Another day with Jesus

  Moses, the friend of God    Who is your best friend? Do you enjoy different types of friendships which range from an acquaintance to a close friend or to loving friendship with a family member?   What about a friendship with God? Is it possible to draw close to someone you can’t see or touch?   In a previous episode, when Moses first met God in a burning bush, he called Moses to be Israel’s leader. Under God’s guidance, he led the nation from Egypt, and after God parted the Red Sea, they crossed into the desert.   During their travels, Moses climbed Mount Sinai where God gave him the Ten Commandments. He spent forty days on the mountain, and the people did not know what had happened to him. They grew impatient. Their connection with God was through Moses, and if he was gone, why should they worship God anymore? They persuaded Aaron to craft a calf from golden jewellery, and they worshipped it. This was soon after they’d promised God they'd always ...

      Y et, on to victory!  Have  you ever survived a drawn out struggle? Or perhaps this is where you find yourself now.   Julia was a fit young climber and sports teacher. She gazed up at the rugged mountain, her teenage class around her, as the sun broke through a blanket of billowing white clouds.   “Do we have to climb that, miss?”   “Yes, Emma, it may be tough, but it's worth it—I recommend you turn around and take in the scenery. It’s beautiful, but from the summit, we’ll see the ocean and a 360-degree panorama of the entire island. It will take you breath away. Are we ready?”   They trudged up the steep incline, pocked with pebbles and rocks that slithered under their feet.   Bump! Julia slipped, twisted sideways and landed on her butt. A few feet down the slope, a granite boulder loomed. She angled her feet and braced for the impact. Her feet hit the rock, and she crumpled, slamming her knee into her forehead. ...

                        Moses                               The rocky path to leadership                                           The Israelites had welcomed Moses, and they worshipped God. After fifty years, God would deliver them from Pharaoh, the Hebrews’ terrorist. The Egyptians worshipped Pharaoh, and no one dared to defy him. Yet, God was greater than Pharaoh, and the Israelites rejoiced they would soon be released from his grip.   Moses and Aaron entered Pharaoh’s presence with God’s message.    “Let my people hold a festival to me in the desert.” Pharaoh had no intention of relinquishing his slaves to a foreign god.   “Who is this Lord, demanding my obedience and release of Israel? I don’t know the Lord and ...

                                                                A Profound Identity   In our last blog post, Jethro farewelled Moses and Zipporah because God had called Moses to represent the Hebrew people before Pharaoh and deliver them from Egypt. He agreed after God promised to be with him. During  forty years of desert life, Moses developed survival skills and patience. Perhaps he discovered God’s grandeur under the stars and experienced God’s presence in the wide spaces, under the scorching sun, and during long chilly nights. Yet at eighty, this was his home. Moses had lost touch with his people and the Egyptian court. How would he represent the Hebrews? God warned Moses that Pharaoh would harden his heart. He’d learn leadership and humility while he persevered and trusted God to speak through him and delive...

                                                                            Is there more to life                                     than the humdrum?    At forty, Moses yearned to free his people. Pharaoh’s harsh treatment of the Hebrews angered him, and after he watched an Egyptian overseer whip a Hebrew slave, he killed the Egyptian. The Hebrews perceived this differently. Moses was an Egyptian prince, Pharaoh’s adopted grandson, despite his Hebrew birth. He didn’t belong in either world because he had a foot in both.   When Pharaoh heard of the murder, he wanted Moses dead. Disgraced and alone, Moses fled into the desert as far as Midian (possibly part of modern-day Saudi Arabia, close to t...

          This baby that wasn't supposed to live,  but God... During the early 18 th Egyptian dynasty (c.1500.B.C.), Pharaoh had enslaved the Israelites in Egypt, forcing them to build Pithom and Rameses, his store cities, hoping without success that the harsh conditions would reduce the Israelite population.     He fumed with uncontrolled rage. “The Israelites are breeding at an outrageous rate! If they join with our enemies, they will fight against us and leave the country. ”  And so he called for the Hebrew midwives. “You must kill every Hebrew newborn baby boy as soon as it is born.”  But they feared God and refused to obey Pharaoh. Jochebed, from the Levite tribe of Israel, gave birth to Moses, and by three months, he had grown into a beautiful, bouncing baby. She needed to protect her precious son, and God gave her a brilliant idea.   Tall reeds grew along the Nile riverbank, the perfect camouflage for a baby boat. ...

                                                                                                                            Hosea and Gomer                                                                  God gave Hosea, the prophet, a challenging assignment. He lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during Jeroboam the second’s reign, and the nation had exchanged wo...

 In Jonah's opinion...   After Jonah ran from God, he couldn’t escape because God deposited him in a large fish’s stomach, deep in the ocean. A prophet in a dark place, he knew God was his last resort, and he prayed, realizing his survival required trusting Someone he’d abandoned.  Wow! That was quite drastic, but Jonah was so antagonist, he needed a mighty shakeup before God would grab his undivided attention.    Although God could have let Jonah die,  God commanded the fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land. Smelly, dishevelled and pocked marked from the fish’s stomach juices, God commissioned Jonah a second time to go to Nineveh, a great and evil city where crime and violence ran rampant. Undesirable and ugly, Jonah became a conspicuous prophet. He delivered a simple but ominous warning. On the first day Jonah entered Nineveh, he proclaimed this message: “Forty days and Nineveh will be overturned.”   The message reached the king of Nineveh's ears...

                                                                    Jonah, the prodigal prophet When we run from God, something else will consume us!  When we turn around and run to him, he welcomes us into his loving arms. If you were a Christian doctor, would you go to the Congo to treat Ebola patients if God prompted you?  Perhaps you’d be afraid. If they died regardless of your intervention, would the trip have been worthwhile?  An Alaskan cruise through icy waterways, snow-capped mountains, and spectacular marine wildlife would be far more appealing, and after a busy year, you’d want to relax. You’d book the cruise, fly to Vancouver, and sail north through God’s amazing creation, but you can’t escape the media reports or God’s constant whisper in your ear.   Seven hundred years before Christ, ...