Freedom Within Boundaries

"This is what the LORD commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, 'Let them marry whom they think best, but they may marry only within the family of their father's tribe.'"

Numbers 36:6

The daughters of Zelophehad came to Moses with a concern.  Because their father only had given birth to daughters and the inheritance of land was passed down through sons, in years to come their land would pass to a different family and tribe.  Moses brought their case before the LORD who provided guidance in how the issue was to be rectified.  They were free to marry whomever they thought best but were to marry within their family.  Marrying a first cousin was a very common practice in the ancient world and remains a norm in middle eastern countries to this day.  Their obedience to God's directive would ensure the inheritance of land given them by lot would remain in the family for generations to come.

This concept of complete freedom within the boundaries God set is seen frequently in scripture.  Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden were free to eat from all the trees in the garden except for the tree right in the middle:  the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  If they desired to live, they needed to heed the limits God had set.  The freedom God gives people is to be fully enjoyed within the confines of God's righteousness, goodness and love.  The freedom Christians have in our relationship with God through faith in Jesus is not to be used as an excuse or license to sin, but it is the freedom to do righteously according to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit.  This freedom is within the boundaries of God's love.  As sheep of the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ we can use our freedom to foolishly wander from the flock, but the best use of our freedom is in the pasture God has graciously provided in the presence of our Saviour.

The pattern of freedom within the boundaries God establishes can be seen in many aspects of life:  in a marriage relationship, family, work, ministry and worldly pursuits.  All is lawful but not all edifies, and it is good when we walk wisely and circumspectly in obedience to Jesus.  God has given us a will that is best surrendered to the will of God to do what we know is right according to Christ's example and God's word.  When Paul compared the Christian walk to an athlete competing in a match, he reminded believers of the importance to strive lawfully according to the rules of the event.  Those who transgress the rules will be disqualified by the judge, and the same idea applies to our need to walk in God's love, forgiveness and grace towards all.

The boundaries for the Christian walk are not supplied by the Law of Moses but by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.  2 Corinthians 3:17 says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."  This liberty is freedom from the slavery of sin and freedom to do what pleases and glorifies God.  By faith in Jesus we are all made part of the Body of Christ, and the function of a hand is not to benefit only itself alone but the entire Body.  In the context of having Jesus as our head Ephesians 4:16 says, "...from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."  Praise God for the freedom we have in Jesus and for the infinite boundaries of His love!

The Unexpected Miracle

God is always working, and He works miraculously in unexpected ways.  Like Namaan who imagined the prophet Elisha would wave his hand over him to heal him of leprosy and was disappointed when directed to dip seven times in the Jordan river, we can assume the best course of action for God to take.  Dipping in water wasn't nearly as flashy as invoking the power of God with a wave, but God sovereignly required faith by humility and obedience to a basic task Namaan needed to do.  Namaan's miraculous cleansing shows God is faithful and worthy of our trust.

Yesterday afternoon I was blessed to see the LORD work in an unexpected way through a lost pair of glasses which were swept away in the surf.  Upon hearing the news, I returned to the area where the glasses had been washed away.  I had no idea where the glasses were, and the chances of me finding them washed on the beach were minuscule.  As I walked alone on the beach with eyes scanning the breaking waves, I prayed God would provide the glasses my friend needed to see and participate in the group's activities.  Confident God knew where the glasses were and his need, I prayed they would be deposited miraculously at my feet.  There was not a shred of doubt God was able or willing to answer the prayer of faith.  After awhile I walked away from the shore without the glasses in hand.

I was unable to find the lost glasses, but my prayers were more than answered.  A friend of ours living almost 2 hours away was able to pick up another pair of glasses from the home of my sight-challenged friend and brought them to us by nightfall.  The needed glasses were not thrown at my feet scratched with sand according to my request but carried safely to him personally by a brother in Christ who demonstrated the generous, sacrificial love of Jesus.  What do you think is more amazing:  that God could cause an ax head to float, lost glasses to beach themselves on the shore or for a person to willingly, cheerfully drop everything to drive nearly four hours in total to deliver a pair of glasses because he was asked?  That to me is the most marvelous, for in this deed the love of Jesus is manifested.

The unexpected miracles God does in and through people who trust in Jesus should not passed over for the overtly supernatural manifestations of God's power.  Whether God answers our prayers immediately in the way we think He should or not, let us continue to ask believing, knowing He will accomplish His good purposes even in a mundane thing like a lost pair of glasses.  Praise the LORD who only does wonderful things!

A Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to God

History is an excellent teacher that reveals how society tends to drift from the intended purposes of forefathers.  The national holiday of Thanksgiving in the Unites States is a testimony of this.  When I went to school, in connection with Thanksgiving we learned about the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock, dressed up as pilgrims and Native Americans, and traced our hands to draw turkeys.  We were taught the pilgrims and Indians gathered for a meal to give thanks to God.  In recent years Thanksgiving has almost wholly given way to "Turkey Day" in the media.  This year was the first year I heard people wanting the holiday struck from the calendar because of the assertion at its root Thanksgiving is a celebration of colonisation and subjugation.  This accusation is far from the truth.

I decided to look into the history of Thanksgiving as a national holiday and was pleasantly surprised to see no mention whatsoever of the voyage on the Mayflower, no reference to Native Americans or turkeys:  it was a day appointed by president Abraham Lincoln for all the United States to give thanks to God.  The time frame of this day of thanksgiving and praise to God is compelling because in 1863 the United States were in the midst of a prolonged and bloody civil war.  George Washington and individual States had set apart various days for thanksgiving to God, but Abraham Lincoln is the one who enshrined Thanksgiving as a national holiday.  Here is a copy of Abraham Lincoln's "Thanksgiving Proclamation" for all to read:

"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union."  --Abraham Lincoln

In the midst of a global pandemic God remains as worthy of thanksgiving and praise because He remains glorious and good.  When all the trappings of what many celebrate as "Turkey Day" are stripped away, God shines forth with undimmed grace, provision and kindness despite our sinful, idolatrous and wicked ways.  Even when people are at war with God and all that He stands for, He offers hope, peace, liberty and eternal life to all who trust in Him.  May our lives be a proclamation of thanksgiving and praise to God for the wonderful blessings He has provided us and the healing available to souls and nations who honour Him.

Marvelous are God's Works

I read a news article yesterday about a "monolith" being found in Utah desert that hearkened back to the ground-breaking science fiction film by Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey.  As a person who believes the biblical account that God created the heavens, the earth and all living things, the irony of the situation is most amusing.

The 9NEWS article begins, "A bizarre four-metre high metal block found in the isolated wilderness of the Utah desert is the work of a dead sculpture artist, his former agent believes.  Officials from the Utah Department of Public Safety Aero Bureau stumbled upon the shiny monolith on November 18 while conducting a survey on big horn sheep.  The object has no signifying marks but appears to have been bolted to the ground with "human-made rivets".  The metal block in isolated wilderness is called "bizarre" because reason tells us polished stainless steel never presents itself naturally in erect monoliths.  Based upon our knowledge of the world and the identification of rivets (which are always man-made with a matching male/female components and pressed together) confirms without a doubt it was placed there by someone.  The debate is only about who might be responsible--with no one arguing this shiny block occurred by chance.

Isn't it ironic people debate the sudden appearance of a stainless steel object in a desert but little consideration is given to countless living things which teem upon the earth and reproduce after their kind?  In 2001: A Space Odyssey the existence of primates living in a barren wilderness to me is a far more curious and improbable development than the sudden appearance of a looming, inert monolith.  The same living, reasoning people who assume a monolith must have been constructed by someone because of the design cannot see and refuse to acknowledge their existence on this planet is far more impossible and necessitates being created.  Is not a human being infinitely more complex than a sculpture of steel?  When I consider the intricacies of the human body and the ability of people, plants, animals and insects to reproduce after their own kind, I gaze upon living beings which cannot reasonably have arisen by chance and natural selection alone.  It would be infinitely easier for a block of steel with "human-made rivets" to appear in the desert without a sculptor than for a male and female human being to exist at the same time on this planet and produce a healthy baby without a Creator.

David acknolwedged God as his Creator who knows all and does marvels in Psalm 139:11-19:  "If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me," even the night shall be light about me; ¹² indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You. ¹³ For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. ¹⁴ I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. ¹⁶ Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. ¹⁷ How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! ¹⁸ If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You."  It is a small marvel a block of shiny metal would be erected in the desert compared to the marvel God is who created man and does miraculous things, whose thoughts toward us are more numerous than the grains of sand.  Great is the LORD and worthy to be praised!