More Scripture-Gleanings

Exodus and Leviticus

• Two types of fear: “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of Him may be before you, that you may not sin.”  Exodus 20:20
• Lord, move us to be generous givers!  “The LORD said to Moses, ‘…From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for Me.’”  Exodus 25:2
• Imagine what the writing of God is like… “And He gave to Moses…the two tablets…written with the finger of God.”  Awesome!   Exodus 31:18
• Yes, Jesus is greater than Moses!  Moses said to the people, “Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”  Exodus 32:30 Jesus: “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God…”  Hebrews 10:12
• Be horrified at even the thought of worshiping idols!  Idolatry is whoring after false gods!   Exodus 34:15-17
• The LORD proclaims the LORD!  How shall we respond?  When God met Moses on the mountain—“The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the LORD.  The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty…And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.”  Exodus 34:5-8
• Let us be generous, giving people!  Wouldn’t it be cool and astoundingly God-glorifying if this happened?   “…All the craftsmen…came…and said to Moses, ‘The people bring more than enough for doing the work that the LORD has commanded…’  So Moses gave a command… ‘Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary…’”  Exodus 36:3-6

Leviticus

• Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God and High Priest, fulfills the Levitical sacrifices.  “And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.”  Leviticus 4:35
• God is committed to His glory and it is a fearful thing.  When Aaron’s sons got drunk (apparently) and offered strange fire before the LORD, God killed them with fire!  “Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘This is what the LORD has said, Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’”  Leviticus 10:1-3
• Calling for pastors:  “You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, and you are to teach the of Israel all the statutes that the LORD has spoken to them by Moses.”  Exodus 10:10

Psalms

• I thank God for my friend Larry Ward’s life!  Now gone to be with the Lord, he poured our his life for the hungry and poor of the world.  I think of him when I read Psalm 34:6, a verse from which he drew the title for his small biography.  “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him…”
• How precious are the LORD’s eyes, ears and face!  “The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and His ears toward their cry.  The face of the LORD is against those who do evil…”  Psalm 34:15-16
• If my bones could talk, I would want them to speak like this!  “All my bones shall say, ‘O LORD, who is like you?”  Psalm 35:10
• Pascal wrote, “Sinners lick the earth, that is to say, earthly pleasures.”  Lord, guard me from licking the earth and preferring the taste of dirt!  Give me increasing tastes like these in Psalm 36:8-9—that I would “feast on the abundance of your house”…and “drink from the river of your delights.  For with you is the fountain of life.” 
• “Fret not…Trust in the LORD…Delight in the LORD...Trust in Him…Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him…Fret not yourself…Fret not yourself…”  Psalm 37:1-7    Lord, that you would make me a Psalm 37 man!
• Know your tongue!  “I said, ‘I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle.”  Psalm 39:1
• New heart-songs point others to Christ, songs that are seen!  “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.  Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.”
• Are you poor and needy?  Take heart, God takes thought for you!  Psalm 40:17

Matthew

• Cleanse my heart, O God!  Matthew 15:18-19
• Jesus took time to pray.  Do you?  “After He dismissed the crowds, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.”  Matthew 14:23
• Jesus satisfies!  “And they all ate and were satisfied.”  Matthew 15:37
• Turning to Christ involves suffering.  “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”  Matthew 16:24
• It sounds like mustard seed faith is greater than little faith!  Why?  I think maybe it’s because of the One trusted.  Matthew 17:14-21
• How serious are we about battling our sin?  Serious enough to do without a hand or foot or eye?  Matthew 18:7-9

Acts

• Note to preachers: Keep listeners off window sills!  Acts 20:7-12
• Elders, be transparent.  Paul said the Ephesian elders, “You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time…”  Acts 20:18
• It is good and biblical to kneel when we pray.  “And when [Paul] had said all these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all.”  Acts 20:36  (also, 21:5)
• Make sure God is glorified for what God does!  “[Paul] related one by one the things God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.  And when they heard it, they glorified God”—not Paul!    Acts 21:19-20