Ex 3

According to AW Tozer, "true Christian experience must always include a genuine encounter with God. Without this, religion is but a shadow, a reflection of reality, a cheap copy of the original once enjoyed by someone else of whom we have heard." Moses may have looked (or turned his face) in fear, but soon that fear turned to delightful awe as he truly experienced God. Conceptually, the name and personage of God is difficult to understand but here, Moses experienced it and lived to tell about it. God laid the foundation by which Moses will become one of the greatest leaders in the OT despite his own hesitation and shortcomings. He laid out how His plans were to be carried out and also that the Israelites themselves would finance this exodus.

How awesome the sight because it comes from an awesome God. The Lord himself calls upon the experience and the relationship between Him and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - the three patriachs of Israel three times during this chapter. According to God, it will start at Horeb and the exodus will end at Horeb. The shepherd will ultimately lead his flock back home.

Good day yesterday and it was nice to pray with and for each of my sons before I left for Delly. The weather has turned for now at least and it is wicked cold. Time to bundle up and make the doughnuts! Gym time!

Praise for today: So I have come down to rescue them from the land of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey - the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Hebusites. Ex 3: 8

Ex 2 :11-22

No good deed goes unpunished and while this was a noble deed, it had its consequences. While he was branded a murderer and was banished himself from Egpyt, he still had noble intentions. If he were to allow the Egyptian to live, his fate would have been entirely different and would have not been free to encounter God the way he would in later chapters. The fact that he knew and acknowledged his heritage and his people was amazing especially since he was treated like royalty and probably acclimated himself to the comfy lifestyle. Still he was a defender of the weak and helpless. What pushed the issue was that everyone knew that he was the one that defended his people and what made matters worse, his own people didn't care and were content to remain oppressed. His flee to Midian was one that helped shape and reveal his character and he was given a second chance at life. While he was still known to them as an Egyptian, he was still an Israelite and was given Zipporah as his wife. She bore him a son, Gershom - a stranger in a foreign country.

Good day at church yesterday. Nice also to spend a night at home and will head down to Delly later. Glad to see that we as a church are moving towards the direction of greater spirituality and personal growth for the coming year. Praying for a milder winter and so far, so good. Also nice to spend some time for GG before he heads off. It will be a while before he makes it back here for a visit.

Praise for today: Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law. Gal. 5:1

Ex 2: 1-10

Moses came from the tribe of Levi, which meant he had no country or could possess no land. His beginnings were humble and was cared for by God from birth. His mother was especially caring and gave him the best opportunity for survival given the current edict. The "happenstance" that Pharoah's daughter who drew him out of the water and his eventual naming and rearing was God's divine plan for the greatest man that the next 4 books of the Bible are about and were written by.

One could say that he was born with a "silver spoon" but internally he was just an alien in a foreign land, gaining life lessons and being chisled away.

Yesterday was a relatively hectic day, but things are cooking at work. The major regret of the day will be not being able to get back to see David perform with his HS friend's band at a NYC club tonight. Still looking forward to getting home and being in NYC tomorrow. Prayers for GG and his safe flight back and hopefully will be able to see him this weekend.

Praise for today: Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard: he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. Ps. 66: 8-9

Exodus 1

All good things must come to an end and so it was for the Israelites and the Egyptians. After Joseph and his brothers were long gone and the new king of Egypt came into power,  the Jews became a hazard rather than a benefit. Unlike the situation in Germany during the 1920-1940s, they became slaves of the Egyptians since their frame of reference from the famine was long gone. They became the bane of Egypt and ultimate built their cities, Pithom and Rameses as food storage facilities. Still the amount of Israelites grew to the point to where the Egyptians made the do all of the heavy lifting so that they would be discourage to breed. Soon the only way to curtail the population boom was to kill off all the newborn male babies. However, two Israelite women refused to obey the king's order and let the male babies live and were blessed by God for their actions. The male babies were then ordered to be thrown into the river in hopes that they would be drowned.

The stage is set for the introduction of Moses and his eventual rescue from the watery passage. Looking forward to it!

Good weekend but extremely tiring. Hopefully this week at work will be somewhat less stressful than previous year end ones... We'll see. Trying to make David's gig in Manhattan on Wed night but seems like that may not happen. Good to see GG and all of the people on Sat/Sun night.

Praise for today: The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whome I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. 2 Sam 22: 2-3a

Gen 50: 15-26

Now with Jacob out of the picture, the brothers feared for their lives. Pleading with him for mercy and grace, they literally threw themselves at him and gave themselves up to him as his slaves. Joseph reassured them that they wouldn't be harmed and gave them the perspective that defines his life (v20) and the bigger picture. The Bible reinforces the tone of the speech in v 21. The rest of the chapter details the rest of Joseph's life (110 years) and the 3 generations of Ephraim 's children as well as Manasseh's offspring. Unlike Jacob who was buried with his ancestors, Joseph's remains were embalmed and was placed in a coffin in Egypt until he would be moved from this place. This was carried out in spirit in Ex. 13:9 and in reality in Joshua 24:32.

I really enjoyed my run through Genesis. Since I spent some time teaching this book in a high school class, I hesistated for a long while to do this but it was worth the wait. I guess the next step will be to "let my people go"....

Looking forward to going home later but not having to fix my toilet tomorrow. I guess that is the joys of homeownership. Hopefully, this won't take all day.

Praise for today: His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. Luke 1:50

Gen 50: 1-14

With Jacob's death came the fulfillment of God's promise. Jacob was embalmed for  40 days and was mourned by the Egyptians for 70 days. After the days of mourning had ceased, Joseph went to Pharoah and told him of the promise to return Jacob's body to the land of Canaan. With all of the pomp and circumstances that would accompany a dignitary, Jacob's body was laid to rest. There were so many Egyptians there at the ceremony that the Canaanites thought that they were burying an Egyptian. He was buried in the place that Abraham purchased centuries before. Then Joseph and the rest of the clan returned to Egypt. Given the distance between the two places, it was a difficult journey.

The end of an era, often God is referred to by the names of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. While Joseph would gain prominence, he would still never be equated the same as his fathers. Still, he was great unto himself and his God.

Long day yesterday but still rewarding. Getting ready for the holidays still much to do when I get home tomorrow night into Sunday.

Praise for today: Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to redeem his people. Luke 1: 68.

Gen 49:19-27

The attention now turns to Gad and how his tribe will be under constant attack - they will be successful in thwarting their plans. Asher's land would be fertile and produce many crops. Even Solomon used their produce in his palace in 1 Kings 4:22-28. As for Naphtali, the commentary suggests that it is refering to Barak in Judges 4:6 and the poetry referring to Judges 5.

Now the attention is turned to Joseph, and while he wasn't a soldier - he was a righteous man (Ps 1:2-3) and while dealt wrongly was protected by God and made Joseph an overcomer. He then was bestowed the gifts that are due the one with the birthright and because of that his two sons received a double share of his father's possessions and was granted seperate parcels of land when the Promised land was divided up.

The tribe of Benjamin would be fighters, in the OT it would Saul that would come from this tribe and ruled with cruelty and in the NT, it would be Paul who would fight in a totally different way for the Gospel.

As we approach Christmas and the end of the year, I said goodby to an old friend and wished him well as he rides off into the sunset. 10 years is a long time and 170,000 miles is by some standards decent but still that was not meant to be. Who knows when the next time I will welcome a new one into the mix....

Praise for today: I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me. Ps 13:6