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EXODUS 33 Moses speaks with God

Let God speak

God had chosen Moses to lead His people but they were a stiff necked people. What does that phrase bring to mind but a people who were disobedient and proud and rebellious. The Israelites were familiar with that expression as one speaks of an ox who refuses to obey. Imagine being compared to that? God is saying you are no better than the animal I created. When the people heard that they humbled themselves and removed their ornaments.

A second thing noteworthy was how the people showed their humility after that rebuke from God. When Moses passed by on the way to the Tent of Meeting, as he called it, they rose at the door of their tent and worshiped. We stand in reverence when the scripture is read as a sign of respect and humility. 

A third noteworthy thing to see is that Moses and God spoke face to face while the pillar of the cloud stood over the tent. How bold was Moses to speak what was on his mind to the Lord God Almighty. Am I that bold to speak to God as Moses spoke? 

A fourth thing from this passage is that after leaving God to return to the people, his face shone. Does my face shine after being in His presence? 

Great lessons just from this chapter. 

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Exodus 30-32 Idolatry

what are you trusting

Do you find that your patience grows thin as you wait for the Lord to intervene? Do you place “idols”  of gold and silver before you as the Israelites did?  It is amazing that God did not destroy them immediately…the patience of God is beyond my understanding. As He was patient with the Israelites, so He is patient with me…yet there are consequences. 

Aaron was given the responsibility to take care of the Israelites as Moses went up the mountain and as he waited, he began to waver and then to finally fail by yielding to the voices of the children of Israel. How often are men/women in placed in charge only to be found failing when the pressure is on to perform? We hear, what are you waiting for? The lesson of Aaron is a prime example of those who are in leadership and fail. There is a saying: “When the going gets tough, the tough keep going.” Aaron did not heed this but yielded to the voices of the masses. I wonder how he faced the Israelites after this episode? How quick he was to blame shift and we do as well. 

So many lessons here! 

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Exodus 29 Offerings

God gifts men/women to do the work of the ministry

As believing Christians we take it as a rule to offer our tithes to the Lord to honor Him. We have set apart the first day of the week to do this in our worship time. God established this so that the people would always remember that all they have been given was from God. In the time we are reading in the book of Exodus God gave instructions to the Israelites to do this not just one day a week but as Dr.Durham noted: “thus the day was opened and closed with gifts to Yahweh, from whom all gifts were believed to come.”

This is an interesting viewpoint and rules given for the same reason as the Israelites. Offerings are given and as such are part and parcel of our belief system so that we always have before us a reminder of God’s graciousness to us. 

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Waiting

how are your waiting skills

Exodus 24 Loyalty Tested 

As Abraham told his servants when he and Isaac went ahead,so Moses told the leaders: “Wait for us in this place until we return to you.”  This then was a test to see if Aaron and Hur would obey and be true leaders. Abraham tested his servants with those words and they passed the test. Not so with Aaron and Hur.

How often does God tell us to wait but we become impatient and step in to do what we think we need to do .  Waiting is hard but it is a test to see if we will be loyal to our Master Jesus. We wait now for His return and it has been centuries. Will we wait obediently or will we take matters into our own hands? 

The psalmist wrote: “Psa 106:13 They quickly forgot what he had done; they did not wait for his instructions.” How about us? 

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Exodus 16-18 Murmurings & Wise Counsel

What is our response when we face suffering?  Have you forgotten the work of God in the midst of a trial? Do you look back at what God did in the past for you? We are a part of the evil generation that forgets the blessings and only focuses on the present time. God has provided all that the Israelites have needed and yet their memories are short, so like us. They have witnessed the power of God to protect them from the hand of Pharaoh even in the time of suffering and yet they are focused on what will feed the body rather than what will feed the soul. 

One behavior we have honed is murmuring. We murmur when life has thrown us a challenge, a test if you may want to call it that, and it isn’t just us that murmur but our murmuring is caught and transferred to others. It is sort of like that yeast in the rising dough. It grows and fills the entire lump. 

Into this a visitor arrives; a man who has been seeking God and he finds it from the testimony of one. Now that he has seen the working of God, he believes. Where has your testimony of God spoken to the heart of another and you and he are blessed together? Moses’ father in law Jethro is wise for when he sees the predicament that is before Moses, he offers wisdom which is accepted. Learn from the aged! 

So many lessons here! Today rejoice and be glad for God has and is working. 

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Exodus 13-15 Where are you looking? 

Open the eyes of my heart Lord

What does it take for us to give praise to the Lord God Almighty? Does it take a miracle or more? The Israelites have seen the power of the Lord over 10 plagues, the last being more deadly than the firs, but when they come to the Red Sea they looked back. Looking back they saw the fearsome Egyptian army closing in on them and they began to murmur again. Looking back is a sin if you look and see the power of Satan instead of looking forward to what God has planned. Looking back means your focus is on what was instead of what will be. 

This will be one of many murmurings for the Israelites and as we study this scenario we learn much of what God wants us to see. God is our protector and provider, but just like the Israelites we lose our focus and begin to murmur because we fail to remember His goodness and provision. 

Today look forward to what God has planned for you. Keep your eyes on He who is your provider and protector. 

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Exodus 7-9 The Plagues of Egypt

When one does not desire Yahweh, then He will bring repercussions upon them to open their eyes to who He is, the God of all creation. God sent Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh over and over to tell him to release the Israelites so they may go and worship. However Pharaoh continued to harden his heart and refused to let them go. Each plague increased in time and event. and even when the Israelites were spared and Pharaoh saw that, he continued to harden his heart. How like today, when men harden their hearts against God, He brings evidence before them to reveal their ultimate destiny and His power if they will open their eyes to Him.  Romans 1 explains much of the reasons behind this. Rom 1:19 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against allungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppressthe truth by their unrighteousness.” 

How grateful we are when we yield to God and allow Him to prove Himself before ourselves and others . Have you relinquished yourself to God so He can work in your life? 

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Genesis 48-50 Blessings, Death, Forgiveness

Forgiveness ..man's greatest need

As we close out Genesis, we come to these three chapters which might be called, God’s Diary for in it we find how God operates through human history. 

God blesses those who obey and honor Him. He brings “home” those of his servants to enjoy the afterlife. And lastly, maybe one of the most important lesson and take away for us is the trait of forgiveness.

As we have said, God never wastes a trial but uses it to show His faithfulness and his lovingkindness. We see that in the life of Joseph and even though it was years and years, God used them to grow Joseph to be the man of God He could use to bring about His plans for his people.  In the meantime, Jacob has to learn from his sins, which were many, to prepare his sons for the next stage in their lives. God opens the windows of heaven and pours out his blessings on Jacob after he has lived in the cauldron of affliction and sin. He is now humble and ready to see God’s plan unfold in steps in the restoration of his family in a very agonizing and challenging time. God restores Joseph to Jacob so that he and his children might be spared the death knell of famine. 

Jacob has a family time and pronounces “blessings” upon each boy  “what will happen to you in future days.” It seems strange to hear the words of Jacob because they don’t sound like blessings to us, but God will use each to show us Jacob may have had 12 sons but he knew the character of each. And after this time of reflection, Jacob blesses Joseph’s children, draws up his knees and dies. 

But, the last lesson is what we want to focus on: forgiveness. Joseph has had many a year to process his life and what has happened to him but has come to terms with “God’s ways are not our ways.” [Is 55:8-9] As he welcomes his brothers and provides for them,he is astounded and deeply hurt when they announce they will give their lives to be his slaves. They have not learned the lesson of forgiveness as seen by Joseph’s tears. They really didn’t get it! 

Which brings us to our own lives. Do we get it? Do we understand that verse in Isaiah? 

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Genesis 47 God’s Grace

God is sufficient

racInterestingly as we follow God’s leading, we see His hand on His people to bless them. Joseph was faithful and God blessed him in many ways. God never wastes our trials but uses them to bring prosperity to us and others around us just as He did with Pharaoh through Joseph. 

Years before Abraham went to Egypt in a time of famine but it was there that he lied and was escorted from there ..in haste. Now God uses another famine to bring blessing to Pharaoh and his court because Joseph was faithful.  Jacob now can receive this blessing because of his son’s faithfulness even though it had been years and years! Jacob, for once, has been truthful about his life. It is almost as if he has finally recognized that his sin of deceit has been revealed and he is humbled. 

How often does God reveal to us our sin so we can be a recipient of His grace? Lesson, keep your account short before God. Humble yourself before God and He will bring His blessing to you. 

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We have walked with Joseph through many a year, beginning when he was a favored son of Jacob and hated by his brothers. In a moment of jealousy, they sold him to traders and then to Potiphar. From there, he was thrown into prison under false charges. Joseph triumphed over sin and temptations, and God blessed him with wisdom and understanding. God does not waste our trials but uses them to mature us and prepare us to be used for Him and His glory. Jesus gave the disciples a prayer, which we call the Lord’s Prayer. In it, He said for us to pray: lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. This was true in the life of Joseph and can be true for you.

Sometimes, God reveals his purposes in real time for two reasons: He alone gets the glory, and we become the instruments to proclaim His name and His work before unbelievers. Such was the case with Joseph; it is valid for each of us believers.

As you walk through the trials of life, ask God where He wants to use you in His kingdom work, but be prepared for trials to come your way just as they did in the life of Joseph. Behind every black cloud of trials is a line of pure light and God’s blessing. Claim it!

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