Corporate Devotions: Exodus (Part 5)
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Monday
Reading: Exodus 19
Questions for Reflection:
Think about what verses 4-6 reveal about the relational and missional goals of God’s acts of salvation in the lives of his people. Read 1 Peter 2:9-12 to see how God definitively accomplished those aims through the gospel. Thank the Father for bringing you to himself. Thank the Son for perfectly obeying the Father’s voice and keeping the terms of the covenant on your behalf so that you could eternally be his “treasured possession.” Ask the Lord to help you see yourself that way!
Notice how many times the word “words” appears in verse 6-8. Take a few minutes to thank God for revealing himself in a way we can understand. Ask him to give you a heart that is faithful to treasure and obey the Scriptures because they are his words.
The second half of chapter 19 is a defining example of the holiness of God. Read Hebrews 12:18-29 and praise God for the access and boldness we have in relationship with him because of what Jesus has done. Ask the Lord to help you not presume upon his kindness, but to remember he remains “a consuming fire,” and hold fast to Christ accordingly.
In verse 9, we catch another glimpse of one of the main goals of the book of Exodus – convincing Israel to believe and obey the words of Moses as God’s appointed mediator. Ask the Lord that in the same way he called Israel to follow Moses, he would empower you to listen to Jesus and follow him in a specific area of your life today.
Song: Only a Holy God
Tuesday
Reading: Exodus 20
Questions for Reflection:
The preface to the Ten Commandments in verses 1-2 isn’t a formality. It’s absolutely crucial. God’s saving acts are the basis of our relationship with him and compel and enable us to live accordingly. Ask the Lord to help you see your obedience as a means of living in the good of the salvation he won for you through the person and work of Christ.
Go through each of the commandments and think about what they reveal about the character of God. Take some time to praise him accordingly!
Jesus both fulfilled the entire law and carried the ten commandments forward under the terms of the new covenant in various ways (e.g. Matthew 5:17, 27-28, Romans 13:8-10, Hebrews 4:1-10). Which of these commandments have you seen the Lord helping you keep during the coronavirus outbreak? Have any of them become harder for you to obey in some way? Take a few minutes to confess your sin to the Lord and him to help you keep one of the commandments in a specific way today.
The word-centered character of the worship God requires of Israel in verse 22-26 is striking. We don’t get to worship him however we want. We worship him in the way he proposes and makes possible. Take a few minutes to ask the Lord to guard you from relating to (worshiping) him on the basis of your own merit instead of approaching him through faith in Jesus, whose intercession makes our worship acceptable (1 Peter 2:5).
Song: Build My Life
Wednesday
Reading: Exodus 21-22:15
NOTE: We’re heading into a part of Exodus where it’s easy to get bogged down in the detail of all the culturally specific laws and requirements God laid upon his people. Keeping two interpretive principles in view will help: First, remember that regulating Israel’s practice in a particular area of life does not imply a categorical endorsement of the practice on God’s part (i.e. having multiple wives). Second, focus on asking, “How does this law reflect the character of God and what he cares about in the way we relate to one another?”
Questions for Reflection:
What do the regulations of Hebrew slavery in (which was altogether different than the American chattel slavery condemned in verse 16) tell you about the justice of God? Meditate on the comfort of knowing our God is concerned about justice in the details of life – your life included.
One of the compelling principles in this chapter is the justice afforded to both victims and perpetrators of various actions. Compare God’s concern for both parties with our cultural fixation on victimhood. Ask the Lord to work biblical justice in some specific situations in your life and our nation where you long for him to vindicate the righteous.
What do all of the laws in this chapter say about the dignity and worth of human life? Ask the Lord to help you see the people around you the way he does and love them accordingly.
Another principle in these laws is the Lord’s concern that we make right (as much as possible) the harm caused by our sin. Are you quick to apologize and move on? Are there any relationships where you need to slow down and ask questions to understand how your actions have affected someone else? What could you practically do to help repair the relationship?
Song: O Lord My Rock and My Redeemer
Thursday
Reading: Exodus 22:16-23:33
Questions for Reflection:
The Lord’s compassion and promised vindication for the most weak and vulnerable members of Israelite society is striking (i.e. sojourners, widows, orphans, the poor). How could you practice the same sort of justice in your own community? If you identify with the sojourners, widow, orphans, or the poor and have experienced oppression at the hands of others, how does verse 23 and verse 27 instruct you to respond?
Commands to practice honesty by not spreading “a false report,” not being “a malicious witness,” and keeping “far from a false charge” surface repeatedly in chapter 23. Do your habits on social media reflect a measured and careful attention to writing, liking, and sharing only what you know to be true? The fact a majority of people say something is true doesn’t make it so. “Siding with the many” (verse 2) can be a perversion of justice.
We keep Sabbath today by clinging to Jesus, the one who provides and leads us into the salvation rest, as imaged before him by the various laws in verses 12-12. They also make a loud statement about the Lord’s concern to provide for the poor, and give rest to both the created world and men and women who bear his image. How could you enable those the Lord has entrusted into your care (employees, co-workers, family members, etc.) to enjoy the gift of rest this week?
Even the most seemingly random laws in this section express the foundational reality that Israel was to be a people consecrated to the Lord, living a life that was distinct from the surrounding world on every level (see 23:23-33). Where are you tempted to live like the world instead of serving the Lord your God?
Song: A Christian’s Daily Prayer
Friday
Reading: Exodus 24
Questions for Reflection:
This chapter details how the Lord confirmed his covenant with Israel after laying down all the stipulations in chapters 20-23. Think about the significance of Moses throwing blood on the altar and the people, representing atonement for the guilt of sin and consecration to the purposes of God. Praise God for how the blood of Jesus has accomplished both aims in your life! Confess your need for his blood to cleanse you of specific sins and ask for help to obey his word accordingly.
The Lord’s covenant with Israel was ratified through a fellowship meal where the representatives of the people “beheld God, and ate and drank” (verse 11). Read Matthew 26:26-29 and think about how our celebration of the Lord’s Supper reaffirms all the privileges and promises of fellowship with God through the person and work of Christ, including our commitment to obey him in every area of life. Thank God in advance for the day we will be able to reunite as his people and share communion together!
The observation in verse 11 that God “did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people” (to destroy them) reminds us that the presence of God is not where we rightfully belong as sinful men. Praise Jesus for giving you even greater “boldness and access with confidence” in your relationship with God today (Ephesians 3:12).
Notice the intimate connection between the glory of God’s presence and the revelation of his Word in verse 12. Thank God for continuing to reveal the weight of his majesty to us through his Word. Ask him to open your eyes to see his glory as you read and meditate on it!