Salty Zebra

  Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”   John 14:21  The order, the progression of things, matters. We love God because He first loved us ( 1 John 4:19 ). We obey God because we love God ( John 14:21 ). God loves us > We love God > We obey God. This is a very clear and important flow. When those arrows get moved around, when people try to put things in a different order, it goes poorly.   At times in my life, I mistakenly had the impression that God loved me only when and because I obeyed Him. Like His love was dependent on my actions. If I was obeying Him, I was in His favor or love and when I was making poor choices, I was out of it. The first fallacy of this thinking is it puts me in charge of God – how ridiculous! The idea that God’s choice to love me would be dependent on something as fallible and inconsistent as myself is so f...

  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!   Philippians 2:8  Let’s be real. Jesus didn’t have to do anything He did for us. He is God. He is above all. He is all. He has all. He needs nothing. He DIDN’T HAVE TO DO IT. But He did. That’s the hugest, coolest part of it all. He didn’t have to, but He did. Jesus demonstrated for us the height and perfection of obedience to the Father and today’s passage ( Philippians 2:1-11 ) breaks it down for us.   Jesus, being in very nature God, emptied Himself when He came down from heaven to be implanted in Mary’s womb. He set aside His Godhood, His power, His immortality, His omnipotence. All the things that made Him God, He set aside for a time. Yes, we still have the mystery of the Hypostatic Union where Jesus was fully man and yet fully God, but certain aspects of His Godhood were removed from Him for a season.   Jesus took on the form of a sla...

  For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.   Luke 1:37-38  At Christmastime we read this story and are filled with awe and wonder that an angel appeared to a young girl, Mary was likely in her early teens, telling her that she would be the mother of the Messiah. It is a beautiful story, but when you slow down and look at it from Mary’s perspective, there is so much more to it!   By accepting what the angel said to her, she recognized that a great deal of risk of life and limb came with it. You see, Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph. Unlike today’s engagements, this betrothal was far more serious and binding. Mary coming up pregnant would brand her as an adulteress since she had not yet come together with her husband. In that day in age, she could be stoned to death for this! At the very least, her good reputation would be deeply soiled. The road ahead would ...

  Then Nebuchadnezzar said, “Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king’s command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.”   Daniel 3:28  When I was a child, we sang a song in Sunday School about Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-Nego. I looked it up and it was way more niche than I had imagined. Here’s a link if you’re curious. The thing is, those weren’t their real names. Hannaniah, Mishael, and Azariah were renamed upon their indoctrination into the Babylonian court. According to David Guzik’s commentary , their names were changed in this way: The name  Hannaniah  (meaning  Beloved by the LORD ) was changed to  Shadrach  (meaning  Illumined by Sun-god ). The name  Mishael  (meaning  Who is as God ) was changed to  Meshach  (which may mean  Who is like Sh...

  But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel,   Daniel 1:8-9   Lest we be deceived into thinking that only these four (Daniel, Hannaniah, Mishael, and Azariah)  faced this fate, we must consider the account of this defeat in 2 Kings 24:14-16 . Here we learn that there were in fact 10,000 captives carried off to Babylon at this time, many of whom were taken to the King’s court ( Daniel 1:3-4 ). Of these, we only hear about Daniel and his three friends requesting to be excused from the provisions of the king’s table. I’d imagine that the others felt all sorts of excuse or validation for consuming it. Perhaps they felt as though God had abandoned them. Perhaps they thought that if God had brought them to this place, He was giving them permission to make exception to their dietary restrictions...

  This displeased Jonah terribly and he became very angry. He prayed to the LORD and said, “Oh, LORD, this is just what I thought would happen when I was in my own country. This is what I tried to prevent by attempting to escape to Tarshish! – because I knew that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgement.  Jonah 4:1-2  There are so many lessons we can learn from the book of Jonah, but today I believe our study’s authors are pointing us to the heart of the matter, Jonah’s heart that is. You see, Jonah was a prophet, someone tasked with bringing the Word of the LORD to the people. He did it all the time. One day, though, he received a Word that he didn’t want to bring. It was a message of destruction he was instructed to bring to the enemies of his people. You’d think this would be right up his alley! Fire and brimstone! Curse the heathens! But no, Jonah knew God better than that. As it sa...

  After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’   Acts 13:22  “Let it be done according to God’s will.” We say it, but do we mean it? When it comes down to the wire, when things don’t look like they are going to turn out the way we hoped, does our tune change? Today we look at two different kings who had two different answers to this question.   Saul, Israel’s first king, had his share of idiosyncrasies. To start with, he was exactly what Israel wanted in a king. He was tall and handsome and strong. He was charismatic and drew people to himself. Shortly after being anointed king, Saul set out to defeat Israel’s enemies that had attacked and shamed his countrymen in Jabesh Gilead ( 1 Samuel 11 ). The country fell in behind him and they saw success because the Spirit of the LORD was upon him ( 1 Samuel 11:6 ). But it didn’t take long b...

  By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.   Hebrews 11:31  Who was Rahab? If you read the NIV version of the Bible, it says that she was a prostitute that ran an inn in Jericho that the spies stayed at. Many of the Jewish theologians argued that she was just an inn keeper and not a prostitute, but the term that was used by Joshua when writing it is used over and over throughout the Old Testament with illicit sexual connotations (Genesis 34:31, Exodus 34:15-16, Leviticus 19:29, etc.). I think that the Jewish scholars just didn’t want to have a prostitute in their genealogy.   Why does it matter? Because I think that Rahab represents so much for us in the Bible, and in order to appreciate that we have to see her for who she was. Rahab was a Canaanite living in Jericho. Her people followed false gods and pagan practices that had made them so abominable in God’s eyes that He was about to wipe them...

  Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.   Deuteronomy 11:18  I see more and more in society where people are seeking to have a long life, to lengthen their days and stay healthy and strong longer. While medical science has found ways to elongate our lives, those extra days and years are not always fruitful or enjoyable. So, how do we set about realistically to live a good, long, healthy, happy life? Thousands of years ago, God told us how in His Word! Walk in obedience to all that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.   Deuteronomy 5:33   The world tells us that living by God’s commands is limiting, that it keeps us from fun or freedom or pleasure, but the truth is the exact opposite. In living God’s way, we can find true peace, enjoyable life, and complete freedom. In fact, it is only in Je...

  Be careful, therefore, to do exactly what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn right or left! Walk just as he has commanded you so that you may live, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land you are going to possess.   Deuteronomy 5:32-33  Today’s verse starts out with a directive. “Do exactly what the LORD your God has commanded you…” It’s not a guideline, not a suggestion. He’s told us exactly what we are to do. Jesus clarified it for us in John 13:34-35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” And in Galatians 5:14 it emphasizes, “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” So, what are we to do? Love others. Pure and simple. How are we to love them? What is that to look like? Jesus said that we are to love others in the same way that He lo...

  Moses stretched out his hand toward the sea, and the LORD drove the sea apart by a strong east wind all that night, and he made the sea into dry land, and the water was divided. Exodus 14:21  In this world we will have trouble ( John 16:33 ), but God is with us, He will never leave us nor forsake us ( Deuteronomy 31:6-8 ). When we encounter trouble or temptation, God will remain faithful, and He will make a way out so that we will be able to endure it ( 1 Corinthians 10:13 ).  In today’s passage ( Exodus 14:13-22 ), Israel has encountered a terribly difficult situation. They’ve been hemmed in with the Red Sea on one side of them and the Egyptian army bearing down on them on the other. It seems like they’re done for, like there isn’t any hope to be had. But. God. Before God had shown Moses how He would protect the Israelites, Moses encouraged them, saying, “Do not fear! Stand firm and see the salvation of the LORD that he will provide for you today; for the Egyptians...

  then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” Then the people bowed down and worshipped. The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.   Exodus 12:27-28  Obeying God is important. Sometimes, it can mean immediate life or death. Today we look back at the story of the first Passover, when the Angel of Death passed over the homes of the Israelites on the way to execute the plague of the firstborn of Egypt. If the Israelites had blown Moses off, thinking he was wild to have them painting blood on their doorposts and eating in haste because their time in Egypt was just about up, they would come to swiftly regret it!   Much of the time, when we receive a command from God, either through His Word or from the Holy Spirit, it is guidance for our life, helping us to draw closer to Him or live out the blessings He has for us. Ever...

  “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”  Genesis 22:12  I learned so many new things about this familiar story this week as I studied this chapter. Old assumptions were corrected. New insights were gained. I can’t wait to share it all with you! Today we consider the story of Abraham being instructed by God to sacrifice his son, Isaac. As a child, this story was frightening. As a parent, horrifying. But looking at it closer, I now see it as reassuring, hopeful, and an exhortation and incitement to trust God and live my life for Him.  At the beginning of Genesis 22 , we read that Got set about to test Abraham. God tells him that he is to take his son, his only son, whom he loves and sacrifice him on Mount Moriah. Yes, Abraham had another son, Ishmael, but at this point in the narrative, Ishmael has been banished, removed from the family, and ...

  Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”  Genesis 18:13-14  When Stephen was being questioned in Acts 7:2-4 , he told us that Abraham was called out of the land of Ur. This would have been his ancestral home, the only one he had ever known. Generations of his family lived here, as denoted in Genesis 11 , and it would have been entirely counter-cultural for him to leave, but he did. He and Sarah (then Sarai) picked up and moved their entire household across the known world. Yes, he originally brought his dad with him, and they stopped over in Haran for a long time, likely decades, until he passed, but eventually they all ended up in Canaan, the land that God showed him. Abraham had to believe that God was calling him to move across the world, and show that belief with action. He then h...

  On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. Genesis 17:23  Over the last several years, God has taught me that when I know I need to do something, I should do it right away . This started out because I might get distracted, or the action would fall to the bottom of my to-do list. These days, it has a lot more to do with memory. If I don’t do it right now, I won’t do it at all because I’ll likely not recall that I’m supposed to! Every once in a while, I really don’t want to do something and I put it off, and God keeps bringing it up to me, reminding me either internally or externally through those around me. But realistically, when I feel like God is instructing me to do something, I either stop what I’m doing and take care of it right away, or else I set a calendar or phone reminder to do it at the appropriate time if necessary. I actually jus...

  Then the LORD’s angel said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority. I will greatly multiply your descendants,” the LORD’s angel added, “so that they will be too numerous to count.”   Genesis 16:9-10  In Genesis 16, two women are highlighted: Sarai and Hagar. These two women found themselves confronted with the option to believe and obey God, or not, and they made different choices. Neither was perfect, neither did exactly as she should have, but we can learn from them both.   Sarai was Abram’s wife and had traveled with him across the known world. Presumably, she knew about the promises God had made to Abram in Genesis 12:2,7 , Genesis 13:14-16 , and Genesis 15:4 , but ten years had passed since they entered the land that God had called them to, and still she had no children. It would make perfect sense for her to determine that she couldn’t have children as she was well past the child-bearing age and had not conceived. But this is where ...