Being human, we are often “me centered” and we tend to forget really important things. When this forgetfulness moves us away from God, we need to find ways to remember.
The Lord did not want Israel to ever forget that he, the Lord of salvation, delivered them from slavery in Egypt. God delivering Israel was like God taking his own son out of Egypt. Literally, we see this in God sparing the firstborn sons of Israel on the night of Passover
Read More holiness, remember, sacrificeHave you ever experienced a profound sense of regret? Have you ever had a dream go sour?
Israel was embarking on a dream. For four hundred and thirty years they were slaves longing for freedom. Now under God’s man, Moses, they were walking in freedom.
Read More fear, deliverance, regretGod had shown his loving heart for Israel by delivering them from slavery out of Egypt. Now God was going to show himself as their Warrior King.
It is as if God put them in this jam to prove that Israel could trust him no matter the circumstance. Just picture the scene. A huge throng of people pressed up against a half mile of water.
Read More trust, presence, warrior, victoryImagine what it must have been like. Some people think there were as many as two million people who made a camp in the desert within sight of the eastern shores of the Reed Sea (Red Sea).
Each successive generation of slaves had heard the stories of the Promised Land. They knew they were connected by birth back to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel)
Read More warrior, victory, deliveranceIsrael’s wandering in the desert was a training ground. God needed to teach the people how to be faithful to what they knew to be true about him; to trust and not complain.
Israel’s massive camp began to move from the sea out to the relative safety of the Desert of Shur. Now, after three days, the supplies were running low.
Read More obedience, listening, grumbling, test @enAs an immigrant family in the very early 50’s we knew what it was to be poor. Once, when I was only five years old I overheard my mother praying. She was asking that the Lord would supply food because there was none. That very afternoon the local pastor delivered bags full of groceries. He did not know the depth of our need, but he understood our circumstances. God will give us our daily bread when we seek him for it.
Read More faith, grumbling, provisionEver wonder where God is when the roof seems to be falling in on our heads? Non believers ask this question out of scepticism but Christians ask this out of a lack of faith. We follow God, we witness for him, are obedient, yet God seems to allow severe testing. These tests cut deeply and cause many to stumble.
No matter what the Lord God did for the Israelites, when conflict came they turned on Moses and were extremely critical.
Read More victory, grumbling, test @enWhen Moses ran from Egypt forty years earlier he had married into Jethro’s clan, a nomadic shepherding family in the land of Midian. Now, when more than six months had passed since Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt and the sheer managerial logistics were becoming unbearable, Moses received news that his father in law, Jethro, was coming for a visit.
Jethro was a High Priest of a religious sect that, like Abraham, worshiped the one true God.
Read More leadership, delegationThese next two chapters are central to the story of the Old Testament. God is coming down to meet and speak with his own people. They are his own because they are descended from Abraham, and he has led them back from slavery in Egypt. God has redeemed them from the might of Pharaoh. He has provided for them in the wilderness and he has been with them in the pillar of fire and cloud.
Read More faithfulness, obedience, covenant, holinessAs Moses and Aaron made their way back to the top of Horeb the people could hear the ‘sounds’ of God. It seemed to them that they were listening to thunder and they saw flashes of lightning. Whether or not they heard audibly God’s words for themselves is a matter of debate.
Read More obedience, power, awe, Ten Commandments