Category: Men and Women of the Bible

Take the Long View

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The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He. – Deuteronomy 32:4 (NASB)

What bold words Moses speaks forth in his declaration of the supreme goodness of God. The leader of renown assesses God after many years of living and serving, and Moses concludes that God’s work is perfect. As we ponder the leader’s reflection, let me remind you of a few elements of Moses’ life: He was hidden in a basket on the Nile River because of Pharoah’s edict that he and other Hebrew boys be murdered, he was raised in a foreign home, he bore the realization that he was separated from his people, he risked his life and comfort to identify with the people of God, he grappled with his murder of an Egyptian, he lived in obscurity for forty years in Midian, he was asked to help deliver the Israelites despite personal weaknesses, he endured the increased misery of the Israelites when he first approached Pharoah with God’s commands, he believed God through the plagues and death of the firstborn, he faced the dilemma of standing between the Red Sea and the approaching Egyptians, he led a complaining people through the wilderness forty years, and – most of all – he sustained personal devastation when denied entry to the Promised Land because of his own disobedience when he struck a rock instead of speaking to it as God commanded.

The bottom line is that Moses withstood grave disappointment at many instances of his life, and he suffered under baffling circumstances at many points. Were the “snapshot” view of things the final answer, Moses may not have declared his unwavering confidence in God’s inability to ever do wrong.

Despite the seemingly intolerable hardship at many turns along the road of life, Moses proclaimed, “His work is perfect.” Perfect here in the Hebrew means “complete, whole, healthful, having integrity.” Moses learned a vital key with God: take the long view. We may not apprehend the purpose of any particular difficulty or heartbreak, but we realize that God completes the picture of every righteous person’s life. He commands that all of life – even the grueling parts – function to fulfill a work in us that results in what is best, what is sound, what is fit.

Speaking of a long view, I stand amazed that Moses declares the complete justice of God even though he knew that he had been denied entrance to the Promised Land. Deuteronomy 3:23-27 makes clear that Moses sought God’s restoration and begged for entrance to Canaan. God denied him. And yet – with valor that inspires – Moses pronounces the faithfulness of God and the perfection of His work.

How does Moses’ broken heart exude such a hope? He has worked for God all his days and now is stopped at the threshold of a life dream. Or was he? All of Moses’ contemporaries who crossed over into the Promised Land died. Despite their entrance to Canaan; they faced enemies, difficulties, illnesses, and every other plight of humanity. The earthly Promised Land is not the Promised Land; it is not the ultimate dream.

Hebrews 11:13-16 says that great men and women of God have died in faith, without receiving the promises. They welcomed the promises from a distance. They believed and confessed that their true home is a heavenly home. Moses is in this category of unbelievable believers who stood on a hill overlooking the earthly Promised Land and knew for a fact that he would enter the Promised Land – the heavenly one!

Some will accuse people like me of using Heaven as a crutch. They might say that Heaven is not an answer to the turmoil we face in this world. I believe God has an infinite future to correct all wrongs and fill all dreams to an infinite depth. In Hebrews 11:16, we are informed that God is not ashamed to be called our God when and if we desire a heavenly city. For God, the heavenly Promised Land is not “pie in the sky” stuff. To the Maker of all reality, Heaven is the most real and the most desired. He prides Himself in those of us who, like Moses, truly believe that our deepest answers await us.

Let us announce, as Moses did, that God’s work is perfect. Despite anything we face, He does no wrong. Moreover, He has prepared a city for us!

Not a Hoof Left Behind

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“Therefore, our livestock too shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind, for we shall take some of them to serve the LORD our God. And until we arrive there, we ourselves do not know with what we shall serve the LORD.” – Exodus 10:26 (NASB)

There exists nothing that is off limits to God. I do not mean just the general stuff of the universe; I mean the very things of our own lives. Everything – absolutely everything – must be yielded to the Lord if we hope to walk in His freedom.

Who knows what God will require of us? The one thing that is certain is that He expects our willingness to give to Him anything. Therefore, at all times we must stand ready to hand over some particular component of our lives.

When exasperated by the plague of darkness over the land of Egypt, Pharaoh angrily told Moses to leave Egypt with all the people, including the Israelite children. However, Pharaoh stipulated that the Israelite flocks and herds be left behind. One can only imagine how tempting it might have been for Moses to take the offer and run, given the horror suffered by the enslaved Hebrew nation to that point. But Moses remembered God’s clear directive to leave the Egyptian land in order to worship the Lord. An exit at this point would be disobedient; a departure under these circumstances would prohibit Moses and the Hebrews from offering whatever sacrifice God would require.

Moses stands wholeheartedly before the God He trusts and proclaims to the powerful Egyptian ruler that he and his people will not leave without every last Israelite animal. Moses explains that God will require some of those animals as sacrifices; and because it is not currently known which ones, all must go with them.

How accurate a portrayal of the stance each Christian must have when it comes to the proper entrance to freedom! We do not yet know what God will require of us, so we will take everything with us to Him in anticipation of our sacrifice!

The final plague – the death of the firstborn – will bring the ultimate deliverance of the Israelite people. Ironically, that plague is brought on by Moses’ refusal to leave Egypt without every last animal. Had Moses given in and left without all of God’s requirements, what would have happened? In God’s scheme of things, the willingness to give it all precipitates the genuine freedom we gain because of the death – and resurrection – of Jesus.

Do not hold back. Know that God requires everything. Do not allow the difficulty of yielding any and all of your life to stop the Lord’s plan of deliverance for you. Let the words of trusting Moses resonate in your mind, “Not a hoof shall be left behind.”

Enoch’s Extraordinary Life

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Enoch lived an extraordinary life and escaped physical death as a result. Though this grand blessing is obviously not the norm in God’s scheme of things, we certainly gain insight into the incredible things that can happen when we actually live a life pleasing to God.

The general description of eight of nine men in the genealogy of Genesis chapter five is that each one lived a certain number of years, fathered a certain son, lived a certain more number of years, had other children, and died. Enoch’s description stands out as markedly different: instead of dying, he simply “was not,” for God took him away. The exact details are not divulged, but this man did not have to die a physical death. Both Enoch’s body and spirit were taken directly by God!

Genesis tells us that Enoch walked with God, and Hebrews 11:5 reveals in greater detail that Enoch pleased God. Enoch’s walking with God was no doubt an intimate, passionate relationship. Certainly the man put God at the forefront and is now forever known for living above the ordinary and experiencing a miracle indeed.

The genealogy of Genesis chapter five makes clear that one man of many saw life as more than an accumulation of years and the building of a family. The span of each man’s years represents a myriad of endeavors, including his work, his care for his family, his eating, his relaxation, his ponderings, etc. But, of all those things in which Enoch was also no doubt involved, none compared to Enoch’s walk with God. His heart must have always been driven by a love for His Creator and Savior; his mind must have pushed all other activities to align with God’s view.

For Enoch, this love for God was real. I Chronicles 28:9 informs us that God actively searches our hearts and understnads every intention. Neither Enoch nor any one of us can get away with falsifying our passion. God knows our core. Enoch’s right living was motivated by a desire to please God.

Following the effective description of Enoch in Hebrews 11:5, verse six goes on to tell us there are two requirements for drawing near to God; believing in His existence and believing that He rewards those who seek Him. Enoch staked his life on the existence of the one, true God who requires that we live for Him with all our heart, soul, and mind. Enoch was not disappointed.

One thing for which we ought to pray is such an unbroken walk with Jesus that our death is simply a seamless transition to the glorious continuance of eternal life. Though we will die physically (if Jesus does not return before then), our spirit will not miss a beat because of how close we are to our Lord.

God upholds Enoch as a shining example of God’s power to do miraculous things for those who earnestly seek Him. If God translated a man to Heaven without death near the beginning of history, what is He trying to communicate to us in terms of our pursuits and expectations?

Jesus will completely destroy death, as outlined in I Corinthians 15:26. Death is the last enemy. Death is the result of man’s sin against God. Death makes men fear. But Enoch looked forward to Jesus. He loved and believed in Him so much that Jesus gave Enoch a taste of the end at the beginning. May we allow God to so redeem us and pervade our lives that we, too, can taste His glory even as we walk this earth.

God may not translate us to Heaven without death, but Jesus promises us in John 5:24 that we have already passed from death to life when we hear Jesus and genuinely believe in Him. He gives us life and victory over sin and over ordinary, mundane circumstances. He then reveals that one day, everyone whose body is in a tomb will hear His voice. Those who walked with Him in this life will have their body resurrected for eternal life, and those who walked without Him in this life will have their bodies resurrected for eternal judgment.

Pleasing God clearly means life eternal. For Enoch – and for us – it means amazing things are possible. The question is: how closely are we walking with God?