Skip to main content

Prepare to Meet your God!

If there was ever a meeting of the greatest importance, this was it. 

If there was ever a place to meet that was absolutely crucial to the meeting, this was it.  

If there were ever introductions that could make or break the meeting, this was it.

The meeting was initiated by God:  And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.  (Ex 19:10-11)

The place of the meeting had some defined boundaries:  And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.  (Ex 19:12)

When the meeting was about to take place, Moses gathered the people to go to meet their God:  Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their place at the foot of the mountain.  (Ex 19:16-17) 

And God introduced Himself to His people through Moses:  God spoke all these words: “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.” (Ex 20:1-2)

God not only introduced Himself to His people as their God but he also included, in the introduction, what He had done for them.  He had changed their lives for the better, even more than they could ever know.

Also, as part of the whole meeting process, God communicated His expectations of His people.  Those expectations are known as the Ten Commandments.  Contrary to how they might be viewed then, and even now, the Ten Commandments were not just a set of rules to follow. In obeying them, it would set God’s people apart from all the nations of the world.

More so, in obeying them, it would indicate God would be engaging them in a relationship with Himself, something that no other nation had:  Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?  And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?  (Deut 4:6-8)

Today, meeting God is still the meeting of all meetings.  However, the place of the meeting has changed from the foot of the mountain to the foot of the cross. 

God’s introduction to us is not necessarily accomplished by someone taking us to a mountain to meet God, it is through His Son who came down to us:  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.  (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”).  For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  (John 1:14-17)

And the indicator of a relationship with God is no longer defined by obedience to the law, but by being in His Son and covered by the His blood:  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”  (Eph 2:13) 

  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

New Year Trash or Treasure?

You probably know the old saying:  “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.  I am not going to try to prove or disprove it, just look at it from a different angle. Cheryl and I were recently walking on a beach in Florida .  A man was walking along with a bag and was picking up trash and putting it in the bag.  Was he picking up things of value? We also saw a different man walking along the same beach with a metal detector.  He would swing it back and forth and would occasionally stop and dig in the sand.  Was he looking for things of value? Both were intent.  Both were focused.  Both were diligent. I’m guessing that the one picking up trash was not looking for things of value.  I’m also guessing that, by picking up trash, he was valuing the beauty of the beach and didn’t want the trash to mar it.  The one with the metal detector, I’m guessing that he was not looking for metallic items of trash but was looking for...

Don't Get Tripped Up

I do enjoy traveling and I keep an eye out for good prices. I also enjoy looking at trends in travel. For a while, the travel industry focused their advertising on taking those trips that might be on your bucket list.   That faded a bit and I started seeing ads about taking the trip of a lifetime. I guess both those campaigns have been waning since I’ve been seeing information about taking an “epic” trip.   Recently I noticed the phrase “unforgettable trip” in advertising.   More recently, I’ve been seeing promotions about taking “sustainable” trips and even “reconnecting to our roots” trips. As I’ve been pondering these advertising campaigns, I thought I’d consider what their ideas encompass and then look at them from a spiritual perspective: 1.   “ Bucket list trips ” are based on a list of the experiences a person might hope to have before they “kick the bucket” (i.e. die).   While I can certainly come up with a bucket list of trips, I’m thinking a bu...

Above My Pay Grade!

We like things that we can study, know and understand.  Sometimes we find it difficult to accept that there are things that might be hidden from our knowledge and understanding. The Scriptures indicate that there are some things hidden by design:  “The Lord our God keeps certain things hidden. But he makes other things known to us and to our children forever. He does it so we can obey all the words of this law.”  (Deut 29:29) Some versions of the Bible translate the hidden things as “secret things”.  Regardless, there are things which have been revealed and things which are kept hidden from us and remain secret. We may chafe at having to deal with the fact that some things remain hidden, but that’s often when faith and trust come in.  The Psalmist wrote:   “O Lord , my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.”  (Ps 131:1) The Psalmist seem to realize that th...