Monday Morning Cover to Cover

There are twenty or so of us who are reading the Bible chronologically together. You can join us at any time. The reading plan is listed on my sidebar. We'll pray for you and walk with you. If you are here just for today, read Exodus 33: 11-23 and see how God favors you and is calling your name. He is saying to all of us on this Monday morning a phrase that makes courage rise up in our hearts. "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Wonder what it will take today to find His rest, His Presence in our lives?

As I read this week Exodus 28 through 40 and Leviticus 1-7, there is a phrase that kept coming back to my mind that has been meaningful to me in this reading. My husband and I have talked much this week about having a disturbed heart and what that means. Too many people live undisturbed by the happenings of their heart, by what transpires in their lives. How are we processing life today? The phrase that I recalled written by a psychologist in a magazine article put it this way:

"The more we are disturbed

by the presence and power of our flesh,

The more we become excited and empowered

by the deeper presence and greater power of the Spirit,

And that releases the Spirit's power to change

the way we relate,

the way we think,

and the way we feel

in the middle of any life circumstance."

Ten truths pressed in on me as I read my Bible and my Bible read me this week. Here they are:

BEAR the NAMES of MY FRIENDS on MY HEART….Exodus 28:29 “Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of decision as a continuing memorial before the Lord. The breastpiece worn over the heart protected the precious place of their heart and its desires. Whose name do I bear over my heart this morning?

GOD IS KNOCKING ON your DOOR TO SPEAK with YOU….Exodus 29:42 “For the generations to come, this burnt offering is to be made regularly at the entrance…there I will meet you and speak to you.” Where is it that we go to find our God and meet with Him and speak with Him and He with us? Revelations 3:20 He is knocking on the door of our heart. Will we open that door this moment and let Him in?

OUR BEAUTIFUL GOD DWELLS AMONG US…..Exodus 29: 45, 46 “I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God. They will know that I am the Lord, their God, who brought them out of Egypt, so that I might dwell among them.” I was reading C.S. Lewis today and he talked about “Am I living for the 72 plus years of this life or am I living for forever?” If I am living for “forever,” I look inside of my own heart and look to see what God expects of me this night. I remember what God has brought me out of. And I believe He dwells in me. He dwells among all of us and that is simply awestruck awesome. What can you tell us that your God has brought you out of so that He might dwell among you?

THE FINGERPRINTS of GOD are ON MY LIFE ...Exodus 31:18 God gave to Moses two tablets inscribed by the finger of God. It was the finger of God Who would trace out the course of our actions into ten commands. How do I obey my God? In the New Tesatment, all power has been given to us to fulfill what God has commanded. Ephesians 1:4 says He chose you, He adopted you, and He freely gave you the One he loves. You have redemption and forgiveness and incomparably great power it says in 1:19, working in you. Now it is the finger of God in you pointing to the world, working out His mighty strength in you and through you. What will I do with His Ten Commandments?

YOUR FORGIVING GOD LONGS to HAVE COMPASSION on YOU...Moses sought the favor of the Lord in 32:11, sought his God asking Him not to be upset against the people He brought out of Egypt with great power. And, in 32:14, the Lord relented and did not bring on His people the disaster He threatened. Scripture interprets Scripture. Isaiah 30:18 "The Lord longs to be gracious to you; He rises to show you compassion for the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him." Who are you waiting for today, God or man?

DEALING with THE FRIGHTFUL FRAY of OUR HEART…Do we daily take a look at what’s inside the fray of our own heart? Aaron didn’t. He blamed it on the people he led. Blameshifting. Verse 32:22 “Do not be angry, my lord,” Aaron answered. “You know how prone these people are to evil. They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.’ So what did Aaron do to stand in the way of the people building idols? What do I do to stand in the way of my friends, my family when they want to stay in the paths of sin. Do I look the other way? But what would it look like to love those who stand in sin? First, I must always look at the log in my own eye. Only then can I move in to love them. So who does God bring to my mind or my path this day who is walking the way of sinners that I may move in to love and not judge them?

WHERE AM I in MY WALK with GOD---is HE my FRIEND?...Exodus 33:11 “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks with his friend.” John Eldredge writes about the stages we go through with our God. First, our lives are shaped by the Potter and we are the clay. We also move to feeling provided for, watched over by the Shepherd caring for His sheep. Then, Eldredge says, many get stuck in the Master and Servant stage where they are committed to obey orders and carry them out. But there’s more intimacy…Father and child--- and children get the run of the house. Then, there is this stage found in 33:11 Friends as we walk together with God in which he says we are companions in a shared mission. We know what is on his heart and He knows ours. There’s another stage to describe the intimacy, Lovers----Bridegroom and Bride. “Teach me your ways so I may know You and continue to find favor with you.” Exodus 33:13. Is God my friend or my judge?

AM I AT REST in DEEP PLACES in MY HEART?....Exodus 33:14 says “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Whenever I see someone who is experiencing God’s Presence in their lives, I want to fall all over them. A couple of years ago, disaster struck and my God so showed up in my life. I can’t tell you how the calamity He brought so came with His Presence as I cried out for Him. It’s been two of the hardest best years of my life. I still long every day for His Presence and rest that only He can give. And every day, He is showing up in ways I could have never imagined. I have a taste and I want so much more. Apart from the Power of God, this could never happen. We can’t conjure up this one. What am I doing that can only be explained in terms of---God did it?

GOD KNOWS your NAME and ADDRESS…..Moses replied in 33:15 that if God’s Presence didn’t go with him, then don’t move them from that spot. How will Moses know that God is pleased with him? Yes, how will we know? To which God replied, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” Fast forward to this very day…God knows you by name. He is pleased with your life---is He?--- and so He will do the very things you ask in line with His will, His purposes. What pleasures do I want more than the pleasures of my God?

GOD’S HAND COVERS my LIFE and IT’S DARK….Exodus 33:17 The Lord said, there is a place near me where you may stand. I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my Hand. Our beautiful LORD may have His Hand covering our lives, and it may be real dark from His Hand over us shutting out any light, and that makes me weep this morning for that’s where I am. And, one day, we will see His Glory again. In whatever ways He chooses. That’s up to Him. Can’t make it happen in relationships, can’t make it happen in life, but I can hide in the cleft of the Rock. For the mighty waters rise, but we are safe. He is my Hiding Place. Psalm 32: 6, 7 And one day His beauty will pour out of me. Will I let Him pour out on whomever He wants to bless, even my enemies?

It is such privilege, promise, and power to walk and wonder through the pages of the Word of God with you... and to be read by a holy God and found by HIM.