Speaking of yesterday’s peace-making challenge, riots are nothing new. The Apostle Paul seemed to unintentionally provoke riots wherever he went (see Acts 13 and 14, for example). I was struck with what I think are the last three riots in Acts, found in Acts 21, 22, and 23. Three riots. Three different causes:

• Acts 21: bad information (fake news?) – they assumed he had brought a gentile into the temple

When the seven-day period was almost over, a number of Jews from western Turkey who had seen him in the temple courts stirred up the whole crowd against him. Seizing him, they shouted, “Men of Israel, help us! This is the man who teaches everywhere what is contrary to our nation, our law, and this temple. And not only that, but now he brings these non-Jewish men with him into the inner courts of our temple! They have made this sacred place ritually unclean.” (For Trophimus, an Ephesian, had been seen previously with him, and they assumed that he entered the inner courts with Paul.) 30 This ignited a huge riot in the city as all the people came together to seize Paul and drag him out of the temple courts, closing the gates behind him. (Acts 21.27 – 30, TPT)

• Acts 22: hatred of gentiles – nothing new about racial division! Paul is speaking to the large crowd from Acts 21: they’re not upset about saying he met with Jesus of Nazareth on the Road to Damascus. They’re not upset about his saying that Ananias, a devout Jew and believer in Jesus came to him. But they were upset when he said who his target audience was:

“Then [Jesus] said to me, ‘Go at once, for I am sending you to preach to the non-Jewish nations.’” The crowd listened attentively to Paul up to this point. But when they heard this, all at once they erupted with loud shouts, saying, “Get rid of this man! Kill him! He doesn’t deserve to live!” The crowd was screaming and yelling, removing their outer garments, and throwing handfuls of dust in the air in protest. (Acts 22.21 – 24, TPT)

• Acts 23: theological differences – liberals vs conservatives. Some things don’t change! Paul is speaking to a council of Jesus religious leaders.

“My fellow Jews, I am a separated one, and the son of a separated one. That’s why I’m on trial here. It’s because of the hope I have that the dead will rise to live again.” When he said this, a heated argument started among them, dividing the council between the Sadducees and the separated ones. Paul knew that the Sadducees teach there is no resurrection and do not believe in angels or spirits, but the separated ones believe in them all. This sparked an even greater uproar among them…When the shouting match became intense, the commander, fearing they would tear Paul to pieces, intervened… (Acts 23.6 – 10, TPT)

I don’t know what the takeaway is other than we don’t want to be among the rioters! Again, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” That, and the work goes on:

The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” (Acts 23.11, NIV)

It’s not the most uplifting message, is it? But maybe it’s one of the more instructive messages:

It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart. (Ecclesiastes 7.2, ESV)

Ash Wednesday marks the first day of Lent for some traditions – a time to remember not only our own death, but also to walk with Jesus as he goes to his death. Traditionally, some people “give up something for Lent,” and if there are distractions preventing our wholeheartedly following Jesus or thinking about him more during this time, we should give those up. I am going to eliminate working some of the word puzzles I frequently spend too much time on!

More importantly, we should consider taking something on… I’m thinking Peace-making might be a good Lenten practice. There is way too much conflict, outrage, and discord going on right now. Nearly daily I’m receiving emails telling me some new thing I should be “fuming” about.

Let’s lead the way in encouraging peace rather than fomenting discord, shall we?

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (Matthew 5.9, ESV)

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12.14, NIV)

We should visit the story of Moses’ striking the rock when he was told to speak to it. The issue was that there was no water:

Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before theLORD! Why did you bring theLORD’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here? Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!” (Numbers 20.2 – 5, NIV)

Moses ignored God’s instructions to speak to the rock and instead “struck the rock twice.” Now if it had been me (instead of the Lord), I might have said something like, “Well, I was trying to help you, but you ignored my instructions. I guess you’ll have to go thirsty for a while longer!” But it wasn’t me. Note what happened when Moses was disobedient:

Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. (Numbers 20.11, NIV)

God provided water anyway! It’s called grace.

¹⁰ He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
¹² as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
¹³ As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103.10 – 14, ESV)

Moses’ forgetting that the power was God’s, not the staff’s, reminds me of a story told about an arrogant orchestra leader. It goes something like this:

A city orchestra hired a new conductor who was reputed to be quite good. Everyone looked forward to his coming. However, it turned out that he was very arrogant and treated the orchestra badly. Every rehearsal he berated them for their lack of skill, poor direction-taking, and general lack of musicality. This went on and on. Finally, they scheduled their first concert. The townspeople filled the auditorium. The orchestra members filed onto the stage and took their places. Finally, the conductor came out, took his place on the podium, and raised his baton. When he gave the signal to begin, no one played. He tried again. Still nothing. Finally, the Concertmaster, the first violinist, got up and whispered in his ear:

Maestro, never forget that no music comes out of that stick!

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing. (John 15.5, NIV)

Yesterday, we looked at Moses’ striking the rock, causing water to come out, and we closed with this reminder from Paul that it’s all God’s work:

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth…For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3.5 – 9, ESV)

Moses forgot that lesson and several others later:

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” And Moses took the staff from before the LORD, as he commanded him. Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. (Numbers 20.7 – 11, ESV, emphasis mine)

A tragic mistake:

• God changed the instructions, and Moses missed it. “Take your staff, but speak to the rock–don’t strike the rock.” God rarely does things the same way twice. We, on the other hand, like routines. If something worked once, surely it will work again. If a church has an event where God really shows up and good things happen, rest assured, 20 years later, they’ll still be running that same event even though God has long been absent from it.
• Most of us believe that God had intended to set up a picture pointing to Christ with the Exodus 17 event. Jesus, the rock that was struck. But he was struck only once. Please see Hebrews 9.24 – 26. Moses ruined that picture, which may be why the penalty was so severe. (See Numbers 20.12)
• But perhaps Moses’ biggest mistake in this whole episode is his forgetting his role: “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” Really? Who is going to bring water out of the rock? The guy with the staff? Moses had started to believe his own publicity, a mistake Joseph and Daniel did not make.

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.” (Genesis 41.15, 16, ESV)

The king declared to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. (Daniel 2.26 – 28, ESV)

So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. (1 Corinthians 3.7, ESV)

Back to God’s allowing us to co-labor with him, this is classic.

And the LORD said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. (Exodus 17.5, 6, ESV)

God does the work, but with theater, so that Moses also gets some credit and some credibility. This story has a tragic sequel, unfortunately, and I’ll write about that tomorrow.

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3.5 – 9, ESV)

No one will object to yesterday’s blog on “A Day’s Portion Every Day,” EXCEPT for the encouragement to do it early. I hear your cry. Not everyone is at their best in the morning, and, for sure, if another time of day is better for you, go for it.

However, I am reminded of a sermon I heard from J. Oswald Sanders (not to be confused with Oswald Chambers). Dr. Sanders was the long-time head of China Inland Mission. I heard him preach when he was in his late 80s and still bringing it with gusto. He told a story that went something like this:

Someone asked me once, “Dr. Sanders, will you pray that God will help me get out of bed in the morning to have my quiet time?” I replied, “I will NOT! I will pray that if you can get one foot out of bed, God will help you get the other.”

His point was, the daily meeting with God is a discipline, no matter what time you do it.

Train yourself for godliness. (1 Timothy 4.7, ESV)

Continuing with our theme of ASK / ACT, asking God to do what only he can do, while taking the actions that he wants us to take, I can’t pass Exodus 16 without thinking of a little pamphlet written years ago by Stephen Olford: Manna in the Morning. It seems to be out of print now, but he was comparing the manna of Exodus 16 to our daily time with God.

I have since read other authors who argue that it’s not the best analogy since manna was temporary and after a while, the Israelites didn’t even like it (see Numbers 11.4 – 8). But Jesus, the living Word of God, compared the manna to himself as the Bread of Life:

I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. (John 6.48, 49, ESV)

So what are the lessons from Exodus 16? They are simple:

The people asked for food (actually they grumbled about not having food!), and God provided. But God didn’t put it into their mouths – they had to go out and gather it:

And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day…” Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted. (Exodus 16.2 – 4, 21 ESV)

A day’s portion every day, gathered early before it melted. Pretty simple. The analogy to our daily time with God is obvious. The Word is here. Anyone in the US can have a copy in the translation of their choice. But God won’t pour it into our brains and hearts. We have to:

• Get up and read it.
• Get up and read it early.
• Get up and read it every day.
• Put what we read into practice. (Gathering manna wasn’t enough – the Israelites actually had to make meals out of it and eat it!)

But [Jesus] answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4.4, ESV)

Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD. (Proverbs 8.34, 35, ESV)

My voice You shall hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning I will direct it to You, and I will look up. (Psalm 5.3, NKJV)

We’ve been observing that God chooses to do his work by co-laboring with us. Sometimes that takes the form of prayer on our part, releasing God’s power into a situation. Sometimes he wants us to move out in faith as the Israelites did in crossing the Red Sea. Other times he may want us to take a symbolic action.

Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. (James 5.14, NIV, emphasis mine)

Here’s a simple illustration involving God’s power and our prayer. I’m sitting in my den, and when I walked into the room, I switched on the overhead light. Did the light come on because I threw the switch? No, the light came on because:

• There is a wire running from the switch to the light fixture.
• The bulbs in the light fixture are in working order.
• There is electricity coming into the house from the outside.
• That electricity is wired to the switch and the light fixture.

However, even with all that infrastructure and power, the overhead light won’t come on UNTIL I throw the switch.

Is prayer like that?

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7.7, 8, NIV)

Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I am the LORD; I have rebuilt the ruined places and replanted that which was desolate. I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it. Thus says the Lord GOD: “This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock.” (Ezekiel 36.36, 37, ESV) [God’s power…waiting for Israel to ask]

We observed yesterday that God did his work, specifically the plagues against Egypt, by co-laboring with Moses and Aaron. The theme continues after the Passover and the Exodus when the Israelites were seemingly trapped between Egypt and the Red Sea, and Pharaoh decided to come after them. The people were afraid, and Moses gives this stirring exhortation:

And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” (Exodus 14.13, 14, ESV)

What a speech: stirring, inspiring…and wrong. Look at God’s response:

The LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. (Exodus 14.15, 16, ESV)

There is a time for prayer, and there is a time for action. ASK / ACT. In this case, it’s ACT! How did the Israelites escape through the Red Sea?

• Moses lifted his staff. If Moses doesn’t lift his staff, the waters don’t part.
• God parted the waters. If God doesn’t part the waters, it doesn’t matter that Moses lifted his staff.
• The people walked through. If the people don’t walk through, it doesn’t matter that the waters were parted.

ASK / ACT – God’s power / Our action. I’ll have more to say about that tomorrow.

Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. (Mark 2.3 – 12, NIV)