The Next Step

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 32:1-19, 30-33; 33:12-17; 34:1-7 (day five)  7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them.

It happened that fast.  Perhaps it was an idea or a fleeting thought.  Maybe it was born out of fear or frustration.  The end result was an immediate derailing from God’s plan and path.

This summer at Youth Camp we are studying Galatians 5:24-25.  25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

This verse speaks to the attention and the determination we MUST have in order to serve and follow the Living God.  Sin and disobedience are as close as “the next step”.

One of my new favorite songs has these lyrics:  To my heart I preach Your sovereignty and the power of Your name.  God, let hope arise and faith become the fortress of my heart.  I will lift my eyes and see You as the awesome God You are, believe You as the awesome God You are.

How and when do we “preach” to our hearts the power, strength, and goodness of the Living God?

Hold Fast to His Word

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 32:1-19, 30-33; 33:12-17; 34:1-7 (day four)  They were an obstinate people.  No sooner had they pledged their obedience to God, than they turned to idolatry and sin.  Moses was careful to protect God’s reputation.  He pleaded with God to forgive them and to hold His anger against them.  Holding the tablets with God’s own handwriting on them, Moses was convincing to God not to be angry with the Israelites.  God relented of his anger.  Then Moses turned to go down to the people.  In his hands were still the tablets with God’s writing engraved on them.  When Moses came into the camp and saw what was going on, his anger burned.  He threw the stone tablets down and shattered them.  Had God made the offer again to destroy the people at that time, Moses might have taken Him up on the offer.  By the next day though, Moses returned to his position of intercession.  Moses was true to his call…God tasked him with leading Israel to the Promised Land and he was faithful to his responsibility.  Moses held fast to God’s Word.

Smash

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 32:1-19, 30-33; 33:12-17; 34:1-7 (day three)

“His anger burned…”  Moses saw the Israelites living the life they had learned over the last four centuries in Egypt: If your God is bigger than your own desires, your God is too big.  Moses knew that to give up on God is to give up on reality, and death follows soon thereafter.  Egypt itself was already dead; God had shattered that culture and taken the children of Israel out into the wilderness to rebuild a new culture powered by a new worldview—one based in reality, not in false perceptions of the universe.  Now, the children of Israel had returned to a dead culture in all but geography.  Moses’s anger called them back.  They listened, and they returned.  Are there Christian mentors or elders or leaders in your life tablet-smashingly troubled over your spiritual direction?  Are you listening?

Give ’em What They Want

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 32:1-19, 30-33; 33:12-17; 34:1-7 (day two)

“Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 32:1-2

Aaron is a leader. He has demonstrated that he has the ability to communicate even under very difficult decisions. He also seems, for the most part, to be more even-keeled than his brother Moses. So what happened? Now that the people are looking to him, asking hard questions, and his brother is still on the mountain his leadership skills take a nosedive.

The mob will always take the path of least resistance. The people had been uprooted, but protected. It seems interesting that they acknowledged God’s provision to bring them out of captivity, but are unwilling to trust for 40 days. They demanded action, answers, and only on their terms. This isn’t surprising, this is what we do.

Aaron knew better. Aaron’s proximity to Moses and to God should have given him the courage to tell hard truths to a hostile audience. Leaders must do this. Leadership isn’t about giving folks what they want, it’s about seeing a greater vision and holding a people accountable to that dream.

Epic fail

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 32:1-19, 30-33; 33:12-17; 34:1-7 (day one)

“He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf.”–v 32:4.   It was an epic fail!  How could it happen?  Just weeks before (in Exodus 24) these same people had promised full obedience to the Lord and His commandments.  “No other gods. . .no images.”  With sincere hearts (we assume) they entered into a covenant of obedience with God.  How, then (by chapter 32), could they stumble so badly, so publically, as to make a golden calf and represent it as Jehovah God?  Those of us who have made promises to God know the answer.  So long as we count on ourselves and our own resources to do God’s will, we fail every time. “The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” said Jesus to Peter.  “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it” we sing in confession of this truth.  We need God in order to obey God.

God’s house

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 25:1-11, 17-18, 23-24, 31-32; 26:1-2, 7-8; 27:1-2; 29:43-46 (day seven)

“And let them construct a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell with them.” (v 8)

Does God have an address?  A place where we can always find Him?  At some level, the answer is, “no”.  In 2 Chronicles 6:18, Solomon prays, “Will God indeed dwell with mankind on the earth?  Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain Thee; how much less this house which I have built?”  At another level, however, God does dwell, stay, (can always be found) in the places He has promised to do so.  He dwelt in the tabernacle.  He met with Israel there.  Christ, in similar fashion, promised to meet us in the gathered fellowship of His family.  “Where two or three are gathered together in My Name, I will be in the midst.”  (Matthew 28:20)  God’s house, God’s address is His people when we gather in cooperation with His purposes.  He lives there.  It is where we will find Him.

Presence

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 25:1-11, 17-18, 23-24, 31-32; 26:1-2, 7-8; 27:1-2; 29:43-46 (day six)

For a brief season when Emma was a toddler, she needed a visible reminder of my presence in order to fall asleep. She needed to know that I was in the room. Every so often she would open her eyes to find me, and the moment she laid eyes on me she would rest her head and go back to sleep. My presence brought her peace.

The Tabernacle served the people of God in the same way. It was to be a constant reminder of the presence of God. The Tabernacle also provided tangible symbols of how God would relate to his people. He would listen to them, speak to them, provide for them, and most importantly, make atonement for their sin; all of that was communicated through the Tabernacle and its furnishings.

The Tabernacle also instructs us as to our new covenant relationship with God. Through Jesus we experience the presence of God in the truest sense, one that the Tabernacle could only allude to. Jesus made it possible for intimate renovations of the heart; transforming us broken cisterns to temples of the Spirit of God. As followers of Jesus we can be at peace that God is always present with us through the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit powerfully teaches us, intercedes on our behalf, puts sin to death for us, gives gifts to us, all on the basis of our faith in Jesus. As believers we can rest in the presence of God; he will never leave us or forsake us.

 

Moments and Meeting

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 25:1-11, 17-18, 23-24, 31-32; 26:1-2, 7-8; 27:1-2; 29:43-46 (day five)

What a sight it must have been, God’s presence and glory surrounding Mt. Sinai.  (Chapter 24)  Can you imagine the majesty and magnitude the people both saw and felt?  The human tendency is to ask or question, “When is the next big moment”?  “What will God do next to grab my attention or have the wow factor”?

God’s plan for leading and caring for His People included more than grandiose moments, it included regular meeting.

We see it in the faith development of teens:  depending on God’s power and presence only at events like Camp, Retreats, and Freedom Weekends.  But the teens (adults too) that spiritually thrive, are the ones who understand and discover that faith grows deeper and stronger as they daily encounter the dwelling presence of God, rather than a “mountain top” moment here or there.

43 I will meet there with the sons of Israel, and it shall be consecrated by My glory. 44 I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar;  45 I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. 46 They shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the Lord their God.

Our Sovereign God

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 25:1-11, 17-18, 23-24, 31-32; 26:1-2, 7-8; 27:1-2; 29:43-46 (day four) 

The Lord spoke to Moses and called for the Israelites to bring a contribution for the purpose of building a Tabernacle for Him.  But wait…the Israelites have been slaves for over 400 years.  How could they possibly have anything to bring as a contribution to the Lord?  Remember back to Exodus 12:35-36…God told them to ask the Egyptians for silver, gold, and clothing.  God caused the Israelites to have favor in the eyes of the Egyptians and they plundered Egypt.  God provided for the needs of the Israelites, even before they knew that they had a need.  How often God does that!  Before we even know that we have a need, He has prepared a supply.  God may move in the heart of someone to provide food in the time of hunger, to provide protection in the time of danger, to provide supply in the time of need, or to send a witness in the time of crisis.  God is a sovereign God!

Gaze

Re: Verse reading–Exodus 25:1-11, 17-18, 23-24, 31-32; 26:1-2, 7-8; 27:1-2; 29:43-46 (day three)

“Then I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.”

Someone once said about a famously charismatic politician: “He always made you feel as if he were lucky to be with you.”  Contrast that with a situation in which you attempt to talk in a public space with someone who repeatedly looks past you to other people in the room. Nothing says “You don’t matter” quite like a distracted gaze.  The Israelites—whose display of gratitude for God’s presence was genuine, and not merely political charisma—told the Lord by their intents and their actions that they needed to live with him.  They gave themselves wholly to the creation of sacred space to make such a life possible for themselves.  Are you looking past God, or creating sacred space with him?