Posts Tagged ‘Exodus’

Sometimes, when I am reading through the Scripture, I come across a statement that just doesn’t “feel right” and I begin to question God in my heart. Exodus 9:12 states, “the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh…” God holds Pharaoh accountable and judges him for his actions and attitude. How can that be fair or righteous when the LORD was the one to do the hardening? Even prior to Moses returning to Egypt (Exodus 4) the LORD said to Moses, “I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.” Did Pharaoh have a chance? Could he have made a different choice?

Maybe the fact that this bothers me just shows that I am idolatrously placing my free will on a pedestal. My idea of ‘fairness’ is that I get to make all final decisions that concern me. I am the boss of me! God can only do what I give him permission to do. Ouch! Time for repentance of my attitude; but that doesn’t provide a satisfactory answer to the “it isn’t fair” worry.

Why would the LORD harden the heart of Pharaoh and then still hold Pharaoh accountable for his hard heart? Romans, chapter one, gives some insight into how this might be appropriate and within the character of God. Verses 18-32 lay out a strong case for why God can justly and righteously turn individuals over to their own impure lusts, dishonorable passions, and debased minds. God has clearly revealed himself to ungodly and unrighteous men, but they (we?) suppress the truth. Since they (we?) do not see fit to acknowledge God, He is actually allowing their (our?) free will to rule; he is just giving them (us?) what they (we?) think they (we?) want.

Are we endangering our relationship with the LORD by trusting in ourselves more than in Him? Are we acknowledging Him in all our ways? The only ‘unfair’ action that God may be accused of is demonstrating His love for us while we are sinners.

The Lord’s Prayer includes the line, “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” How often have you thought that is unreasonable? Maybe Jesus got it wrong. Maybe some people don’t deserve to be forgiven; maybe they need to pay for what they did. What about the person that abused your child, or your mother, or your wife, or even the person that has abused you? Why should they receive forgiveness? Why should we let them get away with what they have done?

But, the forgiveness line is in the prayer, the concept of us needing to forgive others is taught throughout Scripture. So how do we follow that precept? Why can we choose to forgive? What do we do with the righteous indignation that keeps bubbling up in our souls; that we cannot seem to shake?

God has a plan. His ways are not our ways, but God is just. David modeled what we need to do in his imprecatory psalms (those are the ones where he shares with God how he feels about his enemies; where he wishes their children to be fatherless and their wives widows). We can forgive because God is God; we can continually bring the “bubbling up” to God because He is just, and He has a plan.

 “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, 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.” Exodus 34:6-7 (ESV)

 The people of Israel rejected God when it was time to enter the land of promise. He forgave them, but they still all had to die in the wilderness.

 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ Numbers 14:18

 “Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, according to your word. But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.” Numbers 14:20-24 (ESV)

 The people of Nineveh repented with the message of Jonah (much to his dismay) but then a future generation of Nineveh dwellers was judged. Both Nahum and Jonah knew God as a gracious God. Nahum and his generation also knew God as a God of justice.

 “And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” Jonah 4:2 (ESV)

 “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.” Nahum 1:3a (ESV)

 “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.” Nahum 1:7-8 (ESV)

 The entire book of Habakkuk tells the story of Habakkuk thinking he knew what God should do with violent and evil people, and then his realizing that God had a plan; that God was God and Habakkuk wasn’t God; that God would deal with the problem, but in His time and following His methods.

 In Numbers 32 Moses knows that he is going to die and he has extracted a promise from the two and a half tribes settling east of the Jordon. He reminds them that God knows of this promise and says the following:

 “But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.” Numbers 32:23 (ESV)

 So, how do we forgive someone that isn’t deserving of forgiveness? We keep giving it to God. He is just and our LORD truly can handle the timing and the details of justice.

Even with our best intentions we fall short of God’s righteousness. Numerous places in Scripture^* indicate that man, without the LORD’s leading, will do what is right in his own eyes. That sounds good, makes sense, and is logical and understandable. What more could God expect than for us to do what we believe is right?

The problem is that even our best efforts only amount to filthy rags^** in God’s eyes. Our righteousness is no righteousness at all because anything we do that is not done in faith is sin. ^*** The only way we can put on a robe of righteousness is to do what is right in the eyes of the LORD. ⁺

 ^* Proverbs 14:12, Proverbs 16:25, Proverbs 21:2, Judges 17:6, Judges 21:25, etc.; ^** Isaiah 64:6; ^*** Romans 14:23; ⁺ Exodus 15:26, Deuteronomy 6:18, Deuteronomy 12: 8,25,28, Deuteronomy 13:18, Proverbs 17:24, Isaiah 33:15, etc.

 Exodus tells the story of how Moses received instructions for building the tabernacle and all of its furnishings over a forty day period on Mount Sinai. A number of later chapters in Exodus give the impression of merely repeating those directives, but the repetition is an account of how Moses followed through on what God had instructed. In Exodus 40:33c Scripture tells us, “And so Moses finished the work.” That little sentence is just a simple statement proclaiming the act of a long obedience in the same direction by Moses.

So what happened next, after Moses chose to obey all that the LORD had commanded?

“Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”    Exodus 40:34-35 (NIV)

I pray that we, Christ’s body on Anderson Island, can be so full of the glory of the LORD that we will be all about Him; may we allow His work to be finished in us as we practice a long obedience in the same direction. May we demonstrate a life that is fully committed to God!

The LORD prepares ways and continues working His plans even when we don’t perceive Him at work. One small example in Scripture is the little side story about hornets.

 When Moses met with God on Mount Sinai, the LORD chose to share numerous commandments, statutes, precepts, laws, and basic principles with His people; He then shared some of what He would do for them beginning in verse 20 of Exodus chapter 23.

“See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.”  Exodus 23:20 (NIV)

The LORD was leading and guarding His people as they headed to a place He had prepared; God continued to share some of how He would help the Israelites.

“I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run. I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.”  Exodus 23:27-28 (NIV)

After the Israelite’s disobedience and subsequent wandering for forty years, Moses gave them Deuteronomy (the second law). The LORD’s hornet plan was restated in the giving of those recorded sermons.

“Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet among them until even the survivors who hide from you have perished.” Deuteronomy 7:20 (NIV)

I kept expecting to see a story in the book of Joshua proclaiming the victory of the hornets, or how the hornets led the people into battle, or maybe how some spies witnessed hornets chasing enemies throughout the land. That story never materialized. Instead, we get a report from Joshua as he is preparing to die and spurring the people on in their faith. In the midst of Joshua’s exhortation to serve the LORD he reminds the people that God’s plans go on even when unseen.

“‘I sent hornets ahead of you. They drove your enemies out to make room for you. That included the two Amorite kings. You did not do that with your own swords and bows. So I gave you a land you had never farmed. I gave you cities you had not built. You are now living in them. And you are eating the fruit of vineyards and olive trees you did not plant.’”  Joshua 24:12-13 (NIrV)

How is the LORD preparing a way for you? Psalm 33:11 says, “But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.” (NIV)

We have all heard of Moses, Aaron, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Peter, Andrew, James and John. If you have spent much time in the Bible you probably also know of Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Debra, Boaz, Solomon, and David. But, are you familiar with Oholiab and Bezalel? They were both chosen by God for a special purpose – even though they can’t pass spell-check in a Microsoft Word document.

Exodus 31 tells us the Spirit of God filled Bezalel because he was chosen to be the head craftsman for the building of the tabernacle. Bezalel was also given “skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of crafts – to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver, and bronze, to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.”

God also appointed Oholiab to help Bezalel. Then God adds: “Also I have given skill to all the craftsmen to make everything I have commanded you.”

What a wonder that God chooses to fill workers with skills and abilities. James 1:17 reminds us that, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

Do you have skills? Maybe you can build a cake, or turn a sentence, or sculpt a relationship. Every good gift, every skill, every ability that we possess, comes from a good God and should be used to further His kingdom.

 All quotes in this post from (NIV).

In Exodus 33:15 Moses said to God, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.” In Psalm 127:1 Solomon writes, “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.” The Apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 4:13, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” In Luke 1:37 the angel told Mary, “Nothing is impossible with God.” Again, Paul tells us in Romans 8:37, “In all things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

Clearly, the Presence of the LORD is necessary and desirable. Are we seeking Him with our whole heart? If we come near to God, He promises (James 4:8) to come near to us.