Praying Constantly

See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.  Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. - Exodus 23:20-21 (NIV)

God has a plan as long as we will listen and follow it.  He has prepared a way for us, all we have to do is pay attention and listen.  In our disobedience we travel down the road he has prepared and think "Look how well I have done".  In doing so we lose track of who has prepared that road and quickly lose our way.

I think this is why verse 13 warns us "Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips" and verse 25 and 26 remind us "Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span"

Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people. - Exodus 22:28 (NIV)

In this election cycle there are a lot of people who are going to struggle with the second half of this verse.  Of course, there are plenty of us who struggle with the first half as well.  Many think of blaspheme as cursing or swearing.  Admittedly, I am one of those.  Curious as to its actual meaning I found that it can mean simply speaking irreverent.

As the day goes by do we forget about God?  By not recognizing him, are we being irreverent.  If we do not thank him for all we are and all we have or don’t have?  Do we have to say it for it to be blaspheme?  Maybe we do, but if it is on our heart how long before it is on our lips?

These are the laws you are to set before them: - Exodus 21:1 (NIV)

But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. - Exodus 21:23-25 (NIV)

This is one of those chapters that makes you say “Hmm.”  First you have the issue of slavery.  There is an augment that slavery in the time before and around Christ was not the image of slavery we have in the west.  It was indentured servitude.  There were specific rules, one being that after seven years a servant was free to take his wife and go.  The problem is that if they had children they were not free to go.  Who is going to leave children under seven years old?  Of course they will stay, and it says if they stay, they are servants for life.  I guess the rule of thumb was to not have kids if you are a servant.  I especially was struck by verses 20, 21. 

If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property. - Exodus 21:20-21 (NIV)

It seems to be saying that if you beat your slaves, don’t hurt them so bad they can’t get out of bed for a day or two.

The eye for an eye verse is the one that is best known.  It seems to go against everything we believe as Christians.  But that is actually the point.  Christ was the new law, the new covenant.  Love one another, and turn the other cheek are the new laws.

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Different faiths number them different.  We base many of our laws on them, yet won’t display them in a public setting.  If you can only learn one, learn the first one and the others will never be a problem.

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. - Exodus 19:16 (NIV)

In the news recently there was an article by a Jewish scholar who said that none of what happened to Moses on Mt. Sini was true.  That the use of hallucinogens was common practice in religious ceremonies at the time.  That it was not a burning bush but a flashback.  It sounds more like a description of Woodstock to me.  I wonder what he thought about Exodus 19:16?  Was it a mass hallucination?  A vast right-wing conspiracy?  Why is it so hard for some people to just give God his due?  I guess if they accept there is a God, then they must except they live in sin, and we wouldn’t want that. 

Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Exodus 18:17-18 (NIV)

Ever go to a church and it looks like one or two people do everything?  Are you one of those one or two.  Believe it or not church can be an addiction.  It becomes more about what we are doing than who we are doing it for.  If you are one of those people, get some help, share the love and more people will get the benefits of God’s grace.  Pray for help and it will come.  If you know people like that, offer to help.  Tell them that you will do what ever God commands. The rewards will be amazing.

When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. - Exodus 17:12 (NIV)

Encourage is a French word that roughly means “To insert courage into one.”  Throughout the Bible we are told to encourage one another.  One that many know about is 1 Thessalonians 5:11 but there are more than you might think.  One of the best gifts you can give a brother or sister in Christ is the gift of encouragement.  Most of the time we encourage with a nice word, note or even a prayer.  All of those are wonderful things and should be encouraged.  Every once and a while we need to be like Aaron and Hur (WWAAHD?).  We need to join the battle and help a brother remain steady in their fight.

The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” - Exodus 16:3 (NIV)

Absence makes the heart wander.  We never seem to know just how well we have it.  The past seems to soften as time goes by if our current situation is not what we want it to be.  When God is good to us, we forget what he has done and rely on ourselves, then when things get bad, we grumble.  The next time feel your life is not what you want it to be, try giving it back to God to let him make it what he needs it to be.

The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.  He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. - Exodus 15:2 (NIV)

Praise God.

The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still. - Exodus 14:11-12 (NIV)

So much of God’s work goes undone because we will not be still and listen.  God will fight for us, he will nourish us, he will comfort us, he will heal us, he will save us.  We just need to be still and KNOW that he is God.