365 Reflections

What if you could have an Moses-like experience with God? Exodus 34:29–33 (ESV) When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30 Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the LORD had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. This is a powerful scripture. It helps us read the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament. Moses meets with God, comes down with God's word - face shining. The people see that shine on his face and though they fear at first,...

Exodus 34:8-9 (ESV) And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped. 9 And he said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”  How do you respond to knowing God? How do you respond to His compassion, grace, love, faithfulness as well as his just, righteous and certain judgment on the wicked? Hopefully the way Moses does. Having asked to see God's glory and being put in place by God to partake of as much of it as he could, Moses bows, repents and asks for God's blessing knowing full well, the only way the nation will survive is if God forgives them and comes with them,   "for it is a stiff-necked people". Then Moses prays YET AGAIN for the people of Israel. Moses has now prayed 5 times since the golden calf. He is learning how heavy the responsibility is to lead and feed God's people. He is ...

Why do we think God is so angry? In Exodus 34, we see Moses climb the mountain early in the morning to see the glory of God. He desires to KNOW God's glory. The glory of God is His "weightiness" or "heaviness" in the Universe and in our lives. The heavens declare the glory of God, says Psalm 19. People are made for God's glory, says Isaiah 43. The glory of God is what we are made for. The glory of God is what knowing God is all about. When Moses asks for glory he gets a sermon! Notice how God reveals His GLORY to him: Exodus 34:5–7 (NIV)  Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord . 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming , “The Lord , the Lord , the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their ch...

A powerful thought just occurred to me in reading Exodus 33. Do our prayers often get limited by our own false understanding of what God is like? Do we see him as a begrudging old man who only gives us a few cents for candy every now and then and only when we've been good boys and girls? Or do we see Him the way the Bible presents Him: generous beyond our own understanding? I think its time we get our facts straight about God in this regard. For too many of us are living substandard lives in Christ because we think God is not interested in doing more for us than we can imagine! Look at this two verse exchange in Exodus 33 between Moses and God: Exodus 33:17–18 (ESV)   And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” This is God answering Moses' prayer to go with them into the promised land right after He almost divorced them. God had...

In Exodus 33 we are introduced to Moses' prayer life and relationship with the Lord. He had a tent far off from the camp where God would meet with Moses and speak to him as a friend. The next thing we see is an inside look at that conversation. Some call this Moses' intercessory prayer which I believe it is.  Exodus 33:12–16 (ESV) Moses said to the Lord , “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your pe...

Exodus 33 is a chapter in 3 seemingly unconnected movements where God seems to be going back and forth on what He's going to do. But as with all scripture, there is more than meets the eye. The chapter opens with God offering the rebellious Israelites a gold mine of an opportunity: Exodus 33:1–3 (ESV)   The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ 2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” Do you see what God is saying? He's saying I'll give you all the blessings I promised you but I will not be with you. In other words, "Israel, you can d...

What kind of leader should you have? What kind should you be? In Exodus 32 we are confronted with two totally different kinds of leaders whose immense differences hinge on one simple practice. The first leader is Aaron. He quickly turns on his own brother and spiritual leader who has just performed incredible acts of God while delivering hundreds of thousands of Jews from 400 years of Egyptian bondage. He fashions an idol and quickly leads God's people into sinful revelry. When he is called out by Moses, this is his response: Exodus 32:22–26 (ESV)   Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. 23 For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.” 25 And when Moses saw tha...

The reality of our sin is that it offends a holy and righteous God who would be totally just to wipe us off the face of the Earth.  Modern Christianity is losing it's understanding of the cost of our sin. When we do so, we lose sight of the cost of our salvation as well. The reason most Christians have no joy is because they do not realize what they have going for them in Christ.  The golden calf moment of Exodus 32 goes from terrible to peaceful because of the actions of one man. God tells Moses He's had it with Israel, they have sinned quickly and decisively - turning completely away from the God who saved them. He announces His just judgment in verses 7-10: Exodus 32:7 (ESV) And the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.  8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ...

Exodus 32:1 (ESV)   When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” There are times when God and His work in our lives seems distant. Moses has been on the mountain with God for 40 days. The people grow anxious as if God and Moses are out of touch with their situation. When we get to places like this, we must be on our guard. God has not forgotten us, He's actually preparing us for His ultimate purpose. But we need to be patient in the process.  The Golden Calf story illustrates what happens to us when God puts the brakes on our lives and seems distant.  It is interesting that this terrible sin follows the section where God instructs Moses concerning the temple and its instruments, fills a man with the Spirit to build the te...

It is clear that Israel is a new creation of God from the fall of man in Genesis 3. After the long detailed account of the Tabernacle, God reinforces the necessity of Sabbath keeping: Exodus 31:12–13 (ESV) And the Lord said to Moses, 13 “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord , sanctify you. Remember what happened at the close of creation? God rested and made the Sabbath Holy. Man and God at rest together, not at odds with each other was the intention of the Creator for His creation from the beginning. Now a new nation has been created. A new tabernacle has been formed with illusions back to Eden throughout the description. God's dwelling with man once again will happen as Israel, the new people of God have a place distinct and separate from the world where they experience the life giving presence of the Creator.  Notice...

When you think about it, the first act of the Spirit in accordance with the Word of God is to create! The universe and all that makes Earth wonderfully unique was created as the Spirit hovered over the surface of the deep. Now the temple needs to be wonderfully unique for the presence of God to dwell with man. And God fills a man with the Spirit to bring it to pass. Exodus 31:1–5 (ESV)   The Lord said to Moses, 2 “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God , with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, 4 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, 5 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. When you think of being filled with the Spirit of God, what comes to mind? I was raised in a church where one word was the answer: tongues. I believe in tongues. I speak in tongues. I am thankful for the gift of tongues...

Exodus 30:34–38 (ESV) The LORD said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), 35 and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. 36 You shall beat some of it very small, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting where I shall meet with you. It shall be most holy for you. 37 And the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the LORD. 38 Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people.” We come now to the final piece of instructions on the Tabernacle from the Lord to Moses. This part concerns the special mixture of sweet spices that make up the incense priests burned continually during their time of service.  We already shared that the incense of the Temple referred to the prayers of the priests. These prayers were to...

Exodus 30 describes two mixtures for the Tabernacle ministry. An anointing oil which is made by the "finest spices" and an incense mixture made with "sweet" spices. The first is the anointing oil. It is made according to a specific recipe and prohibited to be made by anyone else or used on ordinary people. God says: Exodus 30:26–30 (ESV) With it you shall anoint the tent of meeting and the ark of the testimony, 27 and the table and all its utensils, and the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense, 28 and the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils and the basin and its stand. 29 You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them will become holy. 30 You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. Sometimes when you read the book of Exodus it can seem like such a bore. But the more you see it through the New Testament revelation of who we are in Christ, the more powerful...