Devotions: Life of Moses Exodus 33:7-34:35

"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'" Exodus 34:6-7a

A God merciful and gracious. How true is that, a God who in the midst of these stiff-necked people, in the midst of their pride, is willing to forgive because of their repentance and Moses' intercession. What a beautiful picture of his mercy to us through Jesus. After everything we have done, after everything He knows we will do, are continuing to do, he extends His forgiveness. A God of steadfast love and faithfulness. He will not neglect His people. This is the God who threatened to kill the Israelites not a few verses ago, who offered Moses the spot as the patriarch of a new nation. And here He is, naming himself, giving us the attributes that will also describe our salvation.

He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. And I am so grateful to Him for the gift of salvation, of relationship and of His word, so that I can know His character, and who He is. The  LORD, forgiving us for all that we have done against Him. 

Thank you. 

Devotions: Life of Moses Exodus 32:1 - 33:6

Have you ever been caught in a situation where you know that you did something wrong? Where your mom, dad, best friend, husband, wife, sister, boss, whoever is looking at you and asking a question and you know that the answer that you have will disappoint or place the blame squarely on your shoulders? Have you ever hedged your story? Changed details, or left things out because it would cast you in an unflattering light? Do you realize that you can't lie to an Omnipotent and Omnipresent God?

Exodus 32:23-24 "For they said to me, "Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him." So I said to them, "Let any who have gold take it off." So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf"

The Israelites have just been delivered by God in power numerous times. They have stood at the base of the mountain and God has spoken to them. They have agreed to a covenant that expressly says you shall have no other gods. Aaron, his sons, and the elders of Israel have all had a personal encounter with God! And here they are, a few chapters later (forty days later) worshiping a golden calf. Now, I don't know if the calf was made to represent the god that they felt had delivered them, or whether they were creating a god out of whole cloth, but regardless they were breaking the commandment.

So, God sees this (because, oh I don't know, he's all-seeing and all-knowing) and Moses comes down the mountain and he and God are angry. Righteously indignant. Here Moses was receiving commandments from God, and they weren't even obeying the first one! So he confronts Aaron. Aaron blames the people first saying they made him. Then, he says the golden calf just "came out" of the fire.

His details seem a little bit fuzzy. Like maybe he left out a few to make himself look better to Moses. It was peer pressure! I didn't mean to! It just happened! They made me do it! If I hadn't done it something worse could have happened!

These sound vaguely familiar, like something I would tell myself or others to justify my actions or to defend myself, or even to cover something that I don't want fully revealed. In our society, we call them 'white lies' or 'lies of omission'. But that doesn't change what they are. Moses's solution was to make them eat the golden calf. They literally bore their sin inside of them. What do we call it when we get caught in a lie? Putting our foot in our mouth?

I think that we all recognize when we are at fault, when we need to own up, confess our sins and ask for forgiveness. Let's stop passing the blame and start taking responsibility for our own sin in front of God and others. We have already broken his commandments, all we have left to fall on is his grace.

Devotions: Life of Moses Exodus 25-31

All I can say after reading this passage is Thank You Lord Jesus! This is a hard few chapters to get through. I appreciate the detail, how the Lord makes sure that his tabernacle is made very specifically so that the people could approach him. I appreciate the fact that he asks for skilled laborers, whom HE has given the skill. He is specific and he blesses the people through skill and through his presence. Here he also asks for a love offering.

Think about this offering for a minute. The Lord has given all of the gold and jewels, linens and animals to the Israelites by having them find favor with the Egyptians as they left Egypt. Now he is asking for a portion back to build his tabernacle. Isn't this just a picture of what we are to do every time we tithe? We too should recognize we only have what we do by the providence of God and that we are stewards until that time when God should require it back from us - in this case to build the temple. In my case? It could be the next missionary to come to our church, the organization down the road, or even the person next door who needs a meal. God has given in abundance and so should we.

But the thing that strikes me the most is the precision with which everything has to be done. The incense (prayers of the saints - isn't that so cool!) is to be lit, the blood sprinkled so that the Lord sees the repentance and blood before he sees the law, the atonement seat, the curtains that Jesus later tore.

I am so glad that we no longer have to look to the rituals and sacrifices to approach God, but rather our bodies are the temple and we have the Holy Spirit inside of us.

How much more does that mean we should take care of it? How much more does that mean that we should take care to treat it like the Lord wants his temple or tabernacle treated, with reverence? We should still approach him with reverence, and with confession and covered in the sacrifice of Christ. But I am so grateful that I can approach my Lord without robes, blood, incense and an ark.

Devotions: Life of Moses Exodus 21-24

Laws. Laws, laws, laws and more laws. Here, outlined in detail, is THE LAW, or at least, the beginning of it. This is what Jesus came, not to abolish but to fulfill. Shouldn't we be acquainted with it? Listen to what it says? These are things that we hope to abide by still, some are culturally contextual, but all can be related to our daily lives and problems. These are laws about relating to each other, dealing with other sinful people, and laws about remembering and worshiping our God.

The part of this passage that made me excited though, came at the end. In chapter 24 Moses comes down the mountain, the people agree to obey all that the Lord says and Moses sprinkles them with blood. They have been cleansed, a sin offering has been offered and they have come into relationship, covenant relationship, with the Lord. So what happens next?

"Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank." Exodus 24:9-11 - I added the italics.

Hello. Woah. Can anyone say AMEN!!

They were cleansed with the blood of an oxen, or two or however many, became a part of the covenant and saw God. And then, like it's no big deal, ate and drank with him.

This is going to become a broken record moment for me, but I don't know how many times I have read Exodus and missed that the elders saw God and then had a meal. How significant is that? What are we going to do when we finally see God? The wedding feast of the bridegroom? What a picture! With the paving stones of sapphire stone? God allows these men to see him in his splendor, to get a glimpse of heaven and more importantly, to have a communal, relational moment with him and with their people.

God is a God of relationships, both through the law and how to treat each other and then through the covenant in relationship with us. Now, we are no longer under that covenant. After all, if you are anything like me, you are part of the gentile majority that would have been excluded from this opportunity. No, thanks to Jesus we have a new covenant in His blood. Now, instead of having to sacrifice oxen to get a glimpse of heaven, we agree to obey and become a part of his covenant through our acceptance of Christ and then we get the assurance that one day, we too will get a feast in the presence of the Lord.

Thank you Exodus for giving us such a picture of our father and his splendor and glory. He let them see him, and then, they ate and drank in his presence. Oh how I am looking forward to that day in heaven.

Devotions: Life of Moses Exodus 19-20

This passage was an interesting one to try and pull from. The ten commandments have been etched into my memory from the time I was very young. We even had a picture in our bathroom growing up that had them all listed out. I have heard many sermons on the subject and read the passage numerous times. It was even touched on in my general theology class in college. The ten commandments are something that I feel like I understand. 

So, when I read chapter 19 and 20, and watched the Israelites prepare themselves, consecrate themselves, say to the Lord that they would hold up there end of the deal - obey His voice and keep His covenant - I was touched by something I hadn't attributed to the commandments before. 

Exodus 20:18-21 "Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, they stood far off and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die." Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin." The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was."

This little passage comes after they have received the commandments, and they say to Moses - hey! We don't want to come close to God, after all, he may kill us! What a crises of conscience! What sort of conviction must they have been feeling to have heard those commands and thought, oh, no, we shouldn't go anywhere near God, because we deserve death. And Moses responds telling them that the fear they are feeling, the reverence and the justified fear of the wrath of God should be before them, to help them to keep from sinning. 

How often do we truly see this aspect of God, how often to we let the fear of God stay before us? I think God has become too soft when we speak of Him. Yes, he is the God of Love, the God who created the world and sent his son to die for us. But he is also the God of righteous wrath and judgment. He will judge us one day, and just as the Israelites did at Mt. Sinai, I have a feeling that we will be trembling. And why wouldn't we be? Which of us has kept all of the ten commandments? Even the first one is hard in any culture. How can we truly say that we have always put God ahead of any of our own pursuits or idols? We can't. That is the beauty of the grace of God and the forgiveness of sin, but I do not think it is inappropriate to keep the fear of God in front of us. 

Maybe if we think each moment that the Holy God of the Universe, the one who was and is and is to come, the alpha and omega who loves us infinitely and wants nothing more than our obedience and love in return is standing right before us, maybe we will react to things differently. Just picture what the Israelites are seeing here. The presence of God in a huge cloud, lightning and darkness surrounding the mountain. Of course they were terrified of the physical manifestation of God, but they are also terrified of the spiritual judgment of God. 

I know that I have been saved by grace through faith by the death of my Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. I know that he was raised on the third day and that he welcomes all who believe in him and accept Him as their savior. I know that I have received the Holy Spirit in my heart, so that I can daily become more like Him. And if I have the Holy Spirit with me, although it is no smoking mountain, I have the power that created that smoking mountain with me at all times. Shouldn't I be living with the fear of the Lord before me at all times? In reverent awe of Him? Obeying all of his commands because He is the Lord of Creation and deserves my everything?