"Hey, Jealousy. . ."

I'm glad you stopped by today. I hope you are finding great encouragement as you read through the Bible. God is at work in you through His Word!

Well, it's Monday again. My vacation is rapidly coming to an end, but I will be glad to get back to church. It is Lent, after all, and I've got plenty of work to do.

Here's the answer from yesterday:
Sun, Mar 8:
Numbers 22:21 21 Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.
Numbers 22:28 28 Then the LORD opened the donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?"

And here's the question of the day:
Mon, March 9: What was the name of the man who came down from Judea, took Paul’s belt and bound himself? (Acts 21)


And here's the reflection of the day:
The two stories in Numbers 25 illustrate external threats to Israel. The first is Balak's desire to curse Israel, and through it we see God's protective power even when Israel is unaware of it. And the second story involves Israel's participation in idolatry, which recalls the "Golden Calf Incident" and produces the same consequences.

Perhaps the most noticeable feature of this story is God's jealousy. It is a clear theme in today's readings as well as in most of the Bible.

Jealousy involves "divine passion," according to Dozeman, stressing that God is very much involved in Israel's life and story. He has little tolerance--strike that--NO tolerance for allegiance given to anyone other than Himself. Though scholars and preachers may try to water down the degree to which God is intolerant of this, the Bible remains clear. Dozeman continues, "God is not casual about our commitments. God is jealous about how we worship (Num 25:1-5) and how we live (Num 25:6-18)."

How do you feel about that? Are you giving God a lot to be jealous about?

Allison

Whew! Bundle up!

Yikes! Curl up under your blanket and stay there as much as possible. It's going to be a cold week.

Here's yesterday's question and answer:
Tues, Jan. 13 What physical ailment of Isaac started this whole mess between Jacob and Esau? (Gen 27)
Genesis 27:1 When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see. . . "

And here's today's question of the day:
Weds, Jan. 14 On what did Jacob see angels ascending and descending during his dream? (Gen 28)


And today's reflection:
Psalm 8 explores the tension we live with as God's children. God is a great big, powerful God--the creator of the heavens and moon and stars with simply His fingertips. But we are lowly humans, sinful and full of pride, who ruined even the Garden of Eden. Yet God made us "a little lower than the heavenly beings" and crowned us "with glory and honor."

God has given us a place of honor among His creation, and yet when given the choice, we would probably choose to do harm to His creation. When given the choice, we choose selfishly. But God never chooses selfishly. God is always holy.

So, "what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" The tension we live in is this: God is holy and we are not, but because He has adopted us as His children, His holiness is passed on to us, making us holy. We are holy not because of what we have done but because of what God has done for us. So God makes us holy--exalts us over the rest of creation--and yet we are still far less than God. And since idolatry seems to be our #1 sin, this is perhaps a perspective we should ponder more often!


Bible Study is still on for today at 10:30a. We'll decide about the evening Bible Study later--snow is supposed to be moving in this afternoon. Bundle up if you're going out!
Allison