60 - God is not a man, that He should tell or act a lie

Balaam and the Ass
by James Tissot 1900

Chareen's Thoughts

• The Israelites continued their journey and camped in the plains of Moab. The people of Moab were frightened of them and so their king sends for Balaam to curse them so he can go to war and win.
• ... for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed. Numbers 22:6
• The LORD appears to Balaam and insructs him not to curse Israel because they are a blessed nation and not to go with the officials of Moab.
• The king then bribes Balaam with the promise of honour and requests his presence and curse Israel. He said no way even if I was given a house hold full of silver I could not go.  But the Lord appears to him and says go.
• Interesting God tells Balaam to go to the king and then sends an Angel to confront him because He is not pleased with Balaam going and calls it an evil thing.  Twice he warns Balaam to only say what He tells him to say.
• The king meets with Balaam but Balaam warns him I can only say what God wants me to not what you want me to.
• Balaam requests 7 altars, 7 bulls and 7 rams. Balaam meets with the Lord who gives him a poem to tell the king that there is no curse.
  How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced? Numbers 23:8
• Once again the king tries, he takes Balaam to another look out over Israel and sacrifices with 7 altars, 7 bulls and 7 rams  and God says no they are blessed.
  God is not a man, that He should tell or act a lie, neither the son of man, that He should feel repentance or compunction [for what He has promised]. Has He said and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken and shall He not make it good? You see, I have received His command to bless Israel. He has blessed, and I cannot reverse or qualify it. Numbers 23:19-20 
• Balak takes Balaam yet to a third look out and sacrifices once again. So God used Balaam to pronounce His blessing over Israel from the heights surrounding their encampment.
• Balak then got angry with Balaam because he blessed and did not curse and Balaam says to him but I told you I can not curse whom God has not cursed.

Today I was reminded of just how great our God is. He is not a man He does NOT lie and what He has said He will do He WILL do. He has a good plan for me and And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you. Philippians 1:6 I know He says For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 and therefore I need to Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
Blessings
Chareen

47 - They shall be Forgiven

Chareen's Thoughts:

Jews praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur
by Maurycy Gottlieb in 1878
Tel Aviv Museum of Art

• Lev 4:17 And shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, before the veil [which screens the ark of the covenant]. The number seven appears again.
• Leviticus 5:13, Leviticus 4:26, Leviticus 4:35, Leviticus 4:31 & Leviticus 4:20 ... and the priest shall make atonement for [the people], and they shall be forgiven. This made me think of 1 Corinthians 6:11 And such some of you were [once]. But you were washed clean (purified by a complete atonement for sin and made free from the guilt of sin), and you were consecrated (set apart, hallowed), and you were justified [pronounced righteous, by trusting] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the [Holy] Spirit of our God. 
• Lev 6:1-7 is about sinning against your neighbour. Lev 6:5 he shall not only restore it in full, but shall add to it one fifth more and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day of his trespass or guilt offering. Restitution is not only about returning what what was taken but returning it with positive interest.
• Lev 10:9 Do not drink wine or strong drink, you or your sons, when you go into the Tent of Meeting, lest you die; it shall be a statute forever in all your generations. Interesting verse considering we use wine in some of our places of meeting when we pass the cup around ?? Yes I know this statute was given to Aaron and his sons but what are the implications for us today ?

For Christ [the Messiah Himself] died for sins once [a]for all, the Righteous for the unrighteous (the Just for the unjust, the Innocent for the guilty), that He might bring us to God. In His human body He was put to death, but He was made alive in the spirit, 1 Peter 3:18

Blessings
Chareen
 
For Further Reading

• A pictorial step by step of The Day of Atonement over at The Desert Tabernacle.
• Day of Atonement (Yomha-Kippurim) over at Jewish Encyclopedia.
• Word definition: YOM KIPPUR: The Day of Atonement over at My Jewish Learning.
• Yom Kippur Theology and Themes over at My Jewish Learning.
• History of Yom Kippur over at My Jewish Learning. over at My Jewish Learning.
• Yom Kippur 101 over at My Jewish Learning.
• Yom Kippur at Home over at My Jewish Learning.
• Yom Kippur - The Day of Atonement over at Hebrew 4 Christians.
• Yom Kippur at Wikipedia
• Atonement over at Theopedia

27 - Begining of Egypts judgement by the LORD

Painted by William Brassey Hole. Exodus 5

Chareen's Thoughts:

• Exodus 7:3 & Exodus 4:21 ... But I will harden his heart so that he won't let the people go This verse has often been a stumbling block of mine in the story of the Exodus of Israel.  Why did the LORD choose to harden the heart of the king ?  Because of this so many died.
• Exodus 4:23 I told you: Let My son go so that he may worship Me, but you refused to let him go. Now I will kill your first born son!" The Lord told Moses the end before he even got back to Egypt.
• Exodus 7:4 & Exodus 6:6 ... I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great acts of judgement. Ah now I understand.  The plagues are an act of judgement.  He hardened the King's heart because it is an act of judgement against the land of Egypt.
• 1st Plague - Water into blood Exodus 7:14-25  Seven days passed.  Blood everywhere.  The stench must have been really bad.  All the fish died.  It must have been really difficult on the people of Egypt.
• 2nd Plague - Frogs Frogs Everywhere! Exodus 8:1-15

Interesting read
Blessings
Chareen

For Further Reading:

• Is there evidence that the Israelis once lived in Egypt ? over at Christian Answers.
• Plagues in Egypt over at Bible History.com
• Meanings of the Ten Plagues over at Bible History.com
• Lego construction of the Ten Plagues.
• Watch on YouTube
• One Year Bible Blog January 27th

22 – God looks after Joseph.

Kathleen’s thoughts
Genesis 39 – 41

The Lord was with Joseph and blessed everything he did. He became a very successful man serving in the household of his Egyptian master.

His master’s wife looked at Joseph with lust in her heart and tried to coax Joseph to sin and Joseph being an up right man refrained and told her “He could not do such an evil thing and sin against God? She was a wicked woman and one day grabbed Joseph by his garment and he escaped leaving his garment with her, this giving her ammunition to lie about Joseph. Then she lied about him to his master and he became furious and had Joseph thrown into prison.

Through this entire God was with him in these dark days of his life.

Joseph interprets dreams that the prisioners dream about and these interpretations all came true.

Two years later Pharaoh had a dream and it’s here that Joseph is called in to interpret the dream but Joseph tells the Pharaoh that it is God who will give him the answer to his dreams.

The seven good cows are seven years and the seven good heads are seven years. The dreams mean the same thing. The seven thin, ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven worthless, scorched heads of grain are seven years of famine. Here I note again that God is working in the number 7! Joseph tells Pharaoh because the dream was given twice to him, it means that the matter has been determined by God, and He will soon carry it out. So Joseph gives the Pharoah instructions in what to do to save his fortune and his city. Pharaoh gives Joseph the authority over his house and his people will obey his commands He also gave Joseph his signet ring and clothed him with fine linen and the servants called him Abrek!

Blessings
Kathleen.

18 - Jacobs journey

Kathleen’s thoughts

Genesis 28 -31

Jacob is sent on his way to find a wife as Isaac commanded him not to take a Canaanite women and Isaac says “May God give you and your offspring the blessing of Abraham so that you may possess the land where you live as an alien. The land God gave to Abraham”

I remember from Sunday school the story of Jacob’s ladder and reading it today about Jacob’s dream flooded my thoughts with memories of my childhood. Imagine seeing angels going up and down stairs, what beauty it must have been. Through this dream God promises Jacob He will watch over him wherever he goes and He will bring him back to this land. Jacob awoke from his sleep and said “Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it” Jacob then took a stone that was near his head and poured oil on top and name the place Bethel. In Verse 22 Jacob said. This stone that I have set up as a marker will be God’s house, and I will give to You a tenth of all that You give me” Second time tithes is mentioned.

Laban son of Nahor, this is Rebekah’s brother had two daughters Leah and Rachel and it was Rachel Jacob fell in love with Jacob worked 7 years for Rachel but was deceived at his wedding as Laban gave Leah to him and Laban made Jacob work another 7 years to get Rachael Jacob worked another 7years for Laban.

It seems like history repeating itself as here you have Rachel giving her slave to Jacob to have a child. But God’ promises always come through and He opened Rachel’s womb and she conceived a son naming him Joseph.

When Jacob decided to leave, Laban tried everything to keep him but our God is a faithful God and His word is true and just. God blesses Jacob with wealth and prosperity with everything his hand touches.

Blessings

Kathleen.

12 - Abram the father of many nations

Kathleen’s thoughts

Genesis 12-13

God’s Sevenfold promise..take note the number 7

I will make you into a great nation

I will bless you

I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you,

I will curse those who treat you with contempt, and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.

What a beautiful blessing! Abrams journey to Hebron where he and Lot settle and because of Abram compassion for his nephew by allowing to choose the land and Lot chose the best part and God stepped in with His blessing by multiplying everything he had and made Abram a great nation and his wealth was exceedingly in abundance.

Blessings Kathleen

5 - Job a man of Integrity

Kathleen’s thoughts

I’m struggling today to write on this reading as I can’t imagine going through what Job went through. The loss of one’s family and then everything he owned. What a struggle he must have endured that pain must have been over powering! Yet he still praised the Lord. He was a man of integrity who feared God and turned away from evil.

Through all this sadness of Job his love for God never wavered.

Job 7 Verse 19 is of interest. God said He will rescue you from six calamities; no harm will touch you in SEVEN… God created the earth and everything in it in 6 days and on the 7^th day He rested There is a connection here for Job, we find that He will rescue him from 6 calamities and on the 7^th He will bring rest upon him and no evil will touch him. Job’s struggle when he became ill and his friends came to him and sat with him for 7 days and 7 nights in silence, it’s here that Job began to speak and cursed the day he was born.

God’s love and affection for us is the wonders of wonders especially here in Job 5:9 He does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.

Blessings

Kathleen.