Exodus 11, Luke 14, Job 29 and I Corinthians 15

We know from the story of Job that God considered Job a righteous person. If you are anything like me, then you want God to consider you a righteous person as well, right? I want to honor the righteousness that Jesus has given me on the cross by living as a righteous man. How about you? Well, in chapter 29 Job gives us a little breakdown on the life that he lived...the character he had...the thing he fought for...and I think it gives us a great started point for living righteous, God-honoring lives. Check it out...

He helped the poor.

He helped orphans (He was a father to the fatherless).

He took care of widows.

He became eyes for the blind.

He became the feet for the crippled.

He stood up to those who tried to take advantage of others.

These are the righteous acts of the man who God held up as an example of what a man is supposed to look like. Does your life look like that? Could that list be applied to your life?

Exodus 10, Luke 13, Job 28, I Corinthians 14

Luke 13:8-9 - I love this picture of God's grace! When bad things happen to believers is it a direct result of sin n their lives? No...or at least, not always (Sometimes when people give in to toxic sin they bring pain down on themselves). If you need proof, see: the Life of Jesus (Hint: perfect God/man, crucified). When god things happen in the lives of evil people does it mean that God is not just? No! What is means is that God is patient, just like Jesus tells us with his parable. Sometimes he gives fruitless trees the opportunity to grow...he adds manure and care (a.k.a. blessings) with a hope that the once dead tree will come to life and bear good fruit. Thank you God for your patience with me and all of humanity.

Job 28 - Wisdom is not found in dominating nature...it is not found in wealth...it is not found in power or achievement...or anything else we seem to endlessly seek on this earth. In fact, it is the pursuit of such tings that turns humanity into something not far above animals. Read Job 28:28. The truth is that wisdom is found only in the fear of the Lord...n the understand that God is everything. When we spend our life seeking out God and fleeing from evil...we are filling ourselves with wisdom and understanding.

I Corinthians 14 - I love this verse..."Be infants of evil, but in your thinking mature." So the bible tells us that there are times when we are supposed to act like babies! It's true. Yet it is not giving u a free pass to whine and complain when things don't go are way...it says that we should be like babies when it comes to evil. We need to live n innocence. Live with joy. Find delight and wonder in the world, not just dark and vileness. We need to live in such a way that we do not allow ourselves to be corrupted by evil!

Exodus 9, Luke 12, Job 27 and I Corinthians 13

Job 27:5 - No matter who is pressuring him...no matter what Job has to suffer...he refuses to sacrifice his integrity. Virtually everything he had was taken away from him - his kids, property, wealth, livestock, etc...but what cannot be taken from him is his integrity...his character. His integrity is priceless to him...it is a sign of the union he has with God...he will not betray the image of the great I AM that reside in him by corrupting his character. Do you feel as strongly?

I Corinthians 13:12 - When we allow love to shape us and dictate who we are, then we get a glimpse (albeit a dim one) of the world to come...a glimpse of what it is like to walk in the presence of God - the God who is LOVE. When our words, actions, thoughts, are anchored in love, then our lives are anchored in God.

Exodus 8, Luke 11, Job 25 and 26, and I Corinthians 12

I was really struck by the hard to see inner sins that are discussed in both Luke 11 and I Corinthians 12. Sometimes as Christians we love to focus in on the "flashy" external sins of others, which is strange when we take the time to see that Jesus railed most powerfully against the hidden inner sins of God followers.

Luke 11 - Jesus confronts the religious leaders of his day on their inner sin issues. They go through the "process" of worshipping God, but do not let that worship touch their hearts. They tithe religiously and go to the temple and discuss the Torah, but then they ignore the needy and act unmercifully. That doesn't make sense, because people who are truly connected to God should be the first to act out of compassion...they should be living out God's character in their communities. They were doing evil in the eyes of Jesus by robotically following rules instead of passionately following God. And this is something that is still very prevalent in the Church...going through the motions of Christianity while operating inwardly in an anti-Christian manner. That is sin...plain and simple.

I Corinthians 12 - In this passage, Paul shows us what pride can do to the Church. Everyone has different gifts and those gifts are given to Christ-followers by the Holy Spirit of God (I hope you spend time thinking about how God has gifted you, so that you can use those gifts to effectively serve the Kingdom). If you look jealously at the things that others do...if you find yourself playing the comparison game - wondering why you can't have the gifts that others do...then you are denying the validity of the unique gifts that God has given you. That's wrong. On the flip side, if you look arrogantly down on others because they are not gifted in the ways that you are...if you cast judgment on people who cannot do what you do...you are pridefully belittling the work of the Spirit in their lives. F.Y.I. - this is also wrong! Go back and read I Corinthians 12:22 again...this is a very powerful verse for me, because it reminds me that the quiet, faithful servants that operate under the radar in the Christian community are often more indispensable than the gifted speakers and worship leaders. Each and every part of this Body matters and has an integral part to play in the growing Body of Christ...don't let jealousy and pride damage the Bride of Jesus-.

Exodus 7, Luke 10, Job 24 and I Corinthians 11

Luke 10 - She chose the better portion. Mary chose to sit at Jesus' feet...the listen to his teaching...to dwell in his presence (Something which would have been very culturally inappropriate...women were not generally welcome to sit in on spiritual discussions with men). Martha chose to run around like a crazy person trying to make everything "perfect" for Jesus visit. The text doesn't get into it, but I assume that she wanted to make a great impression on the people in her house...I believe that her pride plays a large part in the choice she makes to place work before Jesus. When Martha complains to Jesus about Mary not helping, Jesus states very clearly which of the two women made the better choice about how to use her time - Mary did! How often do we get so caught up in trying to be the best...trying to be "perfect"...trying to be impressive...that we forget to sit down in the presence of Jesus?

I Corinthians 11 - It makes sense to me that if Paul's teachings about hair length and head covering do not apply as law across centuries and across cultures, then maybe his views on men and women should also change so that they remain culturally relevant. Even when he describes the husband as the "head" of the wife in this chapter, he compares it by saying that God is the "head" of Christ. We know from the words of Jesus himself that God and Jesus are one...which seems to suggest a more equal relationship between husbands and wives than has been historically practiced in the Church. Thoughts?

Exodus 6, Luke 9, Job 23, and I Corinthians 10

Luke 9:41 - Have you ever wondered about this passage? Why were the disciples defeated in this situation? Jesus had already blessed them with the ability to drive out demons and heal. They had already had experience roaming the countryside and doing just those things...they had been very successful. What happened in this instance? I think they were scared. Luke describes a pretty scary demon here that takes control of a little boy and forces its will upon him...I think in the face of disgusting evil, the disciples backed down...they didn't believe they were strong enough to face such a demon...they doubted God. Jesus is heartbroken when he hears about their failure, and he calls them out about it, "You faithless and twisted generation!" When you read this it comes across as a little harsh, but think about it from Jesus' perspective...them to losing faith when confronted by demonic evil is affirmation of their doubts about God's power. Sure they had seen God work...they had seen God miraculously heal...but this...this was really nasty evil, and their faith crumbled. The reality that Jesus understood was this - is there any form of evil that God cannot overcome? No. What is there to fear when you are followers of God? Nothing. Jesus is hurt by their faithlessness, and he responds by showing them what true power looks like...he effortlessly drives the demon out of the boy.

When we allow ourselves to be ruled by fear, we are doing nothing by highlighting our lack of faith. Everywhere I turn...the radio...the TV...the computer...somebody is talking about guns. Gun control. Right to bare arms. Etc. I don't really care about what gets decided from a political standpoint, but I do care that it seems like more and more Christians in our community are allowing themselves to be controlled by fear when it comes to guns. Any time we are being driven to act out of fear, we are not walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. What if somebody comes into the church offices? What if somebody comes into my home? What if...what if...what if...what if!!!? Let me ask you something...is God still in control? Is there any form of evil that God cannot overcome? Is the only possible response to violence in the world, responding with more violence...greater violence? Did the earliest Christians...those closest to Jesus...those led by the disciples...did they respond to persecution, jailing, beatings, death and torture with war? Did they start having CSL (Concealed sword carrying) classes in their places of worship? No, they responded with strength that can only come from God...they responded in love...they responded in forgiveness...they responded in non-violence...and they changed the world.

Exodus 5, Luke 8, Job 22, and I Corinthians 9

Luke 8: Jesus incredible mercy is highlighted for us in this chapter by his dealing with the demon-possessed man. A legion of demons lives inside that poor, tortured soul and Jesus shows compassion on them. Compassion on demons?!? Demons?! You gotta be kidding me. It's true...the demons beg Jesus to have mercy on them...to not send them directly to the abyss. Which tells us a couple things: first of all, the abyss is no place you wanna be. All the people that think hell is gonna be a party where all the cool people hang out and have wicked fun...think again...even the demons don't want to go back there...it is HELL! Secondly, does this tell us something about how hell operates? Do the demons need to cause some massive death and destruction before they can return to their master? If Jesus just sent them back defeated, would they have been tortured more than usual? Because they seem to be okay with going back to the abyss via a herd of pigs they drove to suicide...interesting stuff to think on. Regardless, Jesus hears their cries for mercy and sends them into the herd of pigs instead of sending them directly to the abyss. Have you ever thought about the example that Jesus is setting there for us? He even treats demons compassionately! You and I...we have no excuse for being unmerciful. Powerful lesson.

Exodus 4, Luke 7, Job 21 and I Corinthians 8

Moses in Exodus 4 and the Centurion in Luke 7 are an interesting contrast. Moses is personally called by God to bring about the salvation of the Israelite people in Egypt, but Moses begs God to send someone else to do it. The centurion begs Jesus to heal his servant, telling him that he doesn't even have to come because the Centurion trusts so deeply that Jesus need only to speak and the healing will happen. Moses sees only his own limitations and not the limitless nature of God. The Centurion understands the power that Jesus has and that everything is at his disposal. Moses' doubts about himself limit his faith, while the Centurion ignores and obstacles and wholly trusts Jesus. Who do you wanna be more like? Moses makes God angry, while the Centurion amazes Jesus. I want to amaze Jesus with my faith...I want to trust him utterly...I want to act when I feel Him urging me to act (not beg God to send somebody else)...I want to follow Jesus, not be dragged kicking and screaming into God's will. Lord give me the strength to do so.

Exodus 3, Luke 6, Job 20 and I Corinthians 7

Sorry I have been such a slacker on this over the holidays! Time to get back in the swing of things...

Exodus 3:11 - Moses says to God, "Who am I that I can go before the ruler of Egypt? I am just a shepherd! I have a speech impediment...I am not the man for the job!" Moses reminds me a lot of myself here. Don't we all do this kind of thing from time to time with God? Doubt what God can do through us? See only our weaknesses, choosing not to remember how God's strength shines through when we are weak? I have been having doubts like this recently. Doubts about my future. Questions about my effectiveness in ministry. Worries about my imperfections. I am like Moses, saying to God, "Who am I God? Who am I that you would use me as a valuable part of the ministry that you are doing at Northside?" I know how flawed I am...I know how selfish I can be...but this story reminds me of the powerful way that God worked through Moses. Moses was full of doubts, but Moses chose to trust that God could use him in spite of his human brokenness. I will do the same. I will offer my flawed self...I will offer my weaknesses and strengths and know that God will move int he lives of those who trust Him. How about you?

Exodus 2, Luke 5, Job 19 and I Corinthians 6

Luke 5:4-11 - I love this version of the Peter's call into discipleship. Jesus sees them cleaning up after a night of failed fishing and he tells them to go back out and toss their nets again. A little background: Peter is a professional fisherman...he has been fishing his entire life...he knows what he is doing. Jesus is a carpenter turned rabbi, who doesn't know much about fishing (I am giving Peter's perspective at this point...you and I know that he created fish and water and everything involved in this story!). There is no reason that Peter should be listening to this Jesus-guy when it comes to fishing...yet in spite of his doubts, he does what the rabbi says and they have the biggest catch of their lives. Immediately afterwards, Peter is ashamed of his doubts and feels unworthy to even be in the presence of Jesus. Yet, Jesus responds by calling Peter to follow him. Why did Jesus choose Peter even though he doubted his advice? Because even though he had doubts he was still able to act...he was still able to follow Jesus in spite of not understanding. How about you? There are gonna be times where you don't understand what God is doing in your life...there are gonna be times when you don't understand why things are happening to you...when you don't understand why you feel like you are being called to do something different. The question is, are you willing to follow Jesus even in the midst of doubt? Are you willing to act...the move...to change...to whatever, when he calls?

Exodus 1, Luke 4, Job 18 and I Corinthians 5

Luke 4:13 - I have read the story of Jesus temptation in the desert many times before...I love how he destroys every attempt from Satan to get him to turn from God with scripture. It is a great reminder that all of us should have God's Word written on our hearts...keep verses we can go to when we are dealing with temptation. Yet this time as I read the passage, something different jumped out at me. In Luke 4:13 it says that after the Devil had tried every form of temptation on Jesus, he left (With the plan to attack Jesus when the circumstances were more in his favor...like when Jesus is on the cross). For 40 days Jesus was in the desert...for 40 days Satan threw everything he had at Jesus...every temptation...every trick...all of it. We know that Jesus was tempted with food, with power and popularity, but what we don't think about very often is all the other stuff he was tempted with. The reading today reminded me of Hebrews 5:15, which tells us that we have a High Priest (Jesus) who was tempted in every way that we are. He knows what you are going through...he knows what you are facing. Did Satan flash images of nude women before Jesus and tell him that he could have sex with any woman he wanted if he bowed? Did he promise endless amounts of money? Did offer mood altering drugs and drink? Did he offer an incredible marriage with tons of cute kids that might distract Jesus from his mission? The text says that he tempted Jesus in every way...and that is exactly what I needed to know. I think we all can sit back and say, "Oh, I would refuse bread and power too...those seem to be mild temptations...but Jesus just doesn't understand this struggle of mine...it is so hard...it is so tempting...it's different." No it isn't. He was tempted in every way that you and I are...and he faced down every one of those temptations. He was able to deny those temptations because of his great love for us. Yes, he was God in the flesh...yes, God is perfect...but Jesus was still in the flesh...he was still born of a woman...born in the sinful tradition of humankind...born with the possibility of turning against his nature. Yet, he stood strong...he denied those temptations because there was so much at stake...the salvation of the world...probably the very foundations of the world, if God turned against His own nature. Can we be inspired to do the same? We are able to connect with the Holy Spirit of God...we can ask the Spirit of God (The same Spirit that allowed Jesus to reject temptation) to give us the strength to turn away from sin...we can choose to love as Jesus loved - to show that we love God and our families and our friends so much that we do not want to bring the chaos that sin brings into their lives! Follow in the footsteps of Jesus and fight the good fight! 

Exodus Chapters 37-40

I know this is a lot of repeated stuff about the tabernacle, but look hard for nuggets of awesomeness...they're there.

38:8 - What does it mean by the women who ministered at the tent of the tabernacle offering up bronze mirrors? Well, this is cool! In ancient times, highly polished bronze was often used by women as a mirror. In the Egyptian culture, which the Israelites just got out of, it was customary for women to bring their mirrors with them to worship at the temple. The Israelite women were coming to worship at the tabernacle with their mirrors as they had always done. Yet, when their hearts cried out to offer themselves fully to God, they parted with the mirrors. Extremely expensive, coveted, useful mirrors. In essence, they were leaving behind the rituals of the Egyptian religions and following God alone...they were cutting that part of their past away. They were also offering God their vanity, saying that it was more important to honor Him fully than to make sure they look their best. They have finally put God above self and that is a sign of true worship. Is there anything from your past that needs to be let go so that you can fully enter into the presence of God? Do you allow pride and vanity to keep you away from the true worship that God is calling you towards? See - nuggets of awesomeness!

40:34 - We are the tabernacles now! You and I! The glory of the Lord dwells within our hearts! The holy of holies is inside of us - live like it!

Exodus Chapters 34-36

34:6ff - The Lord is speaking about the Lord...kinda gives you that impression of plurality like Genesis (Let US make man in OUR image)...for me this is yet another representation of the trinitarian nature of God. Father, Son and Spirit in perfect community and they can speak not of arrogance about themselves, but out of fact. God is simply stating who He is. God saying He is merciful and gracious is like me saying, "I am a husband and father" - it is what it is.

34:12ff- This is a challenge and warning for God-followers. If you have made a covenant with God, you better not be running off to offer yourself to the world. Be very careful that you do not allow your culture or your country to take God's place as what you follow. God treats pagan culture so harshly in the OT because they have already been "whoring" themselves to false gods (That's how my ESV says it)...and God wants to be sure the Israelites do not start selling themselves to fake idols (Look at what happens to them every time they allow that stuff in their culture through the OT!).

34:28 - Here we see some more Christ-like imagery in the life of Moses. Moses was a messianic type figure for the people of Israel. God used Moses to save His people and bring them out of slavery. Here we see Moses fasting for 40 days and 40 nights in the desert with no food and water (Sound familiar?). He is a messianic figure, but he still could not truly save the people...Moses is not the perfect Messiah...we see his flaws throughout the Exodus story. He is just one more part of the puzzle that tells humanity, "We cannot save ourselves!"

34:35 - Here we see one of Moses' flaws. I believe that he veils his face after coming out of the tent, because he does not want the people to see the glory start to fade. He struggles with pride and we will see as we continue on, that his pride will keep him out of the Promised Land. Are there things you hide from people because you don't want them to know you are imperfect? Why? God glory shines through our imperfection. God's strength is evident in the face of our weaknesses.

35:29 - Again and again in this chapter we see that God only wants gifts and service from those who have their heart in it. God does not need our robotic, heartless obedience...God wants us to willingly offer ourselves. God wants what we have to offer when we are moved by the power of His love and mercy.

36:6 - How cool would it be if this was a problem in churches today? Imagine it - David Garison has to get up as church and tell people to stop giving because we have more than enough! That would be cool! The Israelite people finally have connected with God and are finally starting to understand what He has done for them and they offer everything to him. That's how I want to live!!!

Exodus Chapters 31-33

31:3 - Worship goes beyond just singing. Bezalel is filled with the Spirit of God and worships God through his creativity...through his job. We can honor God anywhere if we are filled with His Spirit and living to honor Him.

31:12ff - God is serious about the Sabbath isn't He? People will die if they do not keep the Sabbath! So what is the big deal - why is it so important? It is s symbol of what God has done for all of mankind through creation...it reminds us of who we are and where we come from. It is a time to find your rest fully in God...not just to be lazy, but to rest in God. To allow God to fill you. It is a show of trust in God, because you do not have to work constantly to stay alive...you know God will take care of you and you place your trust in Him. If you understand these things, then all the other commands will fall into place - you will love God and people.

32:2 - A Christian leader and any Christian for that matter, cannot give in to the crowd or the culture if they are calling us to sin. We must stand firm and not back down like Aaron did.

32:4 - Man! Talk about twisted! They are attributing the good in their life to idols they just crafted out of gold, "Look these things brought us out of Egypt." They just spit in God's face! And don't get to cocky modern day Christians, because we like to do the same thing. When life is horrible we are all about God, yet when life is good, we start attributing the success to ourselves and the good things in our lives. Don't forget how unfathomably disrespectful that is to God.

32:10 - Okay, what is going on here? Did Moses seriously just win a debate with God? Well, let's think about what we know about God. We know He is perfect. We know He is just. We know He is working all events in the universe whether good or bad into His will. So what do you think? A: I think He might be testing Moses (We know God like to do this - see: Abraham). Maybe God wants to see what kind of leader He has in Moses? Is Moses going to go, sounds good God - now everyone of your people will come from me alone? Or is he going to cry out for the people? Maybe it is a test. B: We know that God is a just God and He has just been absolutely rejected by His people. He has every right to destroy them and start over - it would be just. Maybe God allows the cries of His people to impact His decision even when the thing He was going to do is right and just (Which it always is). We know that prayer is powerful and prayer makes a difference, so maybe God allowed Moses to have a say and held off His judgement.

32:24 - Come on Aaron! Integrity is not real high on his list of good qualities. He won't even own up to what he did. Did you see what he says, "Uh, I just threw the gold in and a calf popped out!" That sounds like something my 4 year old would make up - come on!

32:20 and 27 - Okay this is some freaky stuff...let me offer a possibility. Moses grinds up the idol and makes the people drink it. The Israelites had another ritual about drinking stuff that might give us a clue about what is going on. If a woman was accused of adultery, she would be made to drink water and dust from the tabernacle...after drinking it they would know if she was guilty or innocent. Maybe when the people drank the dust, the Levites could tell if they were guilty of rebelling against God or innocent and they went through the camp killing those who were wrong...they were God's instrument of justice.

33:5 - They strip off all their jewelry because they are in mourning. They are mourning the sin the committed against God. They have stripped off their ornaments and they have stripped off their pride and they are naked and ashamed before God. This is what repentance looks like...you remove all the garbage and all the walls and excuses and you offer yourself to the mercy of God.

33:10 - They worshipped when the cloud was in front of the tent, because they knew they were in the presence of God. We have the opportunity to worship every minute of every day...never forget that.

33:16 - All the other nations carry around powerless idols of stone and metal. The Israelites move with the presence and power of God. Hmmm, which one is better?

33:18 - The more Moses in with God and learns about God...the more and more he wants. He cannot get enough of the goodness of God. That's a great picture of the faith journey...you keep moving closer and closer to God and as you do, you want more and more.

Exodus Chapter 28-30

28:3 - Creativity and artistry are gifts from God. I think they are part of our reflection of the image of God. Think about the creativity and artistry God used to shape the universe. No matter how incredible the human artist becomes in their craft...they offer only an imperfect two-dimensional knock-off of what God has formed to perfection.

28:30 - Urim and Thummim - what? Thanks for all the explanation Exodus writer! Scholars think that part of the reason that the writer gives such a lame explanation of what these things are, is that he probably never saw them. These were for the priests and the priests alone, and he may have never gotten a glimpse of what the Urim and Thummim were. They must have been relatively small and flat if they fit comfortably in the breastplate the priest wore, so it is possible they were special pieces of wood or bone. It has become popular among biblical scholars to translate Urim and Thummim as "cursed" and "faultless," which would make sense because they are generally used to tell whether someone is guilty or innocent...is the person cursed or faultless. Luckily for us we know a few things: none of us are faultless...God knows absolutely everything we have done and is a righteous judge...God loved us so much He paid the price for our sins forgoing the judgement we were due.

30:10 - Sin offerings were done once a year. So what happened when they were leaving the tabernacle after making the sin offering and they had a jealous thought or lusted? Well, they were toast...instantly they became unclean. This shows the flaws of the system where humans have to try to cleanse themselves through sacrifices and rituals...it doesn't work. God wanted the people to fully understand that they could not save themselves, so that they would be ready to offer themselves completely to His grace and mercy which were offered through the cross.

30:32 - I am always trying to get my hands on some biblically accurate anointing oil, because that would be cool. Well, after reading this passage, I am done with that search! Scary!

Exodus Chapter 25-27

My 280th post...I'm so happy!

The next few days are going to be a crazy conglomeration of weird instructions and laws, so look hard for the nuggets of gold within...ask yourself why all this was important to God.

25:2 - Every man whose heart moved him was to give. It wasn't forced giving...God didn't want the tabernacle to be tainted by dirty hearts and dirty money...He wanted people to give from their hearts as they understood what He had done for them. This is what giving should look like for believers today. It's not about getting your family to the magical 10% mark...it's about giving from your heart...it's about sacrificial giving...it's about giving back what is God's anyway. Maybe your magical number is 20% or 50% or 90% - give from the heart.

25:21ff - The mercy seat is where God swelled within the tabernacle. The high priest would enter into the holiest of holies to covers with God over the mercy seat. Jesus offered himself as the ultimate sacrifice, so that the mercy seat was moved into our hearts. We have the freedom to connect with God in person. Praise God! God's mercy gave us access to the mercy seat.

Numbers - There are lots of very specific numbers that God uses when describing the construction of the tabernacle, so I figured I would throw out some biblical numerology and let you figure out what it all means fro yourself...

#6 - This is the human number, it represents humanity (Man was created on the 6th day, etc.)
#7 - Spiritual perfection (So what does it mean that there were 7 lampstands with 6 arms on them? Did it represent that the temple was where men were made clean? What do you think?).
#10 - Ordinal perfection, which represents law and order.
#24 - Representative of the priesthood.
#40 - This is the number for testing and trial.

26:33 - There is no longer any separation between God and man because Jesus tore down the veil. We can enter into the holy of holies! We are a part of the body of Christ...the priesthood of all believers. YAY!

Question: So why do you think that God gave the Israelites these very specific instructions on making the tabernacle?

Exodus Chapters 22-24

22:21 - When you live with the understanding that everything you have is God's then you can follow rules like this one joyfully. But when you live with the mentality "I am entitled to everything I have" or "I worked for this so it is mine," you will find yourself in opposition to the generous heart of God. This is a big issue in our country right now and I believe Christians should be less concerned about hoarding wealth than they should with mirroring God's heart. We are all just passing through this world and should be able to connect with the foreigner and the alien.

22:28 - Notice how respect for authority that has been placed over us in this life is listed almost int he same breath as respecting God? Our treatment of authority figures here on earth directly reflects the value we place on God's authority. This is another hot button issue in our country right now. Christians from both sides of the political spectrum seem to place more emphasis on defying whoever believes differently than them, than they do with honoring authority.

23:1-2 - Don't get caught up in gossip or back-stabbing. How clear is that? Something that we don't think is a very big deal is called out specifically by God as He instructs His people on how to live their lives.

23:11 - Again, if you believe that nothing you have is actually yours - then sharing with the poor is pretty easy. If you believe that God is going to take care of you no matter what - then taking care of each other, sharing and working in community is fairly easy.

23:33 - There are going to be some brutal segments of scripture coming up about the destruction of entire groups of people. While it is horrific, as we read this verse we start to understand a little of why it has to happen. If the Israelites allow other cultures to creep in and corrupt them, then their covenant with God will be broken and their role in God's far-reaching salvation plan will be destroyed. And look at it this way...God is the judge either way - either after death or in life. He brings judgement upon these people groups...He is just and knows their hearts...so He can bring righteous judgement. This doesn't make it any less brutal, but it helps to understand a little more.

24:8 - Moses sprinkles blood on the Israelite people symbolizing that God's judgement will pass them by - like the angel of death passed them by in Egypt. This is a sign of their blood covenant...an prophetic image of the blood of Christ that saves us all from our failures.

Exodus Chapters 19-21

19:5 - Throughout these three chapters we see God setting humankind up for His future plan. We start to see what He is working towards. The problem with humanity up to this point is that they were all sinful and rebellious and cannot truly be in relationship with God. So God has called out a people that He is going to offer a chance to save themselves. He is going to be their God and they are going to be His people. He implicitly states here that as long as they keep up their end of the deal, He will keep up His end - that's how covenants work. Unfortunately as we will see throughout the OT...the Israelites have a hard time keeping up their end of the deal. And although God allows them from time to time to be taken back into captivity and slavery...we know behind the scenes that He is working out a plan to bring about an undeserved salvation for all of humankind. That's the real big picture that we see coming together here.

19:12 - God is holy...to approach the Lord you must be absolutely holy, which poses a problem for us, huh? How beautiful is it now that through the blood of Jesus Christ we have been made holy and we can approach the throne of glory?

20:20 - God allows His people to try to save themselves. He wants everybody to know definitively if that is possible. He calls a special people. He gives them a special code of laws and a sacrificial system. He allows them to glimpse some of His awesome glory so that they will be so fearful they will want to obey His commands. He does all these things, yet they cannot save themselves. They always fall away. WE always fall away. So God came to earth not in fire and in cloud, but int he form of a man and died for our sins.

21:1-11 - Okay, I know this still sounds really harsh as you read through these passages and you are wondering, "Why didn't God just abolish slavery?" Well, I believe He is meeting the people where they are...He starts small and moves them from a world of seeing slaves as less than human to seeing slaves as people who deserve rights. In the NT Jesus and the apostles move people even further towards a worldview of human quality. From our current-day perspective this passage seems barbaric, but this was revolutionary, world-changing teaching. Offering rights to slaves is something unheard of in this world.

21:23 - This is what black and white...absolute justice looks like. Wouldn't be very pretty would it? Good thing for us, God showed us how brutally this form of justice is before He threw out the book and offered the merciful sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ.

Exodus Chapters 16-18

16:3 - The grass is always greener on the other side, right? The past is always better than the present, right? Wrong. Human beings are quite the unsatisfied lot. When we get to the other side...we find out there are brown spots there too. When we think about the past we gloss it over and think only of the good while forgetting the hard times. All the Israelites can think of is meat pots and bread...guess what? YOU GUYS WERE SLAVES! How easy is it for us to think back to simpler times when we weren't as committed to God and think...man, back then I could do whatever I wanted to do and I didn't have to stand against the cultural tide - that was so much better. EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT YOU WERE A GUILT RIDDEN SLAVE TO SIN!

16:28 - You would think the people would begin to learn...maybe we should do what God tells us to do. It seems so ridiculous and it is so easy to look down on the Israelites and think of them as spiritual morons, but...are we that much different? We know what is right, don't we? All the time - we know what is right, we know what is expected of us, but we keep screwing it up. I remember Paul from the New Testament saying, "I keep doing what I don't want to do, over and over!" Laws cannot save us. Our human will cannot save us. Thank God for the gift of His son Jesus Christ.

18:14-15 - This is the first biblical instance of the Messiah Complex being lived out. Moses felt like he was the only one that could lead the people. He felt like he was the only one who could save the people from themselves...he was micromanaging and destroying his effectiveness as a leader. Jethro called him on it.

18:21 - This is a great court system that Jethro sets up. If the lower judge can't figure out how to solve the problem, he can take the case to the next guy up and so on and so forth. That way Moses only has to deal with a few huge problems as opposed to every single problem among the millions of Israelites.

18:23 - Jethro is the very first leadership training guru. He basically tells Moses - if you try to do everything yourself, you will burn out and be useless to everybody. Delegation breeds endurance and long-term effectiveness. In your Christian life, you can't do everything...you can't save everybody...find out how God has gifted you and use those gifts to impact His kingdom in the biggest way possible. Work from your strengths and allow time for rest.

Exodus Chapters 13-15

13:8/15 - This is communion! They are to take the unleavened bread for seven days to remember that the Lord brought the people out of slavery. We take the unleavened bread in remembrance of the fact that Jesus sacrificed himself to end our slavery. They sacrifice the firstborn of the animals to redeem (save) their firstborn sons. We drink the juice to remember that Jesus was the firstborn Son of God who gave himself as a sacrifice to redeem us! Beautiful imagery.

13:18 - God does not take the people directly into the promised land, because He knows they are not ready. He has big plans for them and He knows they will return to their old life out of fear if they are not ready...so Gd takes them into the wilderness. There are times when God allows all of us to enter into the wilderness, to shape us for His future plans in our lives. God's timing is perfect and He knows exactly who we need to be to coincide with His will.

14:4 - In one last stroke to follow up the destruction that the plagues wrought, God is going to utterly destroy the power of the Egyptians forever. Never again were they the world power they had been previously, because they stood against the one and only true God. God shows where true power resides as He destroys their military with water. Through salvation God offers us the same chance...a chance to be rid of our captors - sin and death. Through our trust in Jesus Christ the waters rush in (good baptism imagery) and destroy the power of our rebellious sinful human nature.

14:11 - Were they not watching during the whole plague thing! Seriously...they are whining again. Why are we all such whiny, forgetful ingrates when it comes to God? We've all seen Him move...we have seen miraculous change in our lives, but our minds always wander to doubt given the chance. It gets really frustrating being a screwed up human sometimes.

15:1 - Their first response to God's work in their lives is praise...that is a really good lesson to write on your heart.

15:2 - I don't know why I like this, but I do...the Lord is my strength and my song. Masculine and feminine...power and beauty...God has the strength to protect us and the ability to hold our attention. He is awesome!

15:8 - "Blast of your nostrils" - like a warhorse, God faces his enemies and is victorious. In the story of Lazarus in the NT, Jesus sees the people weeping for Lazarus and it says he was deeply moved. But when I looked up that passage in a commentary, the actual translation of "deeply moved" was "like the snort of a warhorse." Jesus sees his enemy death and reacts as a warrior facing his mortal enemy, much like God facing off with the Egyptians.