from Deuteronomy 32 (a song of Moses)

 1 Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; 
       hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.

 ² Let my teaching fall like rain 
       and my words descend like dew, 
       like showers on new grass, 
       like abundant rain on tender plants.

 ³ I will proclaim the name of the LORD. 
       Oh, praise the greatness of our God!

 ⁴ He is the Rock, his works are perfect, 
       and all his ways are just. 
       A faithful God who does no wrong, 
       upright and just is he.

Moses -- 120 years old and all of his peers are dead. He knows that Joshua is going to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land soon. He has seen this land from the mountain top but will not be entering it himself because of his own faithlessness (see the end of Deut. 32 for a brief description of that). And this is his last song to the nation he has lead for four decades. It is a song that God taught him and instructed him to sing. He has preached some extraordinary sermons over the past days (recorded as the book of Deuteronomy) recounting the Law and the journey to this place and he is about to die.

I love this introduction -- and Moses' confidence in who God is. I see this as key to all that is right about Moses. Key to his humility and his confidence. Moses was intimately engaged with the God of all creation, the Lord of Heaven and Earth, the Eternal One. 

Over the past months we've been studying the life of Moses in BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) and I've grown to love and respect Moses like never before. One of the strengths of BSF is the consistent reminder (usually through questions) that a study of God's Word is intended to impact every aspect of our lives -- our minds and hearts and souls -- and to play out in our words and actions and relationships. 

Today I ask myself how I will live differently because I know the Rock whose works are perfect and whose ways are just and right? How will that show in my attitudes and choices on a Monday in May?

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When I am doing a Bible study where I need to jump from one passage to another for various questions, I love Bible Gateway. I've created a hyperlink to Bible Gateway @ Deuteronomy 32 in case you want to see this passage in context or just check out this internet tool. The other Bible tool I love is YouVerion. If you have not signed up there, you might want to at least check it out. I have an idea of how I want to use that tool over the summer (starting over the summer, anyhow) -- I'll get back to you on how that goes.

Yahweh-nissi

At the end of Exodus 17, we read of the battle that Joshua lead against the Amalekites -- the one where Moses stood on a hillside and watched and as long as he held the staff above his head, Joshua had the advantage. 

I've always liked this image of Moses demonstrating Israel's total reliance on God in this kind of symbolic prayer with Joshua demonstrating their total reliance on God by actually going out there and fighting. Both men were being obedient. Beyond that, I really love the reminder that even the greatest leaders need others to hold their arms up -- Aaron and Hur were with him and saw his need and joined him in the work.

This morning I was looking again (as I was finishing up the last couple of questions for BSF so I would be ready for small group tonight) at the last verses where Moses sets up a memorial of this event and names it "The Lord is My Banner."  (I had to look in the KJV to find "Jehovahnissi" and then NLT to find "Yahweh-nissi." Bible Gateway sure makes this kind of thing easier.)

The thing is, I don't readily know that that means. I don't have a banner in my day to day life, so I had to think about it. Now, what I'm about to say will totally offend someone and I assure you that is not my intent. 

As I considered what this means for me -- what application I can draw from this image of God as my Banner -- I was suddenly thankful for the Harry Potter books which are set in a boarding school that is divided into four houses and each house stands under a banner. That banner is more than a flag or a shield or a crest -- it is a long-established reputation and identity, a sign of belonging and a means of definition, a point of unity and a declaration of intent. 

So, if God is my Banner, that means I am not only defined by Him, I am protected by Him. I wear His colors. I submit myself -- my individual desires and comfort -- to His mission. 

In that context, the rather silly song we used to sing at camp has a little more something to it-- "Jesus is the Rock of my salvation. His banner over me is love."

You mean there was a plan?

I've mentioned before that I participate in a BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) study in Orlando. We're two weeks into our study of Moses and my head is already spinning. That, in this case, is a very good thing.

Throughout Scripture (and life, if I pay attention) I find evidence of a plan (and therefore a Planner) that is hard to ignore. Possible to ignore, but hard.

One thought that our teaching leader shared last night has been bouncing around all night in my brain. It's about the 400-year long enslavement of Israel in Egypt -- in the years after memories of Joseph and his God had faded from the memories of those in power. God knew that He was preparing a nation (growing it in number from 70 men to millions) to inhabit the land He'd promised to Abraham. He knew that they'd have a long, difficult journey to get them to that place (physically and in all other ways) and they needed to be prepared.

What better to prepare for a long walk in the dessert than years of hard labor (making bricks without straw counts as hard labor) in the great outdoors? This difficult circumstance born out of injustice was used by God to fulfill his promises.

This makes me ask all sorts of questions. Like...what are the things in my own life that I see as irritants, unjust circumstances, sidetracks, or nuisances but which, in reality are exactly the thing I need for whatever is coming next? If I really do believe that God is God -- sovereign, with a plan that is far beyond my imagining, true to His Word and to His character -- then I must be willing for any of the things that come my way to be absolutely necessary for His glory and good.

See, I told you my head is spinning.