Why We May Be Failing To Hear God

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Patience After Patience

Exodus 24:16-18: And the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.  And to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop.  And Moses entered the midst of the cloud as he went up to the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

What can we glean from these three verses?

Perhaps a good place to start is to make sure we have an understanding of what the “glory of the Lord” may mean.  Matt Slick, President & Founder, Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, defines it this way:

The phrase "glory of the Lord" occurs 38 times in the NASB, 36 in the KJV.  Glory is synonymous with splendor, honor, praise, worthiness, etc.  The phrase is used to describe the manifestation of God’s greatness (Exodus 16:10) and is seen as a consuming fire (Exodus 24:17), a cloud (1 Kings 8:11), radiance (Ezekiel 1:26-28), and brightness (Ezekiel 10:4).  It fills the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34) and can be seen (Numbers 16:42) and can bring fear (Luke 2:9).

From our text under study here in Exodus it appears that the “glory of the Lord” moves about, and in this case, it rested on Mount Sinai.  This reminds me of two things.  First, I think of a quote, from the book, Experiencing God, by Henry & Richard Blackaby, and Claude King.  It went like this, “Watch to see where God is working and join Him” based on John 5:17,19,20. We need to find out where God’s glory is being manifested and both worship and serve in that arena. Secondly, in this passage, His glory rested on a mountain – a mountain that Moses had to climb. Many of us today just want to have His glory where we are – down here in the easy-going, soft, self-fulfilling life that we live.  God says, “No, you’ll find me on the mountain and it’s hard work getting up here.” How hard is it finding God’s “glory”?  Well, I think the next phrase tells us.

Even though God’s glory rested on Mount Sinai, a cloud covered it for six whole days. Moses had obeyed.  He made the trip up the Mountain, but he still had to wait for God’s timing for leader of Israelites in the desert to hear from Him. How would your patience, or mine, have handled that? If we answer, “not well” – perhaps we’re not ready to hearken to what He has to say to us.

And then God calls Moses on the seventh day – seven whole days after Moses was summoned to make the trip up the Mountain.  Moses obeyed; he did everything he had to, and God still made him wait.  If we question God’s action in that regard, we still need to do some work on Who God is and How He operates.  Not to mention reconsidering exactly who we are.

Meanwhile, half way down the Mountain, the other 72 leaders and elders that had joined Moses and Joshua for the first leg of the trip, saw, from below, the glory of the Lord as a consuming fire at the top of the mountain.  Can you imagine what went through their heads?  Was it possible that they thought Moses and Joshua were simply called up higher to be sacrificed in a burning fire?  If not, will they ever return and what will they be like?  And so on.  I am sure, that at the least, they would have been filled with great awe and perhaps considerable fear.  Think of your possible reaction if that had been your pastor and the head of your church’s board of directors?

And then we read, that after God called Moses (on the seventh day) from the midst of the cloud, Moses walked into the cloud (I believe without Joshua) as he continued to get closer to God.  Great, at last, we’ll have some action.  Things will happen now, won’t they?  “We need things to happen now, God.”  But they didn’t.  In fact, our text says, “Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights” after that point in time.

Here’s the lesson.  If we really want God’s wisdom, His direction, and His help – we must realize, understand, and accept the fact that we have absolutely no control over how He gives them to us.  Sometimes He acts quickly, sometimes in “a little while”, and sometimes it seems forever.  But He’s fully aware of time, and knows that although He’s not bound by it, we are concerned with it.  Until we get to the point where we can honestly believe that His timing is absolutely best, designed to both take the ultimate advantage of circumstances into account, as well as providing us with the ultimate opportunity to grow in patience and in our faith, we will always struggle with when God speaks.  I pray you get ‘there’ sooner rather than later.

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"Moving on Up" in Your Relationship With God.

Moses Ordered To Go To Where God Was On The Mountain

Exodus 24:13-15: Now the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and commandment which I have written for their instruction.”  So Moses arose with Joshua his servant, and Moses went up to the mountain of God.  But to the elders he said, “Wait here for us until we return to you.  And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a legal mater, let him approach them.” Then Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

It is interesting to note exactly what God said to Moses at this point. First, as close as we get to God moving upwards on the spiritual mountain on which He resides, God wants us to get closer. He wants us to take a risk (if we consider it so) and be “moving on up” to where He is.  And to “remain there.” For how long you may ask? I believe it is until He sends you off to do something specific for Him involving His people and His Kingdom.

Did Moses think he might never come back? I doubt it. God told him he would be getting the stone tablets with the law and the commandments that God had written for the instruction of the people.  Moses was to bring those back down the mountain. He was assured of his return to his people.

This is so typical of God.  He calls us to go up to Him, get more of His instructions, and then get back down to where the work needs to be done.  On our trip we gain insight, we are given further instructions, and we are refreshed to go on doing God’s work on earth.

These tablets that Moses was to bring down carried the commandments that were written and given for “our instruction”.  I just finished reading a book by a Christian cardiologist, and the thought comes to my mind of the fact that so many receive instructions and even prescriptions from their doctors and fail to follow them and end up dead. Why on earth anyone who believes in God and even believes He gave us the Ten Commandments would not follow them is beyond me. We are asking for trouble. And millions who call themselves Christians do just that.

Moses obeys, and taking his servant Joshua (remember Moses is quite old by now), he moves further up the mountain towards God. This was the same Joshua that later became Moses’ successor.  But as David Guzik notes, he started off as a mere “assistant” to begin with.  More about him later in the Scriptures.

But before Moses went further up the mountain, we note that he left instructions for the elders. Yes, he got a new assignment but he also made sure that the responsibilities he was carrying out beforehand would be transferred to his trusted subordinates, Aaron and Hur. (Hur, you will remember was a chief man among the Hebrews in the desert, associated with Aaron in upholding the hands of Moses at Rephidim [Exodus 17:12].) So, he too had proven himself. A good leader always has those that he can count on to carry on the work he has to leave behind in order to serve at a higher level.

So Moses goes up the mountain and the cloud covers the mountain.  Can you imagine how he felt? How did Joshua feel?  How did those left behind feel?  What an experience to be called to come “closer to God”. And yet, each of us has that very opportunity today.  We can get closer to God – but it takes, as I’m learning from Dr. John D. Duncan’s book, Sacred Grit, lots of training to overcome fear, agony, and sweat.  And then it takes availability and willingness to make the trip. But I am sure you’ll find it unbelievably worthwhile.

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God As An Active Participant In Our Obedience To Him -- Exodus 19:1-3

In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.  When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain.  And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel:”
 

Before we get into the content of this section, I want for a moment to reflect some more about Zipporah, Moses’ Midianite wife who bore him two sons.  The Jewish Women’s Archive website (http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/zipporah-bible) suggests that Moses’ neglect of Zipporah is obvious.  The site argues that it is Moses (not God) that tells the men at Sinai not to approach any women in preparation for God’s approach in three days (Exod 19:2).   They go on to say, that “since he himself is apparently always in preparation for meeting with God, we can infer that he never sleeps with Zipporah.”  And I guess that amounts to spousal neglect.  This is another one of those things that we will never know.  Poor Zipporah seems to not be able to redeem herself in the eyes of anyone. 

Returning to our current passage of scripture, we note that they have now been “out of Egypt” at least two months.  The phrase, “on that very day” may refer to the “first day of” the third month or “a particular day in” the third month.  Commentator Robert Jamieson suggests it is, in accordance, with Jewish usage, a reference to the “first day” of the month.  This becomes significant as commentators try to relate the “giving of the Law” and the date of origin of Israel’s charter of incorporation as a nation to a set number of days after they left Egypt. More on that later.  At any rate, that is the date they entered the wilderness of Sinai, having left Rephidim.  They camped in front of the mountain Sinai that gave its name to the wilderness before it.

The text says that while the Israelites camped there, “Moses went up to God”.  Most commentators agree that in “going up to God” Moses was responding to a calling from God to go to Him and at the very least, Moses was being led by God up the mountain to Himself, as the phrase “went up to God” may be suggesting.  I am reminded of our grandchildren who live with us.  Sometimes after dinner, when they have taken their dirty plates to the kitchen, one or more of them run downstairs to finish their homework, play or continue watching a movie they were viewing, etc.  And often, in their rush to get to what is important to them, they do not always do a great job of clearing their plates (e.g. throwing serviettes in the trash rather than leaving them on the dirty plate, etc.).  It is at that time, one of the adults calls down, “Gabrielle (or Naomi or Elijah), come back up here and clear your plates.”  Other times one of their parents may want to tell them something important before they get into their ‘other stuff’.  The grandchildren are called to come upstairs or we could say, ‘led into coming’ upstairs.  So, it is in that sense, that perhaps Moses was being led by God to go up the mountain to Him.  The fact that God spoke to him right away and gave him instructions also support the notion of Moses being “called” to go up to God.

Moses was up the mountain, but had not reached God.  The text says that God called to him from the mountain (implying God was ‘in the mountain’).  As Moses obeyed the direction God had given him to go and meet with Him up the mountain, God wastes no time in speaking to him and giving him further instructions. God is an active participant in our relationship with Him and He does more than meet us halfway.

God’s instructions to Moses are very specific.  “Thus you shall say.”  There’s no wiggle room here.  There’s no “say it whatever way you want to, Moses, but get the point across” here.  There’s no room for interpretation here – “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel.”  And there’s no opportunity for refusing to do so – “you shall say”.  Oftentimes we try to take what God has said and what He wants us to share or say to others and we water it down.  We are not the first to do that.  You will remember that the Serpent in the Garden of Eden was.  He told Eve, “God did not say you shall surely die.”  Ah, but He did.  Let those of us who are teachers or preachers or leaders be careful not to misstate or misinterpret God.  Worse still, may none of us refuse to obey His specific instructions to us.

Let us also not make assumptions on what God may have intended to say, but left unsaid.  We cannot speak for God if He chose not to speak for Himself on a topic.  As convenient as that may be to our goals, God did not consider it necessary for His puposes.  If God did not say something, let us not make it a basic tenet of His church.  That simply divides people when it was God’s will that we be united.

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[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

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It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

A Life Policy That Takes Us to Where No Policy Is Needed -- Exodus 15:17-18

“Thou wilt bring them and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, The place, O Lord, which Thou hast made for Thy dwelling, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established.  The Lord shall reign forever and ever.”
 
First, I must clear up any misconception some may have that I consider a personal acceptance of Jesus Christ simply as an insurance policy.  It is much, much, more and it requires a very active involvement on our part.  While the salvation aspect is indeed totally one-sided (His) save and except our willingness to accept it, the desire of the Underwriter is that we live a life that fully honors and glorifies Him, as well as a life that is fully reliant on Him.  Our contribution to the contract is not in the guarantee of salvation, for that is a totally free gift of God’s to man.  Rather, our contribution begins after we accept that gift and is measured in terms of our service to Him through both our acts towards others and our adoration for Him.

But let us look at this policy a little closer.  Its terms just keep getting better.  God “will bring (us)” to the place of His inheritance.  In the text this is a reference to the land of Canaan.  But in the parallel of the story, for us, it is our “promised land”, an eternal life that begins the moment we accept the gift of salvation and acquire the policy.  Not only does He personally “bring us” there but the text says, He will “plant (us)” there.  There will be no more displacement.  No need to be repotted elsewhere.  No need to look for another insurer or policy.  Our roots there will be firm and eventually lead us to heaven for eternity.

Secondly, the “mountain of His inheritance” is His dwelling place as well.  As I pick up my paper each morning from the front porch, I watch loving parents drop their children off at a neighbor’s place for daycare.  They have brought them there and helped them get established, but ultimately they have to go to work and leave them in the hands of others until someone comes back to pick to them up.  God, on the other hand, takes us to our destination, establishes us, and stays with us.  For the Israelites, Canaan (the mountain) was the border of God’s sanctuary (they had to go through Canaan in this life) before they could end up in God’s sanctuary.  Similarly, life for us is our Canaan.  We have to go through this often dangerous and difficult life journey, this mountain, before we can enter into Heaven, the sanctuary of God.

And why would anyone want to go to Heaven?  I do not know about you but as I read the story of Genesis and the garden of Eden, I so very much desired to have had the pleasure of being there, seeing what God designed and created with His own hands, and totally unmarred by human hands and minds.  But alas, I cannot go to the garden of Eden, only to where people think it was and so much has changed.  But I can go to the sanctuary of God.  I can go to Heaven.  I so much want to see God’s creation of this incredible mansion for us all.  A mansion that none of us can fully comprehend from where we are today.  A mansion untainted by any sinful thought or action of man.  It is perfect.  And it is eternal for God will rule eternally and no one, or nothing, will ever be allowed to interrupt that reign again.  I want to be there.  I want to be part of it.

This week my wife and I are making final arrangements for our funerals.  As funny as it seems, these arrangements are really not for us.  When we are gone, we will not need any arrangements.  No one needs anything after they die.  Their purpose is to make life a little simpler for our children.  But as I thought about our upcoming meeting to finalize our plans (really a pre-bought funeral type of insurance), I thought of where another insurance, our policy with Jesus Christ, will ultimately take us.  I, for one, want to have this insurance that ultimately takes me to place where I no longer need it.

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[Are you looking for a speaker at your church, your club, school, or organization? Ken is available to preach, teach, challenge, and/or motivate. Please contact us.]

Thanks for dropping by. Sign up to receive free updates. We bring you relevant information from all sorts of sources. Subscribe for free to this blog or follow us by clicking on the appropriate link in the right side bar. And please share this blog with your friends. Ken Godevenos, Church and Management Consultant, Accord Consulting.  And while you’re here, why not check out some more of our recent blogs shown in the right hand column.  Ken.

________________________________________________________________________

 

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Aaron Meets Moses and They Go To The Israelites -- Exodus 4:27-31

Now the Lord said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.   Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which He had sent him, and all the signs that He had commanded him to do.  Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the sons of Israel; and Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. He then performed the signs in the sight of the people.  So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord was concerned about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction, then they bowed low and worshiped.

Much earlier in this chapter, at the verse 14 point, God tells Moses his brother Aaron is coming to meet him in the wilderness and he will be glad to see him.  And so it happens, just as God arranged and foretold Moses.  The text says they met at the “mountain of God” and there kissed as brothers.  This “mountain” because of how the text refers to it, is likely the same mountain that God had just met with Moses and tried to kill him (see earlier discussion on previous verses to this passage).  The implication is that either Aaron had made great haste to get there, or God had already got him going towards Moses before His meeting and dealing with Moses’ sin of omission.  The mountain is said to be Mt. Sinai in the Horeb range of mountains.  In case you are wondering about the “brotherly” kiss, do keep in mind that they had not seen each other for forty years as we are told in Acts 7:29,30.

Whatever was between God and Moses, God considered it all taken care of.  And God had even arranged for welcoming arms of the person who would help Moses in his task.  Now, what was left was for Moses, with Aaron’s help, to carry out all that God had instructed him to do.

He begins by telling Aaron all that God had said – what the mission was, what tools were available, and how it was going to be carried out.  Because Moses had followed the instructions perfectly, we read of no ‘flack’ from Aaron; he was totally committed.

Together, knowing their roles, they went to the people of Israel as represented through their elders from the various tribes.  Keep in mind that they needed to “assemble” them all together, first.  This could have taken days or longer.  Their numbers were great and the distances some elders had to travel could have been significant, not to mention they didn’t have cellphones with which to text each other.  Once that was accomplished, Aaron shared what God had said to Moses and Moses performed the signs that God had empowered him with in order that the Israelites would accept his authority.  This was crucial as he had left as a man forty years younger and was only now returning to his people.

[As I wrote that last sentence immediately above, an interesting thought came to my mind.  Is Moses the first of many over the ages who have this strong urge to return to their people and do ministry among them?  I have heard of many Christians who may have emigrated to a new land with their parents while they themselves were young; and then many years later, they were called to be full-time missionaries ‘back home’ among their own people.  I think God works that way, moving His workers about the earth for training and then assigning them often to their homeland where they would be most effective.]

Once again, we note, because God’s instructions were followed to the letter, there was no argument from the people of Israel.  The text says they simply believed.  And furthermore, it says, when they heard about the heart of God for them, they “bowed low and worshipped”.  No ifs, buts, or whys.

What are the lessons for us?  First, when God gives us instructions, we are not to try and improve on them.  They come from the master strategist who controls all things.  Our plan and our way is not better;  but it is the ‘best’ when it follows His plan and His way.

Second, when God sends us a messenger or two, and shares His heart with us telling us how much He loves you and me, do we listen, do we believe, and do we bow low and worship Him?  It is important for the Christian to be constantly open to a message from God – through His Word, or His servants (that is in keeping with His Word).  And we are to have our own souls touched by it.  We are to be moved by God’s love for us.  And then we are to “bow low” and worship Him through praise and service and total commitment to His plans for our lives.  It is my prayer today that you have the capacity by which to do that regularly.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.