“Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘What did this people do to you, that you have brought such great sin upon them?’” (Exodus 32:21)
The truth was, the people didn’t actually “do” anything to Aaron. At least it wasn’t like they had stoned or tortured him. Verse 1 says they merely “assembled about Aaron” and said “Come, make us a god.” It was just what we might call “peer pressure.”
And isn’t that often all it takes with us too? Continue reading
One of the best known memoirs of the Holocaust is Night by Elie Wiesel. Wiesel was a devout Jew before his experience in the Nazi death camps, but his time there destroyed his faith. He wrote, “Why, but why should I bless Him? In every fiber I rebelled. Because He had had thousands of children burned in His pits? Because He kept six crematories working night and day, on Sunday and feast days? Because in His great might He had created Auschwitz, Birkenau, Buna, and so many factories of death? How could I say to Him: ‘Blessed art Thou, Eternal, Master of the Universe, Who chose us from among the races to be tortured day and night, to see our fathers, our mothers, our brothers, end in the crematory?” (Night, 64-65). What happened to him, and what he saw happening around him, raised questions that caused him to give up his faith. (Nik Ripken, the author of the video we’re going to watch the next several Wednesday nights, was like that. He lost his son on the mission field, and he was asking, “Is God insane for asking His people to make sacrifices like that?” God’s NOT insane; but these kinds of questions are real, and difficult.)
The author of Psalm 73, Asaph, was almost like Elie Wiesel. This Psalm is his very personal testimony. He opens it with a truth: “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.” But then he begins to tell his own personal testimony in :2, “But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling.” He says God is good; I know that — but I came close to stumbling (in the Bible “stumbling” means to be lost; to give up the faith. In the NT Jesus says “don’t cause one of these little ones to stumble” — that means don’t do anything that might cause someone to be lost.) So here Asaph says, basically, I almost gave up the faith! He DIDN’T — but he said, he almost did. He was really troubled by what he had seen in the world around him, and it raised questions which bothered him. Some of us today, if we are honest, might say that we are troubled by some questions is our lives just like Asaph was. What caused Asaph to almost lose his faith, and what brought him out of it — and how can this help those of us today, who might have some questions like he did? Continue reading
Well I learned something new this week: Cheryl & I had dinner with Chris & Gina Bailey, and she made the best homemade eggrolls. I asked her what was in them, and one of the ingredients she mentioned was “white pepper.” I had never heard of white pepper before — but it was great!
There are so many things in this world, and God has given people such a variety of gifts and abilities, that there is always something you can learn from every single person — and if we are wise, we will listen and learn.
This week we read one of the great stories in the New Testament, of Cornelius the centurion. And there are some very important lessons that this centurion has to teach us: Continue reading
“But Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.’”
What did Israel do to bring about their salvation that day by the Red Sea? NOTHING. Their command from Moses was merely, “Stand by and see” what God would do to save them. And they did watch what God did as He saved them by splitting the sea and destroying their enemies.
This is also a picture of OUR salvation. Continue reading
“Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wildereness.” (Exodus 14:12)
Is this not the basic attitude of many today as well: “Leave us alone.” Continue reading
“Hedonism” is the belief that pleasure is the most important thing in the world, and that you should live your life, for pleasure. Most Christians would say that hedonism is wrong — but a few years ago pastor John Piper asserted that hedonism is actually good — IF you are seeking the right kind of pleasure. And he introduced the idea of what he calls “Christian hedonsim” — that life IS about finding your pleasure and delight in GOD, who designed us to be satisfied in Him. This what our verse for today teaches:
“Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Continue reading
“Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Sanctify to Me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the sons of Israel, both of man and beast; it belongs to Me.’” (Exodus 13:1-2)
It is striking that God has no hesitations in claiming the firstborn of everything. “It belongs to Me,” He said. That is true. He MADE those firstborn. He created them all — and all the “other” born as well! They are ALL His, and He can require whatever He will, whenever He wants, without recrimination. It all belongs to Him. It is not “too much.”
It is the same with anything in our lives. Continue reading
“Pharaoh callled for Moses and Aaron and said, ‘Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.’” (Exodus 8:25)
That sounded like a logical compromise. Moses and Aaron had told Pharaoh that God had commanded them to go and worship Him in the wilderness (7:16). Pharaoh was perhaps rightly concerned about losing his slave labor source, but on the other hand, God’s miracles were beginning to weigh heavy upon the land: they had already experienced the plagues of frogs and gnats and flies. So he offered a compromise: Continue reading
“So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their despondency and cruel bondage.” (Exodus 6:9)
One thing a reading of Exodus makes very clear: God did not deliver Israel from their captivity in Egypt because of the faithfulness of its people, or its leaders. Which actually should be a comforting thought for us. Continue reading
“With reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity; You consume as a moth what is precious to him; surely every man is a mere breath.” (Psalm 39:11)
Psalm 39:11 should be a standard memory verse for God’s people — but most have probably never heard it. Yet it explains so many of the painful things that happen in our lives, and heeding it might cause us to avoid so much hardship. Continue reading
I'm a retired Southern Baptist pastor of almost 40 years. My wife Cheryl & I moved to Norman, OK in March of 2025. I share a weekly overview for Sunday School teachers of the weekly Lifeway "Explore the Bible" lesson, as well as texts of my sermons and other articles.
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