PUT IT IN WRITING

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.

Then He said to Moses, "Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, but Moses alone is to approach the Lord; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him."

When Moses went and told the people all the Lord's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the Lord has said we will do."

Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.

Exodus 24:1-4a

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

As we enter Exodus, chapter 24, we find God ready to seal His covenant with the people of Israel. At Mount Sinai, He had provided the people with a lot of guidance and direction through Moses which included the Ten Commandments and other directives. In response, the people of Israel were expected to follow His instructions and statutes with complete obedience.

In these opening four verses, we find the Lord telling Moses to "come up to" Him but not by himself. Rather, he was to bring his older brother Aaron as well as Aaron’s two sons, Nadab and Abihu, along with seventy elders of Israel. Nadab and Abihu were the next two high priests in line after their father and the elders were summoned to represent the twelve tribes as God ratified His deal with them.

Interestingly enough, this is what elders do in the church today. They represent their respective congregations in spiritual leadership. The elders being there was to be representative of God’s covenant being made with all the tribes’ people.

Now, we need to notice that Aaron, his sons, and the elders were only allowed to go so far with Moses and then were to "worship at a distance" for only Moses was allowed to have the special honor and privilege to approach the Lord. As for the people of Israel, they were required to stay behind all together.

So with God’s guidance in hand, we find Moses first addressing the Israelites, telling them "all the Lord's words and laws" and as we have read since chapter 20 of this book, there were a lot of them so this must have taken awhile. Then, after Moses finishes, we read a remarkable response by the people who say the following "with one voice":

“Everything the Lord has said we will do."

It was a bold declaration, one given without a single question asked or any inquiry for clarification of any one requirement. It’s as if they perfectly understood everything the very first time they heard it but I’m left to wonder if the people of Israel truly understood everything that was expected of them for the Lord was asking them to do a lot and had given them a ton of commandments and laws that they were to adhere to.

This leads me to wonder as well if believers today really understand fully all that the Lord expects from them. I’m in this place because I suspect there is a large percentage of Christians who only have a very surface knowledge of the Bible and that’s not going to cut it in regard to knowing everything that God expects from them as they live life daily.

For inside the wonderful sixty-six books of the Bible, we find God’s instruction manual for living, now and in the eternal life yet to come, and we only have the blessing of these scriptures because people in biblical times wrote down what God expected. Ultimately, He is the Author of the Bible but He worked through faithful writers who ensured His words would be read and studied for as long as there was life on the earth He created.

With this, we should note the very last words in our passage today because it’s there that we read how Moses “wrote down everything the Lord had said”.

You know, the Lord still speaks to His believers through His Word today and He wants us to remember what He says. And while His Word will never change as it’s found from Genesis through Revelation, He still builds on the scriptures to bring us understanding and life application tips. When He does this, either through our Bible study or prayer, we need to follow the lead of Moses and write down everything the Lord says to us. A journal book or notebook should always be handy when we engage with God in any way, every day.

I can tell you from personal testimony that God is ready to speak to your heart, mind and soul daily if you would just turn your life’s focus toward His Word, will, and way for you. Day after day, I sit here with my laptop with a blank Microsoft Word document and a scripture passage, ready to compose a message that I pray holds meaning to the reader and the Lord always delivers in answering that prayer. For by way of the Holy Spirit, He provides me the words to share and when it’s all said and done with, I end up with an end product of great spiritual substance that blesses anyone who reads it.

None of this would be possible if I wasn’t willing to write down everything the Lord was speaking into my heart and mind through His Spirit and I’m so grateful that He uses me as a vessel to share spiritual truths that help His believers gain a greater understanding of Him and His expectations for Christian living.

My hope today is that you will start to put into writing everything the Lord shares with you. For when He speaks, it’s always important and we need to know that He often wants us to share His words with others, just as Moses did with the Israelite people.

So in response to this message, won’t you devote yourself to daily communion with the Lord and His Word, carefully listening for His voice and writing down what He speaks into your heart and mind. If you do this, I think you’ll find a deep richness injected into your spiritual life as you receive the Word of God that is illuminated by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I assure you, it will be the best time that you spend every single day.

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.