Project 52 | Week 4

This week was even worst than last in terms of my consistency in the Bible. I still did all my reading, but in one or two days as opposed to a small bit every day. I've got to do better. There weren't any large themes that came to mind this week, but I will share with you some verses that got me thinking.

The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”  ~Exodus 14:14 (ESV)

 This verse is so familiar to me. Some versions say "be still" rather than "be silent." I've had to take this position a lot lately...at work, in my marriage, in relationships with friends. I hate to say that I like to win. Granted, I'm not a poor loser, I can take an "L," but I have to work hard at not competing and/fighting in all things. I'm not talking physical fights here, but just issues where I disagree or I want to prove my point. I don't have to. God will take care of it.

And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them,  ~ Exodus 15:25 (ESV)

See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”  ~ Exodus 16:29 (ESV)

The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.  ~ Exodus 16:35 (ESV)

The Lord will provide. I am amazed how after all the grumbling, that God consistently provided for the Israelites as they journeyed from Egypt. He did just provide for a few days, or weeks, but for forty years, they sojourned and God provided food and water. I know I am all to often worried about finances and how next month will go. When I read Exodus and am reassured that if I am in the will of God, He will provide.

So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set. So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.  ~ Exodus 17:11-13 (ESV)

We can't fight the Christian fight on our own. I love this story of when Amalek fights Israel. I can picture the fight change for a different side's advantage each time Moses hands are down or raised. When Aaron and Hur step in, I am reminded that the Christian life is not one to be lived in isolation. God made us for community. The sacrifice of His son is all about a relationship with His people. Community is essential to live Christian life.

Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you are doing is not good. “You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. ~ Exodus 18:17-18 (ESV)

So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said. Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. They judged the people at all times; the difficult dispute they would bring to Moses, but every minor dispute they themselves would judge.  ~ Exodus 18:24-26 (ESV)

My church has some guiding principles that drive everything we do. One of them is reproducing leaders and I see it straight from the word of God. Moses' father-in-law was wise to tell him to share the responsibility of leading the Israelites. In leadership at work and in ministry, I often try to take on more than I have to. God has put people in place with the same passions and I have to learn how to share responsibility.

And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”  ~ Exodus 24:8 (ESV)

Now, some versons say that Moses "sprinkled" and others say "threw." Either way, I'm not to fond of being splattered with blood in order to acknowledge a covenant. I am so thankful that Jesus has served as the ultimate sacrifice and I don't have to find an offering to God other than my time and talents. Thank you Jesus for the blood of the perfect lamb of God.

I'm linking up with Angela @ Selfless Ambition and I hope you'll hop over there to see what God is doing in the lives of others or to share what God is revealing to you!