Archive | February 2015

Exodus 34 – A ‘Do Over’

Feb19

Good evening y’all.  Today we are looking at Exodus 34.

Be blessed 🙂

God is such a loving God. Though the children of Israel had sinned against him by bowing to the golden calf, He was willing to forgive and give them a ‘Do Over’. He gave them a new promise.

God promised to do so much wonder and mighty miracles for the Israelites, that through the miracles, other nations will tremble and fear Him and know that He is the God who has done all this marvelous things. But notice there was a condition to the promise – They had to obey God’s commands fully and be totally devoted to Him.

“The Lord said: I promise to perform miracles for you that have never been seen anywhere on earth. Neighboring nations will stand in fear and know that I was the one who did these marvelous things. I will force out the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, but you must do what I command you today. Don’t make treaties with any of those people. If you do, it will be like falling into a trap.  Instead, you must destroy their altars and tear down the sacred poles they use in the worship of the goddess Asherah. I demand your complete loyalty—you must not worship any other god! Don’t make treaties with the people there, or you will soon find yourselves worshiping their gods and taking part in their sacrificial meals. Your men will even marry their women and be influenced to worship their gods.    Don’t make metal images of gods”. (Exodus 34:10-17 CEVUS06)

Don’t make treaties with the people, if not you will fall into their trap… This got me thinking: Am i in any way making treaties with the world around me? Am i compromising here and there because everyone is doing? Have I started following the world’s way of doing things without even realising it?

God clearly told them if they made treaty with the people of the land, they will find themselves worshipping their gods. They will be polluted and no longer loyal to God.

This reminds me of King Solomon. He started great but he got carried away and ended up marrying so many pagan wives that they turned his heart away from God.

“Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. The lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the lord . In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the lord his God, as his father, David, had been”.(1 Kings 11:1-4 NLT)

Paul in his letter to the Romans also stressed the fact that we shouldn’t be influenced by the world around us rather we should fix our attention on God.

“Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you”.(Romans 12:2 MSG)

We cannot have one foot in Gods Kingdom and another foot out in the world. We have to choose which camp we belong to. God said to the israelites – “I demand your complete loyalty—you must not worship any other god!”. God is a jealous God.

God is saying same to us today. He demands our complete loyalty. He will not share us with any other god.

Today is a new day and God is offering us a ‘Do Over’. I pray we will accept His offer and make the decision to be totally devoted to Him and serve Him wholeheartedly. Amen.

Thanks for joining today.

Have a blessed night 🙂

***With God all things are possible***

Exodus 33 – Show me your Glory…

Feb18

Good evening y’all. Happy Mid Week 🙂 Today we are looking at Exodus 33.

One thing I realized as I was reading this chapter is that, we can get close to God as much as we want. He has given an open invitation. The choice is ours. When we seek Him in all sincerity of heart, humility and honesty, we will surely find Him

Moses approached God in humility and sincerity of heart. I particularly love his statement in verse 13 where he said, ‘… if you are pleased with me teach me your ways…’

“If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”(Exodus 33:13 NIV)

Moses wanted more of God. He wasn’t content with what he had seen and experienced of God. He wanted to know more. He was sincere in his pursuit of God. How hungry are we for God? Are we content with the little we’ve seen of God or do we desire to know him on a face to face level like Abraham, Moses and Jacob did? One thing I know is God won’t hide Himself from us if we truly desire to know Him more. He will come and reveal himself to us.

Jeremiah 29: 13 says “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”(NIV)

Deuteronomy 4:29 says “but if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul “(NIV)

Moses wasn’t willing to go if God wasn’t going to be with him. It was God or nothing at all. He wanted God’s presence. He understood that as long as they had God’s presence with them, everything will be fine. He wanted to know Gods plan. His desire was to please God. He wasn’t willing to do anything or take any step outside of God’s will. He wasn’t content with leading the people in his own knowledge, rather he depended on God.

“Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”(Exodus 33: 15-16 NIV)

Are we moving without God? We need His presence to guide and direct us in all we do. That’s why the book of Proverbs says we should trust God and not lean on our understanding as He knows everything. He knows the beginning from the end. He already knows what lies ahead of us. I once heard someone say “our future is God’s past”.

“With all your heart
you must trust the Lord
    and not your own judgment.
Always let him lead you,
    and he will clear the road
    for you to follow”.                                
            (Proverbs 3:5-6 CEV)

Moses asked to see God in all of His glory and God answered him.

image

“Then Moses said, “I pray that you will let me see you in all of your glory.” The Lord answered: All right. I am the Lord, and I show mercy and kindness to anyone I choose. I will let you see my glory and hear my holy name, but I won’t let you see my face, because anyone who sees my face will die.There is a rock not far from me. Stand beside it, and before I pass by in all of my shining glory, I will put you in a large crack in the rock. I will cover your eyes with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back. You will not see my face”.(Exodus 33:18 -23 CEV)

Isn’t it amazing the kind of conversation God and Moses had? I am tempted to say I’m jealous of their relationship. But the truth is, are we willing to pay the price to get that close to God? Are we ready to give up all the things that are not pleasing to Him in order to truly see and encounter Him or are we content with what we think we know of Him?

Moses’ goal was to seek God and do his bidding. He really wanted to be pleasing to God. We should also ensure that pleasing and doing God’s bidding is our ultimate desire: it should be the reason for which we are living

I pray we all desire to know and experience God on a personal level like Moses did. Amen

Thanks for joining today.

Have a blessed evening 🙂

***With God all things are possible***