40 Days and 40 Nights

Exodus 24

have you ever seen something that you may not be able to describe, maybe it was something intense and you try but words can not explain what our eyes have seen. My wife and I were driving on the 91 freeway. If you know anything about Southern California, you know the 91 freeway always has traffic and is not the best freeway to be on. We were on our way somewhere and we were running late. As the cars were moving slowly and coming to a stop we finally drove by what had caused the traffic. What my wife and I saw was something that shocked both of us. We saw a mangled car around another mangled car. We saw glass everywhere and even blood from the accident. We drove by as it just somewhat happened and the ambulance and fire department got there. It was intense and the images will stay in our minds. On a brighter note, I also have been in the mountains and just looked up in the sky and was overwhelmed by the vastness of it and to know God created it. My words could not describe how great God’s creation is. We are going to see how Moses and and some of the leaders got to see something way better and more intense than anything ever before seen. This was going to be better than seeing God’s hand in the plagues, better than seeing the Red Sea seperate into two and they could walk across on dry land. It was better than the pillar of cloud or fire. It was better than even the manna from heaven.

We left with Moses receiving the law from God and he is now told to come up the mountain with some of the elders of Israel. The whole congregation gathered together as Moses had them built 12 altars for the 12 tribes of Israel and they made sacrifices to the Lord. Moses, Aaron, Nadad, and Abihu, and the seventy elders went up to the mountain to hear from God.

They saw the God of Israel

In verse 10 we see that they got to see God of Israel. His feet were as it were a pavement of sapphire, like the very heaven of clearness. Some people would say this was the 2nd member of the Trinity, God the Son, Jesus Christ. This caravan of mountain climbers saw something that they could only define as the Lord God and the only thing they could describe in what they saw was under his feet. They only got to see under the feet of God and that looked like a precious, opaque blue, stone. If the bottom of God’s feet are barely indescribable I can’t imagine the rest of him. All they could describe is God as amazing. There are no words to describe how amazing God is. What if you were one of the elders? That would be cool. We do get to see God eventually. We will be able see him face to face, because of Christ. The people down and looking at the mountain got to see God’s glory manifested too. It was in the cloud. It is called his Shekinah glory. 

Only Moses

After this tranquil moment, Moses leaves this caravan of mountain climbers to be in charge of the rest of Israel. Moses and his assistant Joshua climb on to the top of the mountain. Joshua only journeys half way and Moses leaves him. Moses then spends the next 40 days and 40 nights with God. There are some other mentions of 40 days and 40 nights in the Bible. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights with Noah. Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights where he was tempted. Moses was able to be in this cloud that he disappeared in for 40 days and 40 nights. He was able to spend quality time with God for that amount of time. How great that must have been. How cool for Moses? The question would be, would you want to spend time with him? What would you ask him? Why would you ask him that? I know I would just wan to bask in his glory. I know I am so unworthy and I am so thankful for his grace.  

Reflection

Exodus 23

The details of the law are still flowing from God to Moses. The law could be considered a burden for some but also there is freedom in the law. The law helps to point to Christ as our redeemer and conqueror. Christ was the only one who lived perfectly and was not condemned by the law.

God tells Moses that one must not give false testimony to condemn someone. One must be truthful and honest, even if it is someone we hate. The picture of God being just is seen in these verses. He tells them not to oppress the sojourner or one who travels because they were once like that. 

God established not only the laws but a chance for Israel to remember what God has done for them. Why do you think that it was important for Israel to be reminded of what God did for them in Egypt? God also wanted Israel to honor the Sabbath. Why was it important for them to remember the Sabbath? They were not to work on that day and focus on the Lord and to rest. It also gave the animals a rest and the servants a rest. We may not have to follow the law like this because we do not honor the Sabbath like Israel does. It is important for us to rest in the Lord. For the Jews this is Saturday for us we could say it is Sunday, but either way, do you have a day that you just stop and rest in God? Stop with the noise of life and just rest in the Lord.

The Promise of the Land

This chapter ends with God promising Moses that Israel will inherit the land and he will drive away those that possess it. He will have them be confused, he will send hornets before them, he will wipe them out. Israel just needs to be obedient to God. It seems like a simple request, but yet it is so hard. We can have God’s plan revealed to us, we can see what his future for us entails but we can easily blow just like Israel did in the wilderness. We can give into those idols that are around us from the surrounding countries. We lose our focus. God does drive out our enemies for us but sometimes we run to our enemies instead. Do you trust the promises of God? I feel like Israel took for granted everything God did and will do for them, but soon I reflect in my own life and I see that I take for granted something that cost God more than some plagues in Egypt. It was his Son, Jesus on the cross for us. I can take salvation for granted all the time. Do you? This is something that we need to be reminded of and that is why we have communion. Don’t wait for communion, say thanks everyday.

Being Responsible

Exodus 22

I think the word responsible gets misplaced in our society sometimes. If not misplaced at least it gets rejected. You read about people suing everyone over everything. Michael Jordan was sued for $832 million by a man who suffered emotional pain after being mistaken for the basketball star (found at http://www.newser.com/story/22074.html). You hear stories about criminals suing their victims. There was a man who broke into a house and broke some bone and sued the people that he tried to rob for the reason he got hurt. He actually won! You hear about people getting their cars dinged and dented by people backing up into them and driving away and not leaving a note or taking responsibility for their mistake. I don’t know how these crazy things happen but they do. It is because it is not passed on from their parents. I was at the grocery store as a little boy knocked something over and it broke. The mom just took the son and said, “Oh, great, now we need to leave.” They walked out of the store and did not tell anyone about what just happened. I had to go to tell someone that something got knocked down and needed to be cleaned up. I remember when I was living at home, my mom would stress that I needed to be responsible. Being responsible means that we a men and women of our actions. Being responsible is not only doing what you are supposed to be doing but it is also admitting your mistakes. In this section we continue with the law that God is giving Moses. Chapter 21 and 22 can be put together because the themes are connected.

The wrong done to someone else and to their property

In this chapter we read about if someone’s property gets destroyed or money lost because of someone’s negligence, there needs to be restitution. It is very important that the victim gets restored somehow for what they lost. God desires for the protection of the innocent. Today if we borrowed something from our friends and it breaks in our possession we can do several things. We can lie about breaking it. We can say it was broken before we even got it. We can hide the fact that we did not break it. We can tell the truth and admit that we broke it and offer to replace it. This would be the right thing to do.  

A Christian is one that is not only responsible with their actions and life but also admits their faults and when we borrow something and it breaks. I remember a time I borrowed something from a friend and it did break. I had to tell them that I broke what I borrowed and I wanted to replace it for them. Even though it was hard for me to admit that I broke it and tell them, I had to do it. My mother and father raised me that way and I’m thankful for it. If we do not admit our faults to others, sure we may not have to suffer financially at that time, or people look at us because we messed up, but this will only create bigger problems down the road.

Matthew 12:33 tells us that a tree is identified by their fruit and we our identified by our choices and being responsible. Even though it is not pretty to admit when we made a mistake but at least we are being responsible men and women. We want people to know that Christians are honest and are responsible even when the world is not. Proverbs 11:3 says, “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. May we deal honestly with others and make restitution for those we have wronged. 

Up the Mountain

Exodus 19

 It is always something special to be able to go up a mountain. Maybe it is like that because I do not do it very often. We do have a time where we as the Jr. High Ministry goes up the mountain for a retreat to get away from the things of the world and spend some time with God. We make it so we can have fun but we get away from parents, T.V., music (kind of), and things that distract us. Moses was called by God to go up the mountain before all the people and have some, one on one time with God. This was a chance for God to speak to Moses and for Moses not to be distracted with the worries of the people like what happened in the chapter before. 

Moses went up the mountain and God showed himself to the people by having a cloud descend on the mountain. When he spoke to Moses there was thunder and the mountain shook. This got everyone’s attention. The whole group of people could not touch the mountain or even get close because they were not right before the Lord. Moses was the only one, and eventually Aaron would come up. The people had to be clean in the site of the Lord, because he was coming on the mountain. Even though they could not have the experience and one on one time like Moses, they were called to be respectful to God by how they presented themselves. 

Moses had to eventually come down from the mountain and face reality. When we go up the mountains it is usually for only a couple of days we have to come down from the mountains and face reality. What we face may be similar to what Moses will face in future chapters with Israel. We face the temptations of this world, we face homework, chores, and problems, we face fights that we might have left at home with parents, we leave only for those things to be waiting when we get back. How important is that we do not stay up in the mountain forever but bring what we learned down with us? Moses is going to bring down what God talked with him about so he could share it with the whole assembly of people. What an awesome opportunity for us to share what we learned from God. We may not go up a literal mountain but maybe we had a chance to grow. Share that with the assembly around you, which would be parents, brothers, sisters, and friends. Moses was the only one that could have access to God but now we can personally go and have access to God. Hebrews 10:19 shares with us that we have access to God because of what Jesus did on the cross. We can approach him and not be afraid that we will be burned up or struck with lightning. 

Parents do Know Something

Exodus 18

 As a young man there are always people wanting to give you advice. The advice that I always choose to listen to is that of my family. The advice of my father and father in law has paid off. They actually know what they are talking about. They not only have the wisdom but also the experience. Moses receives advice from his father in law. We do not know why the father in law came, but the cool thing was that he was a wise man and he had some good advice for him.

Moses who was the leader of the Israelites in their wilderness adventure was being tied down by listening to everyone’s complaints. Moses served as judge for Israel. Jethro observed what was going on and he offered some very simple but profound advice. He said, “If you keep this up everyone is going to get tired.” Moses would go morning to evening and just be judge for the people. Jethro just told Moses that he needs to share the Lord. Get able men to do the small tasks and the large things Moses could handle.

Moses could have chosen not to listen to his father in law and said, “I want to do it my way.” Moses chose to listen to Jethro which it paid off. Moses did not have to spend his whole day going over problems but could concentrate on what God wanted him to do. God places people in our lives to help us and give us advice. Parents are those people. For the most part they know what they are talking about. We need to not throw out everything they say as outdated or lame but instead as there is truth to what they have to say. God has placed your parents in your life for a reason. We can thank the Lord for the wisdom of our parents.

Is the Lord Among Us

 Exodus 17

I remember one time I was in the ocean with my friends and we were just having fun in the waves. We noticed the waves getting a little bigger than they were when we first got in and we were finding ourselves being separated. I became to find myself somewhat alone in this big ocean of water. I was not paying attention and a big wave knocked me down. It took me a little while to realize what happened and another wave came and knocked me down. I found myself being alone and somewhat out of control in this little situation. We can be like this in our Christian walks. A little wave can knock us down and we think that we are out of control. The only thing that can save us is a little help. We come to a point in Israel’s wilderness journey where they begin to question if the Lord was among them. The journey that they had seemed to fall short because there was no water for the flocks and for the people.

What seems impossible is possible for God.

Moses turned to God and said, “These people are going to kill me because there is no water.” In verse 2 we see that they quarreled with Moses which means that they were testing the Lord.  God again was patient with Israel as he not only listened to their quarreling but took care of them. He told Moses to take his staff and strike the rock and water will pour forth. The Israelites received their water and God took care of them. They thought they were gonners and God promised them that he would take care of them. He promised them that they had a land waiting for them. God sticks to his promises even when we do not.

Bye Bye Amalek

The Amalekites were descendants of Esau. They were known as a vicious Sinai Peninsula tribe of people. We do not know exactly why they decided to fight Israel but we can assume they wanted to overtake them and they probably looked at Israel as an easy kill. God not only gave Israel water but gave victory over the Amalekites. We are introduced to Joshua to be over the armies and organize men to fight them. The battle was not won by the Israel’s great military training or weaponry because they really did not have either, what won the battle was Moses interceding for the people. He was praying for them with his hands lifted towards heaven. God listened and provided a victory for Israel.

The Lord is my Banner

In verse 15 we see that Moses built an altar in appreciation of God’s victory over the Amalekites. In Hebrew it is “Yahweh Nissi.” A banner during this time was a piece of cloth that had the armies insignia and it was raised on a pole. It was used not only as identification but also in giving courage and hope. As long as the banner is still flying they know the battle is not lost. God is the source of courage and hope. He is their banner and our banner is the cross. Jesus died so there is victory of sin and death. What is the emblem of your life? What do you see as your courage and hope? People look to so many signs but they overlook the only sign for salvation and hope which is Christ and the cross. I hope you know that there is victory in your banner as Christ.