TEST,TEST,TEST

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Since school has just finished and I end the year giving all kinds of “test” when I read Psalm 66 I had to reopen the idea of being tested. This verse follows a section that refers to when Israel was in Egypt and came out of there.

Psalm 66

10 For You, God, tested us; You refined us like silver. 
11 You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs.
12 You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us to a place of abundance.

Testing here is bahan (# 1043 Zondervan NIV Exhaustive Concordance, 2 Edition – all my definitions for this study will be taken from here), which means to try, probe or examine to learn the genuineness of an object like testing for the purity of the metal. And we think we get tested – prison, burdens, rode over (a sign of derision), fire and water. Some of you have endured these things but most of us are clueless about this level of testing. But look where it will bring you “a place of abundance.”

This passage led me to Deuteronomy and several passages where Moses is describing/reminding the children and grandchildren of the people who came out of Egypt what had happened for them.

Deuteronomy

4:34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

Testings here is nasa (# 5814) (don’t you love Hebrew into English) and refers to proving character or faithfulness; if it is done toward God it implies lack of confidence in Him (a sin).

Signs– ot #253 sign, mark or symbol that communicates a supernatural. NIV translators changed it from signs to miraculous signs over the years.

Wonders– mopet #4603 wonder, sign, miracle, portent, symbol

War–milhama #4878 fighting, battle, war and many other words like soldiers, warrior, etc.

Mighty hand–mighty- hazaq #2617 powerful, strong, hard, physical and internal strength, (negative) hardness of heart; hand –yad #3338 hand, arm, finger, figuratively control, power, strength, direction, care. It is added to other words for many meanings. If you exchange words it takes on many great meanings. It is the same phrase for the rest of the verses.

Outstretched arm– outstretched –nata #5742 to spread out, be extended; arm – zeroa #2432 arm, forearm, shoulder, power, strength, force

Great and awesome deeds– awesome deeds- mora #4616 fear, terror, respect, reverence, awesome deeds; great- gadol #1524 large, much, more, this can refer to physical size, quantity, degree, and social status

I think the testings were for Israel (the first three plagues) then the others were for Egypt and showed how serious God was about letting them go. The Lord was educating His people and showing them His concern and intent toward them. 

7:17 You may say to yourselves, “These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out? ” 18 But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. 19 You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear. 

Remember this is to the children of the original group who actually saw these things. God is willing to repeat these test and signs to get them into the land. Look at the teaching – recall a lesson learned and project to a new situation.

11:1 Love the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws, and his commands always. 2 Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; 3 the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country… 5 It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place, 6 and what he did to Dathan and Abiram… 7 But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has done.

The reason for the testing is verse 1 so that they can take strength in what they saw and the previous lessons learned. But now it was their turn to teach this to their children.

27:7 Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. 8 So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. 9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey… 11 Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.

With the test came the promise in Psalm 66 and then a new lesson in vs.11. It is also a reteach time as all of these verses have been.

New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The images were found in Google Images.

For Greater Glory-A Movie Review

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This is a must see movie for Christians because it is a reminder of how fragile our rights as Christians really are. It is not a feel good movie or just a Catholic movie but it does highlight the struggle and suffering the Catholics endured in this fight for freedom to worship God. It is also a story of faith that is well represented on the movie screen.

Allow me to play movie critic for a moment. The acting is good to great with a mix of recognizable faces and newcomers. The scenes and setting help make this true story come to life for us. The movie covers a lot of history and players in the cause of the Cristeros against the Mexican Government. It may not have had a “cast of thousands” but the battle scenes are believable. My wife in preparing to go see the movie commented on the “R-rating” and the available comments from the professional critics and the actual moviegoers. The pros did not like it because of its strong Christian tone while the moviegoers liked it for that very reason. I guess it earned its rating because of violence but TV shows such as “Criminal Minds” and “CSI” are just as bloody. But because children are tortured and martyred in the film taking little ones could be hard. Be sure to stay through the credits as some loose ends are tied up and some interesting facts are presented.

I may not appreciate all of the Catholic themes in the movie but a little research into the laws that prompted the Cristeros actions are very disturbing to me as a Christian. Education of children and control of the Christian Church was the heart of those laws. Those laws that were passed in 1917 sound very much like the Humanist Manifesto and the “stated purpose” of a large educational union in this country. The actions of the Canadian government in our present day society reflect the actions of the Mexican government of 100 years ago that prompted the civil war. For more about the movie go to http://forgreaterglory.com/ and a little time researching the Cristeros either before or after watching the movie will help. This and the Tulsa Race Riots are not nightmares that happened somewhere else but these things have taken place within a days drive of Houston.

WEAK LINKS

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You’ve heard the old adage about a team/chain is only as strong as its weakest member/link?  That simile or metaphor, depending how you use it, finally got to me and I had to think about it instead of just accepting it. That is when I realized that as a business or team model a chain is not how I wanted any organization to be run. Then I noticed that paradigms can come from our metaphors so “Life and Death is a power of the tongue” took on a whole new meaning.  After all when compared to a chain who wants to be the weak link and fail the whole team and cause everything to be ruined! No, pressure there right and what group after that simile has been laid on you has not looked around and started to predict who would be the first to break. Or have a bad day or week and see if that label ever leaves. And since this is a Bible Study blog I wondered about chains in the Bible.

Now an organization being pictured as a bunch of links working together is a valid image but not in a linear chain rather as chainmail. If a church or group is setup as a linear chain then the adage is true and the pressure is unbelievable on all of the links and it will eventually break.  A lesson that I learned in the book Good to Great is pick your team so that the “bus” can keep running in good or bad times.  Chainmail is a better model because in it every link is connected to someone, so even if one piece is hit it’s connected links will support it and the whole team does not break.

Here are thoughts on the adage of a linear link chain:

–        all the links look the same at the beginning

–        links fail due to stress but the strong links are incapable of helping the weak one

–       enough stress in a bind and any link can fail

–       links may fail because of external forces that eat away at it

–       links may fail because of an imperfection or an impurity in the metal

–       if a chain fails it cannot put itself back together, it takes a repairman to put in a replacement link

–       don’t mismatch links when making a chain

Now even in chainmail a link may fail and have to be replaced but the whole piece does not have to fall apart because of one piece.

CHAINS IN THE BIBLE

Using my Strong’s Concordance I counted nineteen different words that are translated “chains.” One of those words, aboth, is translated also as rope and cord.  Before this study my first thought of  “chain” was a linear set of links used to restrain or link things together. This is a use of chains in the Bible especially in Judges 16:21 when the Philistines finally used chain instead of rope to bind Samson. But many of the references of chain are in connection with decorations especially things for human wear like necklaces, earrings and chainmail collars. The Old Testament has the most uses of the word chain and again many of those are for decorations; while in the Roman Empire controlled world of the New Testament the three words for chains all seem to reflect binding and restricting human movement and freedom.

Ropes and cords probably were used more than metal chains to bind people simply because cord was easier to make and less expensive.

Photos of chains are from http://www.stockvault.net/c/industrial/locks-and-chains/?p=2,  Photo of Egyptian chainmail http://www.flickr.com/photos/waltercallens/3465622123/

THE LAND OF LEARNING

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THE LAND OF LEARNING

by Mark

The bell rings, your book opens

All will reside and spend their time in the Land of Learning

Each start off fast, so much to know

Soon the Labels start: some for good some for bad

Then comes our time in the House of Smart and Dumb

Just wait you will need this next year

Work hard so you will impress and succeed

Pass that test, get that credit, show your stuff

Those Labels just don’t seem to go away

You played the game got the Diploma or blew it off to strut your stuff

Now the learning starts

Load the cart

Do the dance

Know the job

Learn to family

When do we learn to live

“plan the work, work the plan”

If they can’t do anything else make them a teacher or a telemarketer

If your so smart why aren’t you _____

“Chase the cheese”

Show me the green

The learning done, your book is closed

The final bell rings