Tuesday, February 26, 2002

Dear Family:

The Children of Israel were indeed a stiff-necked generation of people. Time after time God showed them His great handiwork and time after time they went back to their old ways. God through his love and grace had delivered the children from bondage. This deliverance is a picture of our deliverance from the bondage of sin. When we look at the Children of Israel in their bondage we see them at the mercy of their taskmasters. They are slaves to the Egyptians just as we are slaves to sin and corruption before God, through his love and grace, delivers us and sets us free from sin.

Does that mean we become perfect? No. When I get in a car and start to the grocery store I have started a journey but I have not arrived at my destination. With each city block or mile that I travel I get a little closer to my destination. Our destination is twofold. We are to be delivered from our bondage of sin. He delivers us from our old  habits of sin and disobedience. We are now free to love him, serve him and worship him.

God delivers us for a reason.. We must learn to love him by getting to know him. We get to know him by spending time with him in bible study, prayer and meditation. We serve him by doing his work throughout the world. We worship him by bringing glory to him, not only through our songs and praise on Sunday morning, but each day of our lives in the way we live. As we move through our lives (I call it our wandering) we, like the Children of Israel, experience God's guidance in our lives and learn to trust him more and more. We refer to this process as growing in the faith or maturing. We never reach full growth or maturity in this life. Our fullness comes when we cross over to the next life and our earthly body is left behind at death. We grow in maturity each day as we learn of God and his love. We mature as we become more and more familiar with him and his word. We grow more and more in love with him as we study him, trust in him, seek him in prayer and praise him.

The richest and most rewarding experiences we can have are those moments when, in solitude, we lift our hearts and voices to him in praise. Learning to praise God is not easy for some. I like to listen to Christian music or pray the psalms when there is no one else around to disturb me. I think that is one reason Christ would go off alone to a solitary place and spend time alone with God. When I was in Germany, I would sit on a mountain overlooking Austria. It was the place where the Van Trapp family left Austria in the movie, "The Sound of Music." On many occasions, I would sit overlooking Burgess Garden from the patio of the General Walker Hotel high above the valley and ponder the majesty of God who created all this beauty. This is the setting in which we find Moses, Aaron, Nadab,  Abihu and seventy of the elders when God told Moses to bring them up to the mountain to see Him.

What a glorious experience this must have been for these men. Not only were these men permitted to be in the presence of God, they were permitted to see God. There is a song, "Into Your Court". "Into your courts we come, deep in our hearts we long to be, near to the throne of your glory, God how we long to be near to you." This should be the cry from each of our hearts, "God how we long to be near to you."

I just cannot imagine what these men felt there in the presence of God. One would have to think their lives would never be the same.

Exod 24:9-18 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink. And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God. And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them. And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights. (KJV)

Then God told Moses to come closer to get more instructions while the others were left behind. Moses was alone with God forty days and forty nights, but notice what happened with the elders and Aaron.

Exod 32:1-6 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. (KJV)

After only forty days the people turned from the true God who had just permitted them to see him. They began to worship an idol that they themselves had made. What a pity that men would so soon forget this tremendous mountain top experience with God. God reveals himself  to us and in short order we are back to our old ways worshipping our self-made gods.  Gods of  money, position, power, etc. This is why it is so important to spend time with God daily without fail. If we put it off because we do not discipline ourselves to take the time to spend with Him, how can we expect him to take the time to be with us throughout the day?  We get caught up in the pressures of the day and just like the Children of Israel we begin to serve another god, usually the god of self.  It takes discipline to seek him first but the rewards are always worth the time spent. You will find you get more done and in a more successful manner. You will find that with Him there, the decisions are easier and correct. The pressures are less and the successes are more. The toil is less and the joy is more. You will find that the greener grass is right where you are. I wouldn't think of going it on my own. Not in this day and time. I want him there with me every minute of the day to keep me on course until I reach today's destination. He wants to be with you to love you and guide you. He wants to use you and will, even though many times you won't know you have been used.

 

 

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