Today’s Reading Exodus 21-24
Focal Scripture: Exodus 24:18 “Moses entered the cloud as he went up the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.”
After Moses received the ten commandments in Exodus 20, God went into detail about how the Israelites were to conduct and handle themselves as a people. God went into detail on how thieves were to be dealt with, how crops were to be handled and even how men were to treat women. Instruction was given on treating the vulnerable and how to honor God. Even on the consequences of lying and making sure the festivals were kept and honored throughout the year.
Then a shift happens. God tells the Israelites that he would be sending his angel before them. They could trust him, follow him, and should obey him in all things. By doing this God would clear the way for them to enter the land promised to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. We are then reminded that following God comes at a cost. God tells Moses that the men are to make sacrifices and keep the blood. Half in jars and half placed on the altar. Moses then splatters the blood on the people to signify a promise between God and the Israelites.
With that backdrop now the focal passage can be fully understood. God calls Moses into his presence for a period of forty days and forty nights. That may seem like a long time but after all of the information that Moses just received and relayed he needed this time with God. As a leader, Moses could have been in a rush to get to the next goal. However, he was entering God’s presence and he stayed for a while.
The challenge that many of us have today is that we would argue with God and say I can’t spend forty days with you on a mountain. I have to many events, activities, ministries and meetings to attend. We allow our calendars to rob us of our intimacy with God. Success is not in resting but in doing.
The challenge I have for you and myself is to actually do less and spend more time alone with God. Our schedules can actually hurt our effectiveness for God. Even if we can’t spend forty days alone with God how much time can we carve out for prayer and devotion. I am sure it is more than we are doing now. God wants more of us and we should desire more of him.
Are we willing to surrender our calendars to him?
Tomorrow I plan on reading Exodus 25-27
