Senseless and Foolish
Wilderness Wanderings
For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord; I sing for joy at what your hands have done. How great are your works, Lord, how profound your thoughts! Senseless people do not know, fools do not understand… (Psalm 92:4-6). These verses make me wonder if we aren’t all a little senseless and maybe more than a little foolish. I’m thinking about Christians. Often, when we read such verses, we rarely wonder if we are in this category. After all, who wants to think of themselves as senseless and foolish? But let’s take a moment to consider if we ought not to start with ourselves. As...
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Of Opposistion and Peace
Wilderness Wanderings
When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build…” But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God...” Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building (Ezra 4:1-4). There is opposition to the kingdom of God. Israel had returned from her exile in Babylon and begun to...
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Raise a Glass to the Lord!
Wilderness Wanderings
For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete (Deuteronomy 16:15). Let us spend another week reflecting on Israelite feasting. We considered the emotional and ethical benefits of celebration. Today, let us reflect on the theological benefits—how did these feasts shape Israel’s relationship with God? God is host. The gathering is at his invitation, and it is celebrated “to the Lord”. He is the focus of the...
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Re-learning Sabbath
Wilderness Wanderings
It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp (Psalm 92:1-3). In the NIV Bible on my desk, this psalm is prefaced with, “A song for the Sabbath Day.” Among God’s people in the Old Testament, this psalm was the Sabbath psalm. As such, it ought to linger in the imagination of God’s people today to help us into a better Sabbath understanding. Among Christians, there are two dominate approaches to the Sabbath. In the first, we...
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God is Good
Wilderness Wanderings
With praise and thanksgiving, they sang to the Lord: “He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy” (Ezra 3:11-12). “God is good, all the time; all the time, God is good.” Many of us have declared this. But some of us may not use it very well, that is, we only use...
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The Ethics of Celebration
Wilderness Wanderings
Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress. Be joyful at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns (Deuteronomy 16:13-14). Last Monday, we reflected on the discipline of celebration to which God invited his newly freed people. We considered the emotional benefits of this worship practice. Today, let’s explore the ethical benefits of Israel’s feasting. These dinners focus...
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Out of this World
Wilderness Wanderings
A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Mark 14:1-11; John 18:33-37. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it . Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: Dive In! What have you seen this week that is ‘Out of this World’? Think of things you saw on social media reels and in real life. What are the three scenes in today’s reading from Mark? How does Jesus understand his anointing? Who do you have a...
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Uprooting Greed
Wilderness Wanderings
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving (Ephesians 5:3-4). This is quite the list of impurities that Christians may get themselves involved in. Since, this Friday edition of Wilderness Wanderings focuses on rest and Sabbath, let us focus our attention on greed. James explores how greed destroys community. He writes, “What causes fights and quarrels among you?...
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Beginnings
Wilderness Wanderings
Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices (Ezra 3:3). How do you start a new chapter in life? This is the question occupying the Jews returning from Babylon. They were few; their land was in rubbles, occupied by wild animals, weeds and foreigners. How should they begin the rebuild? They began with the altar, their place and means of prayer. Prayer came first. Even before the temple, they needed the altar. On that altar they offered their sacrifices of...
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Celebrate!
Wilderness Wanderings
Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year…you and your household shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice. And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns…At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites…and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands” (Deuteronomy 14:23ff). We are far removed from the agricultural society...
info_outlineFor seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete (Deuteronomy 16:15).
Let us spend another week reflecting on Israelite feasting. We considered the emotional and ethical benefits of celebration. Today, let us reflect on the theological benefits—how did these feasts shape Israel’s relationship with God?
God is host. The gathering is at his invitation, and it is celebrated “to the Lord”. He is the focus of the celebration. Why was this important? Israel’s economy originated from God; it was sustained by him, and it was for him. These celebrations were a specific occasion for the Israelite workers, farmers, business folk and others to recognize that God was worthy of harvest praise because he was blessing his people with abundance.
Having settled in the promised land, Israel was faced with two temptations. God’s people face these same impulses today. First, that our wealth is the result of our own hard work; and second, that we have received our resources from some other source. Giving in to the first temptation results in pride and likely a selfish use of our wealth – “I made it, I get to use it as I see fit.” The second impulse breeds a desire to keep the source of our wealth happy so that the money keeps flowing our way. This, of course, is the same as the idolatry Israel struggled with throughout the Old Testament.
Feasting in the presence of God was Israel’s method of directing hearts and hands toward the Lord. It also kept them from looking back to the economy of Egypt which was directed by Pharoah. There was no feasting in Egypt, as least, not for Israel. Harvest celebrations reminded Israel of her true master, the Lord God. He was generous.
In many Christian communities, celebrations are frowned upon as frivolous. We act like the disciples when the woman anoints Jesus with perfume. “What a waste,” they say, “it should have been used to help the poor” (Mark 14). But Jesus commends her. Celebration of God’s good provisions is a healthy spiritual practice.
As you live out this week, consider the material things God has blessed you with. Certainly, you may share them with the poor. But also consider how you will celebrate publicly the blessings God has given. Next time you plan a family feast, are there others that you should invite so that they can share in the harvest God has given you? Consider also how might the church develop the discipline of celebration. In what ways can we celebrate the wondrous redemption that God offers us in Christ Jesus?
As you journey on, go with the blessing of God:
Wherever God takes you this week, may He fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit and that you may live carefully—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.