Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus)

I listen to the trumpet of Jesus
While the world hears a different sound
I march to the drumbeat of God Almighty
While the others just wander around
I’m a member of the Holy Ghost traveling band
We’re moving on up to a better land
I hear the voice of the Supernatural singing
Like only those who know Him can…

This song is playing in the background as we read God’s message to Moses.  God tells Moses to get ready to meet him.  Can you imagine God speaking out loud directly to you telling you to get ready to meet him on the mountain He has designated?  We have the privilege to do that with each new day because of Jesus, our Deliverer from our bondage of sin!  It is Jesus who died and rose again, taking away the curtain to the holy place where we can meet God at any time of day, all day long.  God loves to meet with us.  God loves to hear our words as He looks into our hearts with an everlasting, unchanging, unconditional love that flows from His grace and mercy for us!!

The trumpet gave the call to announce God’s Holy Presence.  The call signaled the time to listen to God.  God gave a message, with their best interests at the heart of God.  God spoke words about what it would mean to hear and obey Him so that they may live well.  We respond in humbled gratitude as we hear from God.  When we pray, asking God what HE wants for our day, with what we need to be and do, we please and honor God by remembering gratefully all He has already done for us.  For us, Jesus made the Way to God possible.  We have no restrictions as we come to God.  Listen for His trumpet call, it comes in all forms for us today.  The trumpet can be a warning, a call to be different in this world as we live like Jesus taught us to live, and it can be a call to simply be still, let go and let God lead completely.

One sweet sound makes
A whole world of difference
When the world seems indifferent to you
His melody of love calls you to be great
When marking time was all you thought you could do
So if you’ve been playing all your days by ear
Never knowing what your song was to be
Then pull up a chair, let down your hair
And take a few lessons from me…

Listen to the trumpet of Jesus…Get ready to meet God as “his special treasure to those who believe and follow Him.  Get ready to live for God as part of his royal priesthood, a “kingdom of priests, a holy nation.”  We are adopted into this position through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9

All because of Jesus for us today!

Exodus 19, The Message

^1-2 Three months after leaving Egypt the Israelites entered the Wilderness of Sinai. They followed the route from Rephidim, arrived at the Wilderness of Sinai, and set up camp. Israel camped there facing the mountain.

^3-6 As Moses went up to meet God, God called down to him from the mountain: “Speak to the House of Jacob, tell the People of Israel: ‘You have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to me. If you will listen obediently to what I say and keep my covenant, out of all peoples you’ll be my special treasure. The whole Earth is mine to choose from, but you’re special: a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.’

“This is what I want you to tell the People of Israel.”

⁷ Moses came back and called the elders of Israel together and set before them all these words which God had commanded him.

⁸ The people were unanimous in their response: “Everything God says, we will do.” Moses took the people’s answer back to God.

* * *

⁹ God said to Moses, “Get ready. I’m about to come to you in a thick cloud so that the people can listen in and trust you completely when I speak with you.” Again Moses reported the people’s answer to God.

^10-13 God said to Moses, “Go to the people. For the next two days get these people ready to meet the Holy God. Have them scrub their clothes so that on the third day they’ll be fully prepared, because on the third day God will come down on Mount Sinai and make his presence known to all the people. Post boundaries for the people all around, telling them, ‘Warning! Don’t climb the mountain. Don’t even touch its edge. Whoever touches the mountain dies—a certain death. And no one is to touch that person, he’s to be stoned. That’s right—stoned. Or shot with arrows, shot to death. Animal or man, whichever—put to death.’

“A long blast from the horn will signal that it’s safe to climb the mountain.”

^14-15 Moses went down the mountain to the people and prepared them for the holy meeting. They gave their clothes a good scrubbing. Then he addressed the people: “Be ready in three days. Don’t sleep with a woman.”

¹⁶ On the third day at daybreak, there were loud claps of thunder, flashes of lightning, a thick cloud covering the mountain, and an ear-piercing trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp shuddered in fear.

¹⁷ Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God. They stood at attention at the base of the mountain.

^18-20 Mount Sinai was all smoke because God had come down on it as fire. Smoke poured from it like smoke from a furnace. The whole mountain shuddered and heaved. The trumpet blasts grew louder and louder. Moses spoke and God answered in thunder. God descended to the peak of Mount Sinai. God called Moses up to the peak and Moses climbed up.

^21-22 God said to Moses, “Go down. Warn the people not to break through the barricades to get a look at God lest many of them die. And the priests also, warn them to prepare themselves for the holy meeting, lest God break out against them.”

²³ Moses said to God, “But the people can’t climb Mount Sinai. You’ve already warned us well telling us: ‘Post boundaries around the mountain. Respect the holy mountain.’”

²⁴ God told him, “Go down and then bring Aaron back up with you. But make sure that the priests and the people don’t break through and come up to God, lest he break out against them.”

²⁵ So Moses went down to the people. He said to them:

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

We end today with a cliffhanger for Moses and God’s Chosen People, but for us right now, today…

I listen to the trumpet of Jesus
While the world hears a different sound
I march to the drumbeat of God Almighty
While the others just wander around
I’m a member of the Holy Ghost traveling band
We’re moving on up to a better land
I hear the voice of the Supernatural singing
Like only those who know Him can

Listen to the trumpet of Jesus
Listen to the trumpet of Jesus

A spiritual fanfare has a sound all its own
At the birth of a lasting song
It’s been two thousand years since Jesus was born
And still the celebration goes on
If you feel the need to get your life in tune
‘Cause you’re tired of the dirge every day
Then turn yourself around
Put your feet on the ground
And just hear what I have to say

I listen to the trumpet of Jesus
While the world hears a different sound
I march to the drumbeat of God Almighty
While the others just wander around
I’m a member of the Holy Ghost traveling band
We’re moving on up to a better land
I hear the voice of the Supernatural singing
Like only those who know Him can!

Written By Stormie Omartian & Michael Omartian

Listen to the trumpet of Jesus as He calls us today! 

Get ready, stay ready for the final trumpet call by living in His ways humbly and gratefully!  Jesus IS coming back, you know!

Our Father,

Hallowed is Your Name.  May Your Kingdom come, your will be done in every detail of our lives here on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day all you know we will need to live for you and be different from the world.  And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.  Lead us not into temptations but deliver us from evil and evil’s schemes to bring us down. For you have all power, to you be all glory, honor, and praise!

In Jesus Name, Amen

As leaders we fall into a trap thinking we must do all things in our way all by ourselves, especially when led of God for a specific task.  We fail to realize that this handicaps and stunts the growth of those God is preparing to lead with us.  We can actually rob them of their blessings by God to grow in serving!  This passage opened my eyes years ago and the words have profoundly changed the way I lead others.  Take notes as we read, this is great stuff (wisdom) from a father-in-law who has the right advice for an overworked, overwhelmed leader.

Exodus 18, The Message

^1-4 Jethro, priest of Midian and father-in-law to Moses, heard the report of all that God had done for Moses and Israel his people, the news that God had delivered Israel from Egypt. Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had taken in Zipporah, Moses’ wife who had been sent back home, and her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (Sojourner) for he had said, “I’m a sojourner in a foreign land”; the name of the other was Eliezer (God’s-Help) because “The God of my father is my help and saved me from death by Pharaoh.”

^5-6 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought Moses his sons and his wife there in the wilderness where he was camped at the mountain of God. He had sent a message ahead to Moses: “I, your father-in-law, am coming to you with your wife and two sons.”

^7-8 Moses went out to welcome his father-in-law. He bowed to him and kissed him. Each asked the other how things had been with him. Then they went into the tent. Moses told his father-in-law the story of all that God had done to Pharaoh and Egypt in helping Israel, all the trouble they had experienced on the journey, and how God had delivered them.

^9-11 Jethro was delighted in all the good that God had done for Israel in delivering them from Egyptian oppression. Jethro said, “Blessed be God who has delivered you from the power of Egypt and Pharaoh, who has delivered his people from the oppression of Egypt. Now I know that God is greater than all gods because he’s done this to all those who treated Israel arrogantly.”

¹² Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a Whole-Burnt-Offering and sacrifices to God. And Aaron, along with all the elders of Israel, came and ate the meal with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.

^13-14 The next day Moses took his place to judge the people. People were standing before him all day long, from morning to night. When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What’s going on here? Why are you doing all this, and all by yourself, letting everybody line up before you from morning to night?”

^15-16 Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me with questions about God. When something comes up, they come to me. I judge between a man and his neighbor and teach them God’s laws and instructions.”

^17-23 Moses’ father-in-law said, “This is no way to go about it. You’ll burn out, and the people right along with you. This is way too much for you—you can’t do this alone. Now listen to me. Let me tell you how to do this so that God will be in this with you. Be there for the people before God, but let the matters of concern be presented to God. Your job is to teach them the rules and instructions, to show them how to live, what to do. And then you need to keep a sharp eye out for competent men—men who fear God, men of integrity, men who are incorruptible—and appoint them as leaders over groups organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. They’ll be responsible for the everyday work of judging among the people. They’ll bring the hard cases to you, but in the routine cases they’ll be the judges. They will share your load and that will make it easier for you. If you handle the work this way, you’ll have the strength to carry out whatever God commands you, and the people in their settings will flourish also.”

^24-27 Moses listened to the counsel of his father-in-law and did everything he said. Moses picked competent men from all Israel and set them as leaders over the people who were organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. They took over the everyday work of judging among the people. They brought the hard cases to Moses, but in the routine cases they were the judges. Then Moses said good-bye to his father-in-law who went home to his own country.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Today we take our clues of wisdom and practice for Jesus, Himself, who rarely did anything alone.  He prayed alone in a quiet place to get direction from Our Father, God, but the ministry of compassion was always carried out with his disciples.  Think about it, seriously, of all the times Jesus ask for help from his disciples.  (Feeding the 5000, paying taxes, etc.)  These activities served to help them grow to serve in the most excellent way by His Love, in His Name for His glory. They, in turn, passed this method on to others!  We are the benefit of Jesus’ work in them!

How do we respond?

1. Pray!  Pray for God to bring people to you.  Pray that you will recognize their gifts and what God is doing in them to help you help others know and follow Jesus.
2. Bring them along with you wherever you go.  Jesus did this often!  As His disciples matured in following Him, He then sent them out two by two to do what He did.
3. Teach like Jesus!  Jesus invited his disciples to watch Him as He did the will of God.  Jesus then invited them to do ministry tasks with Him.  Then He sent them out under his watchful eye.  The disciples came back to “report” how well it went.  Then there was discussion and advice for improvement. Finally, upon Jesus ascending back to heaven, He sent them out on their own with groups of others (and us) with these words; “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Matthew 28:19-20
4. Partner with someone with a humbled attitude.  Seek out those who you can train to do what you do, better than the way you do it currently.  God will certainly bless this way of thinking!  He did for me when I woke up to the fact that I am not sent to do HIS work alone.

Lord,

Help us to know you more and walk in your ways, leading in ways that teach others to lead with us in your Name for your Glory so others will know you more!  Thank you, Lord for the privilege to serve you every day by serving others.

In Jesus Name, Amen

Paul to his young ministry apprentice, Timothy:

“You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.”  2 Timothy 2:2, NLT

Thank you, Lord.  I think we’ve got it, now help us to live it in response to your loving advice.  In Jesus Name, For YOUR glory, Amen

Everything I do that I want to do well seems to require a bit of research and development as I plan a challenging task in stages for completion.  I learned this over time, by trial and error, but not well.  God stepped in to teach me that I must be directed by Him at the start who leads me through ALL the stages of life!  I also learned from God to seek counsel from those I respected in His work.  A cherished mentor responded to my overwhelmed mind and my words of complaining with; “Susan, how do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time!” When God directs our path, He does not always show us the end result.  I know this can be frustrating to us, but God knows what He is doing in His created.  There are many lessons learned, not as much in completing or arriving at our destination as there are in the journey itself.

God took the Israelites through the wilderness on a forty-year trek across the dessert. There is much to be learned at each stage of this journey.  God is in front of them and behind them.  God is the Pillar of fire at night and the Cloud of His Presence in the day time—constantly directing them as they are moving forward.  Where?  Only God knows.  But Moses knows and we now know that “Directed by God, the whole company of Israel moved on by stages from the Wilderness of Sin.”  

God brought His people out of Egypt.  Now God is taking Egypt out of His people.  He will teach and test them as they move farther away from their most recent bondage to freedom “by stages” from all that Egypt taught them over the generations.  There is a lot “unlearning” of Egyptian worldview as they learn God’s view of life and how to live it well.

It’s a good thing they didn’t know at the time that it would take FORTY years, or many of them would have hightailed it back to Egypt, back to slavery, back to bondage, turning their backs on their God who brought them out!  So, they resort to complaining when life gets uncomfortable and scary.  Ah, but we aren’t like that…. are we?

Do we complain when the task of changing our minds, changing our thinking and changing the way we behave becomes hard?  Do we get frustrated that it doesn’t happen all at once but in stages after Jesus deliver us from our sins and past lifestyles?

God’s Holy Spirit comes to live in us at the time we say be believe in Jesus and what He did for us to free us from all our sin debts.  His Spirit will prod us to change the way we think which will change our lifestyle.  It won’t be easy to leave the past worldview thinking for thinking more and more like Jesus.  Why?  World thinking is the opposite of the way Jesus thinks.  Paul explains:

“So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants.”  Galatians 5:16-17

He clarifies this statement with…

“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.”  Galatians 5:19-26

Paul also teaches us that this is a DAILY, one bite at a time commitment, a life pursuit of being more and more like Jesus in the way we think and behave.

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:1-2

My prayer for all of us:  May we allow God to direct our path as His Spirit brings out of sin and teaches us to be more like Jesus at every stage of our journey—one life experience at a time! 

Begin by trying not to complain at every stage!  (So me, I’m working on me!)

Exodus 17, The Message

^1-2 Directed by God, the whole company of Israel moved on by stages from the Wilderness of Sin. They set camp at Rephidim. And there wasn’t a drop of water for the people to drink. The people took Moses to task: “Give us water to drink.” But Moses said, “Why pester me? Why are you testing God?”

³ But the people were thirsty for water there. They complained to Moses, “Why did you take us from Egypt and drag us out here with our children and animals to die of thirst?”

⁴ Moses cried out in prayer to God, “What can I do with these people? Any minute now they’ll kill me!”

^5-6 God said to Moses, “Go on out ahead of the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel. Take the staff you used to strike the Nile. And go. I’m going to be present before you there on the rock at Horeb. You are to strike the rock. Water will gush out of it and the people will drink.”

^6-7 Moses did what he said, with the elders of Israel right there watching. He named the place Massah (Testing-Place) and Meribah (Quarreling) because of the quarreling of the Israelites and because of their testing of God when they said, “Is God here with us, or not?”

* * *

^8-9 Amalek came and fought Israel at Rephidim. Moses ordered Joshua: “Select some men for us and go out and fight Amalek. Tomorrow I will take my stand on top of the hill holding God’s staff.”

^10-13 Joshua did what Moses ordered in order to fight Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill. It turned out that whenever Moses raised his hands, Israel was winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, Amalek was winning. But Moses’ hands got tired. So they got a stone and set it under him. He sat on it and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side. So his hands remained steady until the sun went down. Joshua defeated Amalek and its army in battle.

¹⁴ God said to Moses, “Write this up as a reminder to Joshua, to keep it before him, because I will most certainly wipe the very memory of Amalek off the face of the Earth.”

^15-16 Moses built an altar and named it “God My Banner.” He said,

Salute God’s rule!
God at war with Amalek
Always and forever!

This very testimony of God’s testing of the faith of His people toward Him is why I entitled my daily blog, “Daily Manna with Your Mug”.  Let me share my testimony for just a hot minute.  Since September of 2013, God developed a routine in me for each day.  With sleep still in my eyes, I stumble into the kitchen to make coffee to pour into a large mug.  I also prepare a bowl with Cheerios.  I sit down at the laptop with my Bible and have “breakfast with Jesus”.  It has become a very sacred time for me.  I need help and God knows it.  I pray first, adoring Him, telling Him what everyone needs from him, asking for help for myself, then asking Him for what He wants from me for this day. 

Answers come from His Word and His Holy Spirit while reading a passage in the book of the Bible He has led me to for studying.  His Holy Spirit teaches, corrects, confronts, and encourages me.  He guides me to write down what might be helpful for someone else to be encouraged in their walk with God.  I am amazed what comes together each morning.  But greater still is the simple act of obedience, daily, which is what God is teaching His people in our passage today.  I cannot do these writings in advance or wait until tomorrow or the next to play “catch up”.  It just doesn’t work that way.  I’m compelled to get up, go to God in prayer, read and meditate, then write EACH morning.  Hence the blog’s name—DAILY MANNA.  God knows what I need and He provides.

There have been only a few times when I could not publish due to unforeseen circumstances but the process is always the same—daily.  Going to God daily is a test of our faithfulness to Him, giving Him all glory and praise for each new day that He has given to us, complete with all we need for each new day!  I love God with all my heart, mind and soul.  I love what He does in me and through me.  I pray that whoever reads this each day is blessed by our God, too.  To God be the glory for all He is and is doing in each one of our lives in Jesus Name.  To all who believe and claim Jesus as Lord, I pray for you each day!  To all who are thinking about believing, I pray compassionately for you!  God was, is and always will be the lover of our souls.  God loved us so much He gave…

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16

You will have eternal life as a believer in Jesus, but don’t forget the daily life of communion with God that can be had right now, a life that is beyond our wildest dreams!  Wake up with God on your mind.  You’re certainly on His mind right now.  Ooh, yes and amen!  So, go grab your favorite mug, fill it with your daily coffee (or whatever else you drink) and dig in to God’s Word…it’s a daily thing…that’s “what it is”!

Exodus 16, The Message

^1-3 On the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt, the whole company of Israel moved on from Elim to the Wilderness of Sin which is between Elim and Sinai. The whole company of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron there in the wilderness. The Israelites said, “Why didn’t God let us die in comfort in Egypt where we had lamb stew and all the bread we could eat? You’ve brought us out into this wilderness to starve us to death, the whole company of Israel!”

^4-5 God said to Moses, “I’m going to rain bread down from the skies for you. The people will go out and gather each day’s ration. I’m going to test them to see if they’ll live according to my Teaching or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have gathered, it will turn out to be twice as much as their daily ration.”

^6-7 Moses and Aaron told the People of Israel, “This evening you will know that it is God who brought you out of Egypt; and in the morning you will see the Glory of God. Yes, he’s listened to your complaints against him. You haven’t been complaining against us, you know, but against God.”

⁸ Moses said, “Since it will be God who gives you meat for your meal in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, it’s God who will have listened to your complaints against him. Who are we in all this? You haven’t been complaining to us—you’ve been complaining to God!”

⁹ Moses instructed Aaron: “Tell the whole company of Israel: ‘Come near to God. He’s heard your complaints.’”

¹⁰ When Aaron gave out the instructions to the whole company of Israel, they turned to face the wilderness. And there it was: the Glory of God visible in the Cloud.

^11-12 God spoke to Moses, “I’ve listened to the complaints of the Israelites. Now tell them: ‘At dusk you will eat meat and at dawn you’ll eat your fill of bread; and you’ll realize that I am God, your God.’”

^13-15 That evening quail flew in and covered the camp and in the morning there was a layer of dew all over the camp. When the layer of dew had lifted, there on the wilderness ground was a fine flaky something, fine as frost on the ground. The Israelites took one look and said to one another, man-hu (What is it?). They had no idea what it was.

^15-16 So Moses told them, “It’s the bread God has given you to eat. And these are God’s instructions: ‘Gather enough for each person, about two quarts per person; gather enough for everyone in your tent.’”

^17-18 The People of Israel went to work and started gathering, some more, some less, but when they measured out what they had gathered, those who gathered more had no extra and those who gathered less weren’t short—each person had gathered as much as was needed.

¹⁹ Moses said to them, “Don’t leave any of it until morning.”

²⁰ But they didn’t listen to Moses. A few of the men kept back some of it until morning. It got wormy and smelled bad. And Moses lost his temper with them.

^21-22 They gathered it every morning, each person according to need. Then the sun heated up and it melted. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, about four quarts per person.

Then the leaders of the company came to Moses and reported.

^23-24 Moses said, “This is what God was talking about: Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to God. Whatever you plan to bake, bake today; and whatever you plan to boil, boil today. Then set aside the leftovers until morning.” They set aside what was left until morning, as Moses had commanded. It didn’t smell bad and there were no worms in it.

^25-26 Moses said, “Now eat it; this is the day, a Sabbath for God. You won’t find any of it on the ground today. Gather it every day for six days, but the seventh day is Sabbath; there won’t be any of it on the ground.”

²⁷ On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather anyway but they didn’t find anything.

^28-29 God said to Moses, “How long are you going to disobey my commands and not follow my instructions? Don’t you see that God has given you the Sabbath? So on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. So, each of you, stay home. Don’t leave home on the seventh day.”

³⁰ So the people quit working on the seventh day.

³¹ The Israelites named it manna (What is it?). It looked like coriander seed, whitish. And it tasted like a cracker with honey.

³² Moses said, “This is God’s command: ‘Keep a two-quart jar of it, an omer, for future generations so they can see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness after I brought you out of Egypt.’”

³³ Moses told Aaron, “Take a jar and fill it with two quarts of manna. Place it before God, keeping it safe for future generations.”

³⁴ Aaron did what God commanded Moses. He set it aside before The Testimony to preserve it.

³⁵ The Israelites ate the manna for forty years until they arrived at the land where they would settle down. They ate manna until they reached the border into Canaan.

³⁶ According to ancient measurements, an omer is one-tenth of an ephah.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

The Israelites ate manna for forty years until they reached the Promised Land in an act of obedience to God who provided for them in the wilderness.

Until Jesus, Our Lord and Savior, God’s promise of eternal life, comes back to claim His own, feast on His Word daily!  It is by God’s Word and His Holy Spirit in us who teaches us to walk with Him in ways that go beyond our thinking!  Yes, that’s “what it is”!

Lord,

Thank you for this time each morning! Thank you for listening to my words in prayer and to my heart in praying. Thank you for reminding us that you long to be with us daily.  I love how you linger with us through each day as you guide us to better thinking which leads us to better behaviors.  May we be with you before doing anything.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen!

After a harrowing experience comes to solution with victory and relief, what do you do?  My immediate response is Hallelujah!  After all these years, I know it is all God who rescues and saves us from circumstances beyond our control.  He also saves us from ourselves and selfish thinking.  Our first thought should be for God who is at work, delivering us from the storms of life that blow through.  He was and is there all along, whether we recognize Him at work or not, to guide us through on dry land to the other side.

Let’s just stop and praise the Lord right now for all He has done, is doing and will do in our lives to protect us as He provides all He knows we need!  Sing this song of praise with the Israelites!  It’s a beautiful song of testimony about the power and majesty, care and compassion of God!

Exodus 15, The Message

^1-8 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to God, giving voice together,

I’m singing my heart out to God—what a victory!
    He pitched horse and rider into the sea.
God is my strength, God is my song,
    and, yes! God is my salvation.
This is the kind of God I have
    and I’m telling the world!
This is the God of my father—
    I’m spreading the news far and wide!
God is a fighter,
    pure God, through and through.
Pharaoh’s chariots and army
    he dumped in the sea,
The elite of his officers
    he drowned in the Red Sea.
Wild ocean waters poured over them;
    they sank like a rock in the deep blue sea.
Your strong right hand, God, shimmers with power;
    your strong right hand shatters the enemy.
In your mighty majesty
    you smash your upstart enemies,
You let loose your hot anger
    and burn them to a crisp.
At a blast from your nostrils
    the waters piled up;
Tumbling streams dammed up,
    wild oceans curdled into a swamp.

⁹ The enemy spoke,
    “I’ll pursue, I’ll hunt them down,
I’ll divide up the plunder,
    I’ll glut myself on them;
I’ll pull out my sword,
    my fist will send them reeling.”

^10-11 You blew with all your might
    and the sea covered them.
They sank like a lead weight
    in the majestic waters.
Who compares with you
    among gods, O God?
Who compares with you in power,
    in holy majesty,
In awesome praises,
    wonder-working God?

^12-13 You stretched out your right hand
    and the Earth swallowed them up.
But the people you redeemed,
    you led in merciful love;
You guided them under your protection
    to your holy pasture.

^14-18 When people heard, they were scared;
    Philistines writhed and trembled;
Yes, even the head men in Edom were shaken,
    and the big bosses in Moab.
Everybody in Canaan
    panicked and fell faint.
Dread and terror
    sent them reeling.
Before your brandished right arm
    they were struck dumb like a stone,
Until your people crossed over and entered, O God,
    until the people you made crossed over and entered.
You brought them and planted them
    on the mountain of your heritage,
The place where you live,
    the place you made,
Your sanctuary, Master,
    that you established with your own hands.
Let God rule
    forever, for eternity!

¹⁹ Yes, Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and riders went into the sea and God turned the waters back on them; but the Israelites walked on dry land right through the middle of the sea.

* * *

^20-21 Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine, and all the women followed her with tambourines, dancing. Miriam led them in singing,

Sing to God—
    what a victory!
He pitched horse and rider
    into the sea!

Traveling Through the Wilderness

^22-24 Moses led Israel from the Red Sea on to the Wilderness of Shur. They traveled for three days through the wilderness without finding any water. They got to Marah, but they couldn’t drink the water at Marah; it was bitter. That’s why they called the place Marah (Bitter). And the people complained to Moses, “So what are we supposed to drink?”

²⁵ So Moses cried out in prayer to God. God pointed him to a stick of wood. Moses threw it into the water and the water turned sweet.

²⁶ That’s the place where God set up rules and procedures; that’s where he started testing them.

God said, “If you listen, listen obediently to how God tells you to live in his presence, obeying his commandments and keeping all his laws, then I won’t strike you with all the diseases that I inflicted on the Egyptians; I am God your healer.”

²⁷ They came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. They set up camp there by the water.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

After sighs of relief, high fives all around, a song of praise to God breaks loose and all join in the singing.  The women began a worship team of praise with tambourines in a repeating chorus of praise to the One and Only who saved them.  Imagine the scene with of praises rippling through the twelve tribes of Israel with family in tow, marching to the other side with God, for God, singing to God!  Wow, what a scene, right?  Kind of like heaven?  May our first thoughts always be praise to God, our Provider, Healer and Deliverer!

Then only three days later…on the other side from slavery to freedom…they complain because they cannot find good water.  They go to their illustrious, trusted leader to raise their complaint about the water situation.  Moses responds by going directly to God.  God provides.  God always provides.  At least the people knew who to go to for help.  Who do we immediately go to for help?

God shows and tell his people WHO is really in charge, WHO will provide and protect them IF they will listen, really hear and obey.  I AM your Healer.  Because of God’s love, care and compassion for those who believe, honor, obey, and love Him back, He still provides a way out for us to get to the other side of troubles.

Listen, trust and obey.  God authority and power has not left the building of our souls!

Lord,

Thank you for all the times you provided dry land through troubles so we could get to the other side and praise you.  You are God.  We are not.  To you be all glory, honor and praise!

In Jesus Name, Amen!

Lord, You want us to go where and do what?  Now, Lord?  Like right now?

Those were the very questions that came to mind that year as Randy and I realized that God was rearranging our lives to move from the home we had always known from children through adulthood, to a place we hardly knew a thousand miles away.  He was calling Randy to go to seminary while pastoring a country church nearby.  At first, I thought I would find a teaching job as that was my profession, but no, God had another place for me to grow and learn.  As problems came in making the move, God provided instant solutions.  We finally stopped trying to figure it all out and let God do what He does best—Lead us.  Our work was to trust Him.  We learned a great deal about God in that move that prepared us for doing the actual work He was asking us to join Him in once we got there!  God is amazing!  There is no one like our God! 

As we read our passage, my thoughts (that are weird to some) go to the first ones who put their sandaled feet on the sea bed that should have been soggy and muddy.  Did they do a dance when they realized the ground below their feet was dry?  Did they shout over their shoulders, “Hey come on in, the ground is fine!”  “Follow me, let’s do this!”  “Kids, are you seeing this and realizing what God is doing for us?”  “Don’t look back, keep moving forward people!”  Trust God!  Look what He has done so far!

Did you catch what Moses said to the complainers?  Anger stems from fear—Moses had the wisdom to know that.  He consoles then he confronts with truth:

“Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and watch God do his work of salvation for you today. Take a good look at the Egyptians today for you’re never going to see them again.  God will fight the battle for you. And you? You keep your mouths shut!”

I don’t know about you, but this is pretty great advice from Moses for us today when approached by God with a new invitation to work with Him—Don’t be afraid, stand firm, watch God.  And us, yeah, we need to talk less and listen more.  Lesson learned.

Trust Me. I know what I AM doing.  I know what lies ahead.  I’ve got this. –God

Exodus 14, The Message

The Story and Song of Salvation

^1-2 God spoke to Moses: “Tell the Israelites to turn around and make camp at Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. Camp on the shore of the sea opposite Baal Zephon.

^3-4 “Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are lost; they’re confused. The wilderness has closed in on them.’ Then I’ll make Pharaoh’s heart stubborn again and he’ll chase after them. And I’ll use Pharaoh and his army to put my Glory on display. Then the Egyptians will realize that I am God.”

And that’s what happened.

^5-7 When the king of Egypt was told that the people were gone, he and his servants changed their minds. They said, “What have we done, letting Israel, our slave labor, go free?” So he had his chariots harnessed up and got his army together. He took six hundred of his best chariots, with the rest of the Egyptian chariots and their drivers coming along.

^8-9 God made Pharaoh king of Egypt stubborn, determined to chase the Israelites as they walked out on him without even looking back. The Egyptians gave chase and caught up with them where they had made camp by the sea—all Pharaoh’s horse-drawn chariots and their riders, all his foot soldiers there at Pi Hahiroth opposite Baal Zephon.

^10-12 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw them—Egyptians! Coming at them!

They were totally afraid. They cried out in terror to God. They told Moses, “Weren’t the cemeteries large enough in Egypt so that you had to take us out here in the wilderness to die? What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt? Back in Egypt didn’t we tell you this would happen? Didn’t we tell you, ‘Leave us alone here in Egypt—we’re better off as slaves in Egypt than as corpses in the wilderness.’”

¹³ Moses spoke to the people: “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and watch God do his work of salvation for you today. Take a good look at the Egyptians today for you’re never going to see them again.

¹⁴ God will fight the battle for you.
    And you? You keep your mouths shut!”

* * *

^15-16 God said to Moses: “Why cry out to me? Speak to the Israelites. Order them to get moving. Hold your staff high and stretch your hand out over the sea: Split the sea! The Israelites will walk through the sea on dry ground.

^17-18 “Meanwhile I’ll make sure the Egyptians keep up their stubborn chase—I’ll use Pharaoh and his entire army, his chariots and horsemen, to put my Glory on display so that the Egyptians will realize that I am God.”

^19-20 The angel of God that had been leading the camp of Israel now shifted and got behind them. And the Pillar of Cloud that had been in front also shifted to the rear. The Cloud was now between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. The Cloud enshrouded one camp in darkness and flooded the other with light. The two camps didn’t come near each other all night.

²¹ Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and God, with a terrific east wind all night long, made the sea go back. He made the sea dry ground. The seawaters split.

^22-25 The Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground with the waters a wall to the right and to the left. The Egyptians came after them in full pursuit, every horse and chariot and driver of Pharaoh racing into the middle of the sea. It was now the morning watch. God looked down from the Pillar of Fire and Cloud on the Egyptian army and threw them into a panic. He clogged the wheels of their chariots; they were stuck in the mud.

The Egyptians said, “Run from Israel! God is fighting on their side and against Egypt!”

²⁶ God said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea and the waters will come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots, over their horsemen.”

^27-28 Moses stretched his hand out over the sea: As the day broke and the Egyptians were running, the sea returned to its place as before. God dumped the Egyptians in the middle of the sea. The waters returned, drowning the chariots and riders of Pharaoh’s army that had chased after Israel into the sea. Not one of them survived.

^29-31 But the Israelites walked right through the middle of the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall to the right and to the left. God delivered Israel that day from the oppression of the Egyptians. And Israel looked at the Egyptian dead, washed up on the shore of the sea, and realized the tremendous power that God brought against the Egyptians. The people were in reverent awe before God and trusted in God and his servant Moses.

WHAT MORE DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

When we forget God’s promises, we overthink and begin to imagine the worst possible scenario. The Israelites were sure that they and their children would die in the wilderness as soon as Pharaoh’s army caught up with them. The frightened people reminded Moses that they had told him to leave them alone (5:20–23), but he had persisted in challenging Pharaoh. Israel was now in a terrible predicament, and Moses was to blame.

Unbelief has a way of erasing from our memory all the demonstrations we’ve seen of God’s great power and all the instances we know of God’s faithfulness to His Word.

Trust God who knows what happens next!

Knowing that the enemy was in pursuit, and hearing the wind blowing all night, the Israelites must have wondered what was going to happen and why God was taking so long. But when we have faith in God’s promises, we have peace in our hearts.

“Why are you so fearful?” Jesus asked His disciples after he had calmed a storm. “How is it that you have no faith?” (Mark 4:40). Faith and fear can’t live together in the same heart, for one will destroy the other. True faith depends on what God says, not on what we see or how we feel. It has well been said that faith is not believing in spite of evidence—that’s superstition—but obeying in spite of consequence.

Lord,

I will trust You, no matter what the world says, no matter what my circumstances are indicating, I will trust You.  You delivered me.  You redeemed me and set me free to love like you love, to live for you with you living in me.  There is no one like you—why then would I trust anyone else but you?  I cannot think of one good reason that I would trust anyone else but you!  Thank you for the peace that comes when all my hope and trust is in you.

In Jesus Name, Amen

Today, we place a ton of trust in a global device to get from where we are to where we want to be, right?! I don’t even go across town without it because I am so directionally impaired!  However, our trust has been built in our vehicle’s navigational system over time.  When new on the market, we would sometimes be guided into places that were filled with construction dangers and detours. We carried a paper map as backup.  Sometimes the system would take us to the wrong place completely or end up on a dead-end street or alley!  But today the navigational process has improved and even warns us of dangers ahead with optional routes to take.  It even tells us where we can get fuel and food!  Impressive, right?

What if we had as much trust in God as our guide on the journey through life as we have in our man-made devices to get us where we really and truly need to be?

What if GOD was all you had?  (Like in the “old days”?)

Exodus 13, The Message

^1-2 God spoke to Moses, saying, “Set apart every firstborn to me—the first one to come from the womb among the Israelites, whether person or animal, is mine.”

³ Moses said to the people, “Always remember this day. This is the day when you came out of Egypt from a house of slavery. God brought you out of here with a powerful hand. Don’t eat any raised bread.

^4-5 “You are leaving in the spring month of Abib. When God brings you into the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which he promised to your fathers to give you, a land lavish with milk and honey, you are to observe this service during this month:

⁶ “You are to eat unraised bread for seven days; on the seventh day there is a festival celebration to God.

⁷ “Only unraised bread is to be eaten for seven days. There is not to be a trace of anything fermented—no yeast anywhere.

⁸ “Tell your child on that day: ‘This is because of what God did for me when I came out of Egypt.’

^9-10 “The day of observance will be like a sign on your hand, a memorial between your eyes, and the teaching of God in your mouth. It was with a powerful hand that God brought you out of Egypt. Follow these instructions at the set time, year after year after year.

^11-13 “When God brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he promised you and your fathers, and turns it over to you, you are to set aside the first birth out of every womb to God. Every first birth from your livestock belongs to God. You can redeem every first birth of a donkey if you want to by substituting a lamb; if you decide not to redeem it, you must break its neck.

^13-16 “Redeem every firstborn child among your sons. When the time comes and your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you tell him, ‘God brought us out of Egypt, out of a house of slavery, with a powerful hand. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, God killed every firstborn in Egypt, the firstborn of both humans and animals. That’s why I make a sacrifice for every first male birth from the womb to God and redeem every firstborn son.’ The observance functions like a sign on your hands or a symbol on the middle of your forehead: God brought us out of Egypt with a powerful hand.”

¹⁷ It so happened that after Pharaoh released the people, God didn’t lead them by the road through the land of the Philistines, which was the shortest route, for God thought, “If the people encounter war, they’ll change their minds and go back to Egypt.”

¹⁸ So God led the people on the wilderness road, looping around to the Red Sea. The Israelites left Egypt in military formation.

¹⁹ Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the Israelites solemnly swear to do it, saying, “God will surely hold you accountable, so make sure you bring my bones from here with you.”

^20-22 They moved on from Succoth and then camped at Etham at the edge of the wilderness. God went ahead of them in a Pillar of Cloud during the day to guide them on the way, and at night in a Pillar of Fire to give them light; thus they could travel both day and night. The Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night never left the people.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

My first thought is this:  The Israelites have been told where to work, what to do, where to live for over four hundred years!  They were not allowed to think for themselves.  They are now no longer slaves in bondage; they are free to think again!  Their mind muscles will need to be exercised again in this freedom.  So until then, God guides and provides.  God gathers his people, with Moses in the lead.  In an organized, “military-like” formation, God leads them through the wilderness instead of going the “faster route” for their own protection.  God KNOWS what lies ahead, He knows what is bests for us because He knows what we can endure or handle in our growth to reply solely on Him.  God is even better than Siri, our GPS!  I know!  Can you imagine?  God says to us daily, “TRUST ME, I’ve got this!”  But, do we?

GOD WANTS US TO REMEMBER what He has done so we will not fall back to our own smallness of self without Him.  Because of God’s mighty acts in protecting and redeeming His people and saving the firstborn of humans and livestock from death, all the firstborn belonged to God. They were sanctified, that is, set apart for God’s exclusive possession.  When a firstborn son was redeemed, or a firstborn animal, it gave adults the opportunity to explain how God had rescued the firstborn in the land of Goshen on Passover night.

NEW FREEDOM IS A LEARNING PROCESS!  It is a mark of maturity when we learn that freedom is a tool to build with, not a toy to play with, and that freedom involves accepting responsibility. Israel’s Exodus experience taught them that their future success lay in fulfilling three important responsibilities: following the Lord (vv. 17–22), trusting the Lord (Exodus 14:1–31), and praising the Lord (Exodus 15:12–21).

The person who trusts Jesus Christ is born again into the family of God, but that’s just the beginning of an exciting new adventure that should lead to growth. God liberates us and then leads us through the varied experiences of life, a day at a time, so that we might get to know Him better and claim by faith all that He wants us to have. At the same time, we come to know ourselves better; we discover our strengths and weaknesses, and we grow in understanding God’s will and trusting His promises.

GOD NEVER LEAVES US!  This passage leads us to an encouraging truth about our God; “The Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night never left the people.” 

Jesus reminded His disciples (and us) about this truth.  “And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Matthew 28:20

Dear Friends, where God guides, God provides.  Always and forever.  I am proof of a life that learned through trial and error and I am still learning that God knows the best path, through all kinds of terrain and troubles, through good times and bad.  He is consistently teaching me on the journey and amazing me with His power, wisdom and love.  God knows me.  God knows what is best for me.  God knows what I need to do His will.  And through it all, I know God will not leave me. 

Let God navigate your journey!

Lord,

Thank for all you have done, are doing and will do on my brief journey on earth!  Thank you for teaching me, being patient with me while loving me unconditionally.  There is no like you!  Guide my every thought and action today.  I live with expectancy and hope with you!

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen!

This is the most pivotal passage in the story of God in the Old Testament.  God frees his people from the bondage of their oppressors.  Everything about this passage is symbolic and prophetic of how God will send His Son, The Lamb of God, to die for us so that all who believe will not perish but live forever with Him!  God does all in His time, according to His plan, to display His power over all while showing His amazing love as He extends His generous grace and undeserved mercies to His created people. 

Bear in mind, Jesus is there with God.  Try to picture God talking to Moses through all the specific details with Jesus, who is part of God, listening with understanding for what will happen centuries later through Him once and for all. (Mind blown?) Redemption comes at a cost. 

Here Redemption for the Israelites means choosing the best lamb in the herd, killing it, then smearing the blood on the doorposts of their homes signifying “We are God’s people,” while the rest of the lamb is roasted and consumed.  It’s a bittersweet time.  The bitter herbs will remind them of this precious time that will be talked about each year for generations.  The lamb is to consumed by the family—food to sustain them for the quick exit from years of slavery and bondage to the promised land God planned for them long ago.  Let’s get our sandals on!  It is time to leave!  It’s time to be free at last!

Exodus 12, The Message

^1-10 God said to Moses and Aaron while still in Egypt, “This month is to be the first month of the year for you. Address the whole community of Israel; tell them that on the tenth of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one lamb to a house. If the family is too small for a lamb, then share it with a close neighbor, depending on the number of persons involved. Be mindful of how much each person will eat. Your lamb must be a healthy male, one year old; you can select it from either the sheep or the goats. Keep it penned until the fourteenth day of this month and then slaughter it—the entire community of Israel will do this—at dusk. Then take some of the blood and smear it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which you will eat it. You are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire, that night, along with bread, made without yeast, and bitter herbs. Don’t eat any of it raw or boiled in water; make sure it’s roasted—the whole animal, head, legs, and innards. Don’t leave any of it until morning; if there are leftovers, burn them in the fire.

¹¹ “And here is how you are to eat it: Be fully dressed with your sandals on and your stick in your hand. Eat in a hurry; it’s the Passover to God.

^12-13 “I will go through the land of Egypt on this night and strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, whether human or animal, and bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am God. The blood will serve as a sign on the houses where you live. When I see the blood I will pass over you—no disaster will touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.

^14-16 “This will be a memorial day for you; you will celebrate it as a festival to God down through the generations, a fixed festival celebration to be observed always. You will eat unraised bread (matzoth) for seven days: On the first day get rid of all yeast from your houses—anyone who eats anything with yeast from the first day to the seventh day will be cut off from Israel. The first and the seventh days are set aside as holy; do no work on those days. Only what you have to do for meals; each person can do that.

^17-20 “Keep the Festival of Unraised Bread! This marks the exact day I brought you out in force from the land of Egypt. Honor the day down through your generations, a fixed festival to be observed always. In the first month, beginning on the fourteenth day at evening until the twenty-first day at evening, you are to eat unraised bread. For those seven days not a trace of yeast is to be found in your houses. Anyone, whether a visitor or a native of the land, who eats anything raised shall be cut off from the community of Israel. Don’t eat anything raised. Only matzoth.”

^21-23 Moses assembled all the elders of Israel. He said, “Select a lamb for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the bowl of blood and smear it on the lintel and on the two doorposts. No one is to leave the house until morning. God will pass through to strike Egypt down. When he sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, God will pass over the doorway; he won’t let the destroyer enter your house to strike you down with ruin.

^24-27 “Keep this word. It’s the law for you and your children, forever. When you enter the land which God will give you as he promised, keep doing this. And when your children say to you, ‘Why are we doing this?’ tell them: ‘It’s the Passover-sacrifice to God who passed over the homes of the Israelites in Egypt when he hit Egypt with death but rescued us.’”

The people bowed and worshiped.

²⁸ The Israelites then went and did what God had commanded Moses and Aaron. They did it all.

* * *

²⁹ At midnight God struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, right down to the firstborn of the prisoner locked up in jail. Also the firstborn of the animals.

³⁰ Pharaoh got up that night, he and all his servants and everyone else in Egypt—what wild wailing and lament in Egypt! There wasn’t a house in which someone wasn’t dead.

^31-32 Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron that very night and said, “Get out of here and be done with you—you and your Israelites! Go worship God on your own terms. And yes, take your sheep and cattle as you’ve insisted, but go. And bless me.”

³³ The Egyptians couldn’t wait to get rid of them; they pushed them to hurry up, saying, “We’re all as good as dead.”

^34-36 The people grabbed their bread dough before it had risen, bundled their bread bowls in their cloaks and threw them over their shoulders. The Israelites had already done what Moses had told them; they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold things and clothing. God saw to it that the Egyptians liked the people and so readily gave them what they asked for. Oh yes! They picked those Egyptians clean.

^37-39 The Israelites moved on from Rameses to Succoth, about 600,000 on foot, besides their dependents. Hebrews and non-Hebrews alike set out, not to mention the large flocks and herds of livestock. They baked unraised cakes with the bread dough they had brought out of Egypt; it hadn’t raised—they’d been rushed out of Egypt and hadn’t time to fix food for the journey.

The Passover

^40-42 The Israelites had lived in Egypt 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, God’s entire army left Egypt. God kept watch all night, watching over the Israelites as he brought them out of Egypt. Because God kept watch, all Israel for all generations will honor God by keeping watch this night—a watchnight.

^43-47 God said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the rules for the Passover:

No foreigners are to eat it.

Any slave, if he’s paid for and circumcised, can eat it.

No casual visitor or hired hand can eat it.

Eat it in one house—don’t take the meat outside the house.

Don’t break any of the bones.

The whole community of Israel is to be included in the meal.

⁴⁸ “If an immigrant is staying with you and wants to keep the Passover to God, every male in his family must be circumcised, then he can participate in the Meal—he will then be treated as a native son. But no uncircumcised person can eat it.

⁴⁹ “The same law applies both to the native and the immigrant who is staying with you.”

^50-51 All the Israelites did exactly as God commanded Moses and Aaron. That very day God brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, tribe by tribe.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?  (SO MUCH HERE…)

“When I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass over you!” This old hymn from my childhood is playing in the background of my mind.  It means so much more now as I am older and understand the meaning of the Passover in preparation for the coming of Christ as our Passover Lamb, the Lamb of God, who saved all who will believe!

“…John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”  John 1:29

Passover marked a new beginning for the Israelites and bound them together as a nation. When the Lord liberates you from bondage, it’s the dawning of a new day and the beginning of a new life. Whenever you see the words “redeem” or “redemption” in the New Testament, they speak of freedom from slavery. (There were an estimated 60 million slaves in the Roman empire.) Jewish believers would immediately think of Passover and Israel’s deliverance from Egypt through the blood of the lamb.

The annual observance of Passover would give parents another opportunity to teach their children the meaning of their freedom and what God did for them. The adults were to be “living links” with Israel’s past so that each new generation would understand what it meant to be a member of God’s chosen nation. (See Deuteronomy 6:1–15)

Remember God gave.  God gave His people a Way out of Egypt who enslaved them.  God gave his Son as THE WAY out of the bondage for all nations!  Jesus forgives all our sins.  Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  God always keeps His promises.  Jesus is the Promise of Eternal Life.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Passover marked the beginning of the religious year, and at Passover the focus is on the lamb.  Our focus today is on the Lamb!  What do we tell our children…and grandchildren?  What will they tell their kids and grandkids?

Here is another parallel.  The lamb was slain and its blood was applied to the sides and top of the doorframes of the houses in which the Israelite families lived. It wasn’t the life of the lamb that saved the people from judgment—it was the death of the lamb. “Without shedding of blood, there is no remission” Hebrews 9:22.  Some people who claim to admire the life and teachings of Jesus don’t want the cross of Jesus, yet it’s His death on the cross that paid the price of our redemption. Jesus was our substitute; He died our death for us and suffered the judgment of our sin. 

It was important to see the wholeness of the lamb, not boiled but roasted, so no bones broken.  We trust Christ that we might be saved from our sins by His sacrifice, but we must also feed on Christ in order to have strength for our daily journey with Him. As we worship, meditate on the Word, pray, and believe, we take in the spiritual nourishment of Jesus Christ and grow in grace and knowledge.

The lesson here is obvious: Unless we are protected by the blood of Christ, when death comes, we’ll be completely unprepared, and we don’t know when death is coming.  Are you ready? Sandals on? Are you ready to exit the life with the Lamb and be free to love God with all your heart, mind and soul?

Forever, Jesus will be celebrated as the Lamb of God who died for our sin and rose again defeated death—once and for all!  All sins erased for those who believe. And in eternity…

“And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.”  Revelation 5:9

Lord,

Thank you for saving my soul and making me whole.  May we never forget your faithfulness, your love, mercy and grace that set us free to love like you love us.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen!  Yes!

When I see the blood, When I see the blood, When I see the blood,
I will pass, I will pass over you.

Listen to God?!  We don’t even listen to each other!  Seriously friends, we talk a good line about care and compassionate understanding while our minds are really thinking about how we are going to answer whoever is talking with our opinions and desires.  We are skillful at looking intently into the eyes of another but be thinking we are on island somewhere sipping a cool drink.  It happens in staff meetings, family reunions, church, and any other place where a human speaks with another.

As a teacher of young students, I poured my heart out one day to a reading group about how to form words into sentences.  After my “dissertation,” one of my first graders, who I thought was intently watching me speak the whole time, giving me confidence as teacher, said to me, “Mrs. Callaway, that is a beautiful necklace!”  Sigh.  You begin to know who is truly listening and who is not.

Listening is an art that is skillfully learned and perfected with practice.  It requires our minds engaged, not in ourselves, but in others and what they are saying.  It requires looking into someone’s eyes while noticing how they are saying their words so that true understanding can take place.  A great listener is quiet, does not interrupt, isn’t thinking about how they will respond tritely, or how they will arrogantly change the topic altogether.  A good listener truly hears what the other person is saying from their heart.  A true listener can repeat exactly what the other person is saying to clarify understanding between hearts.  A caring listener hears what they are not saying. 

True listening can change a life or destroy it.

Pharoah is not listening to God through Moses.  Death will change the lives of all Egyptians, including Pharoah, as a result.

Exodus 11, The Message

Strike Ten: Death

11 God said to Moses: “I’m going to hit Pharaoh and Egypt one final time, and then he’ll let you go.When he releases you, that will be the end of Egypt for you; he won’t be able to get rid of you fast enough.

^2-3 “So here’s what you do. Tell the people to ask, each man from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor, for things made of silver and gold.” God saw to it that the Egyptians liked the people. Also, Moses was greatly admired by the Egyptians, a respected public figure among both Pharaoh’s servants and the people at large.

^4-7 Then Moses confronted Pharaoh: “God’s Message: ‘At midnight I will go through Egypt and every firstborn child in Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl working at her hand mill. Also the firstborn of animals. Widespread wailing will erupt all over the country, lament such as has never been and never will be again. But against the Israelites—man, woman, or animal—there won’t be so much as a dog’s bark, so that you’ll know that God makes a clear distinction between Egypt and Israel.’

⁸ “Then all these servants of yours will grovel before me, begging me to leave, ‘Leave! You and all the people who follow you!’ And I will most certainly leave.”

Moses, seething with anger, left Pharaoh.

⁹ God said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s not going to listen to a thing you say so that the signs of my presence and work are going to multiply in the land of Egypt.”

¹⁰ Moses and Aaron had performed all these signs in Pharaoh’s presence, but God turned Pharaoh more stubborn than ever—yet again he refused to release the Israelites from his land.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESOND?

God had promised Abraham that his descendants would leave Egypt with great wealth (Genesis 15:14), and he repeated that promise to Moses (Exodus 3:21, 22). God had given His servant Moses great respect among the Egyptians, and now He would give the Israelites great favor with the Egyptians, who would freely give their wealth to them.

Listen to what God says, for His promises are true and will happen in His time in His ways.

In most cultures, firstborn sons are considered special, and in Egypt, they were considered sacred. We must remember that God calls Israel his firstborn son.  At the very beginning of their conflict, Moses warned Pharaoh that the way he treated God’s firstborn would determine how God treated Egypt’s firstborn.

Listen to what God says, for His words are true.

When we read the Book of Genesis, we learned that God often rejected the firstborn son and chose the next son to carry on the family line and receive God’s special blessing. God chose Abel, and then Seth, but not Cain; He chose Shem, not Japheth; Isaac, not Ishmael; and Jacob, not Esau. 

These choices not only magnify God’s sovereign grace, but they are a symbolic way of saying that it is not our first birth that makes us right with God. We must experience a second birth, a spiritual birth, before God can accept us (John 1:12, 13; 3:1–18)., because of our first birth, we inherit Adam’s sinful nature and are lost, but when we experience a second birth through faith in Christ, we receive God’s divine nature and are accepted in Christ.

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”  John 1:12-13

Listen to God calling you and others to believe and be saved from sin, to be free from hold sin has on our lives.

“You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.”  Romans 8:9

Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”  Galatians 4:6

As we call out to our Father God, He listens!  He hears every word on our lips before we speak from our minds.  He also hears our hearts.

Listen to God’s Spirit living in us, growing us in His character, like Peter teaches us—

“This letter is from Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ.  I am writing to you who share the same precious faith we have. This faith was given to you because of the justice and fairness of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior.

May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  2 Peter 1:1-8, NLT

To know God is to be still, let go of all other thinking and really listen to God.  We will discover that perfecting our listening to God perfects our listening to each other!

Lord,

Help me to remove all that hinders my listening to you and to others.  Help me to be still and really listen to you seeking your understanding each morning.  I don’t want to fall behind or step ahead in walking with you.  I want to be by your side, holding your hand, while knowing you are all around me.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for listening to my words and my heart.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

Locusts are loud as well as obnoxiously destructive.  Can you imagine seeing the earth covered with them? The only thing that comes close in my experience are the swarms of June bugs that would harass us at church camp each summer. The boys loved throwing them on the girls. The legs of the bug with clamp onto your skin or clothes, and especially your hair.  Lots of squealing from June bugs interrupted many worship nights at camp, that’s for sure! 

I’ve been camping when on my way to the bathroom during the night, my flashlight decided not to work.  Darkness is frightening—until we see the light ahead to follow!  The big question is how long until I see the light?

As we attempt to put ourselves into the story, imagine being an Egyptian citizen just trying to go about their daily tasks as all the plagues began to hit because of their stubborn leader.  The longing question on their minds is finally expressed by the servants of Pharoah, “HOW LONG?”  “How long are you going to let this man harass us? Let these people go and worship their God. Can’t you see that Egypt is on its last legs?”  AND imagine looking over at the Israelites and noticing that NONE of this was happening to them!

Exodus 10, The Message

Strike Eight: Locusts

^1-2 God said to Moses: “Go to Pharaoh. I’ve made him stubborn, him and his servants, so that I can force him to look at these signs and so you’ll be able to tell your children and grandchildren how I toyed with the Egyptians, like a cat with a mouse; you’ll tell them the stories of the signs that I brought down on them, so that you’ll all know that I am God.”

^3-6 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “God, the God of the Hebrews, says, ‘How long are you going to refuse to knuckle under? Release my people so that they can worship me. If you refuse to release my people, watch out; tomorrow I’m bringing locusts into your country. They’ll cover every square inch of ground; no one will be able to see the ground. They’ll devour everything left over from the hailstorm, even the saplings out in the fields—they’ll clear-cut the trees. And they’ll invade your houses, filling the houses of your servants, filling every house in Egypt. Nobody will have ever seen anything like this, from the time your ancestors first set foot on this soil until today.’”

Then he turned on his heel and left Pharaoh.

⁷ Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long are you going to let this man harass us? Let these people go and worship their God. Can’t you see that Egypt is on its last legs?”

⁸ So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. He said to them, “Go ahead then. Go worship your God. But just who exactly is going with you?”

⁹ Moses said, “We’re taking young and old, sons and daughters, flocks and herds—this is our worship-celebration of God.”

^10-11 He said, “I’d sooner send you off with God’s blessings than let you go with your children. Look, you’re up to no good—it’s written all over your faces. No way. Just the men are going—go ahead and worship God. That’s what you want so badly.” And they were thrown out of Pharaoh’s presence.

¹² God said to Moses: “Stretch your hand over Egypt and signal the locusts to cover the land of Egypt, devouring every blade of grass in the country, everything that the hail didn’t get.”

¹³ Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt. God let loose an east wind. It blew that day and night. By morning the east wind had brought in the locusts.

^14-15 The locusts covered the country of Egypt, settling over every square inch of Egypt; the place was thick with locusts. There never was an invasion of locusts like it in the past, and never will be again. The ground was completely covered, black with locusts. They ate everything, every blade of grass, every piece of fruit, anything that the hail didn’t get. Nothing left but bare trees and bare fields—not a sign of green in the whole land of Egypt.

^16-17 Pharaoh had Moses and Aaron back in no time. He said, “I’ve sinned against your God and against you. Overlook my sin one more time. Pray to your God to get me out of this—get death out of here!”

^18-19 Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to God. God reversed the wind—a powerful west wind took the locusts and dumped them into the Red Sea. There wasn’t a single locust left in the whole country of Egypt.

²⁰ But God made Pharaoh stubborn as ever. He still didn’t release the Israelites.

Strike Nine: Darkness

²¹ God said to Moses: “Stretch your hand to the skies. Let darkness descend on the land of Egypt—a darkness so dark you can touch it.”

^22-23 Moses stretched out his hand to the skies. Thick darkness descended on the land of Egypt for three days. Nobody could see anybody. For three days no one could so much as move. Except for the Israelites: they had light where they were living.

²⁴ Pharaoh called in Moses: “Go and worship God. Leave your flocks and herds behind. But go ahead and take your children.”

^25-26 But Moses said, “You have to let us take our sacrificial animals and offerings with us so we can sacrifice them in worship to our God. Our livestock has to go with us with not a hoof left behind; they are part of the worship of our God. And we don’t know just what will be needed until we get there.”

²⁷ But God kept Pharaoh stubborn as ever. He wouldn’t agree to release them.

²⁸ Pharaoh said to Moses: “Get out of my sight! And watch your step. I don’t want to ever see you again. If I lay eyes on you again, you’re dead.”

²⁹ Moses said, “Have it your way. You won’t see my face again.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

TELL OF THE GREATNESS OF GOD

When God gave Moses the instructions for his next meeting with Pharaoh, He added another reason for the great display of His wonders in the plagues: that the Israelites might be able to tell the generations to come about the awesome power of their great God. 

This purpose was also written into the Passover feast. Whether in the family or the local church, it’s good for each new generation to learn and appreciate the way God has worked on behalf of previous generations.

When we learn to recall and give thanks to God for all He has done and is doing as a way of life, in front of our children and grandchildren, it instills the knowledge of the greatness of God in them while displaying our consistent gratitude to God. 

GOD IS GOD!  

The plague of locusts was the most devastating natural calamity to hit the land of Egypt in all Egyptian history. In destroying the vegetation, God not only left the land bankrupt, but He triumphed over Osiris, the Egyptian god of fertility and crops. He also proved that He had control over the wind.

AND HE’LL DO IT AGAIN!

I’m reminded of Jesus, God’s Son, who is God, say to the wind, “Quiet, be still!”, proving again the power of God!  The disciples retold this story to their family and friends and it came down to us…

“That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”  Mark 4:35-41

AND HIS POWER IS IN US!

Yes, tell of the greatness of God to everyone you know and meet!  Generation after generation after generation…

Lord,

May I never be silent in telling of your greatness and power, your saving grace, your everlasting faithfulness and your relentless love for us!  Help me to tell it, shout it, and show it!  In whatever way fits the situation and circumstance, give me the right words at the right time in the right Spirit to tell your story of who you are and what you have done, are doing and will do.  You are God and I am not.  To you be the glory, honor and praise!

In Jesus Name, Amen