Tag Archives: Plan

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Proverbs 16

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Footprints of Beach-ChickensWe can make our plans,
      but the LORD determines our steps.
Proverbs 16:9 (NLT)

I never planned to be a businessman.
I never planned to live in Pella, Iowa.
I never planned to be divorced, nor remarried.
I never planned to build a place on a lake (I dreamed about it, but I never planned on it).
I never planned to write a blog.
I never planned to…
I never planned to…
I never planned to….

Looking back, I can see so many places where my plans for the path my life would take and the actual steps of my path diverged. As I examine the past I can clearly recognize poor choices, sinful acts, wise moves and divine interventions at specific points in time. What becomes impossible for me to clearly differentiate are the consequences of will from God’s eternal purposes for me, for they weave together into one road that has brought me to this place on this day. All I am left with is the determination of what I will do with this day. At this moment, standing at this place on life’s path, whom will I serve and what will my next step be?

God, help me this day make wise choices with my every action I take, with every word that comes out of my mouth, and every meditation of my heart.

I’ll trust you with where that step will lead.

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Zechariah 4

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Then he said, “This is God’s Message to Zerubbabel: ‘You can’t force these things. They only come about through my Spirit….‘” Zechariah 4:6 (MSG)

Through the journey I’ve been involved in many churches and many different ministries. In that time I’ve been part of many different “plans” to bring about the next big revival and pack the pews with new converts and members. I’ve watched all sorts of different designs and machinations concocted by local leaders and nationally touted gurus. Put tab A in slot B and people will flock to you just like it did in Timbuktu.

It never seems to work as prescribed and predicted.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t try different things and learn from what has worked for others. At the same time: “You can’t force these things.” God’s Spirit moves like mysterious wind, in His own time and power. You can’t conjure it, you can’t force it, and you can’t predict it. What we can do pray hard, love well, and teach God’s Message faithfully.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Leviticus 12

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“If she can’t afford a lamb, she can bring two doves or two pigeons, one for the Whole-Burnt-Offering and one for the Absolution-Offering. The priest will make atonement for her and she will be clean.” Leviticus 12:8 (MSG)

One of the reasons I’ve always encouraged fellow followers to read through the Old Testament is that it provides layers of new understanding to familiar passages in the New Testament. Take the verse above, for example. Now compare that with Luke 2:22-24:

When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took [Jesus] to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”

Now we get a deeper picture of Mary and Joseph, who were dedicated followers of the Law and held to the rituals prescribed in Leviticus chapter 12. We also learn that Jesus’ family was of limited means because they sacrificed the doves or pigeons rather than the lamb. This, in turn, is fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophetic word picture (Isaiah 53:2) that the messiah would be of humble beginnings “like a tender shoot and a root out of dry ground.”

God’s Message provides wholistic understanding. While individual verses or passages provide inspiration or instruction, they are intended to be interpreted in the context of the whole. I am always wary of those who pull one or two verses out of God’s Message and interpret them to mean all sorts of things that do not fit in context with the whole. These early books of law are certainly dry in terms of simple devotional reading, but they are thick with providing a broader historical picture of God’s plan.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Leviticus 7

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From the day they are presented to serve as priests to God, Aaron and his sons can expect to receive these allotments from the gifts of God. This is what God commanded the People of Israel to give the priests from the day of their anointing. This is the fixed rule down through the generations. Leviticus 7:35-36 (MSG)

When the law of Leviticus was given to Moses around 3500 years ago, the fledgling nation of Israel were nomads wandering in the desert and they were split into twelve tribes. The sons of Aaron (Moses’ Chief Operating Officer) and the rest of his tribe of Levites, were appointed the job of priests and caretakers of the Tabernacle, which was a giant tent sanctuary that they took with them and set up wherever they went. Once the people had settled in the Promised Land, the plan was for the Levites to continue to be caretakers of God’s temple. As priests, they would not own and control a section of land from which to earn their living. The daily sacrifices offered by the other tribes would provide what they and their families needed to survive.

In the Levites, we find another brilliant word picture of God’s ultimate plan. God’s message calls those who follow Jesus a “royal priesthood”  (1 Peter 2:9-10). Just as the Levites found their provision in the sacrifices offered in the Tabernacle and the Temple, those of us who follow Jesus find our provision in the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus made when He gave Himself up to die on a cross.

This morning as I read the chapter and the bread offerings that became daily provision for the priests and their families, I couldn’t help but think of the prayer Jesus taught His followers to pray: Give us this day our daily bread. And I thought of the last supper when He broke the bread: This bread is my body given for you.

As followers of Jesus, we are given daily sustenance and provision through the sacrifice of Jesus. He is the Bread of Life. The system of sacrifice set up in the law of Leviticus is a beautiful word picture that foreshadowed God’s plan to send Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, to be the ultimate sacrifice for sin. It was a metaphor for the royal priesthood Jesus’ followers become, and the daily provision Jesus’ sacrifice becomes for those who partake. Without Leviticus, we don’t have a complete a picture of who Jesus was (and is, and is to come).

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Leviticus 1

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“If the offering is a Whole-Burnt-Offering from the herd, present a male without a defect at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting that it may be accepted by God. Leviticus 1:3 (MSG)

My grandfather was a court bailiff and as a child I spent my spring break with him at the courthouse. I still remember the long bookshelves, stacked floor to ceiling with an important set of leather bound books entitled “Code of Iowa.” It was the “book of law” for the state of Iowa. Call it the rule book for our society. It prescribes the rules by which we live together and on which our judicial system judges those who break the rules.

Leviticus is not an inspirational book of song lyrics (like Psalms). It is not a devotional book of wise sayings (like Proverbs). It is not a biographical story (like Matthew). Leviticus is an ancient book of law. Like the Code of Iowa sitting on the county courthouse shelf, Leviticus is the “Code of (ancient) Israel.”

We also have to remember the time and historical circumstance in which the book of Leviticus was given. A couple of million Israelites had just left slavery in Egypt. An entire nation with their flocks and herds now found themselves wandering in the desert together. There was no system of government. There wasn’t an agreed upon set of rules. It was a law-less nomadic society; Imagine the entire population of the state of Iowa (complete with farmers taking their livestock) grabbing everything they could carry and making their way on foot toward Canada [Canadians will appreciate that I made them “the promised land” in this metaphor]. Leviticus was God’s attempt to provide some basic rules for life and worship to an ancient people whose daily life we can scarcely imagine in a time and culture very different from our own.

Besides being mindful of the historical context, there are two things I always try to keep in mind while wading through the Code of (ancient) Israel. First, the common link we have to that people is our sin nature. We all blow it and fall short of God’s holy perfection. The sacrificial system prescribed by Leviticus is an initial attempt in history to deal with the core spiritual problem: man is sinful, separated from God, and therefore stands condemned to die.

Second, God is a God of metaphor, so the Code of worship and conduct prescribed in Leviticus is going to provide word pictures and foreshadowing to the larger story God is authoring. For example, the first sacrificial offering prescribed is a “male without defect.” Picture Jesus, God’s own Son, a male without defect, dying on the cross. Two thousand years before Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice on the cross, God was trying to give people a word picture of the ultimate plan in the sacrifices He prescribed.

Today, I’m mindful of an epic story of grand design which is still being authored, of which I am a part. And, I’m thankful for a God of detail who has a master plan, even though my finite mind can’t completely comprehend it.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and rachael voorhees

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Isaiah 14

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There is a blueprint. God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaks: "Exactly as I planned, it will happen. Following my blueprints, it will take shape." Isaiah 14:24 (MSG)

In the months leading up to the dawn of the 21st century, the world was whipped into a frenzy with fear of worldwide disaster of doomsday proportions. Everyday the news media ran stories about the impending crash of the world's computer systems. All of the world's computers had been programmed to assume the year always began with "19," and it was believed that when the year turned to "20" the computers would crash. People started hoarding food and water and made plans for their survival in the apocalyptic world of "Y2K." There were predictions of planes falling out of the sky and entire governments collapsing.

And then…nothing happened. It was all a bunch of hype. Much ado about nothing.

Now, when I hear predictions of doomsday I remember Y2K. It's not that I don't think disaster of world-wide proportion can happen. From what God's message says, I think we can safely say that it will. Nevertheless, I take heart in knowing that there is a plan. God has a blueprint. My attention is to be given to faithfully walking the path set before me, persevering on the narrow way ordained for me. Where it leads in this life, and how it fits into God's grand design is something I can entrust to Him.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and brianbutko

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day 2 Kings 5

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Charting course. Naaman lost his temper. He turned on his heel saying, "I thought he'd personally come out and meet me, call on the name of God, wave his hand over the diseased spot, and get rid of the disease." 2 Kings 5:11 (MSG)

My wife and I sat in the living room last night talking about the way you picture your life turning out, and the way it actually ends up looking. From the time we're little children we are asked "What are you going to be when you grow up?" Without being aware that we're doing it, we begin to plot, plan and prescribe the path we want our lives to take. Somewhere along the growth curve we become aware of God's presence on the journey. Instead of relinquishing the Google map we printed in on our heart and brain of the path we're taking, we ascribe authorship of the map it to God. We mentally stamp God's approval on it. Sometimes we even get so bold as to proclaim it: "God called me to…," "God wants me to…," "God is leading me to…,"

Like Naaman, we want God to work the way we've imagined and prescribed He will. We want Him to lead us where we want to go. Then we kick and scream at every detour, or like Namaan we simply opt out and head off on our own (then find out He planned for that, too, dangit).

God cannot be confined except within boundary lines that He, Himself, has set. He certainly cannot be confined by an individual human's thoughts and desires. His plans and designs for us are infinitely more intricate and complex than we can possibly fathom. We can chart a course, but we shouldn't be surprised when the journey takes us on a much different path than the one we imagined.

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." Proverbs 16:9 (NIV)

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and marchorowitz