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For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.Eph 2:9 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Wednesday, August 4, 2021
Today's Passage : Today's Passage :The Golden Calf [2] Bible Verse:Exodus 32:9-14 (The Message) "God said to Moses, “I look at this people — oh! what a stubborn, hard-headed people! Let me alone now, give my anger free reign to burst into flames and incinerate them. But I’ll make a great nation out of you.” Moses tried to calm his God down. He said, “Why, God, would you lose your temper with your people? Why, you brought them out of Egypt in a tremendous demonstration of power and strength. Why let the Egyptians say, ‘He had it in for them — he brought them out so he could kill them in the mountains, wipe them right off the face of the Earth.’ Stop your anger. Think twice about bringing evil against your people! Think of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants to whom you gave your word, telling them ‘I will give you many children, as many as the stars in the sky, and I’ll give this land to your children as their land forever.’” And God did think twice. He decided not to do the evil he had threatened against his people. " Message:
This passage has enormous importance in instructing us about our relationship with God. Heretofore in Exodus, we have seen two aspects of this relationship: First, God as the giver of absolute laws, who speaks and expects obedience. Second, God as a persuader. In the burning bush verses, Moses protested against the role God wanted to give him and argued that he was not suited to it; but God patiently persevered and eventually convinced Moses.
Here, we see a third type of relationship: For not only does Moses argue with God, but also, his argument prevails. He intervenes for the Hebrews against God's expressed intention of destroying them and starting over — the verse “I will make a great nation out of you” means that God proposes to destroy all of the Hebrews except Moses and make Moses a new single patriarch, like Abraham, whose children will become God's chosen.
Moses makes three arguments: 1) God should not nullify His great work in bringing the Hebrews out of Egypt; 2) Even worse, the Egyptians would consider themselves victorious over Yahweh and say that His intention was to destroy the Hebrews all along; and 3) It would not be consistent with God's promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Baby moses in the bulrushes
This intimate relationship with God reminds us very much of Abraham, especially where Abraham pleads with God not to destroy Sodom in Genesis 18. In fact, with Abraham, God appeared as an ordinary man and practically engaged him in friendly conversation.
What are we to make of this? How are we to speak to a God, who at one moment shows Himself as a terrifying pillar of fire that will kill anyone who sets foot on Mount Sinai, and at another moment will allow a man to argue with Him and change His mind? Who will do what a man asks, instead of what He has said He would do?
Apparently, when we have sincere faith and trust in God, we are allowed to ask Him to do things and even argue with Him. We always pray “thy will be done” as a sort of overarching principle of our desires, for we always must keep in mind the theological argument that God actually knows exactly what will happen and exceeds our capabilities by an infinite factor.
Nevertheless, God will listen to His faithful and (apparently) allow them to intervene in His plans. This is a mystery that the human mind cannot fathom, and we cannot expect that God will always answer “yes”. But if we read this passage without preconception, we have to conclude that God allows us — or if not us, at least certain special people — to ask and even argue, if they pray in humility and faith.
Meditation : Prayer : And now let me go forth praising you, O Lord, with all my heart, telling of all your wonders, with my words and in my actions. I will be glad and rejoice in you this day. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.......Amen |
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