I don't know about you, but I thought Moses was rather bold in asking God to show Himself. The Creator of heaven and earth basically just got done saying He might completely destroy all of the people he led out of Egypt...and now Moses wants to see His Glory!?! Even my youngest knows - when Mom or Dad are mad, you leave them alone till they calm down. :-)
But God doesn't say no. And then we see God revealed for who He really is...vengeful, full of wrath, a presence to be feared. Right? That's what everyone thinks about God when you mention the Old Testament. No...the Lord said "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you...I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." (Ex33:19) Moses saw God...who is slow to anger, merciful, compassionate, forgiving. When Moses would go to the Tent of Meeting, "The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend". (Ex 33:11) Friendship with God wasn't possible for anyone else during this time. But thankfully Jesus changed that for us (John 15:15)...and we can freely communicate with Him.
Through prayer, worship, and studying the Bible, we can keep an open line of communication so that, like Moses' radiant face, people will see the change in our lives because of what the Lord has done in us. My question for you...as you've been reading the Old Testament...is it a struggle to read it every day? Does it speak to you as you were hoping it would? Maybe it feels like homework sometimes? It's possible I'm alone in thinking and feeling this way...but in case I'm not, I wanted to encourage you to keep up with the reading - it's important to know our history as God's people. But don't stop there. Find a book in the New Testament to study (not just read, but dig deep into it). Try one of those small books that nobody ever remembers how to find when you open the pages of the Bible...1 Peter, 2 John, James, Titus, Jude, etc. Pray about it, look them over - maybe you have something going on and one of these books has something to teach you. I found that Titus was where I needed to be studying, so I've been going through small chunks each day, and even journaling. It's really been helping me see that the Word is alive and active in my life each day, which (for me) is harder to remember when I'm only reading the Old Testament.
This song goes along with our reading. :-)
Third Day, "Show Me Your Glory"
Yes I will agree def feels like homework. It is harder to read and understand...BUT it is so interesting (at times) some of the things that go on. You are not alone in that it is more of a struggle than the NT. I think this is teaching me more dicipline though in keeping it going and staying on track. Giving me a good challenge. JF
ReplyDeleteI will also add it def seems as though worship is heavy on the rituals right? There is so many rules and regulations in Old Test. JF
ReplyDeleteHeavy on the rituals to distinguish God above all other false gods and to make it clear who they were worshiping. Also, a lot of the cleansing rituals and food preparation rules were to prevent illness and protected Gods people.
DeleteYou are right on this helping to build discipline to read every day!!