Tag: The Exodus journey

Digging in Deeper: Exodus 16:21-23

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“They gathered it every morning. Each gathered as much as he needed to eat, but when the sun grew hot, it melted. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, four quarts apiece, and all the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. He told them, ‘This is what the Lord has said: “Tomorrow is a day of complete rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil, and set aside everything left over to be kept until morning.”‘” (CSB – Read the chapter)

There are some traditions and phrases whose origin nobody knows anymore. One is the existence of “Blue Laws.” We know what these are, of course. They are laws designed to restrict the things people can do on Sundays. Why exactly they are called “Blue Laws,” though, nobody seems to know. We have some guesses, but none of them are very confident. The reason they exist, though, is because followers of Jesus from our nation’s colonial past wanted to encourage (that is, force) people to honor the Sabbath as they understood it should be honored. Speaking of the Sabbath, while we know where that came from, there is lots of debate about what exactly it is and what we should do about it today. We’ll be spending a lot more time talking about it in the weeks ahead of us, but let’s get started on that conversation today.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 13:20-22

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“They set out from Succoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness. The Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to lead them on their way during the day and in a pillar of fire to give them light at night, so that they could travel day or night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night never left its place in front of the people.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I was once the drummer in a band called Fire by Night. The founder really wanted to have a band like the Christian jam band, Waterdeep, because he was such a big fan of them. I had never heard of them at that point (I grew to be a huge fan over the next couple of years), so it was tough for me to grasp his vision. Also, their drummer, Brandon, was much, much more talented than I was, so I was never going to be able to imitate his style very well. In any event, he cobbled together a few friends, and we gave it a go. I still remember sitting around trying to think up a name for the group. We threw around various ideas until someone (not me) said, “What about ‘Fire by Night’?” Everyone knew immediately that was the right name. I think we played exactly one show at someone’s house party and recorded an incomplete version of one song that I still sometimes find myself singing. I tell you all of that because the whole thing was inspired by this story. Let’s talk about what’s happening here, and why we have something even better today.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 13:17-18

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“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road to the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearby; for God said, ‘The people will change their minds and return to Egypt if they face war.’ So he led the people around toward the Red Sea along the road of the wilderness. And the Israelites left the land of Egypt in battle formation.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Think for a minute about the last time you stood at the precipice of a huge task. I remember the first time I sat down at my desk as the new pastor of a church for the first time. The scope of what lay before me was overwhelming. I hardly knew where to begin. Rather than trying to do everything, though, I started with just a few and got those rolling. Then, I moved on to the next things. To put that another way, I didn’t try to set the whole direction for the church at first, I just wrote a sermon. After that I began to broaden my focus. Trying to bite off more than we can chew is a recipe for choking. It’s better to take the things one step at a time. God understands this principle as well. That helps explain where our story goes next. Let’s talk about it this morning.

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