5 Life-Applications from Exodus

5 life-applications we can learn from the beginning of the book of Exodus

1.
"But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive" Exodus 1: 17

     The faith of the Hebrew midwives. By disobeying the orders to 'post-abort' all male babies, they openly rebelled against the supreme ruler (Pharaoh) of the country that held them as slaves. That took courage but the key to their faith is in the opening of the verse, "But the midwives feared God." Their faith in God and taking action on that faith is beautiful.

• Sometimes Christians have to take a stand against something the government commands as laws for individuals that completely contradict God's laws for all mankind. Because of this distinction, all Christians need to know their Bibles and know their God.

2.
"And they said, 'An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he also watered the flock'" Exodus 2:17

    Thus begins Moses' 40 year alias. On the lam for murder, in a pagan country, he's mistaken for an Egyptian. It doesn't appear he corrects the mis-identification. And he even marries into the family. Oops, his bad start just got worse.

• If our Christian character is in question in regards to the company we keep, we need to make a change, either by speaking up and identifying ourselves, or get out of there as soon as we can.

3.
"And they said to them, 'Let the LORD look on you and judge, because you have made us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight if his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us'" Exodus 4:21

     Moses' request of Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go from Egypt to worship God didn't go over very well. God had already told Moses Pharaoh wouldn't let them even before Moses left the sheep in Midian. Also, he told God's plan to the people, to which they agreed he talk to Pharaoh. Unfortunately, neither they nor Moses considered such an adverse reaction. Instead of things improving, or even staying the same, it all went sour. And with Pharaoh making daily work harder on the children of Israel, they blamed Moses for upsetting the man.
     Unfortunately this is a familiar reaction with many groups. You tell them a new plan of action and they accept it. But the minute the new plan interrupts or changes their comfort zone then resentment and anger comes against you.

• If you have a clear vision and have the means and/or compulsion to complete it, you may have to go through a lot of trouble on your own. But with God's help, keep on until you get to the conclusion. Hindsight is 20/20 and you opposition will accept it in the end.

Take care what you pray for if 

you're not prepared to be the 

very answer to your own prayer.

4.
"...These are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites according to their families" Exodus 6: 25

     Right in the middle of of Moses' telling God He's picked the wrong guy for the job, God gives the Family Tree of the Priests He has chosen. Proof of God's humor.Picture Moses as a small child, his lip thrust out, arms folded, scowling as he says, "Why do I have to?" and picture God as His Dad tolerantly smiling and saying "Because I say so."

• Like Moses, God may pick us for the job, even if we feel disqualified and are absolutely reluctant. In that case we are to go one step at a time, walking carefully in the light, power, and might of God. Never make a move, or decision without prayer and seeking God. It is the only way to accomplish the work. It is then we can say "It was all God's work. Praise Him!"

5.
"And the Egyptians shall know I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them" Exodus 7:5

     Take a lesson from the miracles of the plagues. They not only were for Pharaoh and the Egyptians to witness what Almighty God can do but also for the children of Israel to see their God's power.

• Look to God to move the mountains. Grumbling and complaining about oppression and the degradation of social situations isn't going to do anything. Seeking God will.

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Get Over It & Get Useful!

For who makes you differ from another? And what do you

 have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, 

why do you boast as if you did not receive it? 

1 Corinthians 4:7

Is God honored by an over exuberant expression or emotion when He does something through or to us?

Where do we get the right to pat ourselves on the back for the supernatural experience of the filling of the Holy Spirit? If a confessed Christian makes a scene about God's powerful manifestation, do they actually understand the Spirit is Almighty, Holy God, who is due all reverence,  honor, and praise? 

"I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you" John 14:18

"But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me" John 15:26 

Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one and the same, as God the Father and Jesus are one and the same. God is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. One part of the Trinity does not manifest Himself differently than the others. Nor should we expect God to do anything contrary to what He has shown of Himself in the Bible. His power is His own and He does not share it. When we are surrendered to be used in a supernatural way by God, God will honor Himself as Almighty God, not as an emotional experience, or exuberant display.

"Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever" Hebrews 13:8

Our examples in the Bible, in their relationships with God, didn't talk about having a spiritual experience when God used them some way.

When Ezekiel was taken up by his hair in a vision, he was astonished by the vision, not because of the Spiritual encounter. (Ezekiel 8:3)

Daniel wasn't emotionally giddy when God showed him the interpretations of King Nebuchadnezzar's dreams. He gave God glory for His work, not taking glory that God spoke to Daniel himself. (Daniel 2:19)

On the rooftop, when God showed him the sheet filled with things to eat, Peter didn't jump up and down and run around exclaiming of his awesome Spiritual experience. It was the work of God he declared when he understood the true meaning of the gospel going to the Gentiles. (Acts 10)

Let God be God and be useful when God wants to use you. After all, we are commissioned to simply to obey in giving the gospel (Matthew 28: 18-20). It IS exciting to know we have the supernatural power of God to help us do His work, but that doesn't makes us anything except a born again Christian, created for every good work (Ephesians 2:8,9,10). We all have the same God and access to His power to work through us whichever way God prefers to glorify Himself. 

"But to each one of us grace 

was given according to the measure

 of Christ's gift" Ephesians 4:7.

Get over it and get useful!

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Don't Forget The Blood

Hebrews is a fascinating letter unequivocally proving Jesus' as God, as High Priest, as a man, and the Atoning Sacrifice

"For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgement, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the LORD. And again, "The LORD will judge His people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God"

Hebrews 10:26-31 NJK

All three persons of God are revealed in this passage. 

• God the Father gave the Son for the new covenant. 
• Jesus, the Son, shed his own blood as the sacrifice of the new covenant. 
• The Holy Spirit in the grace of God that we were given the new covenant at all.

The teaching in the book of Hebrews reveals many important aspects of our salvation through Christ Jesus

• Remember where we came from unto salvation
• Take care how we witness to the blood of Christ
• Consider the lost souls of all not yet among the body of Christ
• The blood of Jesus is vital to everyone's salvation
• The wrath of God awaits all whom Jesus' blood never covers

And according to the law, almost all things are purified with blood, 

and without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins. 

Hebrews 9: 22

Jesus' blood shed for all

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A Few Observations on Abraham

Though the Bible pulls no punches 

in telling where Abraham failed, 

the record of his faith is beautiful 

Genesis Chapters 12, 13
     Through Genesis chapters 1 through 11, God primarily stays to one genealogy line, 1st born to 1st born son, which ultimately counts down to Jesus, Messiah, in he fulfillment seen in the NT. Then Genesis switches to one man's life in ch 12. Here, the Biblical history branches out to include other familial lines and other sons. God now records how the pagan world interacts and intervenes with, and attempts to interrupt, His plan of Salvation for the world. With this new information of the pagan religions man creates, we see the sin from which we need salvation. From Genesis 12 to Revelation, the Bible includes all the problems, evils, and anger that come against the people of God.
     Genesis Chapter 13 records a shameful occurrence where Abram, (before God changed his name), totally forgets God's in control. In fear, he tells a lie and puts his wife, Sarai, in a dangerous position. By telling the Egyptians Sarah is his sister, her beauty is seen by the king who takes her into his harem. God intervenes and rescues them both from the situation. We could easily hear Jesus speaking to Abram, "Why were you afraid, O you of little faith?"

Genesis Chapter 14, 15
     Chapter 14-Abram with his little 300+ ill-equipped army goes up against a larger force of battle trained veterans. But Abram has the Commander of the Greater Army fighting his battles. Of course--Abram wins!
     Chapter 14:18 we meet a greater God-fearing man than Abram, Melchizedek. I don't have any trouble with his lack of explanation. In this place in the Bible, he is the only other Godly man described other than Abram. That is a very important point about God's omniscience.
     After the battle, that rescued Abraham's captive nephew Lot, the king of Sodom comes out to meet Abraham. He isn't concerned with anything but the return of his stuff that was taken. But after watching Abram give of his stuff to Melchizedek, he says to Abram, "Okay, you want the spoils of war? Fine, just give me the people who will build up my prosperity again." (I assumed & paraphrased)
     (more paraphrase) Abram replies, "God gave me the victory and I know it. My gift to God has nothing to do with the stuff but I am acknowledging from where the victory comes. I do not share your greed. Take your stuff."
     Melchizedek, because he knows what God did for Abram, praises God and blesses Abram for his faith. That is what Abram needed after the battle. He needed a brother in Christ to wash the world off of him. He needed the cleansing of an understanding brother.
     After a serious battle, we need someone like-minded to come along side to cleanse us and comfort us.
In this way, we see Melchizedek in the book of Hebrews, where he is mentioned as the picture of Christ, our Comforter, our Cleanser, and the One who comes along side for Strength, Power and most of all Leadership in worship to God the Father when/because we are weak.
     Chapter 15 begins Abram's next leg of his walk with God. We see a new Abram after the battle and his new exciting knowledge of God. We each need this growth and it is so awesome when we advance in our walk with Jesus.

Genesis Chapters 16, 17

     Abram fails and in lust takes Sarah's slave as a wife, though she is only the wife of his flesh. I think Hagar was likely pleased to become his token wife. As a slave, she had no rights and if Sarah never allowed her to marry, then she had no chance of become a mother or having a husband. It was probably very pleasant for her to become Abram's wife too as he was THE leader of a huge entourage of people. I am not sure but that Abram wasn't unhappy with taking a second wife. It was a common practice and Hagar was likely very pretty. Since she was around all the time, it would seem the natural thing to do, though the wrong thing to do in God's sight.

     In Chapter 17, God changes Abram's name to Abraham and gives him the great promise that resounds throughout the world today. God makes the awesome covenant sealing the future of Abraham's descendants as God's people and Him as their God forever. God is keeping that covenant with Abraham's people today. All the promises in the Bible for Israel and their Messiah will come true. God cannot lie.

Genesis 18, 19--Abraham's faith & Lot's failed witness
     Genesis 18 records another Christophany, or OT appearance of Christ, when He comes to test Abraham's faith in God's sovereignty. This is my opinion, but I think Abraham was in prayer for his nephew when Jesus showed up. In conversation, Jesus explains the judgement He's bringing on Sodom & Gomorrah and Abraham immediately jumps in with intercessory pleas for Lot.
     Jesus seems well pleased with Abraham's request, yet, in the end, it appears Abraham quits asking, knowing God must do something and will do something, even if Lot is taken also. Abraham understands Lot's salvation depends on the man's own relationship with God.
     It seems Lot was saved through faith, (2 Peter 2:7) and is in heaven today, but entered the gates with his robe smoking! (Cor 3:11-16, Jude 23). Lot's short biography in Genesis is a sad commentary on what happens when we suppress our witness, or hide our Christianity.
     As a side note with no reason except an interesting observation---Lot seemed more comfortable living in cities. He was definitely not the outdoor type.

Genesis Chapters 20,21,22,23

     Chapter 20: If you don't think ALL of you're actions won't effect unbelievers, think again. Abraham let down his trust in his God and a pagan king had to tell him his witness was rotten. (Gen 20:9)

     Chapter 21: If you need proof God knows the future, here is a beautiful example of prophecy looking FAR down through history. The banishment of Hagar is reiterated in Galatians 4, as God, through Paul, explains the difference between saved and unsaved Israel. God had a plan. The difference between saved and unsaved anyone.
     Chapter 22: A lot has been said about Abraham sacrificing Isaac. What I will say is, I love the name YHWH Yireh--The LORD Will Provide.
     Chapter 23: Abraham loved Sarah. The only land he ever owned, he bought to bury Sarah. Through all those years of traveling with over 300, possibly 500 to 1000, (Gen 14:14), people in his nomadic group, many must have died and been buried wherever the group happened to be. Now, Abraham is concerned with his wife's grave site. She is important to him. Love

Genesis Chapter 24. A great chapter of faith (Here I take a lot of personal speculation without proof)

     Apologies to Bible Commentators, (who definitely know more than I do) I don't think this servant is Eliezer of Damascus, named in Ch 15, but here nameless. Since about 40-50 years have past, he's quite likely one of Eliezer's offspring. (Just saying)
     That said, this is fact, the only 'Hebrew patriarchs' in record in Genesis, are Abraham, Isaac & Jacob. God is building the Jewish nation on one man, Abraham, With the exception of Isaac, all others in Abraham's entourage are slaves, servants, or hired help.
     BUT--it is reasonable this servant is a God-fearing believer. He prayed a very sincere, direct, specific prayer of faith, (vs 12-14), which God answered with a great miracle. (Vs 19),(Unbidden, this woman watered ten camels of a stranger! His exact prayer!)
     We see his faith and acknowledgement of God when he humbly prostrated himself before God in thanksgiving, oblivious to who noticed. There at the well in front of Rebekah, (vs 26), (and probably all the other women come to get water) And in the presence of Rebekah's family (vs 52).
     I think he had God-given discernment of the pagan-ness and greed of Rebekah's family and wanted to get away quickly. (vs 54) And Rebekah seemed willing to get out that house without any customary long goodbyes. Maybe she saw something in his servant that interested her about her future husband. Maybe the servant was able to tell her about her husband's God on the way back.

     Genesis 24 is a great chapter of faith in action and of answered prayer.

     Abraham is a great man to study with much to learn in his faith and his failures. 

God called him His friend. That says volumes.

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The Glory of God

"Only fools say in their hearts, "There is no God" Psalm 19:1. NLT

There is no comparison to God. 

God is One. 

God is The God. 

There is no other thing, being, or imagined object that we can place next to Him that will make Him less than He is. It is a foolish concept that mankind can 'make' a god. It was God who created us from nothing. Our puny attempts to use our 'wisdom' to imagine what a god should be like, what a god should do for us, what a god should act like toward all of us in one lump, is unimaginable to the utmost absurdity. 

God's glory is who He is. God's glory is in our knowledge of Him, as little as that is. That we should even have any knowledge of Him is awesome in itself. 

Science has studied the human organs, but science still has to step back and look on with curiosity about the special aspects of the human body. In the same way, we don't know why one-celled organism do what they do in the world. We can send tiny machines into far space but that gets us no closer to knowledge about life itself. It only brings more questions. It brings only a hungry desire to look somewhere else.

"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter. But the glory of kings to search out a matter" Proverbs 25:2.

Reverence is all we can feel for God. An awed fear that GOD is there at all. That He condescends to speak with us, to walk with us, to help us, to do anything at all. Yet He does it all and more than we can think of Him doing. God's glory is untouchable by man's effort.

"For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding" Proverbs 2:6

God's Glory Is Him

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