Author: Dave Dishman (Page 385 of 475)

Lots of instructions in the Bible seem pretty easy to keep. Don’t kill anyone, don’t go worship a graven image, don’t steal stuff, etc. I get complacent about keeping on the straight and narrow.

Then I read in Philippians 2 – Do all things without grumbling or arguing…

I grumble all day. I’m a regular grumbler. Mostly under my breath and to myself, but still grumbling. Isn’t that what old guys do?

The weather, the traffic, politics, sports – all regular grumbling topics. Apparently, the Lord has more for me than grumbling.

The Bible gets under my skin. Now I’m grumbling.

Week six of reading the Bible cover to cover

I wish Bezalel and Oholiab were my neighbors. The Lord chose them and filled them with His Spirit in order to craft the intricate designs necessary to construct the tabernacle. I love to watch talented people shape metal, stone, wood and other materials. Few prove as talented as these two.

Doubtless these men developed valuable skills while working in Egypt. The Lord took those skills and multiplied them, empowering them to create the masterpiece of their lives.

God elevates the craftsman. These men weren’t preachers or writers or influencers. They were good with their hands.

Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings (Proverbs 22:9).

In this case, the King of Kings.

Exodus 31 in week six of reading the Bible cover to cover

I love the language Moses prays in Psalm 90.

From everlasting to everlasting you are God (v 2).

A thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past (v 4).

Let the favor of our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands (v17).

From everlasting to everlasting – I live somewhere in the middle.

These words lift my mindset from the immediate and short-lived to the eternal, an eternity I’m actually living right now.

(And, this flash of perspective displays my need for daily time in the Scriptures.)

Week six of reading the Bible cover to cover

Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.

Exodus 24:9-11

40 days later – some of these men bowed before a golden calf.

They beheld God.

40 days later – some of these men led their people into a form of worship expressly forbidden by God on Mount Sinai.

They beheld God.

40+ centuries later – who’s to say I wouldn’t do the same?

They beheld God.

Lord, grant me the faith of Moses and Joshua, not that of Aaron and his fellow calf-worshiping elders.

Week six of reading the Bible cover to cover