I’ve lashed out at the those I perceived stood between me and the destination of my choosing.

Have you ever kicked the dog, cursed your neighbor, yelled at the kids, or nagged your wife? You knew they didn’t deserve this treatment, but (you thought) you couldn’t help it. You were angry and didn’t care who knew it. You had problems at work. Traffic was horrible. Nothing went your way. It was a very bad day and at the end of that day your friends and family would suffer the fallout.

In the face of opposition, Moses reaffirmed two simple truths:

Self-appraisal is easily transmitted. You cannot hide it. Somehow what you believe about yourself seeps out to those around you. Your belief about self eventually becomes the belief others hold about you. People take their cue from you. 

If you believe you are a grasshopper, so will they.

This podcast is an overview of week 9 in the Word Traveler Bible reading plan and covers the following chapters in the Old and New Testaments: Numbers 12 – 26; Mark 13 – 16; Luke 1.

God called Moses to perform a task, then He made it impossible for Moses to succeed. 

Moses cried out, “I can’t do this myself.” He was stuck between the absolute awareness of God’s calling and utter impossibility of its fulfillment. 

That’s a rough place to be. It’s the place of pain, hopelessness, despair. It’s worse than death. In fact, some reasonable people might opt, as Moses wished, to die rather than to suffer more pain. Unfortunately, God’s plan of redemptive suffering does not include an ‘easy way out.’ Moses was stuck. He felt betrayed by the very God he was called to trust.

With advancing years comes the growing suspicion that my effectiveness will be measured less by how well I served my church, family, community, and nation, and more by how well I assisted others to serve their church, family, community, and nation.

We are to "put on" the name of the Lord... 

“So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them,” (Numbers 6.27).

The Gershonites were responsible to carry the furnishings of the Tabernacle from place to place during the Israelite’s forty years of wilderness wandering. These furnishings included tent coverings, courtyard curtains, framework, ropes, pegs, utensils, and equipment of various kinds. 

It was a big task to take down the Tabernacle, move it, and set it up again. It took seven thousand, five hundred Gershonites to complete the work (Numbers 3.22). I assume there was more to the job than the brief details found in the biblical account, so God issued a broad command... The Gershonites were to “do all that needs to be done.”