God Values Covenant

What does God value? One of the ways to discern what a person values is to see what makes them angry. In this post I will look at three situations where God was angry at Israel.

But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things; for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things; and the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel. [Josh 7.1 RSV]

Was God angry at the entire nation of Israel just because one man got greedy? It is not that simple. God was angry because he had a special agreement with Israel concerning the city of Jericho, and the terms of that special agreement were broken. In the broader context of the Old Testament, God had made a covenant with Israel, where he would take care of Israel, and part of their response was to give to him the first fruits of any of their endeavors. First fruits included things like the first sheaf of grain from a field or the first born of every womb. In the more immediate context of the book of Joshua, God had promised to give the entire land of Canaan and all of its contents to Israel, but he claimed as first fruits the first city they conquered--which was Jericho. In Josh 6.17-19 [NET] God explicitly stated that all the gold and silver in Jericho belonged to him and said of anyone who took any of these things, "you will make the Israelite camp subject to annihilation and cause a disaster." God did his part and made it easy for Israel to conquer Jericho, but Achan disregarded the general covenant regarding first fruits and the special agreement regarding Jericho, so God was angry with Israel and brought a disaster to them as he had promised. His covenants and special agreements were very important to God.

This next situation takes place in the book of Exodus.

And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves; 8 they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ” ... now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; [Exo 32.7-8, 11 RSV]

It had been just a few months since God had led the people of Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness up to the base of Mount Sinai.While at Sinai, the Israelites heard God's voice, and he gave Moses the terms of a covenant, the core of which was that he, Yahweh, would be the God of Israel, and they would have no other gods besides him. [Exo 20-23] Then Israel agreed to the covenant:

[Moses] took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “All that Yahweh has spoken will we do, and be obedient.” 8 Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Look, this is the blood of the covenant, which Yahweh has made with you concerning all these words.” 9 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. 10 They saw the God of Israel...and ate and drank. [Exo 24.7-9, 11]

 Right after all this happened, Moses went up the mountain alone to be with God, and was gone for forty days. While he was gone, the Israelites got impatient and told Aaron to make them gods to go before them, and Aaron complied. He made a gold statue of a calf, of which the Israelites declared,
“These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” [Exo 32.4] They did this when the miracles of the plagues and the parting of the Red Sea were still fresh in their memories. They did this while they were still eating manna that God provided them daily. They did this just a few weeks after they had all agreed to the covenant, and Aaron and seventy other leaders had seen God and had eaten in his presence. Not only did they make an idol with their own hands, and worshiped it, but they gave the idol credit for all that God had done for them. It is no wonder that God was angry. Not only had they trashed the covenant, the basis of their relationship with him, but they had insulted him in the process. I suspect God was feeling a lot of different emotions, and anger was just one of them.

The third situation that I want to talk about is in Jeremiah 3.1-3. God said to the kingdom of Judah:

¹ “If a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife,
he may not take her back again.
Doing that would utterly defile the land.
But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods.
So what makes you think you can return to me?”
says the Lord.
² “Look up at the hilltops and consider this.
You have had sex with other gods on every one of them.
You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the desert.
You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods.
³ That is why the rains have been withheld,
and the spring rains have not come.
Yet in spite of this you are obstinate as a prostitute.
You refuse to be ashamed of what you have done. [Jer 3.1-3 ESV]

God is not happy with Judah's worship of other gods. To help Judah understand how he feels, he compares the covenant relationship he has with Judah with a marriage relationship, and depicts Judah as an unfaithful wife who has chosen to become a prostitute, selling herself to all the gods around her. He is angry that she has broken the covenant once again, but he is also jealous and brokenhearted.

However, there is one thing that God values more than covenant, and that is relationship. A covenant after all is just a framework in which a relationship takes place. Even though his covenant with Israel spells out in detail the disasters that will come upon her, he would rather extend mercy and restore the relationship, than destroying her, but she must first repent.

¹² ‘Come back to me, wayward Israel,’ says the Lord.
‘I will not continue to look on you with displeasure.
For I am merciful,’ says the Lord.
‘I will not be angry with you forever.
¹³ However, you must confess that you have done wrong,
and that you have rebelled against the Lord your God.
You must confess that you have given yourself to foreign gods under every green tree,
and have not obeyed my commands,’ says the Lord. [Jer 3.12-13 ESV]

Into the Wilderness

I have recently entered the wilderness. The wilderness, or desert, is a common topic in the Bible. It is literally a dry place without much water or vegetation or food. It is a lonely and uncomfortable place. The people of Israel went into a literal wilderness (Exodus), and so did Jesus. The Woman clothed with the sun in Rev. 12 went into a metaphorical wilderness. I have entered a metaphorical wilderness.

In Exodus God led Israel into the Wilderness. The Scriptures give several purposes for Israel to be there. The first is to sacrifice to God. Moses' message to Pharaoh was, "Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh, our God." (Exo. 3.18) God did not tell the Israelites ahead of time what the sacrifice would be. It was something they learned after they got there. In the desert they were hungry and thirsty, and did without many of the things they were accustomed to. They were homeless, and not in control. When Jesus went into wilderness his sacrifice was "fasting for forty days and forty nights." (Matt 4.1-2) When Hagar went into the desert she left everything behind. (Gen 21:14) Their sacrifices were defined by their situation.

In my wilderness, I have had to give up many of the things I was doing on a regular basis. I am living in place that is not my home. My body is not functioning as I would like it be. My response is to willingly offer my situation as a sacrifice. Paul said, "Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. 2 Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God." (Rom 1.1-2)

The second purpose for Israel to go into the wilderness was to be tested. Moses said to Israel, "you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not." (Deut 8.3) Likewise, "Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." (Matt 4.1) It is interesting to note that the Greek word that is translated "tempt" in this verse, peirazo, could be translated either "test" or "tempt". In English the main difference between "test" and "tempt" is one's attitude concerning the outcome of a situation. A person says "tempt" when there is an expectation of failure, and "test" when there is an expectation of success. In the situation of Jesus in the wilderness, Satan expected Jesus to fail, to give up and sin, whereas God expected Jesus to succeed and overcome the situation.

They key is attitude. I can conform to this world, being full of bitterness and complaining, seeking ways to cover up my discomfort with the pleasures of this world, or I can be transformed by the renewing of my mind, trusting that God still loves me, and striving to give God the glory in every situation.

The third purpose for Israel to go into the wilderness, was simply to be with God and to be cared for by him. The Mountain of God, also called Mt. Sinai or Mt. Horeb, is in the middle of the wilderness. Israel met God there and heard his voice. (Exo 19.17-19) There the Israelites drank from water from the rock and ate manna from heaven. (Neh 9-19-21) There they became God's special possession. (Exo 19.5-6) When Jesus went into the wilderness, he was served by angels. (Mrk 1.13) The Woman clothed with the sun flew to a place in the wilderness prepared by God to be nourished for a time. (Rev 12.6,14) Hagar spoke with an angel in the wilderness and was given water and a promise for her son. (Gen 21.17-19)

In my own wilderness, I am safe and well taken care of. I have a lot of unscheduled time that I normally do not have. God is here, I have a wonderful opportunity to spend time with him, to see this situation through his eyes, and to get to know him better.

p.s.
David had good thoughts about the desert. Psa 55.4-7; 78.52-54;

God sees opportunity in the wilderness:

Behold, I will do a new thing.

It springs out now.

Don’t you know it?

I will even make a way in the wilderness,

and rivers in the desert.

20 The animals of the field shall honor me,

the jackals and the ostriches;

because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert,

to give drink to my people, my chosen,

21the people which I formed for myself,

that they might declare my praise. 

(Isa 43.19-21)

His Power and My Weakness

God said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2Cor 12.9

This verse is comforting to me, because right now I feel weak. But what does it mean when I say "I feel weak"? In of itself it doesn't say much other than I feel less strong than something. Less strong than what? Less strong than other men my age, or less strong than I was a month ago, or maybe just less strong than I want to be. But the reality is that no matter how strong I am, my strength is nothing compared to God's power. God doesn't need my strength. God created me for his glory, and he gives me the level of strength he wants me to have to achieve his purposes. That is humbling, but it is also very comforting.

What does it mean that God's power is made "perfect" in my weakness? Maybe it means that because I am weak that I am not using my strength to interfere with what God is doing with his power. Or it may mean that I now have to let God do his job because I don't have the strength to do it for him. Or maybe it means that I will now have to stop wasting my time and strength doing things God is not interested in, and will now cooperate with God in doing what he wants to accomplish. Jesus alludes to this in John 15.1-2, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” God has pruned my strength. I believe he wants me to bear new fruit, fruit that I would not otherwise have borne if I'd had more strength. And I think He wants to get the glory from this fruit.

Introduction to Blog

I like God. Not just any God, but the God who introduced himself to Moses as "I am", and the God that Jesus called "my father". I like to learn about God and from God. I like spend to spend time thinking about God and talking to him. I like the Bible because it helps me learn about God and learn from him. I like talking about God. That is why I am writing this blog. I want to talk about what I am learning and thinking about God.

In my life I have read a lot of theology--the study of God. Some theology books treat God as if he were a specimen to be analyzed and his characteristics catalogued. Others treat God like a machine and read like a users manual informing users how to use the machine to get the best results. I would rather talk about God as a person with a personality, values, plans, projects, relationships, and even incomprehensible quirks. I want to write about the God I am getting to know. So, this brings us to the title of this blog, TheoKnowance. It is word that I just made up with three parts: theo from Greek meaning "God", know from English meaning "to know", and ance from French meaning "an ongoing activity". So TheoKnowance is the ongoing activity of knowing God.

I doubt if anything I say in this blog will actually be original. I suspect that everything I say has been said multiple times over the past few thousand years. So right up front I am going to give credit to the human race for all my ideas, but also acknowledging that the God's Holy Spirit has had a big influence on the good things said by humans. I will quote and paraphrase a lot of scripture, but many times I will neglect to name the translation that I am quoting from. Mostly it will be from the World English Bible (WEB), the English Standard Version (ESV), or the Revised Standard Version (RSV).

This blog is dedicated to the glory of God.