1 Corinthians 1 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
    and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

²⁰ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. ²² For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,²³ but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.³⁰ And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

 

REFLECTION

• If time allows, read the whole chapter. Then read the passage for today.
• In the first chapter, Paul expressed thanks for the Corinthian believers, but warned against divisions within the church which reflect human foolishness rather than the wisdom of the Cross. The Corinthian Christians boasted in and bragged about worldly wisdom and those who taught it. They felt intellectually and spiritually superior to others.
• Paul pointed out that those who quarreled over which group was closer to God were relying on mere human wisdom. They marshalled their arguments, completely missing the central fact that in Christianity everything must be related to Christ and His cross (vv18-25).
• Paul then pointed out (vv26-31) that the intelligence, wealth and power of the society were absolutely useless when it came to winning salvation. To bring salvation to the world, God’s Son became a poor Man, a carpenter. He lived in a backward corner of the world, died a criminal’s death, and even after His resurrection, “not many … were wise according to worldly standards,not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth” (v26) who responded to the Gospel. It follows that we Christians have nothing of which to boast, except of Jesus.
• What a rebuke for those who quarreled over mere human leaders. What a reminder of us today.

As you reflect on your own past, what reasons do you have for being humble rather than proud? Take time to thank the Lord for all he has done for you.

Exodus 40 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁷ In the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was erected.¹⁸ Moses erected the tabernacle. He laid its bases, and set up its frames, and put in its poles, and raised up its pillars.¹⁹ And he spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent over it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁰ He took the testimony and put it into the ark, and put the poles on the ark and set the mercy seat above on the ark. ²¹ And he brought the ark into the tabernacle and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the testimony, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²² He put the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil, ²³ and arranged the bread on it before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁴ He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle, ²⁵ and set up the lamps before the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁶ He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil,²⁷ and burned fragrant incense on it, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ²⁸ He put in place the screen for the door of the tabernacle. ²⁹ And he set the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³⁰ He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing, ³¹ with which Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet. ³² When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed, as the Lord commanded Moses.³³ And he erected the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work.

The Glory of the Lord

³⁴ Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁵ And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. ³⁶ Throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out.³⁷ But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out till the day that it was taken up. ³⁸ For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.

 

REFLECTION

• Read this passage, or read the whole chapter if time allows.
• The Israelites erected the tabernacle on the first day of the first month, almost exactly one year after the Israelites left Egypt (vv. 2, 17). This was about nine months after Israel had arrived at Mt. Sinai (cf. 19:1).
• God’s glory fills the tabernacle. Obviously, God was pleased with the obedience of Israel because it proved they really did believe Him and love Him. When the tabernacle stood complete, God descended in the cloud that so filled the tabernacle that neither Moses nor anyone else could enter it (vv. 34-38).
• Finally God was dwelling among His people. His redemption of them was now complete. He had liberated them from bondage in Egypt (chs. 1—15) and adopted them as His special treasure (chs. 15—40). He had made a covenant with them and now blessed them with His presence in taking up residence in the midst of His people. He would guide them from then on “throughout all their journeys” (vv. 36, 38).
• How does God reveal His glory and presence in our midst today? How has God reveal His glory and presence in your life?
• Thank God for the ways He has used the stories of Exodus to strengthen you and draw you closer to Himself.

 

Exodus 39 English Standard Version (ESV)

Making the Priestly Garments

¹ From the blue and purple and scarlet yarns they made finely woven garments, for ministering in the Holy Place. They made the holy garments for Aaron, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

² He made the ephod of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen. ³ And they hammered out gold leaf, and he cut it into threads to work into the blue and purple and the scarlet yarns, and into the fine twined linen, in skilled design. ⁴ They made for the ephod attaching shoulder pieces, joined to it at its two edges. ⁵ And the skillfully woven band on it was of one piece with it and made like it, of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁶ They made the onyx stones, enclosed in settings of gold filigree, and engraved like the engravings of a signet, according to the names of the sons of Israel. ⁷ And he set them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod to be stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁸ He made the breast piece, in skilled work, in the style of the ephod, of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen. ⁹ It was square. They made the breast piece doubled, a span its length and a span its breadth when doubled. ¹⁰ And they set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle was the first row; ¹¹ and the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; ¹² and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; ¹³ and the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They were enclosed in settings of gold filigree.¹⁴ There were twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They were like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes. ¹⁵ And they made on the breast piece twisted chains like cords, of pure gold. ¹⁶ And they made two settings of gold filigree and two gold rings, and put the two rings on the two edges of the breast piece. ¹⁷ And they put the two cords of gold in the two rings at the edges of the breast piece. ¹⁸ They attached the two ends of the two cords to the two settings of filigree. Thus they attached it in front to the shoulder pieces of the ephod. ¹⁹ Then they made two rings of gold, and put them at the two ends of the breast piece, on its inside edge next to the ephod. ²⁰ And they made two rings of gold, and attached them in front to the lower part of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, at its seam above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. ²¹ And they bound the breast piece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, so that it should lie on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breast piece should not come loose from the ephod, as the Lord had commanded Moses. ……

³⁰ They made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote on it an inscription, like the engraving of a signet, “Holy to the Lord.” ³¹ And they tied to it a cord of blue to fasten it on the turban above, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

 

REFLECTION

• Read this passage, or read the whole chapter if time allows.
• The clothing of the high priest also had symbolic significance. As believer-priests the lifestyle we adopt is to clothe us in beauty and reflect the motto engraved on a golden plate that was attached to the turban of Israel’s high priest: “HOLY TO THE LORD”.
• PRAY: Meditate on this description: HOLY TO THE LORD. Is your redeemed life reflecting this reality? Spend some time conversing with God and listen to what He is saying to you.

 

Exodus 38 English Standard Version (ESV)

Making the Court

⁹ And he made the court. For the south side the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, a hundred cubits;¹⁰ their twenty pillars and their twenty bases were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. ¹¹ And for the north side there were hangings of a hundred cubits, their twenty pillars, their twenty bases were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. ¹² And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their ten pillars, and their ten bases; the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. ¹³ And for the front to the east, fifty cubits. ¹⁴ The hangings for one side of the gate were fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and three bases. ¹⁵ And so for the other side. On both sides of the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits, with their three pillars and their three bases. ¹⁶ All the hangings around the court were of fine twined linen. ¹⁷ And the bases for the pillars were of bronze, but the hooks of the pillars and their fillets were of silver. The overlaying of their capitals was also of silver, and all the pillars of the court were filleted with silver. ¹⁸ And the screen for the gate of the court was embroidered with needlework in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. It was twenty cubits long and five cubits high in its breadth, corresponding to the hangings of the court. ¹⁹ And their pillars were four in number. Their four bases were of bronze, their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals and their fillets of silver. ²⁰ And all the pegs for the tabernacle and for the court all around were of bronze.

 

REFLECTION

• Read this passage, or read the whole chapter if time allows.
• The curtains that formed the court which surrounded the tabernacle were some seven and a half feet high! No one could see over the fabric walls to glimpse the beauty of the tabernacle. Yet the curtains that formed the court were also made of the finest material. Any contact with God’s dwelling was intended to impress with His beauty.
• We come into daily contact with non-Christians, who may never have caught a glimpse of God. When we do, we serve as curtains that surround the holy place. Our task is to impress them with the beauty of the Lord by reflecting Him in our character.
• PRAY: Continue to dwell on the concept of being the curtain of the Tabernacle which outsiders see daily. What is the God you are reflecting daily?

 

 

Exodus 37 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Ark

 ¹ Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. ² He overlaid it with pure gold, both inside and out, and made a gold molding around it. ³ He cast four gold rings for it and fastened them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. ⁴ Then he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold. ⁵ And he inserted the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it.  ⁶ He made the atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. ⁷ Then he made two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. ⁸ He made one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; at the two ends he made them of one piece with the cover. ⁹ The cherubim had their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim faced each other, looking toward the cover.

The Lampstand

 ¹⁷ They made the lampstand of pure gold and hammered it out, base and shaft; its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms were of one piece with it. ¹⁸ Six branches extended from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other. ¹⁹ Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms were on one branch, three on the next branch and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand. ²⁰ And on the lampstand were four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms. ²¹ One bud was under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all. ²² The buds and the branches were all of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold.  ²³ They made its seven lamps, as well as its wick trimmers and trays, of pure gold. ²⁴ They made the lampstand and all its accessories from one talent of pure gold.

 

REFLECTION

• Read this passage, or read the whole chapter if time allows.
• The importance of the tabernacle and its furnishings is seen in the fact that Exodus 35-40 repeats, often word for word, the description of Israel’s worship center in Exodus 25-30. For nearly 500 years Israel worshiped at this portable tent, which with its furnishings symbolized basic truths about personal relationship with God.
• The tabernacle and its furnishings, the writer of Hebrews says, are “a copy and shadow of what is in heaven”(8:5). God still uses symbols, and the symbol that most frequently serves as a bridge between God and the lost is a human symbol – the believer.
• Others do see Christians as representatives of God. We are symbols whether we chose to be or not. What kind of a representative of God are you? Does your life or your interaction with others reveal the majesty of God? Do you respect and appreciate those believers that are different from you? Do you realize how expensive your worth is? Or do you have a very low self-evaluation?
• Mentally go through every sacred article in the tabernacle. Use the eyes of your heart to look at their beauty and glory. Thank God for bringing you out of the pit to become a pure, bright and beautiful symbol of Him. Thank God for His continued redemption to purify you of all the blemishes so that God’s glory may be further shone through you.

Exodus 36 English Standard Version (ESV)

¹ “Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whom the Lord has put skill and intelligence to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the Lord has commanded.”

² And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and every craftsman in whose mind the Lord had put skill, everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to do the work. ……

⁸ And all the craftsmen among the workmen made the tabernacle with ten curtains. They were made of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns, with cherubim skillfully worked. ⁹ The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains were the same size.

¹⁰ He coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled to one another. ¹¹ He made loops of blue on the edge of the outermost curtain of the first set. Likewise he made them on the edge of the outermost curtain of the second set. ¹² He made fifty loops on the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was in the second set. The loops were opposite one another. ¹³ And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to the other with clasps. So the tabernacle was a single whole.

¹⁴ He also made curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle. He made eleven curtains. ¹⁵ The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains were the same size. ¹⁶ He coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. ¹⁷ And he made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain of the one set, and fifty loops on the edge of the other connecting curtain. ¹⁸ And he made fifty clasps of bronze to couple the tent together that it might be a single whole. ¹⁹ And he made for the tent a covering of tanned rams’ skins and goatskins.

 

REFLECTION

• Read the passage slowly. To get a broader picture, quickly read the whole chapter.
• The central symbolic meaning of the tabernacle was as a visible sign of God’s presence with His people. Note here the use of only the best and most expensive materials in its construction. God deserves – and requires – the best we can provide.
• Pray: Take this old hymn “I gave my life for thee” as God speaking to you. Substituting thee for your own name. Listen and respond to God. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joOUSoaajCs

I gave my life for thee (insert your name), My precious blood I shed,
That thou might ransomed be, And quicken from the dead;
I gave, I gave My life for thee, What hast thou given for Me?

My Father’s house of light, My glory circled throne,
I left for earthly night, For wanderings sad and lone;
I left, I left it all for thee, Hast thou left aught for Me?

I suffered much for thee, more than thy tongue can tell,
Of bitterest agony, to rescue thee from hell;
I’ve borne, I’ve borne it all for thee, What hast thou borne for Me?

 

Exodus 35 English Standard Version (ESV)

Contributions for the Tabernacle

⁴ Moses said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “This is the thing that the Lord has commanded. ⁵ Take from among you a contribution to the Lord. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the Lord’s contribution: gold, silver, and bronze; ⁶ blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen; goats’ hair, ⁷ tanned rams’ skins, and goatskins;^[a] acacia wood, ⁸ oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, ⁹ and onyx stones and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breast piece. ……

¹⁰ “Let every skillful craftsman among you come and make all that the Lord has commanded: ……

²⁰ Then all the congregation of the people of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. ²¹ And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the Lord’s contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. ²² So they came, both men and women. All who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and armlets, all sorts of gold objects, every man dedicating an offering of gold to the Lord. ²³ And every one who possessed blue or purple or scarlet yarns or fine linen or goats’ hair or tanned rams’ skins or goatskins brought them. ²⁴ Everyone who could make a contribution of silver or bronze brought it as the Lord’s contribution. And every one who possessed acacia wood of any use in the work brought it. ²⁵ And every skillful woman spun with her hands, and they all brought what they had spun in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. ²⁶ All the women whose hearts stirred them to use their skill spun the goats’ hair. ²⁷ And the leaders brought onyx stones and stones to be set, for the ephod and for the breastpiece,²⁸ and spices and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. ²⁹ All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.

Construction of the Tabernacle

³⁰ Then Moses said to the people of Israel, “See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; ³¹ and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, with intelligence, with knowledge, and with all craftsmanship, ³² to devise artistic designs, to work in gold and silver and bronze, ³³ in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, for work in every skilled craft. ³⁴ And he has inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan. ³⁵ He has filled them with skill to do every sort of work done by an engraver or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of workman or skilled designer.

 

REFLECTION

• Read the passage slowly.
• Bezalel is filled with the Holy Spirit to work on the tabernacle. The people contribute to its construction out of their own free will (vv21, 22, 26). A community builds the tabernacle, not an elite handful; a community creates a house for God. All the people contribute, not just the leaders. Everyone who has a heart for it is part of it. It is a spirituality of the many, not the few, that makes it possible for God to have a home among his people.
• PRAY: Would your heart be “stirred” and your spirit “willing” to give your gold jewelry and silver flatware to your place of worship (the church) to be melted down to make a Communion set or altar pieces? When you were considering this possibility, how much unwillingness did you feel? Ask God to speak to you how He is at work within you, and who He is calling you to be.

 

 

Exodus 34 English Standard Version (ESV)

Moses Makes New Tablets

¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. ² Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. ³ No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” ⁴ So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. ⁵ The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. ⁶ The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, ⁷ keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” ⁸ 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.”

REFLECTION

• To get a broader feel for what’s happening, you may start reading from 33:12.
• God directed Moses to restore the covenant revelation by recopying the Ten Commandments on two new stone tablets. God both provided and wrote on the first tablets, but Moses provided and God wrote on the second set of tablets.
• God also revealed His character to Moses. Moses experienced the character of God in a dramatic way. This was summed up in one of the Old Testament’s most famous confessions:

The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,  keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.(vv6-7)

• God’s compassion and love must be seen against the background of His obligation to punish sin. The God who “will by no means clear the guilty” is first of all the God who displays overwhelming compassion and grace. His loving, gracious, and giving character do not “cancel out” His righteousness. Because of the work of Jesus, the righteousness of God is satisfied and the grace and mercy of God are righteously given.
• Moses’ first, and primary reaction was simply worship. When we come to know who God is and all His great love for us, the most practical thing it makes us do is worship Him more than ever.
• How well do you know and appreciate who God is? How compelled are you to worship and obey God? Read vv6-7 slowly a few times, ponder deeply what His character mean to you. Have a conversation with God for clarification, correction or acknowledgement and thanksgiving.

 

 

Exodus 33 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Tent of Meeting

⁷ Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp.⁸ Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. ⁹ When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. ¹⁰ And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. ¹¹ Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Moses’ Intercession

¹² 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 people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

¹⁷ 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.” ¹⁹ And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. ²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” ²¹ And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, ²² and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

 

REFLECTION

• Read this passage, or read the whole chapter if time allows.
• Many qualities made Moses a strong spiritual leader. He was courageous. He sought to please God rather than men. He was willing to take a stand. He rallied support. He prayed for sinners, and yet was willing to confront them. But the secret of Moses’ greatness is found in the “tent of meeting”, where Moses met the Lord face-to-face.
• No one knew what went on within the tent, though the pillar of cloud came down to stand by the tent door when Moses was inside. Yet the very fact that Moses met with God there instilled awe, and the evidence of God’s presence caused the people to worship the Lord. Moses’ greatness was not his own, it was God’s.
• We have constant opportunities to influence others. They include our children, our neighbors, and coworkers as well as members of our church. The only way we will truly influence others is to follow the path of Moses and meet God regularly face-to-face.
• Others won’t know what happens in our private time with the Lord. But the aura of God’s presence will go with us. Being with God changes us – and the change God works in us is the key to our ability to influence others to worship and obey Him.
• PRAY: Use this hymn as a prayer for today.

Make Me a Blessing Ira B. Wilson, 20th cent. George S. Schuler, 1924

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMYx5bvuvgA

Out in the highways and byways of life, many are weary and sad;
Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife, making the sorrowing glad.

Tell the sweet story of Christ and His love; Tell of His pow’r to forgive:
Others will trust Him if only you prove true ev’ry moment you live.

Give as ’twas given to you in your need; Love as the Master loved you;
Be to the helpless a helper indeed; Unto your mission be true.

[Chorus]

Make me a blessing, make me a blessing, Out of my life may Jesus shine;
Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray, Make me a blessing to someone today.

 

 

Exodus 32 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Golden Calf

¹ 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.” ² So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” ⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” ⁶ And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

⁷ 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, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” ⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰ Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”

¹¹ But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”¹⁴ And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

 

REFLECTION

• Please read the whole chapter once, then re-read the above passage.
• Moses had been gone a long time. Meanwhile, the people, impatient to get on with their new life of freedom, decided that they wanted to develop their own worship that they could “get something out of”. So they talked Aaron into providing them with worship that satisfied their desire – something that turned out to be pretty much a reflection of the Egyptian world in which they had so recently been oppressed.
• Their golden calf worship nearly destroyed them. And it is the same with us. Refusing to wait for God to speak, we many times fill in His silence with activity. Fund raising, building project, we model worship after patterns that are familiar to us and seem to work for others, patterns that leave out ambiguity and mystery as well as waiting on God and listening for Him. No wonder we feel disillusioned, isolated, inauthentic, and burned out.
• PRAY: Please read Day 14 of “Purpose Driven Life” on When God Seems Distant (http://purposedrivenlife2005.blogspot.ca/2005/03/day-14-when-god-seems-distant.html). Then have a conversation with God: God is real, no matter how you feel, really? How can you stay focused on God’s presence, especially when He seems distant?