Exodus 34

I find it a great joy and blessing that I have been able to say over the past few years at this time that "this past year" has been the best year of my life. And I wholeheartedly know that this continues with 2011. Without question. I mean, think about it: spending a month in East Africa, spending two weeks with like-minded people at training school in Phoenix (twice), there meeting my wife-to-be (my joy and beloved) Hannah, hearing God speak again and again (most prominently in the move to AZ and knowing that Hannah is "the one" for me), seeing Him provide without fail, great times with family, and so much more...

Here are some thoughts from my time in Exodus 34:

The chapter is about Moses making new tablets after he broke the previous Ten Commandments tablets upon seeing the Israelites worshiping the golden calf they made while he was away (Exodus 32). In doing this, the LORD stood before him on the mountain and proclaimed His Name:

"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." (34:6b-7)

We love to call God many different things: Provider, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Majestic, All-Powerful... all of these are great! But I think it's especially fantastic when we find the LORD naming Himself to someone! See the things that are important to God about Himself:

-Mercy and Grace

-Being slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness

-Forgiveness of iniquity, transgression and sin

-Justice ("who will by no means clear the guilty")

I love how He will forgive, but doesn't just clear the guilty by anything they try to say or do. The guilt has been paid for: on the cross through the perfect sacrifice of His Son. How wonderful!

Next, I love how He sheds light on the importance of the Sabbath:

"You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working, even during the seasons of plowing and harvest." (34:21 NLT)

I can see myself trying to justify not resting on the Sabbath during a time when the 'harvest' is plentiful. 'But God,' I might say, 'look at how much work is being done! Look at how great a harvest is being reaped! And you want me to rest?' But when I say things like this, who am I thinking is accomplishing the work? Me or God? Because if I am truly depending on God to accomplish the things He has prepared in advance for me to do (Philippians 2:12-13), then if He says "rest one day a week", it won't matter how good or bad things are going: I will obey. This is an area in which I need to grow tremendously- honoring the Sabbath.

And finally, "As you harvest your crops, bring the very best of the first harvest to the house of the Lord your God." (34:26a NLT)

Again- it would be easy to say, "Well, giving is important, but taking care of myself is something that God wants me to do, too. So let's pay our bills and then we'll see what we can give afterwards." The way the NLT puts what God says, though, "bring the very best of the first harvest to the house of the LORD your God." Wow! He calls us to not just give, but to give the very best of what we have first. This is a beautiful picture of how we should trust Him to provide, for the people in Exodus didn't know for sure how many good harvests each season would bring (I'm guessing). If they committed to giving 'at some point' during the harvest, they might get greedy and end up not giving very much. But by giving the very best of the first harvest, they are showing God that they trust Him to provide the rest of their needs (see Matthew 6:33 for more).

So I need to worship the Lord for His mercy, grace, abundant love, forgiveness, and justice, honor Him by resting on the Sabbath no matter what "excuses" I can come up with, and give Him the first and best of what I am given. Really- all my money is provided by Him, and as one of my mentors puts it: it's a pretty good deal when 100% of it is His and He only asks us to give a percent (cheerfully) back to Him, right?!

Seeking to treasure Jesus...

Luke