EASY AS 1, 2, 3

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

"O Lord, if I have found favor in Your eyes," he said, "then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance."

Then the Lord said: "I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you. Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.”

"Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.”

"Do not make cast idols.”

"Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt.”

"The first offspring of every womb belongs to Me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons.”

"No one is to appear before me empty-handed.”

"Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.”

"Celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord, the God of Israel. I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the Lord your God.”

"Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to Me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning.”

"Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.”

"Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk."

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel."

Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 34:9-28

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Earlier in the Book of Exodus, we saw where God’s people had broken their covenant with Him when they decided to worship a golden calf crafted from their jewelry by Aaron, a clear act of idolatry and in direct violation of God’s commandments to have no other gods before Him.

While they were doing this, Moses was spending forty days and with the Lord on Mount Sinai, receiving not only instruction and direction on God’s expectations for the way the Israelites were to live but also directions for the construction of the tabernacle and all its components needed for proper worship. Once his meeting with God had ended, you’ll remember that Moses descended the mountain and as he came into the camp and witnessed how his fellow Hebrews had abandoned God, he became so enraged that he smashed the two stone tablets on which God had written the Ten Commandments with His finger.

This put the Israelites firmly in the crosshairs of God’s judgment but as we see in our passage today, the Lord was ready and willing to give His people a second chance after hearing this from Moses:

"O Lord, if I have found favor in your eyes then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance."

Notice here that there are three key steps used by Moses to repair the fractured relationship between the Israelites and God.

First, there was confession as Moses admitted to God that the people of Israel were stiff-necked.

Indeed, the Israelites chose their own desire to worship an idol over God’s demand to not do so and it was this blatant, intentional disobedience that got them into trouble. Fortunately, their God was a merciful God and so repentance would get them out of it.

This brings to mind some words we find from John’s first letter in the New Testament:

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:8-9

In our scripture passage, Moses had confessed the sins of the Israelites. He then took the second step toward repairing the damaged relationship with God.

He sought forgiveness.

For after admitting his people were stubborn in their disobedience, Moses asked God to "forgive our wickedness and our sin." Let’s return to the words from First John:

"If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:8-9

Moses didn’t attempt to cover up the sinfulness of the people. Rather, he openly professed it before God, seeking His forgiveness and purifying from their unrighteousness. This action displayed a turning back to God for His grace and in seeing this, God did forgive His people and took steps to reestablish His covenant with them.

This led to God giving His people a second chance, something He didn’t have to do by any means but He willingly chose to display His awesome compassion and pardon, honoring the promises He had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob prior.

Now, there was one final step that Moses took that needs to be considered right along with confession and seeking forgiveness. For we see Moses display the quality of surrender before his Lord. We see it through his words as He says this to God:

“Take us as Your inheritance."

In other words, Moses is asking the Lord to possess them because they belonged to Him.

It’s important for us to remember that when someone surrenders themselves to God, their life stops being about themselves but rather the Lord they are surrendering themselves to. It was the attitude we see prominent in Jesus who displayed in its purest, most perfect form, surrendering Himself for us and dying in the cross of Calvary to pay the price for our sins.

Friends, what an awesome, blessed assurance we have knowing that we don’t just serve a God of second chances but a forgiving Heavenly Father, a divine and holy Parent who never stops showing us that His faithfulness is great and His mercies are truly new every morning. (Lamentations 3:22-23)

If you need to fix your relationship with God, follow the lead of Moses.

First confess your sin, then seek His forgiveness, and finally surrender yourself to Him.

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.