Morning Musing: Exodus 19:1-2

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“In the third month from the very day the Israelites left the land of Egypt, they came to the Sinai Wilderness. They traveled from Rephidim, came to the Sinai Wilderness, and camped in the wilderness. Israel camped there in front of the mountain.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Here we come at last to a new leg of our journey through Exodus. Everything we have so far encountered has been leading here. No, we are not yet to the Promised Land (and we won’t actually get there on this journey; as far as distance from Egypt goes, this is as far as we’ll get), but we are at the next place where God will reveal Himself to the people in a significant way. More importantly than that, God finally lets the people in on what He is planning with them, on why He did all of this in the first place. We will walk through all of this in the days and weeks ahead of us, but here at the start we encounter something important that I wanted to make sure we didn’t miss. God reveals His character here in a way that mattered to Israel, but which matters even more to us. Let me tell you why.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 18:24-27

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“Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. So Moses chose able men from all Israel and made them leaders over the people as commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. They judged the people at all times; they would bring the hard cases to Moses, but they would judge every minor case themselves. Moses let his father-in-law go, and he journeyed to his own land.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

How do you react when someone gives you advice? Do you take it gladly, or are you one of those people who would much prefer to figure everything out on your own? I suspect it depends in large part on what your position is and who the person giving the advice is. Moses got some advice from his father-in-law. His father-in-law was not tasked with leading a whole nation. If you or I were in his sandals, I suspect there’s a decent chance we would have handled the whole situation differently. Let’s talk about what Moses did when he got some advice, and why this is a pretty good example to follow.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 18:19-23

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“Now listen to me; I will give you some advice, and God be with you. You be the one to represent the people before God and bring their cases to him. Instruct them about the statutes and laws, and teach them the way to live and what they must do. But you should select from all the people able men, God-fearing, trustworthy, and hating dishonest profit. Place them over the people as commanders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. They should judge the people at all times. Then they can bring you every major case but judge every minor case themselves. In this way you will lighten your load, and they will bear it with you. If you do this, and God so directs you, you will be able to endure, and also all these people will be able to go home satisfied.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The commands of the Old Testament aren’t for us who follow Jesus today. I’ve been making that point nearly every chance I get for a couple of years now. The idea isn’t original to me by any stretch, but it is one I’ve been confirmed in thinking a number of times, most notably from the author of Hebrews. One prominent pastor makes the same point using the now infamous argument that we need to “unhitch” our faith from the Old Testament. He’s pretty widely and wildly misunderstood in this, causing him, I suspect, no small amount of grief, but the point is nonetheless valid. Yet while the Old Testament doesn’t offer direct application for our lives, it does offer plenty of wisdom worth heeding. What we see here is one of those times. Let’s talk about the advice Moses got when he was wearing himself out trying to lead Israel all on his own, and what it might mean for us.

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Digging in Deeper: Galatians 3:27-29

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“For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. If you are a student or work for a state or federal employer, or a bank, or any one of a number of other places, I hope you get to enjoy your day off. Other than one of our Founding Fathers or Abraham Lincoln, it is hard to imagine another American from our entire history who is more celebrated than King. He’s the only person in our history who has a day named after him. Washington and Lincoln used to have their own days, but those got rolled into President’s Day more generally which is really too bad because all of our Presidents are not equally worth celebrating, but that’s for another time. That all being said, King is rightly given his own day because of the absolutely invaluable contribution he made to our nation. We would not be who we are without his tireless labor to advance the cause of Civil Rights for all people, but especially black people in a day when racism ruled in the hearts of far too many people. Let’s reflect for just a minute on King’s vision, what gave it substance, and how we’re doing with achieving it today.

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Morning Musing: Psalm 19:1

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“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the things our Internet-addicted age has suffered is a loss of wonder. We see so many wild and incredible things online that it’s hard for us to be impressed by anything. Unless it is simply a spectacle, we hardly look up. This is really too bad because the world is wonderful. I mean that literally. It is filled with things that are wonders of the first order. This is because it is created by a wonderful God. We are created in the image of this God and are wonderful ourselves. We are capable of wonders. But this is so easy to forget when we get caught in a rut of the mundane and cease to see even the wonder in the mundane. This can become a pretty hopeless situation, but sometimes a story comes along that reminds us to see the wonder in life once again. Let’s talk today about one of these stories that took the form of a movie released just before Christmas about the world’s most famous chocolate maker. Let’s talk about Wonka.

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