“The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD with ALL your HEART and with ALL your SOUL and with ALL your MIGHT. And these words that I COMMAND YOU TODAY shall be ON YOUR HEART.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-6) Why would God have to COMMAND US to love Him?
The weirdest thing to me about being a Christian is how often WE FORGET the miracle of God’s love. We forget the power of it. We forget how wonderful it is that a holy God should pursue us. It stops being such a big deal. It stops feeling so amazing. We REGULARLY fall out of love with Him it seems. Moses went up the mountain for a 40 DAY FAST, “When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT HAS BECOME OF HIM.” (Exodus 32:1) The Israelites’ lack of faith while Moses was on Mt. Sinai made them feel insecure. Moses was gone less than 40 days when the Israelites fashioned A CALF OF MOLDED GOLD to substitute for the invisible Creator God. In their own minds, they had reduced God to something they could control and call upon when convenient. Those who repented WERE ASHAMED of what they had done.
The Lord had WRITTEN THE TEN COMMANDMENTS on stone tablets, with His finger, the LORD said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have TURNED ASIDE quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” (Exodus 32:7-8) Moses went down, saw what was going down, he threw the tables of stone (the Ten Commandments) on the ground and took care of business. Then Moses headed back up the mountain for AN ADDITIONAL 40 DAYS. (Exodus 34:28)
Here is what is so interesting at this point in time, the children of Israel DID NOT REALLY KNOW WHO GOD WAS! Moses, even after spending time with God, DID NOT REALLY KNOW GOD! So, this time Moses said to God, “Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please SHOW ME NOW YOUR WAYS, THAT I MAY KNOW (yâda‛: to make oneself intimately known) YOU in order to FIND FAVOR in your sight.” (Exodus 33:13) “…the LORD said, “I will make all my goodness pass before your face, and I will proclaim the LORD by name before you…But He added, “You cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live. Here is a place by Me; you will station yourself on a rock. When My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and will cover you with my hand while I pass by.” (Exodus 33:19-22) “The LORD PASSED BY BEFORE MOSES and proclaimed: “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, keeping loyal love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” Moses quickly BOWED TO THE GROUND and (for the first time) WORSHIPED (The Lord God Almighty).” (Exodus 34:6-8)
“Now when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand – when he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that THE SKIN OF HIS FACE SHONE while he talked with him.” (Exodus 34:29) When Aaron and the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to approach him, so he put a veil over His face. Will people see something different about us when we PURSUE INTIMACY WITH GOD, by loving Him with ALL our heart, soul and might?
Your Personal Pastor -Bill Stockham