Monthly Archives: September 2020

Quail and Manna, September 21, 2020

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

About five years ago, I thought extending our porch into a patio and covering it with a cedar pergola a great idea. Although I hadn’t meant to start the project in the middle of July in San Antonio, my brother-in-law came to visit and cut down a couple of trees that were in the way of the patio my wife and I envisioned someday. Then he built a frame for the concrete.

Only one problem. He left. The form wasn’t strong enough to hold the fill dirt and ten yards of concrete needed, and it was still July in San Antonio.

For anyone who hasn’t been to San Antonio in July, let me share that July and August are our hottest months, with most of those days in triple digits. Unlike West Texas, San Antonio humidity stays relatively high compared to all but the east and coastal regions. We don’t have that much rain but have many streams and rivers that converge in the city to keep the humidity enough to make outside feel like a sauna.

So, at the end of July and through August, I started extending the patio and building my cedar pergola. After shoveling twenty yards of fill (that’s four dump trucks of dirt and gravel) into the forms I had to rebuild, I did get smart and hired experts to pour the concrete and set the twelve-foot tall, six-inch thick cedar posts in place that would support the pergola. What I wasn’t smart enough to do was hire someone to build the rest of it.

Because I wanted to get it done and out of the way and most of my friends worked full-time jobs, I figured I could tackle the job on my own. It sounded simple enough. Attach the frame to the house and the upright posts embedded in the porch, then attach the slats on the frame, and it’s done. Only I didn’t consider the weight of those six by two by twelve- and fourteen-foot pieces of cedar. I didn’t think about what a chore it was to lift them into position in the first place, then hold them there steady enough to attach them to the frame.

I’m not sure how many times I screamed out to myself, “Why did I start this? This is stupid! I’m going to kill myself or at least break something trying to put this stupid thing together, and it’s so hot out here, no one will use it anyway! What was wrong with the way it was in the first place?”

My wife, Carole, would come out occasionally and encourage me, telling me what a good job I was doing. Maybe I should wait and call someone to help. But I ignored her advice, and I carried on, grumbling all the while.

I started sounding a lot like the Israelites in Exodus. We hear them complaining to Moses and Aaron again in chapter 16:

²There in the desert they all complained to Moses and Aaron ³and said to them, “We wish that the Lord had killed us in Egypt. There we could at least sit down and eat meat and as much other food as we wanted. But you have brought us out into this desert to starve us all to death.”

⁴The Lord said to Moses, “Now I am going to cause food to rain down from the sky for all of you. The people must go out every day and gather enough for that day. In this way I can test them to find out if they will follow my instructions. ⁵On the sixth day they are to bring in twice as much as usual and prepare it.”

⁶So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt. ⁷In the morning you will see the dazzling light of the Lord’s presence. He has heard your complaints against him—yes, against him, because we are only carrying out his instructions.” ⁸Then Moses said, “It is the Lord who will give you meat to eat in the evening and as much bread as you want in the morning, because he has heard how much you have complained against him. When you complain against us, you are really complaining against the Lord.”

⁹Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole community to come and stand before the Lord, because he has heard their complaints.” ¹⁰As Aaron spoke to the whole community, they turned toward the desert, and suddenly the dazzling light of the Lord appeared in a cloud. (Exodus 16:2-10 GNT)

The Israelites met Moses and Aaron and complained about everything. No water, no meat, no bread, no house, no bed. You name it, they complained about it. Moses led them out of slavery, but that wasn’t enough. They wanted him to provide all their needs. Give me, give me, give me. And if you don’t, expect to hear about it.

Ouch. That gets too close to home for too many of us when we think about how we approach God. Hey, God, give me the job I want. Hey, God, fix my finances after I’ve ruined them with my poor money management. Hey, God, heal me after I’ve failed to do the things that I should have done to take care of my body. Hey, God, do something with that boss that doesn’t seem to like me. Hey, God,…

We come to him with our complaints, our want list, our petitions of what we expect him to do for us, without thinking about who we’re talking to. Could you imagine walking up to the President and saying those things? Well, maybe in this country, since we failed to teach each other to respect authority over the last few generations. But if you did that in North Korea or Russia or China or most other countries around the world, you would at least find yourself in prison if not six feet underground in your permanent resting place.

But we do that with the maker of the universe and think nothing of it because we forget who he is. We don’t stop to consider the creator of all things allows us into his presence, and cares enough about us to hear our prayers and act on them. Sometimes he doesn’t answer the way we would like, but he answers in the way that best fulfills his plans. And that is always best for us in the end, too. We may not see it now. We may not see it in this life, but I can assure you that God has our best in mind when he answers our prayers. We just need to consider who we ask those questions when we pray. It would make a huge difference in how we pray, I think.

So what happened to the complaining Israelites?

11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them that at twilight they will have meat to eat, and in the morning they will have all the bread they want. Then they will know that I, the Lord, am their God.” (Exodus 16:11-12 GNT)

God answered their prayer. In fact, he answered it the way they asked, which is sometimes dangerous. God gave them quail that night for supper. And the next night. And the next night. And the next night. Until it was coming through their teeth is how later verses describe it. If you think about that a minute, the only way quail comes back through your teeth is in liquid form, already chewed and mostly digested. I’ll let you figure out how that quail returned through their teeth, then. Exodus tells us many died with the quail between their teeth.

The morning after God answered their prayers; they received manna for the first time. They could use it in a lot of different ways. They could make bread with it. They could boil it and make a kind of mush. They could mold it and roast it, I guess, but it all tasted like manna. It looked like coriander seed and tasted like honey. I don’t know about you, but after a couple of tablespoons of honey, I’m done. The overwhelmingly sweet taste means I can’t handle much more than that. But the Israelites got to enjoy manna from heaven every day, at every meal, for the next forty years.

Sometimes it’s better to let God figure out what’s best for us instead of telling him what we need, don’t you think? You might just get what you asked for like the Israelites did. God provided, just like they asked. Many died eating the quail, and I’m sure many would like to die on a steady diet of manna. I wonder what kind of cookbook was passed to the next generation after eating manna for forty years.

In case you’re interested, the pergola turned out well. Days of hard work and fewer complaints let me finish, and we get to enjoy the extended patio during the months with an “R” in them. The rest are still too hot to handle until just before the sun comes up.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation®: Scriptures taken from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) Copyright © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

God’s Envoys, September 14, 2020

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

¹⁹Next, the angel of God, who was going ahead of the camp of Isra’el, moved away and went behind them; and the column of cloud moved away from in front of them and stood behind them. ²⁰It stationed itself between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Isra’el — there was cloud and darkness here, but light by night there; so that the one did not come near the other all night long.

²¹Moshe reached his hand out over the sea, and Adonai caused the sea to go back before a strong east wind all night. He made the sea become dry land, and its water was divided in two. ²²Then the people of Isra’el went into the sea on the dry ground, with the water walled up for them on their right and on their left.

²³The Egyptians continued their pursuit, going after them into the sea — all Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and cavalry. ²⁴Just before dawn, Adonai looked out on the Egyptian army through the column of fire and cloud and threw them into a panic. ²⁵He caused the wheels of their chariots to break off, so that they could move only with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Adonai is fighting for Isra’el against the Egyptians! Let’s get away from them!”

²⁶Adonai said to Moshe, “Reach your hand out over the sea, and the water will return and cover the Egyptians with their chariots and cavalry.” ²⁷Moshe reached his hand out over the sea, and by dawn the sea had returned to its former depth. The Egyptians tried to flee, but Adonai swept them into the sea. ²⁸The water came back and covered all the chariots and cavalry of Pharaoh’s army who had followed them into the sea — not even one of them was left. ²⁹But the people of Isra’el walked on dry ground in the sea, with the water walled up for them on their right and on their left.

³⁰On that day, Adonai saved Isra’el from the Egyptians; Isra’el saw the Egyptians dead on the shore. ³¹When Isra’el saw the mighty deed that Adonai had performed against the Egyptians, the people feared Adonai, and they believed in Adonai and in his servant Moshe. (Exodus 14:19-31 Complete Jewish Bible)

God’s angels are an interesting study. They appear periodically in scripture, sometimes to share a message from God, sometimes to guard or protect, sometimes to destroy. These created beings perform tasks at God’s bidding and their power, through God, always amazes me.

In this instance, God’s messenger acted as both guide and protector for the young Israelite nation. Around him stood a cloud by day and a fire by night, visible to the entire encampment who fled Egypt. Also visible to any who happened to be anywhere near the Israelites. I expect the vision of the cloud and fire surrounding God’s angel must have looked like an isolated storm cloud rising from the ground instead of falling from the sky. We’ll come back to that in a moment.

Other instances of God’s envoys include the two men who visited Abram and told him about their mission to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. God gave them the task of destroying the wicked cities and the plains in which they were located. Their mission, rain down the fire and brimstone we hear about and ensure God’s plan happened.

Later, Jacob wrestled with one of God’s messengers who obviously took it pretty easy on him by only touching his hip at the end of a long night of Jacob struggling with him. Just a single touch and Jacob limped the rest of his life, while Jacob wore himself out trying to overcome this angelic being.

One of God’s warriors went through all of Egypt and killed all the firstborn in every household without the Passover blood painted on the doorpost. One of God’s warriors went through the Amalekite camp, killing many, and creating such chaos among the rest that they killed each other. Another of his warriors killed 185,000 Assyrians laying siege at the walls of Jerusalem as Hezekiah prayed to God for deliverance. Gabriel brought the message of Jesus’ coming birth to Mary and Joseph. Michael fought Satan’s warriors before delivering God’s answer to Daniel’s prayer.

Angels sat atop the stone at Jesus’ resurrection and caused an earthquake as they touched ground, frightening the tomb guards to a state of unconsciousness. A legion of angels stood by ready to rescue Jesus from the cross should he give the word. Angels transported Lazarus to Abraham’s bosom in the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The only story Jesus told with names instead of using terms like “there was a man, or there were certain men, or there was one.” Perhaps not a parable after all, but scene he saw before his incarnation.

So, let’s go back to the angelic guide God sent to the Israelites to protect them from the Egyptians right after their escape. Pharaoh changed his mind, as God knew he would. Cheap labor (just the cost of enough food, clothing, and lodging to help them survive) was as important in Pharaoh’s day as it seems to be in ours. After they left the country, he realized his cheap labor disappeared and it would take conquering another country to enlist more slaves, something he was not ready or willing to do.

Probably few besides Moses had left Egypt and knew anything about the wilderness they traveled. They needed a guide to get them to the place God promised their ancestors those centuries earlier. The tornado of a cloud in front of them, provided that compass. Then the chariots came. Horses move significantly faster than children on foot. The angel became more than a guide, he became a fence.

I can picture the scene as the Egyptians see their prey just ahead and then this wall lifts from in front of the Israelites and lands yards in front of them. It looks like a cloud but is impenetrable. Scouts try to push through the fog in front of them and as soon as they enter, they seem to lose all sense of direction and come out exactly where they went in. They try other means to get through before darkness overshadows them, but to no avail. Every time they try to go through the cloud, they find themselves right back where they started. They can’t get through.

Darkness falls. On the Egyptian side of the cloud, it’s the darkest night they’ve seen since the plague of darkness that struck the country weeks ago. They can’t see anything, even when they try to light a candle, the light seems swallowed by the unusual blackness. On the other side of the cloud, the Israelites face light as bright as daylight coming from the same wall. God’s envoy provides darkness and a wall to the Egyptians and light for the Israelites. Moses tells them to head toward the Reed Sea to continue their escape. The people look dumbfounded. There are probably not enough boats in all of Egypt to carry them and their cattle across the sea.

Then Moses holds out his rod and the east wind picks up speed. It’s hard to stand in the tumult. It’s not just a breeze, but one of the strongest winds they’ve ever seen blazing across the sea. Moses gives the order to march. The first of those reaching what should be the shore start to yell, praising God for his great power. The nation crosses on dry land. But the Egyptians follow.

The cloud has once more moved in front of the Israelites leading them across the sea and into the wilderness toward their promised future, but perhaps the angel leaves the cloud for a moment to break those chariot wheels, add a little water to the sea basin creating a little mud for the chariots and horses. Maybe he cut a few reins and loosened a few shafts. Whatever happened, the Egyptians didn’t fare well when they crossed the sea and suddenly, they faced the onslaught of the rushing water pouring over their armor-clad bodies.

Why all this talk about angels? To remind us that as we walk through the days ahead, God remains in charge. One of his names is God of Heavens Armies. Note that it’s not just one army at his disposal, but armies as in many. If one angel can create the kind of protection we see for the Israelites, or Elijah, or Jesus, imagine what an army of angels could do. And God has armies of angels at his disposal to do whatever he wants done.

Should we worry about the state of the world? No. God has it under control. He gave us a mission to take care of it for him. We haven’t done a very good job of it. He takes care of his children. We don’t do a very good job of that based on the headlines around the world. But God can at any moment intervene to guide and protect those who follow him. Will he take us out of the predicament we face? Not always.

Sometimes we get into them by the choices we make and so suffer the natural consequences of those choices. Sometimes we suffer at the hands of others. Why? I don’t know. I don’t understand, except that we live in a fallen, broken world, far from the one God created when he said all he made was good. We’ve kind of messed it up. But God is still God and just like with Moses and the Israelites, just like with Jacob and Mary, and Daniel. God can and does make his plans known and executes them with or without us through the agents of his creation, human or angelic.

Maybe knowing God has a plan for you and has incredible resources to put at your disposal when you need them will help you get through whatever you face today. He will never let you face more than you can handle when you follow him. He knows us better than we know ourselves and we can’t see around the bend in the road to know how he will use what we face today to help us or someone else tomorrow. Trust him to do what is best for his people.

Scriptures marked CJB are taken from the COMPLETE JEWISH BIBLE (CJB): Scripture taken from the COMPLETE JEWISH BIBLE, copyright© 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. www.messianicjewish.net/ jntp. Distributed by Messianic Jewish Resources Int’l. www.messianicjewish.net. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

The Beginning, September 7, 2020

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

God said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “Mark this month as the first of all months for you – the first month of your year.” (Exodus 12:1‑2 The Voice)

When I read those words from the lectionary this week, it started me thinking. That’s always a little dangerous, but I began to think about those moments in my life in which the dates permanently fixed themselves in my mind. Things like my birthday. I don’t remember the first one, but I’m told I was there on June 22^nd more than a few years ago.

I remember my wedding day, December 4^th, 1976. This year my wife and I will celebrate forty-four years together in December. Not many can say that in a country with a divorce rate over 50%, and that among the Christian populace because many of those outside of religious institutions just live together instead of getting married.

I remember my kids’ birthdays. Even though the Army only let Carole and me enjoy nine of 30 anniversaries together during my career, I was there for both my daughter’s and son’s births. Those two days and the hours before that special time will stick in my memory forever.

I also remember the day we began the ground campaign in Desert Storm. The Air Force finished its bombardment of Iraqi fighting positions after almost a month of daily raids, and the Army crossed the border into Iraq on my wife’s birthday in 1991. I called her to wish her a happy birthday. She knew something was about to happen because my voice sounded different than at other times. A few hours later, the ground war began. That day pressed itself into my memory.

I also remember the day I finally told God I would obey his call on my life to pursue ministry for him. It was Sunday night, August 5, 1979. God and I had a long discussion all day about my future, and I finally figured out God knew a lot more than I did. I need to follow his direction in my life if I planned to succeed at anything. That’s the night I said yes to his call. It didn’t surprise my wife or very many people who knew me. I think it surprised me more than anyone else. The journey keeps getting more exciting and more interesting as time goes on. God gave me several occupations to put food on the table, the Army being the primary source for thirty years. But I’ve had the same vocation since that time, paid by his grace and the knowledge I’m doing as he asks.

Big days. Important milestones. I could name many more that stand out as monument moments that press themselves into life never to be forgotten. No doubt, you can do the same. Normally, life doesn’t flow past uninterrupted with no bumps or ripples. In the stream of life, we find a few calm peaceful places where we relax and enjoy the time we spend there. But we also find rapids and waterfalls and places where the water runs so much faster than we think it should.

Life is like that. Always different around the next bend in the river. Never really knowing what to expect. We can prepare for some of it. Sometimes it just hits full force and we hang on hoping the turbulence ends before it dashes us against the rocks.

God came to Moses and Aaron with the command to mark their deliverance as the first month of the year. He told them what would happen that night, but I’m not sure they really grasped the significance of his words. The Israelites obeyed, sacrificed a lamb, ate it in their family or with a neighbor, smeared its blood on the doorpost, and watched through the night. Most probably didn’t realize the vast reach God had across Pharaoh’s domain and the might he would display in that night. All the firstborn dead by morning. With only those spared housed behind the mark of the blood on the doorposts.

It sounds unbelievable. Almost silly. That God could distinguish between believers and non-believers by the act of putting blood on the door. And that the warrior angels he sent could even see the blood in the dark of the night and know which homes to spare and which to enter to kill the firstborn children and animals. But God created everything. From nothing, he spoke everything into place. How he did it is up for debate. Whether you believe he accomplished that task in six 24-hour days, or in six periods of time that correspond with eras to create light, elements for life, then life itself, doesn’t matter to me. What matters is acknowledging someone put it all together from nothing in that first moment of time. He is the great creator of all things.

If God can create a universe as remarkable and almost unbelievable as we can see through our most powerful telescopes, certainly he can send his envoys to distinguish which homes to pass over, and which to enter and do his bidding, in judgment against them. He is God. I have seen things man cannot explain. Will they one day? I don’t know. I’m not sure. God seems to defy the natural laws he created on occasion. Those are difficult to explain away. You can call them fairy tales unless they happen to you. You can call them coincidence until you see them firsthand. You can wish them away and think they never happen, but too many people witness them to say they don’t.

So, what should we do with those monumental moments? How should we handle those times and dates that stick in our mind that never go away? Some of those dates bring incredible joy. Some bring sorrow or terror or other extremely negative emotions. How do we address those times? For the Israelites, their deliverance became the first month of the beginning of all months. In essence, God said, this is the beginning of new life for you. This is the birth of a new nation, a new age. This is such a monumental, God only kind of deliverance that can only come from me, that you will need to start over from this point.

That’s how it is when he remakes us through his forgiveness. That’s how he can use those monumental moments in our lives. That’s how, as I look back on them, every one of those dates that stick in my mind, changed me in ways I would never imagine. God used each of them to mold me into the person I have become today. I would like to forget some of those days, but I also know they were important in shaping my character and helping me discover things about myself and my relationship with God and others than I could not have discovered otherwise.

Like Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites, remember those moments. Use the monumental things in your life to understand how God shapes you to be the person he wants you to become. Who knows, there may be a date that you mark as the beginning of new life for you. Not just making new resolutions or turning over a new leaf, but the month to begin all months. A new start. A fresh beginning. A new creation because of his work in your life. God does God-sized things when we let him. Try it out. He will amaze you at times. That’s just the way he works.