In my last blog, “Websters Dictionary Defines,” I talked about how I am
trying to unlearn what I know about God and myself, and how I am starting to
redefine my relationship with Him by listening to the things He is telling me,
not what others are telling me. I want to talk about one of the things I have
been learning.
I have been sitting in the book of Exodus for a while. After getting
through it once, I feel like I already have a good idea of Who God is. And I
think that lesson stretches beyond this one book into the entirety of the
scriptures. I have a new perspective of myself because I have been trying to
see things from God’s perspective. Here is one of the things that have shaken
me to the core over the past several weeks…
In the beginning of Exodus
[2:23-25], it says, “…The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried
out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God. He heard their
groaning, and God remembered His covenant… He took notice of the Israelites.” First
of all, we know that God listens to His people. Awesome. That, in itself, tells
us that God cares about us on a much deeper level than, “I AM GOD, BOW TO ME!,”
but more, “I AM YOUR CREATOR, AND I LOVE YOU.” This could be a huge lesson all
by itself. But I will continue.
I will be so bold as to say that
God did not care if the Israelites were in captivity or not. It seems that it
was only because the Israelites were asking for freedom that God intervened and
brought them out of Egypt. It was not that He wanted them to be tormented in
slavery, but it is almost as if He was telling them, “Hey kids, I AM here with
you, in Egypt, in your captivity, in your slavery. You do not need to be out of
Egypt to be in relationship with Me.” But they cried and cried and cried about
wanting out of Egypt. So God looked at them and said, “Alright. You think you
need to be freed from Egypt to really dwell with Me, to receive your
inheritance? If you really think that is what covenant with Me looks like, then
I will lead you out of Egypt.” He raises up Moses to be the leader of the whole
shindig and brings them out from under the tyranny of Pharoah (after all the
plagues and stuff…).
So the Israelites get out into
the wilderness, out into freedom. They no longer have an oppressive gov’t telling
them how to live and worship. Awesome! They have complete freedom to be with
God. They can dwell in Him as He dwells among them. They can worship Him in
complete freedom. And God gets so excited that He comes down among them in a
thick fog and with fire and trumpets sounding, just so He can be with them [16:10,
19:16]! This is great! There is nothing to get in the way between God and His
children! But then the Israelites start to question and fight it. They start
whining about how they do not want to experience God like that. In fact, they
tell Moses to tell God for them that they would rather God talk to Moses, and
then Moses can talk to the Israelites [20:18-19]. Haha!
I cannot help but laugh when I
read this. It is like in middle school when two friends get in a fight. One
friend gives the other the silent treatment, but if they want to say something
to the other, they tell Moses, the middle-man, to relay the message. “Hey
Moses, can you tell God to chill out
with the dwelling stuff. He is just way to crazy to be hanging around us. Tell
Him if He wants to tell us something to go through you. Thanks!”
God gets the idea. And as many
before me have said, “God is a gentleman.” So He is not going to be pushy and
demand that they receive Him in this way. What I hear throughout this story is
God saying, “Alright. If you think that by Me speaking through one person
instead of to you directly is going to make our relationship more holy, Fine!
It does not matter. I just want to be Emmanuel- WITH YOU!”
Now Moses is the middle man. It
seems the Israelites would rather hear God speak through a stuttering man than
directly out of His own Mouth. God is okay with this, as long as He can be with
His people. But the people push it even further. They even think that God is
the kind of god that demands gold and silver and sacrifices and boxes and rules
and regulations and laws and traditions [ch. 20-40]. I hear God saying, “No,
guys, really! This does not have to be how it is between us! I AM here with
you! There is no need for the gold, the silver, the sacrifices, blah, blah,
blah. Just dwell in Me.” But the Israelites insist that gold and silver is what
defines God as “Holy.” “Alright, fine. If you think that dwelling in a box
covered with gold and angels is what makes me God [25:10-22], and this will
make you think that I AM here with you, then so be it. Make your boxes and your
temple and your rules and laws. Do what you want. As long as you call Me your
God and I can still call you My Children.”
And as we now know, this is not
what it takes to be with God. Gold and silver has nothing to do with it! God’s
house is not a building, but it is in us. We are His Body. And I think this was
truth from the beginning, only, man turned it around and told God to get in the
box. So instead of being the fire-breathing dragon a lot of people think He is,
He did what He had to do in order to be among His people. He loves us too much
to lock Himself in a room. But He knows we are stupid enough to believe the
religion and rules we put on the whole relationship. He will let us put as many
rules as we want on it, think the stupid things we think, just so that we will
know that He loves us, is here, now, among us.
Long story short (or not), I have
learned that God just wants to be with me. He longs to dwell in me and for me
to dwell in Him. That is it! There are no rules that bind us, no law to keep us
in line, no boxes that keep us in the right place with God. It is just us and
God. And knowing this about God helps me to see the world, and myself, in a new
light. I am no longer worried about finding validation from other people,
because God desires to be with me.
It is that easy.
What sort of things do you guys
hear when you read through Exodus? Other Scripture?
Thanks for reading.
In
my blog titled, Quarter Century!, I talked
about my upcoming birthday (TOMORROW) and my need for financial support in
order to continue working for The World Race. I need to raise $800 a month to
take care of my physical and financial needs. Please consider, as a birthday gift, giving online (Support Me! link to the left) or
through mail at this address, appealed to me:
Adventures
In Missions, PO Box 534470, Atlanta, GA 30353-4470
[Adventures In Missions is
registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) non-profit
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