March 5

Today's Reading

Numbers. At this time in their history, Israel was nomadic. When they moved from place to place, great care was taken to protect and preserve the Tabernacle and its contents. For the first time, I noticed that the items from the sanctuary were draped in blue cloth for travel. I'm quite sure it was the bright blue of Israel's national colors today.

It hit me today how "unfair" it seems to us that God gave specific duties to each of the clans. Most of us have grown up with the idea that we can do anything we choose with our lives. When they were born, they were pre-assigned responsibilities and couldn't do something different. Actually, that is consistent with much of the world throughout history.

Following that is a story about a strange custom to test a wife and tell her jealous husband for certain if she was faithful. I wonder just how many times a couple put that test to work? What if she was unfaithful and her husband wanted to forgive her? Would he risk the possibility that she would never be able to bear children again? Just thinkin'!

Mark. The religious leaders of Jesus' day (and some today, too!) made the mistake of thinking they had an answer for every question. Jesus' replies tell us that, if our God has no mystery, He is too small.

Speaking of mystery, Psalms reminds us of the greatness of Jerusalem. Why not New York? Or Hong Kong? For reasons we can't fully understand, the hearts and minds of world leaders are often turned to Jerusalem. Even today, one national leader is openly advocating wiping all Jews from the face of the earth so that he and his can rule Jerusalem.

Proverbs gives us a hint of how to succeed or fail in today's troubling economy.

What are your thoughts today? How about your questions?