Over the last two posts we’ve seen the build up to where we are going. God told Abram that his people would go into slavery and return to the land after 400 years. Then he called Moses and told him that he would know God was with him because at the end he would worship God on the mountain.
This brings us to Exodus 19. The people of Israel left Egypt loaded down with the jewels, etc. of their enslavers. Now they are at the base of Mt. Sinai and God is ready to meet with them. Moses marches up the mountain and brings God’s word down to the people. This word? God basically sends word that all the promises – to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph led to now – God was saying ‘you are now in relationship with me. Let’s talk about how we can keep this relationship going.’
Sometimes we just fall into friendships – but sooner or later if we are going to have a meaningful relationship, we have to have hard conversations on what you need and what I need in this connection. God wants to make sure that the Israelites have the ability to align with this new relationship for the long haul.
One very interesting thing to me is verse 21. By this time, Moses has gone up the mountain 3 times. Yet, instead of getting on with the conversation, God sends him down the mountain again to make sure the people don’t rush the mountain. There is something about this that is important for us to understand.
All the nations around the Israelites had gods. These gods were manipulative and therefore easily manipulated. If you did x, y and z, then you would appease the god and receive their blessings. If the god was displeased, then all sorts of bad things would happen and you would have to figure out how to appease them again. That’s not a relationship.
It would have been easy for the people to assume that this was another case of a god wanting accolades and wanting to be appeased. God sent Moses down the third time to make sure that the Israelites didn’t rush the mountain because doing so would have destroyed them. Why would they have rushed the mountain? To appease – to show servitude – to do “for” God, assuming He needed to be cared for like all the other gods.
God wanted them to hear Him and what He was about to say – to make sure that they set this relationship upon a good foundation and so He made Moses go down again.
Here’s a good question to take from this: Where do we try to do for God instead of being content with His presence?
One Response
In my early morning time with Him. My heart is to BE with Him but I DO my Bible reading and journaling and often miss just BEING. This morning I STARTED my time with stillness. (It’s so hard for me to be still when I don’t feel the need to rest from anything … yet.) It was sweet. Didn’t even worry about my Bible reading today. Just enjoyed being with Him. Thanks for posting this, Kim. It gave me a chance to consider what made this morning so different.