Can’t Get No Satisfaction: Exodus 2:21

Exodus 2:21 reads “Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses.” 

As you read the following, you’ll have to hum the tune and imagine Mick Jagger’s voice singing the chorus from one of The Rolling Stones’ greatest hits:  “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (lyrics below courtesy of http://www.lyricfind.com)

“I can’t get no satisfaction, I can’t get no satisfaction
‘Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can’t get no, I can’t get no”

The gist of the song is one familiar to most people.  No matter how hard someone tries in their own power, they can’t get the satisfaction they crave.  Whether it be power, money, fame, influence…it’s all in vain.  Solomon spoke of this in Ecclesiastes “All is vanity (vain)”.  I mused about the word “content” one day not too long ago.  When one thinks of being content or contentment, I think of the image of the sheep…content as long as it has food, water, and protection.  I felt led to research the word “content” in the Holy Bible and see where and how it was used. Now, this is not every use of the word, but the ones I felt led by God to think on.  So I hope He blesses you in these thoughts and that…you’ll be content. 🙂 

So, let’s start with Exodus and the story of Moses.  After he had been banished by Pharaoh and had wandered the desert, he came to the aid of some Midianite shepherd women.  When they told their father of what he had done, he bade them go get him and bring him to their house. Exodus 2:21 reads “Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses.”  Moses had gone from regal surroundings to bare survival, and now had found welcome by this man’s family.  He now had food, water, shelter, and even a wife and later a son.  I think I’d be happy, too, to come off that roller coaster better off than how I’d been.

How about you, Christian?  Are you happy with what God has given you?  No matter the quantity, all we have comes from the Lord Himself.

Something to think about!

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Back to Corinth: 2 Cor. 6: 1-18

Verses 11-12: “O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections.”

In the 1965 Pink Panther cartoon, Pink Ice, the Panther is running a diamond mine in South Africa. However, all his diamonds continue to be stolen by rival mine owners, Devereaux and Hoskins. When the bumbling duo attempts to get rid of the Panther, he uses good ol’ fashioned cartoon tricks to ultimately make them distrust each other and have them at each other’s throats, all the while taking their diamonds in return. This was one of those rare Pink Panther cartoons where the Panther actually spoke (the voices of the Panther, Devereaux, and Hoskins were provided by the legendary voice actor, Rich Little.)

Though very humorous to watch how the Panther gets Devereaux and Hoskins to begin sniping at each other and eventually antagonize each other, there are people today and back in Biblical times who would set people against each other. This happened in the case of Paul and the Corinthian church; false prophets had filled the church with lies about Paul, and the church didn’t return the affection back to Paul that he had honestly and openly shown them. Paul correctly admonishes them, telling them that they are their own worst enemy; that Paul and his company of missionaries are not restricting them, but they are hurting themselves.

How many times have we allowed our own misconceptions or groundless beliefs about something to get in the way of the Lord’s work? We need to listen to the truth from Jesus Christ, He who is the Truth. Think how much the church could do today if all its members were united in following God, and not trying to add a comma where God put a period?

Something to think about.

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Back to Corinth: 1 Cor. 12: 1-31

Verses 4-7: “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:”

Four different people, united on a doomed mission to the stars.
Brought crashing to Earth by the bombardment of mysterious cosmic rays.
Four different people; one cosmic storm. But look at how it changed them:

Reed Richards became the super-stretchable Mr. Fantastic!
Sue Storm (later Richards) became the disappearing, force-field creating, Invisible Woman!
Johnny Storm became the fiery flying Human Torch!
and Benjamin J. Grimm became the superhumanly strong, rock-skinned Thing!

Four people…one cosmic storm…but one team!

This was the origin of the Fantastic Four from Marvel Comics. But recounting their first story brings forth an interestingly strange parallel to today’s passage.

Paul is telling the Corinthians that although there are diverse gifts and ministries, it is through the same Holy Spirit that those gifts and ministries are to be used to profit the body. Just like all the parts of the body function to serve the whole body, we are to use the gifts God gave us for His glory! Not everyone can preach like Billy Graham; not everyone can sing like Sandi Patti. But every gift is useful, especially when used to glorify God. We shouldn’t fall victim to jealousy or envy, wanting someone else’s talents. We need to seek out what God has given us, and use it in His service!

Many Christians…one Holy Spirit…but one team!

Something to think about.

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Back to Corinth: 1 Cor. 6: 12-20

Verses 18-20: “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

I went to a military academy for high school. As a cadet officer, I worked in the office of the active-duty enlisted sergeants who were assigned as instructors at the academy. In working with them and talking with them, I learned a good many things, not the least of which was “don’t get into trouble”. We had one cadet, though, whose name was Jose; the sergeants liked him, despite his many times of breaking academy rules. One of them told me one day why Jose getting into trouble was different from other cadets getting into trouble. “It’s because he only gets himself in trouble, ” Sarge said. “He doesn’t pin the blame on anyone else, he doesn’t get others in trouble with him. The knucklehead only gets himself in trouble. Now, he’ll serve his punishment and pay his dues…and he’ll still go right back and do something bone-headed and get himself in trouble again. But he never drags anyone down with him.”

Paul hear states that “every sin that a man does is outside the body”…except for sexual immorality, which involves contaminating the body that Jesus bought “with a price”. When you buy something, you own it…it is yours! When we ask Jesus into our hearts, we surrender ourselves to His Lordship…soul, mind, and body. Why then would you do something to the body that belongs to someone else? Bad enough that you may damage your own possession, but damage something that is not yours?

Paul encourages the church to “glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s”. We might be the only witness for Christ that a lost person may see; don’t damage the impression you would leave on them.

Something to think about.

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Back to Corinth: 1 Cor. 3:5-8

Verse 7: “So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.”

While in college, I took care of my grandmother’s yard. Among all the different plants and bushes (potted or rooted), she had a hydrangea bush that wasn’t doing too well. It often got knocked into or broken, and even got run over by the lawn mower (I don’t recall it being me!). She was ready to give up on it. I asked her to let me take a try at “saving” it. First thing I did was make a border of big rocks around it to protect it. I’d water it, especially during the hot summer days. Slowly but surely over the next few years, it made a comeback and developed back into a nice sized bush that blossomed some beautiful flowers.

Now, for the rhetorical question: did I cause the plant to grow? Of course not. Did I help care for it and water it? Yes. But the actual growth was caused by…God (of course!)

This is what Paul is trying to drill into the Corinthian church. All argument about who brought someone to saving grace through Christ Jesus (whether Paul, Apollos, or someone else) doesn’t matter in the importance of things. What matters is that Jesus saved them! It is only through Him that we are saved. Paul couldn’t get them into Heaven; neither could Apollos. They were tools in the hands of God to spread the Gospel. The verses go on to mention that those who helped plant and water would “receive his own reward according to his labor.”

Remember what a wonderful feeling it is to be used by God!

Something to think about.

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Back to Corinth: 1 Cor. 2: 10-16

Verses 14-15: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”

When I was in college, I was in the drama team of our Baptist Student Union (called the Zoo Troupe). Once we acted out a skit called “The Owl Who Was God”. (I found out just this week that the skit must’ve been based on the fable in James Thurber’s book Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated (New York, 1940), pp. 35-36. I reread the story at the following link: https://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english320/Thurber-The_Owl_Who_Was_God.htm). The story (condensed here) is that the other animals asked the owl to be their leader because he could see in the dark and answer any question (although his answers to most questions were “Who”, “Two”, “To wit”, and “To Woo”…mostly owl-speak!). After chasing away a few animals who wanted to ask “Can he see in the daytime?”, the other animals asked the owl to be their leader. Appearing at high noon, walking slowly with wide eyes (since he couldn’t see in the daytime), the other animals, impressed by his seeming stature, began to cry “He’s God!” They began to follow him, even when he started walking down a highway. They were still crying “He’s God”…when most of them, including the owl, were killed by a truck which ran into them. The moral was: You can fool too many of the people too much of the time.

Paul here is contrasting the natural man, using natural wisdom, with the spiritual man, who uses the wisdom given through the Holy Spirit. The spiritual man can discern and judge many things through the wisdom God gives; the natural man cannot discern those same things, because natural wisdom cannot divine the deep things of God. It would be like above, when the animals thought the owl was wise, when it reality, he was limited…just like the natural man is limited.

So for wisdom that lasts, do you want the natural sands to build your house on? Or do want your foundation to be the wisdom of the Rock?

Something to think about.

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Jesus: I AM

John 8: 56-58: “”Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” Then the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.””

In Exodus 3:13-15, Moses is at the burning bush, receiving his “marching orders” from God. When Moses asked God what to say when he tells the children of Israel that the God of your fathers has sent me to you (knowing that they would ask what His name was), God said “I AM WHO I AM.” In verse 14, the Bible states: “And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.”

I recall reading the information at the following website, https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/i-am-who-i-am. John Piper shared the following insight:
“The Most Important Name for God in the Old Testament
The most common and the most important name for God in the Old Testament is a name that in our English versions never even gets translated. Whenever you see the word LORD in all capital letters, you know that this name is behind it. In Hebrew, the name had four letters — YHWH — and may have been pronounced something like Yahweh. The Jews came to regard this word with such reverence that they would never take it upon their lips, lest they inadvertently take the name in vain. So whenever they came to this name in their reading, they pronounced the word adonai which means my lord. The English versions have basically followed the same pattern. They translate the proper name Yahweh with the word LORD in all caps.”

Wow. Powerful. Contrast that with today’s society, where it seems like a lot of folks take God’s name flippantly, irreverently, and in vain. Sad.

So, when Jesus makes this statement to the Jews (who couldn’t fathom how Jesus knew Abraham), and says, “before Abraham was, I AM”, there is NO doubt as to what He is telling them…He is God.

As I mentioned at the outset, I was only going to be sharing insights God showed me on some of His names. This is the last one for this study. However, when you sum it all up, Jesus is simply I AM. He is God! God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He simply…IS.

The next study we’ll be doing will be revisiting a favorite book of mine that we have walked through before. Be in prayer for me, and check back in a while, as we began a return visit to 1 and 2 Corinthians.

Have a blessed day in the Lord!

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Jesus: I am the Good Teacher

Mark 10:17-18: “Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.””

All of us have been taught throughout our lives, whether we wish to admit it or not, whether we were willing participants or not. Some of the people who taught me, I remember more fondly than others. Some were good teachers. Experience itself can be a hard teacher. But there are some good teachers we can all recall. Two instances I remember: one was my grandmother, who taught me in Sunday School when I was very young. She and my mother made sure I knew about God, Jesus, and the Bible. Two, was my first grade teacher; as a little boy, I had a crush on her! 🙂 She was so tall and pretty. She loved us kids in her class a lot. Now, she could be tough when she had to be, but I fondly remember learning the alphabet and math under her guidance. (For the record, when I saw her years later, I discovered that she wasn’t as tall as I thought…but then again, I was a short first-grader!) I still love her; she was a second mama figure to us!

Good teachers are those who care about us, and want us to learn the right things. The rich young ruler, when he greeted Jesus, addressed Him as “Good Teacher” due to His reputation as a prophet and teacher. I find Jesus’s response wonderfully ironic when He answered him and said, “why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.” And, of course, Jesus is God!

The point is, Jesus does care about us, He loves us, and He wants to teach us. What we have to do is learn (and I do mean LEARN) to listen and to obey Him, when He teaches us.

Class is in session.

Something to think about!

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Jesus: I am the Cornerstone

Isaiah 28:16 – “Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily.””
Ephesians 2:20 – “having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,”

The following dialogue comes from the new Super Secret Secret Squirrel cartoon, which Hanna-Barbera aired as part of the show 2 Stupid Dogs.

Secret Squirrel was locked up in a cell in a straitjacket. A microscopic menace named Quark had made it look like he was crazy so that he would be locked up. Quark was destroying massive buildings, to which Secret asked him: “how could a subatomic speck like you destroy all those structures?”

Quark: “oh, it’s so simple; I just pulled out the bottom atom!” (which he demonstrates by removing the bottom atom of the stool Secret had sat upon, causing it to crumble.)

After bragging about his plan to wipe out North America for his entertainment career, he escapes. Suddenly the wall falls down; there stands Secret’s faithful sidekick, Morocco Mole!

Secret: “Morocco!”
Morocco: “Secret! I knew you weren’t crazy. You’re only crazy about catching criminals!”
Secret: “Thanks, Morocco. By the way, how did you knock down that huge wall?”
Morocco: “Simple; I just pulled out the bottom brick! heh.” (showing Secret the bottom brick as he unties him.)

Now what that humorous cartoon points out is a very simple construction fact: most all structures have a dependent component that the rest of the building is fabricated upon. It’s known as the cornerstone in most buildings. Wikipedia defines a cornerstone as “The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone)

My father, a retired brick mason, always started laying out a building by constructing a corner to build the intersecting walls off of; without that steady corner, the walls wouldn’t be sound enough.

What is Jesus without the church? Well, He is still the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior, God; that doesn’t change. What is the church without Jesus? That’s the point in a nutshell. Without Jesus, the church would be like other religions that eventually cave in and collapse. It would be a shell, a sham, a house of cards that would fold under pressure.

Christian, remember today that Jesus is the Cornerstone of your faith; faith built upon such a Rock can stand up to anything.

Something to think about.

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Acts 27: 1-44

Verses 23-24: “For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.'”

Whenever I do not drive myself on Carpenters for Christ mission trips, most of the other times I travel with my father in his truck. Since he is driving, I’ll chart our progress on a map to see how close we are to state lines and such (in most cases to take some snapshots). There have been times he has asked me where we are on the map and how close we are to certain landmarks or towns. He has even asked before how many miles we are to a certain area (good thing I took land navigation in high school!) I thought of this when reading all the detail that Luke put into the account of Paul travelling to Rome aboard the ship and his trials during the storm. Most of the account is filled with this navigational detail, but there were three things that drew my attention while reading this account.

In verse 3, Luke writes that Julius (the centurion in charge of the prisoners) treated Paul kindly. I’m reminded that God “clears the way” when we need His help, and sometimes that help comes in unexpected people that He sends our way.

The second item is in verses 23-24: that God reminded Paul that he was to make it to Rome alive to be brought before Caesar. Worry is one of the devil’s favorite weapons…with that weapon, he can rob us of the energy and focus that we need in ministering for God. Paul was probably emboldened and strengthened to be reminded of this by God’s angel. The weight of concern about their survival was lifted from him with this reminder, allowing him to focus on the task at hand.

The third item is in verse 36; Paul encouraged the men, who hadn’t eaten anything in the last 14 days, to take nourishment for their survival. The angel had told Paul that they would survive, but the ship would be run aground, so they would need strength to make it shore (go without food for 2 weeks, and see how strong you are!) This verse is a reminder that God gave us physical bodies that we need to take care of in order to better serve Him. That means making sure we take the nourishment we need to keep our bodies running as they should.

Sounds like common sense, right? But as I’m often reminded in this old world, common sense ain’t as common as it used to be. It’s better to let God do the driving and we “ride shotgun” with Him!

Something to think about.

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