Category: Exodus

A Guiding Presence

Old Testament Reading: Exodus 38, 39 & 40
Psalms Reading: Psalm 45
New Testament Reading: Romans 15

Last year, my kids and I studied history from Creation through Greek civilization in our homeschool, covering the entire Old Testament alongside simultaneously-occurring secular world history. This study included details about the Mosaic Tabernacle, God’s temporary dwelling place in the wilderness before His people reached their Promised Land. As a visual and kinesthetic learner, I love to bring our lessons to life in a tangible way, so you can imagine how excited I was to discover that a traveling life-size interactive Tabernacle replica would be near our stomping grounds last summer! 

The sun scorched down over the Tabernacle when we arrived, which I humored was very fitting since the real Tabernacle was built while the Israelites wandered in the desert. (However, keeping four young children calm in the heat was a bit of a challenge, and I had to make a pilgrimage from the Holy of Holies to the nearest well – I mean, my van – to get water to satisfy my parched children… but I digress). While we had already learned a lot about the Tabernacle before, it was fascinating to see it all with our own eyes and learn all about the symbolism of the Tabernacle to the Messiah and the coming Kingdom. 

In Exodus chapter 40, we see that the Tabernacle, after several chapters of minute details describing its construction, was finally erected, “and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle… throughout all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out… for the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was upon it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.” (Exodus 40:34-38, ESV). 

The Tabernacle provided a way for God to live among His people again and guide them through the desert. I do wish that God’s direction was as clear to me as his presence in a cloud pillar leading me through this confusing life (wouldn’t that be nice?), but there is no longer a need for a Tabernacle like in those days, because Jesus is now our mediator and our Shepherd, and the Bible is our map and GPS. Because of Jesus, we have a direct line to God anytime, anywhere through prayer. Our ultimate hope is that someday, we will live together in the Kingdom with God, where there will not even need to be a sun because God will provide all the light we need! 

Our Psalm reading ties into this well. Check out verse 6: “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of righteousness; you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.” God is on the throne! Hallelujah! 

And I’ll leave you with this from our Romans passage (verse 13), as you journey through this life relying on God’s direction: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Our hope is through Jesus in God the Father, who is preparing a Kingdom for us that will be permanent (not temporary like the Tabernacle), a place where we can one day dwell with Him. Go in that hope! 

-Rachel Cain

Reflection:

  1. Do some research about the symbolism of the Tabernacle to Jesus and the Kingdom. What speaks to your heart? 
  2. How is your prayer life, your connection with God? What could make it better? (Consider downloading a prayer app that pops up your prayer requests onto your phone throughout the day if, like me, having an uninterrupted prayer time is challenging). 
  3. What do you learn about God in our Bible reading today?
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Trusting God

Old Testament Reading: Exodus 5 & 6
Psalms Reading: Psalm 31
New Testament Reading: Romans 1

In today’s reading in Exodus, Moses gives us yet more examples of how not to talk to God. In chapter 5, we witness the irreverent tone Moses uses with the God of the universe.

22 Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? 23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.” (NIV)

Maybe he needed another reminder that he was standing on holy ground. God then clearly lays out His plan to Moses for delivering the Israelites. He explains that He will use the force of His strong hand to make Pharaoh let the people go. 

Since Moses seems to forget He is conversing with Almighty God, God reminds him in chapter 6:

2 God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord; 3 and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, Lord, I did not make Myself known to them. 4 I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned. 5 Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. (NASB 1995)

The NASB 1995 translation gives the following footnote concerning verse 3: Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord.

Just think, Moses was privileged enough for God to utter His name to him! If this were a work of fiction and I had to write Moses’ response, I would want it to be a picture of Moses falling to his knees and begging for mercy for questioning God and not showing Him the praise and honor He is due. Unfortunately, even though God equips Moses with the very words he should say to the Israelites, Moses lets his fear of man overtake his fear of God. He becomes argumentative with God in verse 12 and 30 of Exodus chapter 6.

12 But Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, “Behold, the sons of Israel have not listened to me; how then will Pharaoh listen to me, for I am unskilled in speech?” (NASB 1995)

30 But Moses said before the Lord, “Behold, I am unskilled in speech; how then will Pharaoh listen to me?” (NASB 1995)

Moses’ fear was misplaced and showed a lack of trust in God and a lack of recognition of God’s might. He was more fearful of man at this moment and clearly didn’t trust God to come through for him. The Bible makes it clear that we must not let fear of man cause us to disobey God. Psalm 118:6 and Matthew 10:28 are great examples.

Psalm 118:

6 The Lord is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me? (NASB 1995)

Matthew 10:

28 Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. (NASB 1995)

In sharp contrast to Moses, David demonstrates his trust in God and a recognition of God’s lovingkindness in Psalm 31:

14 But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord,

I say, “You are my God.”

15 My times are in Your hand;

Deliver me from the hand of my enemies and from those who persecute me.

16 Make Your face to shine upon Your servant;

Save me in Your lovingkindness.

and

23 O love the Lord, all you His godly ones!

The Lord preserves the faithful

And fully recompenses the proud doer.

24 Be strong and let your heart take courage,

All you who hope in the Lord. (NASB 1995)

It certainly seemed that David knew God on a much more intimate level and actively praised His amazing attributes. The scriptures tell us he was a man after God’s own heart. For all the flaws David had, that is pretty special to be described in this way.

Acts 13

22 After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’

May our faith always be bigger than our fear. May we be more like David when it comes to relying on God and trusting His character. 

Romans chapter 1 has great words of admonition concerning what our faith should look like:

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”

-Kristy Cisneros

Reflection Questions:

  1. How can you deepen your prayer life with God to have it look more like someone after God’s own heart?
  2. On most days, which is bigger: your fear or your faith? 
  3. What picture do you get of God in today’s reading?
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God Makes Holy Ground

Old Testament Reading: Exodus 3 & 4
Psalms Reading: Psalm 30
New Testament Reading: Romans Introduction Below

These words in Exodus 3:5 always give me pause:

5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” (NIV)

In this situation, Moses saw a burning bush that was not being consumed by the fire and walked over to investigate it. He hears God’s voice from within the bush and approaches it, but God reminds Him of some important boundaries and guidelines (don’t come any closer, take off your sandals, remember this is holy ground). In verse 6 we read, 

6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. (NIV)

If you stop here, you would think Moses gets it. He recognizes he is hearing from God Almighty. Yet, somehow, it doesn’t seem to completely sink in for him. I say that because Moses proceeds to pepper his conversation with God with all kinds of doubt and questioning.

God acknowledges that he has seen the suffering of His people and shares His plan with Moses in verse 10:

10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” (NIV)

Moses has the audacity to question God. 

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (NIV).

As we read on, we see many instances of “But God, what about this or what about that.” 

I would like to contrast this dialogue between Moses and God with David’s words of praise in  Psalm 30.

1 I will exalt you, Lord,

    for you lifted me out of the depths

    and did not let my enemies gloat over me.

2  Lord my God, I called to you for help,

    and you healed me.

3 You, Lord, brought me up from the realm of the dead;

    you spared me from going down to the pit. (NIV)

David gives God the praise he is due. 

-Kristy Cisneros

Reflection Questions:

  1. In reflecting on today’s reading, are you more like Moses or David?  
  2. If you find that you fall into a Moses mode more often than you would like, what steps could you take to be more like David?
  3. There have been many different human responses to God – some good, some bad – but what do we learn about God Himself in these passages? How does having a better understanding of who God is and how He works help us have a proper response. Is there perhaps something Moses didn’t understand at the time about God?

For our New Testament reading, we will be spreading out the gospels throughout the year, and reading Acts after we read Luke, so tomorrow we will jump ahead and begin reading the book of Romans, one chapter a day. In preparation, enjoy this

Romans Introduction

I’ll start by saying that I love the book of Romans.  It’s among my relatively few favorites.  

Similar to the book of Exodus, the book of Romans talks about slavery.  Slavery to sin, and deliverance from that slavery.  The book of Exodus records God’s laws for his people; but the book of Romans shows that no-one is able to obey that law completely.  And because nobody is able to follow God’s laws completely, all of us deserve to die.  Fortunately, the book of Romans also gives the antidote.

In the Book of Romans, we find what some call the “Roman Road to Salvation”.  There are a few variations, but it goes something like this…

  1. Romans 3:23, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of GOD.”
    • Do you recognize you are a sinner and have disappointed GOD?
  1. Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of GOD is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”
    • Do you recognize the punishment for sin is eternal death?
      • Do you want this gift of eternal life that GOD wants to give you?
  1. Romans 5:8, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
    • Do you believe Jesus died to pay the punishment for your sins?
  1. Romans 10:9 says, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
    • Do you believe God raised Jesus from the dead?
      • Do you agree to make Jesus Lord of your life?  This means living a life like he lived.
  1. Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”.
    • Do you have peace with God?  If not, go back to step 4.
  1. Romans 12:1-2 describes the metamorphosis that takes place in all true believers, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
    • Does this accurately describe you?  If not, go back to step 4.

-Steve Mattison

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Obedience in the Face of Fear

Old Testament Reading: Exodus 1 & 2
Psalms Reading: Psalm 29
New Testament Reading: Matthew 28

For me, the theme of today’s reading was obedience in the face of fear. If God is calling us, the only right answer is obedience. In yesterday’s reading of Matthew 28, we read about the agony Jesus experienced on the cross and how he alone had to bear the crushing weight of humanity’s sins. Jesus felt fear on the cross, but that did not stop him from responding with obedience to God’s plan. In Exodus 1 and 2 we learn that Israel is becoming a formidable threat to Egypt. Pharaoh tries to minimize this threat by ordering the Hebrew midwives to kill any newborn boys right after they are delivered. The Hebrew midwives would not hear of taking part in such an abomination. They were obedient to God’s laws and the result was victorious. In Exodus 1 we read,

20 So God was good to the midwives, and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. (NLT)

We read about more bravery in Exodus 2 when Moses’ mother kept the baby Moses hidden for three months. She then concocted a plan to place him in a basket among the river reeds. Moses’ sister Miriam hung out to see what would happen. As the story goes, Pharaoh’s daughter finds him and takes pity on him. I have to think Moses’ mother and sister had to have been afraid when they went to execute their plan, but they felt the fear and did it anyway. 

I think the acts of boldness of the Hebrew midwives and Moses’ mother and sister demonstrated that they must have had a healthy and reverential fear of God as David did. 

In the first two verses of Psalm 29, David highlights God’s splendor, glory, power and might.

1 Honor the Lord, you heavenly beings;

    honor the Lord for his glory and strength.

2 Honor the Lord for the glory of his name.

    Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. (NLT)

Following God often requires boldness and not letting our fears overshadow what God has called us to do. We have a special reminder in verse 11 of Psalm 29 that God equips us during hard times:

The Lord gives his people strength.

    The Lord blesses them with peace. (NLT)

If we trust in God’s goodness, we know that He has our best interest at heart and will supply us with the strength we need. Therefore, feel the fear and be obedient anyway.

-Kristy Cisneros

Reflection Questions:

  1. Do you struggle with being obedient to God’s calling? Do you feel fear overshadows doing the right thing? Pray to God to deepen your trust. As we learned in yesterday’s reading, it is important to trust in God’s timing and goodness— even in the face of fear.
  2. What do we learn about God and His character in our Bible reading today?
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Perfect in God’s Eyes

Exodus 40

February 15

Who here is perfect? No one? Being perfect in society is hard and being a Christian in society is probably even harder. Society has built a whole view of a perfect person. In school you’re perfect if you have a 4.0 gpa, are a scholar athlete, and are participating in 20 billion extracurricular activities. Being a perfect person at work is doing your job to the “T”, having perfect attendance, being dependable, and maybe even being 20 different people at one time. Life is
hard.

As Christians our job is to set an example and show God’s work. Easy, right?

Exodus 40. Building the perfect tabernacle. Building a place fit for God.

Imagine being Moses for a second. This man not only was the one who got to come down from a mountain with God’s commands, but he also got to make this tabernacle a perfect place for God.

Now we can’t be Moses, because God has created us on our own path. But we can work at making our bodies perfect.

James 3:2 “We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.” James 3 is about taming your tongue and your body. I relate these two together. Though I’m not creating a tabernacle, I can create a holy body.

-Genesis Dylewski

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. Many of the chapters in Exodus that we didn’t specifically read this week were giving detailed directions for how to make the tabernacle according to God’s plan. Go back and read Exodus 25:1-9. What was the purpose of the tabernacle? How did Moses get the supplies needed? Why so many directions throughout the rest of Exodus?
  2. In Exodus 40 how many times do we read Moses did, “as the LORD commanded him”? Why is that important?
  3. What directions are given to us throughout God’s Word for creating ourselves to be a perfect place for God?
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Knowing to Trust

Exodus 32

February 14

When the people didn’t know what was going to happen with Moses, they turned to Aaron to create new gods. God was very angry.

We have struggled with plenty of fear just in the past few years. Not knowing is a great fear of mine. I struggle with not knowing which college I should go to or what I should do with my life.

The people were dancing and worshiping a golden calf. It says in Exodus 32 that the people are prone to evil. They asked for gods that will go before
them. Do we all struggle with evil or dirty desires? Most likely, but how we handle those desires is what matters the most.

Just because you can’t see what has gone over a mountain or you don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t push for greatness. The kingdom is our goal. It is our motivation. We must trust in what we can’t see or can’t understand at the moment. We must understand that just because God sent Moses over a hill and we couldn’t see him and his plan – we must know there is one.

-Genesis Dylewski

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. The people were quick to take (sinful) action when they felt like they had been abandoned by God and Moses. Have you ever felt (even for a moment or a day) like you were abandoned by God and/or those who have represented Him to you? What options did you have in how you reacted? What would have been the best course of action?
  2. How can you build your trust in God so that even when He is harder to see, you know He and his plan can be trusted?
  3. What false gods or unhealthy practices are you tempted to turn to when you battle fear? What consequences are there in these actions or attitudes?
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Why the Fear of God?

Exodus 20

February 13

God, as we know, is all powerful. He freed the people from a land of slavery. (Exodus 20:2) God is a loving God, but he can be a jealous god. (Exodus 20:5). He can show us just how powerful he is. (Exodus 20:5-7,25-26) When I was younger, I was always confused by the saying “Fear God”. As I got older I have come to better understand this. We aren’t to fear God like we are the devil, but we are to fear him because we know His strength and power. We are supposed to fear Him so that it keeps us from sinning.

He has shown us and told us what we are to do and not to do. We are to honor our mother and father. We are not to commit murder. We are not to commit adultery. We are not to steal or give false testimony against our neighbor. These are just a few of the commandments. In order to follow these God wants us to fear His power and in a way fear disappointing him. He is our Father in heaven. It’s the same fear we should have for our earthly parents. Exodus 20 is a great chapter because it shows us all the things we should do to please God.

-Genesis Dylewski

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. Look closely at the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17). How would you describe each commandment in your own words? Now consider, why do you think God included each of these commandments?
  2. What is the overall subject of the first 4 commandments? And of the last 6? Which do you generally find more challenging – having a good relationship with God or having good relationships with people? While recognizing the importance of all 10, choose one commandment from the first 4 and one commandment from the last 6 to focus on this week. How will you better align your thoughts, attitudes, words, and actions with these commandments?
  3. Can you think of a time the fear of God kept you from sinning? Explain. Can you think of a time you should have feared God more? Explain. How can you work on developing a healthy fear of the LORD?
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Keeping the Awe

Exodus 14

February 12

It always amazes me that the Israelites respond this way after seeing the great works and power of God:

10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”

If we aren’t careful though, I think we all can easily lose the awe and reverence for God that He so richly deserves. We all have been witness to the great and mighty things God has done, but we can quickly forget all of it if we don’t take the proper precautions. The Bible is an amazing tool to continually remind us of just how worthy God is of our praise, reverence and adoration and just how fallible our hearts are. As noted in, Hebrews 4:12:

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

His word keeps our hearts in check. If we are missing that frequent interaction with it, our hearts can wander astray. We read in Matthew 13:15: “For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.”

Romans 1:21 also speaks to the dark turn that our hearts can take, “For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.”

A number of years ago, I was introduced to an acronym that helps us with prioritizing our prayer and approaching God in a manner that is worthy of Him: A.C.T.S. I don’t quite remember the source of this acronym, but it has always stuck with me. The “A” is for adoration and reminds us first and foremost to adore God. “C” is for confession and reminds us to confess our sins before God and repent. “T” is for Thanksgiving and reminds us to give thanks to God. The “S” is for Supplication and reminds us to ask God about whatever is on our hearts (praying for a need for others or ourselves). Oftentimes our prayers can get very out of balance and are simply reduced to an act of supplication. The God of the universe deserves so much more from us. We are reminded from this week’s readings that God hears our cries and cares about us; however, that should not be the sole focus of our prayers. 

-Kristy Cisneros

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. Do you consistently give God the praise, glory, adoration and thanksgiving that He so richly deserves? If not, what are some steps you could take today to change that?
  2. How is your prayer life? Do you find that you sometimes bypass the important part of prayer where you get a chance to adore God and just go straight to the asking? Why not create a challenge for a week to see if you can start out each day with a praise to God when you wake up?

Next up – Exodus 20

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The Saving Blood of the Lamb

Exodus 12

February 11

It’s a beautiful thing to read of the Israelites’ obedience regarding the Passover meal and God’s subsequent command to continue observing it through the generations and to teach their children about the significance of it.

24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” 

It is a powerful story of salvation and it is worth telling and celebrating. I love that we as Christians can mirror this celebration of God’s beautiful provision of salvation through the observance of Communion. The salvation at the original Passover was temporary and specific and only pertained to being shielded from that particular plague of death at that specific point in time. Thanks be to God that the salvation offered through the Passover Lamb Jesus Christ is not limited to a specific group of people in a specific time in history. It is a free gift with an eternal reward that is open to all of mankind who choose it. 

While God’s provision for salvation is so beautiful and worthy of celebration, we would be remiss if we did not recognize those who fall in the shadows outside of God’s protection of salvation. I can’t help but imagine what a terrifying time it was for the Egyptians as the angel of death struck the households that were not protected by the blood of the Passover lamb. Verses 29-30 give us a glimpse of the sounds of that night,

29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.

As I read that passage and experienced compassion for those not covered by the blood, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the pressing urgency there is to reach out to those today who are not covered by the blood of the ultimate Passover Lamb Jesus Christ. As the Israelites were instructed about how to avert sorrow and disaster being brought upon their household by covering their doorposts with blood, we need to help others find the way to salvation by being covered with the blood of Jesus. 

May we be challenged to revisit the story of the Passover with a new set of eyes and a heart full of compassion for those who need to hear the greatest story ever told.

-Kristy Cisneros

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. Do you feel a sense of urgency for the lost? If so, pray to God to instruct you on how to increase your effectiveness in reaching others. If not, pray to God that He will change your heart in this regard and give you a newfound sense of urgency and compassion for the lost.
  2. The Israelites were saved from what by the blood of the Passover lamb? Describe as fully as you can. Christians are saved from what by the blood of Jesus? Describe as fully as you can.
  3. How can we make sure we are covered by the blood of the Lamb? How will we make sure we – and our children – do not forget? Who do we know who is not covered by the blood of Jesus?

Tomorrow – Exodus 14

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In Your Weakness

Exodus 4

February 10

God is the very epitome of a patient and loving father in the beginning of this scenario. Moses is feeling very insecure and inept for the task God has called him to do. I personally can really relate to Moses’ fear and apprehension when it comes to public speaking. God doesn’t respond with anger or derision in this moment with something along the lines of “Don’t be ridiculous Moses! You are speaking to the God of the universe here. I’ve got you covered.” Instead, He very patiently answers Moses’ questions and actually gives him a step-by-step game plan of how to carry out his mission. 

Even with this carefully thought out plan so carefully and lovingly delivered to him, Moses is still overcome by his own anxiety and insecurity.

10 Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

Moses still doesn’t seem to get the point God is making. Even after He assures him that He will be with him to help him speak and will teach him what to say, Moses has the audacity to tell the God of the universe no!  13 But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.” The audacity! But, wait?!? Have I been like Moses in my life more than I care to admit? Do we let our own fears and insecurities keep us from carrying out our God-given missions? Do they overshadow our confidence in God and His abilities? Are we ultimately saying that we don’t believe that God is up to the task?

Disobedience is dangerous! We read in verses 24-16:  24 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. 26 So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)

Moses knew the requirements for circumcision and he also knew that the God of the universe was calling him to complete a task and he had been disobedient in both regards. Genesis 17:12: “And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.”

I am not sure if this scene was in any way a reference to Jesus being a bridegroom of blood to us, but it certainly came to mind for me. What a gift that Jesus’ blood covers our sins and we are given a chance at new hope!

Getting back to Moses’ insecurity and lack of belief that he could carry out what God called him to do. While reading this chapter, I called to mind Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 concerning the thorn of his flesh,

8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

What a comforting reminder that we can actually boast in our weaknesses because Christ’s power is actually made perfect in our weakness. We don’t have to have it all together, God meets us right where we are and equips us as He sees fit in order for us to carry out his missions. Trust Him!

-Kristy Cisneros

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

  1. Have you ever felt led to do something for God but shrinked back because you were afraid you were not good enough for the task? What would God tell you?
  2. What are some ways that we can use our weaknesses to glorify God and honor Christ? What strengths will be provided?
  3. How did Zipporah and Aaron each add to or compliment Moses’ ministry? How have you been a help to the spiritual life and work of another?
  4. What will you learn from Moses’ example that you can put into action this week to help ensure that you will participate fully in God’s plans for you? What excuses will you overcome? What does God want to teach you what to say? Who may God be calling to be on your team in ministry?

Tomorrow we will skip ahead to Exodus 12

2022 SeekGrowLove Bible Reading PlanDownload
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