2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Readers,
A while ago, God asked me to make improvements in my prayer life. In all honesty, He was right to do this, because I hadn’t taken the time to do that even though the other areas of my service to Him were in pretty good shape. I felt inadequate to the task, because I wasn’t in the habit of praying often and had no idea on my own how to go about making this change. Then, He gave me directions on how to do what He had asked, directions which I have since followed. This is worth mentioning because my story is a much less important example of what Moses was faced with when God called Him to liberate the Jews from Egyptian slavery. Moses felt very inadequate to the task as is evidenced by his initial reaction to this call in EX 6: 12, “But Moses replied, ‘Even the Israelites will not listen to me, so why should the pharaoh? I am such a poor speaker.” Yet if we read the verses that come before this where God is describing the commission He was giving to Moses, we can see just how very important it is. We can also get a first-hand view into God’s own heart for His children (including ourselves). We must also consider that Moses was in a covenant relationship with God, just as we are.
EX 6: 3-8, “I [God] appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as Almighty God [El Shaddai, the All-Sufficient One], but I did not make Myself known to them by my holy name, the Lord [Adonai]. I also made My covenant with them, promising to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they had lived as foreigners. Now I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians have enslaved, and I have remembered My covenant. So tell the Israelites that I say to them, ‘I am the Lord; I will rescue you and set you free from your slavery to the Egyptians. I will raise my mighty arm to bring terrible punishment upon them, and I will save you. I will make you My own people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am the Lord your God when I set you free from slavery to Egypt. I will bring you to the land that I solemnly promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as your own possession. I am the Lord.’” What amazing love and consistency! God didn’t forget His covenant made with His children then, any more than He would today. As I was reading through this passage, it occurred to me that deliverance from slavery is a task God has been about for a very long time. In this case it was slavery to Egypt. Later, it was slavery to sin. God has been wanting to set His children free for a very long time. That is one way that He views His responsibilities to the covenant relationship.
We see God executing His promise in the ensuing chapters of Exodus and reminding the Hebrews of this in EX 19: 4, “You saw what I, the Lord did to the Egyptians and how I carried you as an eagle carries her young on her wings, and brought you here [to Mt. Sinai] to Me.” As for Moses and his lack of confidence that he could do the task God set before him, we saw God provide exacting directions for him to follow each step of the way. His poor ability to speak was over come by bringing his older brother, Aaron, an eloquent speaker and Israel’s high priest, into the picture to cooperate with Moses. As for not knowing the steps to take, God supplied him with each one, i.e. God was Jehovah Jireh, The Lord Who Provides. God knows so much more about us than we know about ourselves. He created us with abilities, yet untapped, until He calls upon us to use them and shows us how, if we are willing to listen. In case Moses wasn’t sure about all of this, read the words of EX 19: 9, “The Lord [Jehovah Mekaddishkem, the Lord Who Sanctifies] said to Moses, ‘I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will believe you from now on.’” Now, I find that powerful. God knew exactly what bothered Moses and addressed Himself directly to it. If we examine our own lives, doesn’t He do the same with us?
Let’s return to the issue of this covenant relationship and God’s task of freeing us from slavery. When He gave the Jews the Law in EX 20: 1-17 [the Ten Commandments], God was not granting them automatic salvation. As a matter of fact, Paul’s words in RO 7: 7 tell us what the purpose of the Law is. “Shall we say, then, that the Law itself is sinful? Of course not! But it was the Law that made me know what sin is. If the Law had not said, ‘Do not desire what belongs to someone else,’ I would not have know such a desire.” By knowing what sin is, God’s children were able to take the steps necessary to repent of it. If one believes Paul, and I do, the Law doesn’t bring salvation, but it takes one to the gate which leads to the narrow path of which Christ spoke in MT 7: 13-14 where God’s truth can be found. JN 8: 31-32, [Christ speaking] “…If you obey My teaching, you are really My disciples. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” Once again, we can see God keeping His covenant promises. Because Moses obeyed God (until that day when he struck the rock instead of speaking to it as he had been told to do [NU 20: 7-13]), He had God with him and was blessed abundantly. God didn’t stop loving Moses for this disobedience, any more than He stops loving us for one slip. Instead, He allowed Moses to see the promised land and even buried him after he died physically. MT 17: 3 when Moses appears with Elijah and Christ in the transfiguration is proof of that. We should meditate today on what God has commissioned each of us to do and how we reacted to that commission.
PRAYER: O Lord, Your love and guidance given to Moses is proof that Your heart is filled with love for Your children. Since we too are Your children, we can take great comfort in knowing that this remarkable and unparalleled love is also available to us. It is sin that separates people from You, and it is repentance, an open heart, and faith in Christ that brings them to Your side. By Christ’s Atonement and the gift of the Holy Spirit, You have brought us out of slavery to sin and made eternal life for us a reality. You do this for us as execution of Your Covenant of Grace agreements with us. You gave the Hebrews the Law, so they and us could know what sin is. You delivered them from slavery in Egypt, so they would be free, just as You give us the truth of the Gospel, so that we can be free. All of this, Dearest Abba, is more than sufficient motivation for us to examine our lives, confess our sin before You, walk away from that sin, and keep our covenant commitments to You. LK 9: 23 is the instructions You give us for how to do this. “…If anyone wants to come to Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me.” We express our heartfelt adoration for Your presence in our lives, confess our sins before You, offer You thanksgiving for the blessings You bestow upon us daily, and give You the trust, obedience, honor, glory, loyalty, worship, and praise that You so richly deserve. We also dedicate ourselves before Your altar to keeping our covenant agreements with You. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will look at the issue of sanctification as a part of God’s keeping of His covenant promises to the Jews. Hopefully, we will see the connections between this and God’s interaction with us in our modern day lives. Our very awesome God is a most remarkable Deity. He truly is the All-Sufficient One, all the God we would ever need rolled up into One with three personalities. I hardly need to remind us of just how loved and blessed we really are, because of His dynamic and living presence in our lives. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn