Category: Exodus

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 21 before reading the devotional below. 

Have you ever noticed that we tend to repeat the patterns we learned in the past even when we don’t want to? If your family had a high degree of conflict or was abusive to you, you might find that you yell at others or even become abusive. Bullies on school playgrounds are often those who themselves have suffered from abuse or neglect. God’s people spent a lot of years in oppressive slavery. As much as they would probably say they would never want to oppress anyone else, God knows that is exactly what they are likely to do without guidance. It’s what they know.

These Old Testament passages are tough to swallow as 21st century readers, but we need to keep in mind our question, “What is God trying to reveal to us about his character?” In today’s chapter, we see God’s opposition to oppression coming through. Notice he says, “If you buy a Hebrew slave…” He’s talking about ways they need to interact with each other to prevent oppression. After seven years, the slave gets to walk free, no questions asked. If someone causes injury or death, you can’t take more from them than they took from you. “An eye for an eye” sounds ruthless until you realize that God is saying that “death for an eye” is not okay.

Here’s your freedom for today: God’s justice protects. He wants his people to be spared from repeating the dysfunctional patterns they have experienced. He wants them to be known as people where freedom is the end goal — even in slavery. He wants to help his people think about justice and fairness so that the right things get punished in the right ways. Those who do wrong do need to be called to account, but those who intend harm can’t be treated the same as those who cause it accidentally. God is on your side if you have been oppressed, and he wants better things for you if you are an oppressor. The end of God’s story for you is always redemption.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 22 before reading the devotional below.

Remember a few days ago when Moses’ father-in-law helped him avoid burnout? Moses was so busy helping people work through their disputes that he ended up having to appoint a whole team to help him manage the job. In today’s chapter we see that God is handing Moses divine wisdom for all kinds of disputes and problems. It may seem like a strange compilation, but God knew exactly the kinds of issues his people were having. They had no president or king, but rather they were in what is called a “theocracy.” God was the leader and Moses represented him to the people.

God has standards. He is revealing that about his character here as he lays out his laws. It is important to remember that God’s grace demonstrated through Jesus did not remove his standards. Rather, the work of salvation makes plain that we can never keep all of God’s laws. There are a lot of them! You will never meet God’s standards on your own. And the punishments for failing to follow God’s laws are not good.

Here’s your freedom for today: you don’t have to follow a bunch of rules to find God. In the Old Testament, he set up all these complex legal systems as a way of clearly defining his standards and also allowing people to see their own failures. He just rescued his people from slavery, and he’s telling them exactly what to do to follow his ways. The inability of the people to follow God’s standards does not change his standards. Rather, it opens the door for God’s grace. God’s not mad at you, nor does he want to punish you. He wants to invite you into a better life. A rescued life. You can come or not, it’s up to you.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 23 before reading the devotional below.

God is trying to set his people up for success and cast vision for the long road ahead. Interestingly, we find out a little bit more of the reason why the Israelites cannot rush into the Promised Land quickly: if they did so the land would be ruined for farming and the wild animals would take over. God makes it clear that he is the one leading this journey. He promises to go ahead of them and drive their enemies out of the land a little at a time.

In the meantime, God has two things he wants his people to focus on: remembering the poor and remembering Him. As we have already seen, God set up his laws to ensure justice and fight oppression. His intention is to fight every kind of evil, to ensure that everyone is treated fairly, and to make sure the poor are not taken advantage of. He also lays out three national holidays: the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Harvest, and the Festival of the Final Harvest. The point of each of these holidays? Celebrate God and honor him for all he has done.

Here’s your freedom for today: God is fighting your battles for you. Honestly, we often make the Christian life way too complicated by feeling like we have to do the right thing plus fight a whole bunch of spiritual battles and ward off Satan in our daily lives. We try to do what God asks us to do plus we take over his job. Let God handle Satan — he’s already fighting those battles for you. Today, right now, in this one moment, what is the best way you can honor God, remember the poor, and stay away from evil? Just do that, and you’ll be alright.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 24 before reading the devotional below.

Have you ever noticed things often seem better when you first sign up? We usually have some energy for a new project or idea, but as time moves along that enthusiasm fades. The Israelites just got more details from God on his plan for them than they have gotten in a while. New laws, new holidays, a sense of a new beginning. Finally, they can stop running — their freedom has been secured. There are still many steps to come in their journey, but they have a fresh sense of hope that God is leading the way.

In today’s chapter, the people make a covenant with God and they promise to do everything God has commanded. They are signing on the dotted line, and the seventy elders even get a chance to eat in God’s presence. Moses is then called by God to go up the mountain for a face-to-face encounter. Only Moses and Joshua are allowed to go, and Moses says some famous last words: “Wait for us until we come back.” (Spoiler alert: Moses takes too long and by chapter 32 — not even a month and a half later — the people have already broken their part of the deal with God.)

Here’s your freedom for today: God is faithful even when we are not. God entered into a covenant with his people — a spiritual and legal promise. He gave them laws, told them exactly how to handle all the types of situations they were facing, and told them he would go before them to conquer the Promised Land. He met with his people, ate with them, and allowed them into his presence. He did not do all of this because he thought they were going to be faithful to him. God knew that the people would not be able to hold up their end of the bargain. Yet he was willing to shake on it with them anyway. Why? Because his goal is to rescue his people. Step one of that mission was to help his people see they needed to be rescued. Through failure they will return to God again and again. Take a moment to connect with your complete dependence on God today — when we forget this we stray from his path for us.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 25 before reading the devotional below.

Moses is having a face-to-face meeting with God at the top of Mount Sinai, and the next few days we will be eavesdropping to find out the focus of their conversation. God begins by giving instructions for building him a place to dwell with them. He calls it the Tabernacle, which is essentially a divine tent. God wants to camp out with his people and have a place for them to interact with him. Of course, the priests will continue to act as intermediaries because God’s direct presence is a danger to his people at this point in history. Before Jesus broke the curse, sin caused a spiritual divide between God and humanity so great that few could interact with God and live. Death was the inevitable result of trying to enter God’s presence without a covering.

God details some of the key pieces that will be featured in his Tabernacle: the Arc of the Covenant (a box for the stone tablets with the Ten Commandments inscribed), the Table (used by the priests to present offerings to God), and the Lampstand (basically a giant menorah). What do these objects tell us about God and what is important to him? First, the Arc of the Covenant becomes the most sacred object — God’s standards for his people are central and must not be forgotten. These laws will set them apart from all other nations and they set the stage for Jesus’ arrival. Second, God chooses to put a table in his dwelling place because much like our kitchen tables, the best relational interactions are able to occur there. Finally, God’s choice of a lamp shows his continual light to his people and is full of symbolism that is too vast to cover here.

Here’s your freedom for today: God is deliberate. He knows what he is doing, and he has a reason for everything. He uses symbolism quite a lot to teach his people and reveal more about his character. Sometimes the true meaning of God’s intentions remain a mystery for quite a while, and some mysteries we have yet to understand. However, sometimes we make the mistake of making ourselves the focal point of the universe. We interpret life circumstances as if God is deliberately controlling everything — from stoplights to great discounts to politics. This overspiritualizing removes the impact of our free choices (and the choices of all those around us). In this Bible passage, we see that God is deliberate about revealing himself as the central figure in the grand plot of the universe. What can you do to re-center God as your focal point today instead of focusing on yourself?