READINGS FOR JUNE 14, 2024: EXODUS 3, GALATIANS 6, PSALM 54 EXODUS 3 As with so many people God chose to use in the Bible, God approaches Moses while he is hard at work. In this case, he is pasturing his father-in-law's flock in the desert, far from the glamor of Pharoah’s court. Perhaps the one thing Moses needed to learn after his formal education as an Egyptian prince was humility. Although not stated in the text, Bible scholars often identify the Angel of the Lord as a pre-Bethlehem appearance of Jesus. In support of this, the word “Lord” is used alone several times in this extended dialogue. Moses wasn’t so far removed from civilization that God couldn’t get his attention. Moses also was alert enough to notice such a unique phenomenon as a burning bush that did not burn up. Do we ever think our time of usefulness has passed by? Let’s keep our eyes open for unexpected encounters.
In this passage, God’s focuses on His attribute of holiness, or separateness. This is an attribute some of the great saints and hymnwriters emphasized in the past but is less considered today. Even though we are made in God’s image, God’s holiness far surpasses anything we can achieve or conceive: “There is no one holy like the Lord. Indeed, there is no one besides You” (1 Sam 2:2). Once God established this truth, He made sure Moses understood who He was. He self-identified as the God of those forefathers with whom He forged His great covenant. This is the same God who created all the earth and who seeks and deserves our full attention today. Let’s not blow God off as a nice little addition to our life when we aren’t otherwise occupied.
Once His identity is clarified, God’s mission for that time and place is conveyed: rescuing His people from bondage and bringing them to the land of the covenant. This is where Moses comes in because he is God’s chosen instrument for that task. Moses’s 40 years in the wilderness have taken away all his personal bravado, so God gives him the ultimate message of encouragement: HE WILL BE WITH HIM. This is God’s message to us as obedient followers!
God anticipates the nature of Moses’s meeting with the people by giving him words to use. One is another expression of God’s name: I AM WHO I AM. This is connected to the word Yahweh or Jehovah. The name conveys ultimate and eternal existence transcending the past, present, and future. God then tells Moses to ask for a three-day pass for the Hebrews to offer sacrifices in the desert. Anticipating that Pharoah will refuse, God says He will eventually bombard Pharoah with miracles until he lets them go. Remarkably the Egyptian people will look kindly upon the Hebrews and give them expensive going-away presents. There is a certain justice to this because of the 400 years the Hebrews worked as unpaid slaves. In God’s providence, these gifts will furnish the tabernacle later to be constructed in the desert.
READINGS FOR JUNE 14, 2024 CONTINUED: GALATIANS 6, PSALM 54 GALATIANS 6 There are three ways for a church to handle a situation when one of its members has been found to be at fault. Two wrong ways are 1) ignoring the issue (common today) or 2) correcting it too harshly (read the Scarlet Letter). The one good way is to approach the person gently and with humility. The goal should be instruction and reconciliation, not lasting enmity. In general, church members should be alert to anyone carrying heavy personal loads or too much responsibility and offer to assist as appropriate. All such exchanges and assistance should take place with total humility among all parties. Also, those not pulling their own weight or serving for reasons of personal visibility should examine themselves and seek a better way. Those who minister by teaching the word should be adequately supported by the body, through prayer, cooperation, and yes, money. Realizing that sometimes the word takes time to bear fruit, the church needs to be both patient and persistent in its sharing the truth. God’s blessing is promised. Pray for our church to generously sow and reap.
Paul seems to have written some or all of this letter without the help of a secretary. His mention of his using large letters might suggest his eyesight was not good. (Anybody know about this?) He can’t help but get in one more swipe about the pointlessness of circumcision, especially compared to being a new creation in Christ after we are born again. Are we convinced yet? He must be a bit weary at this point because he tells them not to trouble him again about this. He emphasizes that he has suffered physically for the Gospel, so their messing it all up must have been terribly disappointing to him. Let’s get it right.
PSALM 54 This appears to be David’s prayer to God about a situation described in 1 Samuel 23. The Ziphites, part of the tribe of Judah, informed Saul that David was hiding among them. By this time, David had been chosen by God to be the next king. Thus, Saul was working against God’s purposes in trying to kill David. David prays to be saved by the name and power of God from the Ziphites, fellow tribesmen but acting as if they are strangers to David. (Ever been betrayed by those you thought were friends?)
David had reason to believe the Ziphites were not walking with the Lord (vs 3). He contrasts their apparently non-existent faith with his complete trust in God (vs. 4). The destruction he predicts will happen to them is because of their evil and God’s faithfulness. They are not just David’s enemies, but God’s. David ends this Psalm with an expression of praise rooted in his understanding and past experience of God’s goodness. The idea of making requests of God while praising and thanking Him anticipates Philippian 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
