Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The Lord said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you." Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said. And the Lord said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, 'Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. He shall surely be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on him. Whether man or animal, he shall not be permitted to live.' Only when the ram's horn sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain." After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. Then he said to the people, "Prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain from sexual relations." Exodus 19:9-15
God is speaking to Moses from Mount Sinai and has spoken to His beloved Israel through Moses, reminding them that He expects them to remain obedient to Him and His commands. You’ll remember that the people respond by saying, "We will do everything the LORD has said." (Exodus 19:8) This is all a pre-cursor to God delivering His commandments to Israel…the guidance we know as the Ten Commandments. But before the Lord could deliver His important instruction, He needed Israel to be prepared to receive it for these commands would be nothing like they had been given up to this point.
So in our scripture, we see the Lord tell Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people." Consecration simply means devoting oneself toward the worship of God…an action that requires not only commitment but preparation as well. In the case of Israel, their preparation period was to last three days but regardless of the period, one thing is certain: proper worship of God requires preparation. In support of this, here are two important points to glean from this passage:
1. God expects our best. In the case of the people of Israel, they were to "wash their clothes and be ready by the third day"…for the Lord’s arrival. God required that their clothes be clean. He also requires clean hearts and minds as well as clear ones. Why else would the Lord tell the people of Israel to "abstain from sexual relations?" Because devotion during sexual relations is channeled between a man and a woman…God is not the focal point of the passion. Truly, God expects us to enter into worship undistracted and ready to center our attention on Him. How well do you do in this area? Do you find yourself entering into worship distracted?
2. God expects our focus. Focus typically requires adjustment, especially if you want to get a picture that is crystal clear. God wants us to receive His message crystal clear and so we need to adjust ourselves to make sure we’re best equipped to receive what He has to say. God mandated that the Israelites spend three days getting focused. Typically, we have at least three days if not more between our formal worship. How well are you focusing on coming into the Lord’s presence each week?
Like Israel, God demands that we be consecrated as we worship Him…setting everything within us aside to center on Him and Him alone.
The Israelites were in the presence of absolute holiness and were not even allowed to set foot on the mountain where God was residing. God would come to them and inform them when they would be allowed on the mountain.
For us, we too enter His holy presence as we attend weekly worship. But unlike Israel, we are freely allowed to come and enter into the presence of the Lord. There are no disqualifiers…no alarms that go off for sinfulness that might cause us to be rejected and unworthy of entering into the Lord’s presence. No, the invitation to worship is free to all just as the gift of salvation is available to all. Why? Because in Jesus Christ, God gave us His best. He was focused on us His children. Nothing was going to distract Him or His Son from saving us from sure destruction by Jesus bearing our sins on the cross. His blood cleansed us all…washed our sin-stained clothes, leaving us clean and consecrated before the Father.
Indeed, God, in giving Jesus as a spot-less, unblemished, sacrificial Lamb, showed us His willingness to give His all for us…His absolute best. The least we can do…as an act of gratitude, thanks and praise…is give Him our best in return. I pray this week and from here forward, we might all take the matter of consecration and proper worship preparation more seriously…because it is a serious matter…and God commands it.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
http://www.faithhopeandlove.info/
Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment