- araratchurch
- Jul 9, 2022
- 3 min read
“And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the Lord met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a husband of blood to me!” So He let him go. Then she said, “You are a husband of blood!”—because of the circumcision.”
Exodus 4:24-26 NKJV
Let’s face it, there are a lot of folks out there who want rights without the responsibilities that come with them. But, a system where people demand rights, without doing what is right, will collapse under its own weight.
Unfortunately, this tendency to want all the goodies without fulfilling the requirements for the same does not stop in the realm of human government.
We know that God is a God of Covenant. We should also know that God never made Covenant with any person or group without putting conditions on receiving the blessings of the Covenant. As a matter fact, God pointed out the fact that people should not presume to take the word of His promise in their mouth when they are not obeying that same word:
“Offer to God thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High. Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to declare My statutes, Or take My covenant in your mouth, Seeing you hate instruction And cast My words behind you?”
Psalms 50:14-17 NKJV
Sadly, many pastors and teachers preach a Gospel (the good news of the work done through Jesus Christ: our New Covenant) that has no conditions. Now certainly, salvation is a gift of God. But, to walk in the blessing of the New Covenant, there certainly are conditions. Without listing a hosts of scriptures from the New Testament, allow me to offer just a few—from the mouth of Jesus—that should set to rest any notion that the New Covenant has no conditions:
“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
John 14:15-17 NKJV
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.”
John 15:13-14 NKJV
“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 10:32-33 NKJV
Today we find Moses in quite a predicament. Apparently, he has somehow transgressed the Covenant of God and is about to be taken out by the Lord. Now, this is a very enigmatic couple of scriptures, seemingly dropped into the narrative about Moses returning to Egypt. Many people—in trying to make sense of it—have come up with some farfetched notions as to what is being referenced here. I would say you can better understand it if you work backwards. If the circumcision of the son of Moses took away the anger of the Lord, then the anger was over the fact that the son was not circumcised. It seems to be that simple. (Additionally, some think that the life being threatened was of the son of Moses and not Moses himself; but we need not try to make that distinction here.) You see, the Abrahamic Covenant had a very clear condition concerning circumcision:
“He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised, and My covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
Genesis 17:13-14 NKJV
Bear in mind, God is sending Moses to represent him to the court of Pharaoh and also to the Hebrews in Egypt. Before he arrived there, God wanted all the “loose ends” to be taken care of. Moses needed to truly exemplify the Covenant of God. Indeed, it was because of God’s Covenant with His people that He was about to bring them out of the bondage of Egypt!
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
There are conditions attached to the blessings of covenant.
- araratchurch
- Jul 7, 2022
- 3 min read
“So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.”
Then Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.”
Exodus 4:2, 20 NKJV
It’s human nature; we want to control our stuff. But allow me to present a scenario.
Suppose you had any kind of greatly loved and valued possession; let’s say it’s a family heirloom grandfather clock. Now let’s imagine that the grandfather clock is seized up and nothing is working. You’re no longer hearing the beautiful chimes and the time on it is stuck at 7:25. Would you set out to try to repair the grandfather clock, having no experience in those sorts of repairs? Of course not! You would find someone trained to fix vintage grandfather clocks and submit it to their care, knowing they can do what you can’t do.
Now let’s take it up a notch (or several notches). Let’s say your child has something terribly wrong with them and they need surgery to save their life. Would you set in to try to do that surgery, or would you submit their care to a trained surgeon to do what needs to be done? Of course, we all know the answer to that.
Now—in light of these two examples I have presented—we might then wonder why it is so difficult for us to put what is our stuff, or pertaining to our lives, into the hand of the Lord? Is He not the creator of all things and therefore the expert on…EVERYTHING?
If you ever went to Sunday school for any length of time, you have heard the story of the little boy with five loaves and two fish with which Jesus fed 5000 men (if the women and children were included you can see how that number would geometrically be increased).
“There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.”
John 6:9, 11 NKJV
Now, this little boy could have eaten his lunch, and would’ve had every right to do so. Yet this little boy—taking what was rightfully his and placing it in the hand of the Master—supplied food for a multitude! And, I would imagine he got the lion’s share of the 12 baskets of leftover bread fragments.
Your stuff is yours; you are free to do with it as you please. Unless, of course, there are things beyond your control that take it from you or destroy it. Additionally, it can only prosper according to your ability. But, when you submit your life and your stuff to the Lord, it becomes His. And when it becomes His, it is now operating according to His power and is subject to His protection, care and keeping. Now that seems like a very easy decision to make.
Jesus—in speaking of His personal sacrifice—said something that can also be applied to anything we put in His hands:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”
John 12:24-25 NKJV
Today we find Moses in the midst of his encounter with God, still questioning what he will do to be able to prove to the people that he was sent by the Lord. The Lord points Moses to the rod that was in his hand. You know how the Lord made the rod turn into a snake and how that would be used later in the court of Pharaoh.
What I want to point out to you today is the difference between the first verse in our reading (Exodus 4:2) and the next verse (Exodus 4:20). Notice, the rod started out as Moses’ rod, but then is referenced in verse 40 as “the rod of God in his hand.” And—as we see as we go further into our journey with Moses—that rod would be used to bring great and mighty miracles during the escape from Egypt.
Please know, you can put walls around your life and your stuff, making sure you have complete control; good “luck” with that. Or, you can submit everything into the hand of the Lord. Now, I’m not talking about giving all your stuff away and becoming a monk on a mountain. What I’m talking about is having the attitude that whatever God asks of your life—or of your stuff—is done.
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
Your stuff submitted to God becomes God’s stuff.
- araratchurch
- Jul 6, 2022
- 3 min read
“Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’”
Exodus 3:13-15 NKJV
Many people are familiar with the passage from “Romeo and Juliet” where Juliet is musing over the topic of the importance of a name. She basically comes to the conclusion that a name is unimportant; because, in this case, the name of Romeo and the name of Juliet dictated that they be enemies, not lovers.
It is important to note that the Lord does not take a casual approach to a name. Consider the fact that He, in placing Adam over the animals, gave Adam the authority to name them (Genesis 2:20). Adam, as the “namer,” held authority over the named.
It’s interesting to know that as Jacob wrestled with the Lord, before parting ways with Him, Jacob asked what the Lord’s name was, with the Lord offering an interesting reply:
“Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.””
Genesis 32:29-30 NKJV
It sounds as though the Lord was reminding Jacob of his position of being subservient to that of the Lord. When we see Jacob’s tendency toward self-interest, we might read into this the beginning of a process that would result in Jacob (Israel) coming to understand God’s authority over him.
Indeed, the name of the Lord contains all that He is. There is power in the name of the Lord!
“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe.”
Proverbs 18:10 NKJV
We also know that God-Made-Flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ, has been given a name with power over all things
“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2:9-11 NKJV
We find Moses today—as he is being given a call to duty from the Lord—wondering what name he should use to present the Lord to the Hebrews. First of all, we see that the Lord is not limited to one particular title, and indeed, in Him all things consist. Therefore, His name is best described as “I Am.” But also note that God repeatedly references Himself as a God of Covenant. In this case mentioning His covenant with Abraham and Isaac. And, as we have discussed earlier in our journey with Moses, He also came to be known as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
Meditating upon all the titles we use to reference our Lord is good as it reminds us of His greatness and the unlimited scope of His power. But, we know that our Lord Jesus made clear how we are to reference God in our communication with Him:
“In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.”
Matthew 6:9 NKJV
We see two crucial components here concerning the name of our God. We see that He is our Father and that His name is holy.
Make no mistake, calling out any title of the Lord without truly being in relationship with Him will ultimately do you no good. But, if you do know Him and have recognized that He is our all-in-all, then there is no force able to stand against you as you are operating in His name!
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
The Name of the Lord is not just a title.