Just the Hem of a Garment

The closing verses of Numbers chapter 15 can easily slip by unnoticed. They are about God telling the Israelites to tie tassels on the ends of their garments. He tells them to tie seven strands of white and then one strand of blue. It is really a fairly meaningless group of verses to Christians.

Yet the people of Israel throughout the centuries have seen great importance in these few verses. The tassels, known as tzitziot (fringes) became, through traditions of various rabbis, very detailed in the way in which the tassels were tied and how they were to be worn. The pattern and its numbers seem like something straight out of the TV show “Lost.” 7, 8, 11, 13…those are the numbers that are required. The Tzitziot were to be tied to a garment which is known as the tallit, which must have four corners and is to be “big enough to cover the infant who is old enough to walk.”

The important thing here is the tassels, not the garment that holds them; yet, the tallit became a huge part of the faithful Jew’s life and remains so to this day. The tallit, which can be any color but is traditionally blue and white, is the inspiration for the modern-day Israeli flag. It is said that two Zionists laid down their tallits and made a flag.

When Jesus gives instructions on prayer he says, “Go to your closet and pray…” This word that is translated as “closet” is the same word that is used to refer to the process of kneeling and pulling the tallit over one’s body to create a personal “tent”. We see this all the time on the news and in the media when we see Muslims and orthodox Jews at their times of prayer. The same process in scripture is referred to as being “under the wings of the Lord.”

This week we will look at this tradition briefly and talk about the significance we see in scripture of the “hems of garments.”

Mark

He Hears Every Word (Part 2)

I prayed as I always did for Aaron to be able to speak clearly one day . . .And now, about four years later, we are so thankful for Aaron’s progress. The wonderful teachers, skilled therapists, and Aaron’s own willingness to keep trying are such good gifts from God. To hear Aaron singing--oh, my heart soars! I can’t help but “praise Him from whom all blessings flow . . .”

There must be a moment of realization in anything we bring to God that He truly wants what is best for us. A moment when we surrender to His will. A moment when we choose to trust him whatever the outcome, whatever the answer to our prayers.

I vividly remember Samuel and my “what if” conversations. Imagining the future for a child who could not speak, we held on to the truth of God’s goodness: “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8: 28). What awesome assurance to know that the Creator of heaven and earth wants you to call on Him, wants you to bring all before Him, wants you to know He loves you, and wants you to believe what He has said: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. (Philippians 4: 6)

Does he who implanted the ear not hear? (Psalm 94:9a)

Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. (Isaiah 65: 24)

Our “happy ending” in this is not just seeing our dreams come true (for other prayers have been and will be answered in ways other than we might prefer), but also the peace we have experienced every step of the way, knowing God desires the best for us, and when we pray, He hears every word.

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He Hears Every Word (Part 1)

Something just happened that caused me to stop in mid-step and praise God for his amazing answers to prayer. What was this extraordinary event? Aaron just bounded up the stairs shouting, “Mommy, I have to ask you something. Do you want any eggs?” I replied, “Yes, I do. Thanks for asking.” A simple exchange and yet one that seems almost miraculous to me. You see, there was a time when we realized that Aaron might never talk.

Sometimes children with a motor planning disorder such as his never become primarily verbal communicators. He began learning signs around age two to help him communicate his needs, and in fact, had created some of his own before then. One sunny afternoon, Aaron and I ran into some neighborhood children up near the playground by our home. Aaron was just over two years old at the time, and variations on a “ba” sound were about all he produced. We knew there were meanings behind these vocalizations even though we couldn’t always figure them out. Still, to most people, they were just “baa, ba, bah.” One of the children laughed and said, “Why does he talk like that? He sounds like a sheep!” Thankfully Aaron did not understand that he was being made fun of. He had been having too good a time playing.

That night I prayed for him to have strength not to be wounded or discouraged by such remarks if he were to grow without being able to speak. I prayed that others who got to know him would see his humor, his enthusiasm, and tender heart. I prayed for him to receive skills needed to communicate in whatever way possible. I thanked God for the incredible gift of our son. I praised Him for the chance to be a mother. Then I prayed as I always did for Aaron to be able to speak clearly one day . . .

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Passed Down, Handing Over, Reach Up

“I will not be bitter towards God for decisions my parents made that I have to live with.”

As I think about that statement from last week, I wonder how many ways it applies to our lives and our faith. It may be literally true for some of us; we may, like the Israelites in Numbers, be struggling with God because of the decisions our parents made about the nature of God. It may be that the “parents” referred to here are not your actual parents. Perhaps it is just those who came before us: our spiritual parents in the faith, those who, like biological parents, have played a role in how we look, how we act, how we think, how we handle stress or anger or disagreement. The same things that are true of our biological parents because of their nature (DNA) and their nurture are also true of our spiritual parents and forefathers.

Remember when God said to the Israelites, “An entire generation will need to die here in the desert before you can see the promised land.” When I talk to this generation and see how excited they are about faith and stepping out on faith for God, sometimes I wonder if it is my generation that will have to die off before the next great thing happens in the church. Not to be negative…or too pessimistic, but perhaps if we considered that possibility we would be more open to what God is leading us to do on his behalf.

Whatever the case, Numbers chapters 15 and 16 are encouraging chapters because they show us how to serve God after we have let him down. Certainly we can all relate to that, and this week we get a chance to see how God deals with them.

Mark

Minority Report

A few years ago there was a Stephen Spielberg film where Tom Cruise was part of a crime fighting team that had the ability to see into the future and see who would become a murderer. He and others would then take action to prevent murders before they ever happened. I won’t tell you what happens from there in case you have not seen it, but let’s just say that Tom Cruise learns that just because something is predicted by the majority does not mean it will come true.

In many ways that’s what we have going on in Numbers chapter 13. We have the majority report: the spies that come back and say that there is no way the Israelites can take the giants who inhabit the land. Then there is the minority report…the two who say it can be done with God’s power. The end of the story shows us that the majority report was wrong, and it cost the Israelites dearly to depend on their report.

There is a new movie just out called Facing the Giants (www.facingthegiants.com). I have not seen it yet, but I know it is very much the opposite of a Spielberg film in its budget. Facing the Giants was made by a church in Georgia on a shoestring budget, yet it has been picked up by a major studio and placed on screens all over America. It’s about a high school football team that “faces up to their fears”…I’m just guessing that the other team is called “The Giants.”

While I am not sure about the film, they certainly have a great message for human beings because we have a many-century track record of being afraid to face giants. We look at our lives and see the giants that face us… giants like alcohol, pornography, bitterness, anger…we look at those giants and we say, “There is no way they can be defeated.” And when we look at our world, the majority report tells us that we are correct…these and other giants seem to destroy and threaten and dominate all too often.

Yet the minority report tells us what is true about the future. God can easily take on the giants. That’s what numbers chapters 13 and 14 tell us, and this week we have a chance to be reminded again of how true it is.

Mark

Rabble

I mentioned a few weeks ago in my introduction to the book of Numbers a section in chapter 11 where Moses deals with the "rabble". Most versions translate this word as "the mixed multitude" and Exodus chapter 12:38 tells us that this "mixed multitude" was not Israelites but others (even Egyptians) who had blood on their doorposts and left slavery with the Israelites. We can't say ALL of these "rabblers" were non-Israelites because we see in chapter 12 that Miriam, Moses’ sister, is one of the leaders of a dissenting group.

Whatever the case, there are complainers in their midst. The Israelites are experiencing a time of uncertainty and insecurity. They are in between, in transition, and there is ambiguity between where they ARE and where God has them GOING. It is interesting to note we have not changed much through the years. Anytime we are in transition, there will always be the tendency to romanticize the past and demonize the future. In this case the rabblers say, "Remember the good old days in Egypt when we ate good food at no cost?" We laugh at this, realizing that the "cost" they paid for a life of slavery in Egypt was the lives of their children! The food in Egypt was ultra-expensive...yet the rabblers manage to convince themselves that somehow the past represents the good old days.

I am quick to blame them, but then I realize that too often I begin to act that way. I romanticize the past sometimes because I am afraid of the ambiguity of where I am going. We all are capable of whipping up a frenzy or worry and dread for the future, and a common cure for that is to imagine that the past was a whole lot better than it actually was. That's why serving a God who points us forward on a journey to a promised land that he has prepared is an exciting adventure.

Certainly we all see a little of ourselves in the rabble. I rabble sometimes in my marriage, in my job, in my family and in my church. It’s encouraging to see a story where God's faithfulness and goodness leads, and how Moses, the great leader that he is, deals with the rabble.

Mark

Nazirite Vow

None of us like to be different or stand out. Well, at least in most cases we don’t. The average person does all he or she can to blend in. We dress the same and watch for “trends” so we match others. We conform to norms in hairstyles or clothes or cars or whatever. It’s one of the great criticisms that outsiders make of our culture…there is pressure to all look the same. If you don’t believe it, talk to someone from the goth community (ask Steven Stratton what that is), and they will tell you what happens when you don’t “conform” to what society expects.

Numbers chapter six talks about the Nazirite vow. The word Nazar in Ancient Hebrew meant “separate” or “set apart”. The goal of the vow was to look different and act different as a way of showing that the person who took the vow belonged to God. Those taking the vow would not cut their hair for a specified period of time (often years), not drink any wine (the common drink of all households and any meal), and never touch any dead thing. You can imagine how hard that might be if your mother or father or child died and you could not even come near the body. It was a serious commitment. Two of the prerequisites were about staying away from death and one was about life and growth.

There are some famous Biblical characters who took these vows. Samson is the most famous, though it must have been a modified version with all the Phillistines he killed! Samuel also took the vow; in fact, his mother took it for him. Many scholars believe that John the Baptist took some version of a Nazirite vow.

I wonder what it would look like today in our culture. (Since I have already mentioned one Stratton, I won’t suggest that Phil has taken one with his newest hairstyle;-) What would it take for us to stand out? The vows were only taken for a time, a period that had a beginning and end. It was sort of like a sprint for a runner…the vows were so strenuous that they were not meant to be kept up for long periods.

Today we will talk about being set apart, and how we can perhaps take similar vows to give glory to God.

Mark