Tag: Exodus

Revealing His Own Heart

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Journal Entry // March 11, 2022

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,

Exodus 34:6 ESV

When the Lord our God passes before Moses and proclaims the name of the Lord, he reveals that the heart of God is full of mercy and grace, patient, and abounding in a love and faithfulness that is unwavering. That is only the beginning of his description, but even this is far too deep for me this morning. There in the heart of the Lord’s description of himself I see Jesus. We tend to think that Jesus and the God of the Old Testament are different in character. That God was full of wrath in the Old Testament and Jesus is meek and mild in the New. What are we missing when we think this way? We miss the heart of God, for when you see Jesus, you have seen the Father.

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Sabbath Priority

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Journal Entry // March 6, 2022

Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.

Exodus 31:15 ESV

This verse has troubled me for the last few years. There was a time in my life of ministry where I was not honoring the Sabbath. This verse was far removed from my weekly experience. It is true that I technically worked six days and was of off the seventh, but my off day was far from a solemn day of rest. My six days were given to the ministry of working for the church and seeing the gospel go throughout the city. Six days of hard meaningful spiritual work. That seventh day became mine. I became possessive of it and reserved it for whatever I deemed best for me, which was typically not a solemn rest, holy to the Lord.

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Little by Little

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Journal Entry // March 2, 2022

Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.

Exodus 23:30 ESV

There is something good and precious about the adversity and struggle that remains a part of my life. I hate it to be honest. I don’t like the continued trials and heartache and hardships that accompany me along this journey of faith. But these adversities are a blessing to me in my sojourning. For in them I get to not only see the hand of God moving in my life but these struggles and trials keep me humble and push me back to the comforting hand of Jesus. Little by little the Lord is conforming me to the image of Christ.

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Dry Water

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Journal Entry // February 23, 2022

And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

Exodus 14:22 ESV

This is such a beautiful and terrifying picture of God’s work of salvation for his people. A beautiful picture of the miraculous hand of God doing utterly amazing and unbelievable acts. I picture myself in the crowd of Israelites (about a million of them) with our enemy coming up from behind and this sea of water before us. I would be terrified and confused and probably complaining along with everyone else thinking that this was the end of the story. The story of failed deliverance.

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Hidden Mercy

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Journal Entry // February 20, 2022

But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.

Exodus 13:18 ESV

The mercies of the Lord sometimes seem not quite so merciful when we are experiencing them, but our heavenly Father is full of ever increasing mercies in dealing with his children. On first reading, this seems a bit harsh to see that the Lord is going to lead the people on the longer route through the wilderness and toward the Red Sea. We might be tempted to question why the people had to be led through the longer harsher route. The previous verse tells us that God led them this way because if they went the shorter route through the land of the Philistines, the people were not prepared for war and would be tempted to flee back to Egypt.

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Humble Prayers

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Journal Entry // February 16, 2022

So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD. And the LORD did as Moses asked, and removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained.

Exodus 8:30-31 ESV

There is always so many interesting and intriguing aspects to the account of the Exodus. It brings to life the character of God and the sinfulness of man so vividly. You can read through this account as you would any story and walk away thoroughly satisfied with the tale. If this is your normal reading then you are missing so much. I miss so much most of the time, even when I’m reading it slow and contemplating what God is revealing. There is something to learn from all four main characters (Moses, Aaron, Pharaoh, God) and sometimes I’m not ready to see and learn. Then sometimes, like today, I see things that have escaped my attention through the many other readings.

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