Under the Cloud

Do you ever "push your luck?" I push my luck with refilling my gas tank. I don't like refilling my tank, so I always go as far as I can after the light comes on indicating that I need to refill.  It's a funny little quirk of mine, but harmless so far.  Today we look at Korah’s  r ebellion which follows the rebellion of the spies and the rest of the community.  Korah says that Moses and Aaron have gone too far in assuming leadership of the Hebrews and Moses tells Korah and his followers that they have gone too far by opposing him. Chapter 15 was a break and a ray of mercy (except for dealing with the Sabbath-breaker) between the two rebellions.  Korah  was a  Kohathite , from a clan of Levi responsible for carrying th e most holy things.   Dathan ,  Abiram   and On  are from the tribe of Reuben and followed Korah (or possibly incited the rebellion and gained Korah's support).      1 Chronicles 5:1-2 ...

Did you ever do something  wrong,  but it was totally unintentional? I was shopping with our adopted grandma Audrey and pushing her in a wheelchair. We left the store we were in to go into the mall’s food court. As we ordered our food and I went to pay, I noticed an outfit sitting behind Audrey in her wheelchair! I asked the food server to hold our food and practically ran back to the store! I immediately went to a cashier and paid for the clothing, sweating the whole time. As I pushed Audrey out of the store, I joked that I almost got us arrested. She thought it was great fun and was all smiles the rest of the day. However, if a security guard had seen the outfit before I did, he may not have accepted my excuse or apology.  Unintentional sin is still sin.   In Numbers 15, God also makes a provision for unintentional sin of the community and an offering to atone for it.  Some of these same offerings are detailed in  Leviticus 4:13-21.  There...

What can we give to God?  He has everything. I love to use the resource from Family Life called What God Wants for Christmas . The final answer from the manipulative that lets kids tell the Christmas Story and open little boxes with cute figures in it is this: You. God wants you. He wants your time, energy, thoughts, and love. This is obedience but reaps such rewards for us. It should never be looked at as a duty, but a pleasure.  The people of Israel are under the discipline of God for rejecting the Promised Land.  God makes it clear to them that they are still His people by having Moses write in Numbers  Chapter 15 instruction s  on supplementary offerings God expects from His people.  This is a display of God’s mercy.  For as long as the rebellious people live, God will accept sacrifices from them as well as the others.  God talks to Israel about when they arrive in the Promised Land how they should present their offerings.  This...