Month: March 2015

The “What” and the “Why”

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 12:1-14, 24-27, 13:8-9 (day five)

Exodus 12:26   “And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’”

Exodus 13:8  “You shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’”

It is a great privilege for parents and grandparents to shape the faith of the next generation. Current research continues to affirm what the Lord knew thousands of years ago- that spiritual practices and patterns by parents and grandparents would indeed lead to questions and conversations with kids and teens.  Through these relationships, children will see and sense the urgency and priority of a vibrant and dynamic relationship with God.  So, what do our kids sense and see about our faith?  Does it cause them to ask “What” and “Why”?  Do we have meaningful answers from our own experiences and understanding?  Maybe an honest look at our practices and patterns as they relate to spiritual growth and strength would be helpful today.

A Jealous God

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 12:1-14, 24-27, 13:8-9 (day four)  Verse 12 says, “…and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord.”  Egypt had many false gods.  In the midst of delivering His own people from bondage, God was delivering a message to Egypt as well.  Each of the plagues they faced dealt with one of their false gods.  For Israel, they were being introduced to God and learning who He was.  Through the plagues, they learned that God was a jealous God.  Later, in Exodus and Deuteronomy, the Israelites will know God even better.  Exodus 20:5 – “for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,”  Deuteronomy 4:24 – “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”  Deuteronomy 5:9 – “for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,”  Deuteronomy 6:15 – “for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God,”  It is a characteristic of our holy God…He will not share His glory with a false god.  Guard against the false gods in our culture…Our God is a jealous God!

Pillar

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 12:1-14, 24-27, 13:8-9 (day three)

“This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead…”  You can lead a people out of 430 years of forced servitude, but they forget in the morning.  You can stumble through words of wisdom you didn’t know you had in you to guide a foolish child, but you won’t remember that saving grace next week.  God knows that we’re prone to such lapses in our thinking and in our living.  “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,” says one of the most honest hymns ever written.  When we forget God’s provision, we get in trouble.  God says to remind one another: Set up a pillar, make a feast, commemorate a day so you will not forget.  How are you marking God’s saving activity in your life?

This is Something Special

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 12:1-14, 24-27, 13:8-9 (day two)
“Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance.” vs. 14

The details are incredible. What to sacrifice, and how to account for everyone even if they didn’t have a lamb. How to prepare the meat, what to wear, and how to eat (in haste). Have you ever been in a moment or at an event when you turn to someone and say “This is really special, people are going to talk about this for a long time.”? You know what I mean, we all have those special moments in our own lives like weddings, births, deaths, but what about those moments that shape history? God had told Moses that this event (Passover) would be remembered for generations. It was the time of Passover when Jesus was crucified and the true atonement for all. Jesus has now paid the price for all, but the work is not done. Can we pray that our kingdom work will be the foundation that will change this city? Can we act in a way that we can tell our children that we were a part of something special? God still moves among us, and is still leading us home.

Substitute

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 12:1-14, 24-27, 13:8-9 (day one)
“When I see the blood, I will pass over you.”–12:13.

As The Great Artist, God drew this event into Israel’s history.  It pointed to Christ.  His death.  The first participants, however, did not understand the future meaning.  What they knew, that night as they sat huddled in their homes and heard the cries of a thousand Egyptian families mourning the death of a son in every house, was that THEY were safe. Not by their own merit, but by the death of an innocent substitute, a lamb. It was an unforgettable lesson!  A debt paid.  A death suffered.  For them.  By an innocent.  Years later Israel would understand.  John the Baptist would declare of Christ, “The LAMB OF GOD who takes away (both as to guilt and as to power) the sin of the world”–John 1:29.  All that we have with God we owe to Christ, our substitute.  We are “redeemed. . .with precious blood”–1 Peter 11:18-19

Asssertive God

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 5:1-2; 6:1-8; 7:1-5, 14-18; 8:1-3, 16, 20-21; 9:1-4, 8-9, 13-18, 25-26; 10:3-11, 21-22, 28-29; 11:1-5 (day seven)

It is not a picture of God that is familiar or comfortable.  Living on this side of the cross, we know the face of God’s mercy, God’s kindness.  It is a mistake, however, to think that the “God of wrath” is no more.  His patience is real, but the time comes when He becomes assertive in a terrifying way.  The plagues on Egypt in Exodus are that moment!  As we prepare for worship this morning, please read and reflect on these additional words from Scripture.

“The Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness and truth. . .YET HE WILL BY NO MEANS LEAVE THE GUILTY UNPUNISHED.”—Exodus 34:7.

“The Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel.”—2 Thessalonians 1:7-8.

If we forget His assertiveness, do we really know Him?

Glory

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 5:1-2; 6:1-8; 7:1-5, 14-18; 8:1-3, 16, 20-21; 9:1-4, 8-9, 13-18, 25-26; 10:3-11, 21-22, 28-29; 11:1-5 (day six)

Exodus 8:9-10
Moses does something extraordinary. During the second plague Pharaoh pleads with him to go back and ask God to relent, in turn Moses says, “Tell me when. When do you want God to lift the plague?” Why would Moses do that? So that Pharaoh would know that there is no one like the God of Jacob.

The plagues were not an effort by God to convince Pharaoh to set the Hebrews free. God didn’t need plagues to do that. God had one purpose, to reveal his glory to the nations; the people of Egypt, the Hebrews, and countless others that would hear of the plagues. Everyone’s greatest need, including the Pharaoh, is to behold the glory of God. We are no different. Beholding the glory of God moves us from self-knowledge to desperation, from love to worship. In Pharaoh’s case, he would learn that there is no God like the God of Jacob; He alone builds and destroys nations.

God gave us his creation and His Word that we too might behold the glory of God. Do we? Do you?

Promises

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 5:1-2; 6:1-8; 7:1-5, 14-18; 8:1-3, 16, 20-21; 9:1-4, 8-9, 13-18, 25-26; 10:3-11, 21-22, 28-29; 11:1-5 (day five)

In the selected verses of Exodus 6, God makes several promises to His people through Moses.  (Hint:  look for “I Will” statements)  I will:  bring you out, deliver you, redeem you, take you for My people, be your God, bring you to the land, give it to you for a possession.

These promises indicate the great care, concern, strength, and power of the Lord.  Can you imagine someone in whom you completely trust and depend making those kinds of promises to you?  Maybe as a child or parent we have experienced or made promises that were not kept.  Sometimes we can become “promise calloused”.  Can you name any promises God has broken?  Will you praise God today for specific promises He has kept?

What are promises God has made that shape courage and hope in your heart?  (Look for “I Will” statements whenever you read the Scripture)

“True faith means holding nothing back. It means putting every hope in God’s fidelity to His Promises.”   – Francis Chan

Thus Says the Lord

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 5:1-2; 6:1-8; 7:1-5, 14-18; 8:1-3, 16, 20-21; 9:1-4, 8-9, 13-18, 25-26; 10:3-11, 21-22, 28-29; 11:1-5 (day four)  There was a common element in each of the plagues…each was introduced with “Thus says the Lord!”  God wanted Pharoah to know who he was dealing with.  Moses was a spokesman for the Lord.  God did not have to have Moses to deliver the Israelites from Egypt, but He chose to use him.  God is able to accomplish His work by himself, yet He chooses to use us as well.  What is our response to God when He calls?  Do we argue with God like Moses did or do we just ignore what God says, as if we didn’t hear Him?  Pharoah ignored God…he claimed he didn’t know Him so why should he obey Him?  Pharoah learned the hard way.  Moses was slow, but he came to trust God in faith.  (He made the Hall of Faith lineup in Hebrews 11!)  Trust God when He speaks…”Thus says the Lord!”

Identity

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 5:1-2; 6:1-8; 7:1-5, 14-18; 8:1-3, 16, 20-21; 9:1-4, 8-9, 13-18, 25-26; 10:3-11, 21-22, 28-29; 11:1-5 (day three)

“I am the LORD.”  This little phrase of self-identification frames much of what God says to Moses at the outset of the confrontation with Pharaoh.  The question of identity was an important one to Pharaoh.  When Moses demanded freedom, Pharaoh wanted to know the identity of the one behind the demand.  Pharaoh placed no credence in the name of the LORD, but God’s repetition of his identity to Moses was more about shaping a people called by his name than introducing himself to Pharaoh.  Israel’s Egyptian masters resisted the LORD’s identity, and they would die by that name.  The LORD made short work of that.  The longer question was this: Would the children of Israel live by that name?  And so the question comes to us.