reading biblically: the facts speak for themselves

The Word for today:
Numbers 9:15-10:36

mark this:
Now Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, "We are setting out for the place about which the LORD said, 'I will give it to you.' Come with us and we will treat you well, for the LORD has promised good things to Israel." He answered, "No, I will not go; I am going back to my own land and my own people." But Moses said, "Please do not leave us. You know where we should camp in the desert, and you can be our eyes.” (Numbers 10:29-31)

God doesn’t get starry-eyed about people the way people get about people. Jesus, we are told, knew what was in man, and it wasn’t pretty:
But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man. (John 2:24-25)

Scripture, seeing the world through God’s eyes, won’t let us stay starry-eyed either. It concludes all under sin (1). This offends many people. For example, Elton John, the acclaimed musician and moralist-in-his-own-mind, concludes otherwise:

"Jesus freaks out in the street
Handing tickets out for God
Turning back, she just laughs
The boulevard is not that bad"

Perhaps Elton cruises a different boulevard than the one I live on. Because it is apparent, upon opening any daily newspaper, that a worldview which doesn’t account for sin, evil, fallen-ness, and depravity has a lot of explaining to do.

When reading scripture, we must see everyone – even Bible heroes like Moses – through the level gaze of God, concluding that all will, from time to time, fall short. Unless we make such foundational biblical principles part of our understanding, we won’t see things God wants us to see or learn the crucial lessons the Bible has for us.

For example, in Numbers 10 Moses asks his father-in-law to assist him, hoping that he would be “eyes” for Israel in a wilderness area which was familiar to him:

Now Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, "We are setting out for the place about which the LORD said, 'I will give it to you.' Come with us and we will treat you well, for the LORD has promised good things to Israel." He answered, "No, I will not go; I am going back to my own land and my own people." But Moses said, "Please do not leave us. You know where we should camp in the desert, and you can be our eyes.” (Numbers 10:29-31)

(If Moses’ spiritual error is not apparent (2), re-read the passage biblically, bringing over-riding spiritual principles to bear. If you’re still stumped, we love you to pieces anyway and in a couple paragraphs we will help you with the purport of the passage.)

Biblical literature is quite the opposite of today’s ‘journalism’ (which consists primarily of spin) wherein ‘facts’ are optional; the facts included (if any) are selected for their ability to prop up a particular agenda.

So we are not used to biblical reporting--which presents the facts, then leaves the 'spin' to us.

The Bible never says so, but it was a lamentable lapse of faith for Moses to enlist the help of human eyes when God had provided the pillar of cloud & fire to guide them through the wilderness. We are to learn from Moses' lapse that even great faith can sometimes falter, reverting to human sight when supernatural vision is available.

***

God concludes that all fall short (3), including great heroes of faith. God also concludes that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (4), alert and intelligent enough to apply overall scriptural principles to the facts of any given story.

God has a high estimation of our reading comprehension skills. So let’s read biblically, and prove Him right.

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(1) Galatians 3:22
(2) It must be admitted, here in a footnote where nobody will see it, that this now-confident Bible reader had to take about twenty trips ‘round the block before it dawned on him that something in this passage was amiss. But we’ll just keep that to ourselves, won’t we. After all, I have an image to maintain!
(3) Romans 3:23
(4) Psalm 139:14