Numbers 10:1-11:23, Mark 14:1-21, Psalm 51:1-19, Proverbs 10:31-32
Today is the eighth day of March, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, it’s good to be here with you today. I trust that you are doing well. No matter how you are doing, here we are, around the Global Campfire and whatever is going on it can be set aside for a few minutes as we seek the Lord through the Scriptures and as we just kind of warm ourselves and rest together in our little oasis so that we can reenter the day, reenter life, maybe with some new perspective. And so, let’s dive in, we’ll pick up where we left off yesterday, which is what we do every single day. We’re moving our way through the book of Numbers today, chapter 10 verse 1 through 11 verse 23.
Commentary:
Okay so, a couple mileposts along the way that we passed by that we should pay attention to and look at briefly. First, from the book of Numbers and I quote Moses who is having a conversation, not with just anybody, a conversation with God and I quote “If this is how you intend to treat me just go ahead and kill me, do me a favor and spare me this misery” I’m pausing on purpose for it to sink in. Moses said that to God. Maybe we’ve said something similar to God. But why would Moses say this to God? Because he is overwhelmed with the burden that he is carrying for God, the burden of the people. God certainly does show up for Moses, get him some help and reaffirm that He’s going to give everybody meat to eat, even though they don’t have meat to eat. They’ve been sitting around talking about how they used to eat free meat. Which was not free, it was at the price of their very lives. They were slaves and they were being fed but they got cucumbers and melons and now they’re out in the desert free but they’re missing the melons and cucumbers. So, on the one hand Moses is trying to figure out how God is going to supply meat, not for just a day but for a whole month for 600,000 people. But he’s also getting weary from hearing their complaining and grumbling. And I’m telling you this is a mirror into our own life experience. First of all, the fact that this is in the Bible for us to read, at will, anytime we want, is on purpose and Moses being overwhelmed, we’re talking about Moses here. One of the greatest of the figures in the Bible, is overwhelmed while doing the work of the Lord. And God is not displeased with Moses having an honest conversation about it. That is one thing we should remember because life can be overwhelming and when it becomes that way, we can immediately think that we’re being punished or we’ve done something wrong when that’s just how it works sometimes. And so, God came to Moses’ rescue and gave him elders, help, help among the people. But Moses had already spoke on behalf of God, about meat and he’s concerned about it. And I quote Moses, “There are 600,000-foot soldiers here with me and yet you say I will give them meat for a whole month. Even if we butchered all our flocks and herds would that satisfy them, even if we caught all the fish in the sea, would that be enough.” Right, so we come to places where we are overwhelmed, leadership is too difficult, we are being crushed by the weight of what we’re called to do and we’re trying to be faithful in it and it is so hard that we are overwhelmed by it and we’re overwhelmed by the fact that we don’t have what we need even though we believe God has promised it to us, that is where Moses is standing today. This is what he’s experiencing and it should be familiar enough that we understand. God responds to Moses and may we let this sink in “Has my arm lost its power? Now you will see whether or not my word comes true.” And so, the next time maybe we’re feeling bold over or just completely overwhelmed by whatever, maybe we, maybe we come back to the book of Numbers, of all books of the Bible. The book of Numbers to find our encouragement in the story of Moses.
Then we get to the book of Mark, and we are experiencing the Last Supper again and the betrayal of Jesus is upon us again and there is this beautiful scene. A woman, she comes in to this supper and she’s got the alabaster jar, and this is famous enough story. She breaks open the jar and she pours perfume on Jesus head and then everybody’s indignant about it because what she just did basically blew a bunch of money that could have been used for other things. Why such frivolous behavior by this woman? This woman, she, there is nothing in the Scriptures to indicate she had an invitation to be there at all. And so, we have all this upheaval going on and we just have to imagine her for a second. Like, what is she thinking in this moment? She is with the master, she’s trying to do something to show gratitude, she’s not invited. She’s getting picked on. What does Jesus do? He says, leave her alone. It’s so beautiful. I love this story for lots of reasons, but it’s so beautiful to watch Jesus stand up for the pure in heart, even if their lives are filthy lives. But He works against those who are not pure in heart, but look like they are, the hypocrisy of hiding and faking, the echoes of what we read in Genesis 3, I was naked and so I hid. Just one more of many, many, many examples that reveal to us how backward we are living and how free we could be. People making criticisms against this woman, for her extravagance, aren’t really saying anything that wouldn’t be said in this day and age in a similar type of circumstance. Jesus sees it all, He sees what’s actually going on. It’s not about the perfume, it’s about her heart. This is the way she is pouring out her heart and gratitude to Jesus. She doesn’t have another way. This is what she has, her most valuable possession and she is pouring it out before Jesus because where else would you pour out some extravagant display of gratitude. It’s a beautiful story and Jesus says, wherever the gospel is told she’ll be remembered and she’s in the Bible and so she’s being remembered and we are talking about her today. And there are many things that we could think about in this story. But one of those things would be what are we withholding from Jesus. It’s just too expensive. This is too valuable to us and again we can think those thoughts about physical materials or money or something like that. But what are we withholding in our hearts from Jesus? And if we’ll consider that question as we move through our day and invite the Holy Spirit into that question as we move throughout our day, we may find ourselves much lighter by the day, by the time this day is over.
Prayer:
So, Jesus, we invite You into that. We are complicated people. We don’t even understand ourselves. We don’t understand the reasons that things trigger us or the motivations that we have all of the time, and we do desire to be fully given over to You. A full heart that we love You with all of our heart, mind and strength and that we love our neighbor as ourselves. That is the goal, that is the desire but we are too complicated even figure out ourselves. Yet we feel so often that we are a master at figuring You out. But maybe it is quite simple. We give all that we are to You and You give all that You are to us and it’s an unfair trade in our favor. So, Holy Spirit, come as we consider our hearts, even our possessions and our ambitions, what are we withholding from You. We need to know that because we need to you stop doing that. So, come Jesus into this we pray, in your mighty name we ask. Amen.
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And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Prayers and Encouragements will be posted later today.