Second Chances; If I Surrender to His Will…
It was a difficult time for the children of Israel having been freed from Egypt but transitioning to a new homeland but not yet there.
Fortunately they got a “redo” from Moses and God.
“I will make a covenant in sight of all. Adore not any strange god. The Lord his name is Jealous, he is a jealous God. Thou shall not make thyself any molten gods.”
“Write thee these words by which I have made a covenant both with thee and with Israel. And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water, and he wrote upon the tables the ten words of the covenant.”
Moses did another 40-day-and-night stint up on Mount Sinai and God reissued the tablets.
All the children of Israel dedicated voluntary offerings to the Lord.
And hath filled him with the spirit of God, with wisdom and understanding and knowledge and all learning.
Whatsoever can be devised artificially, he hath given in his heart.
The tabernacle was to be built finally!
Talk about second chances!
We know not God’s ways or his timing. Another forty years is a lot to us, little to Him.
We, of course, have a limited lifespan. God does not.
This earth does not.
We control a lot less than we think.
We need to control a lot more than we think of our mind and emotions, coming from the inside-out to a spiritual solution for what we call life.
The end is near?
We do not live forever.
God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
As it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
If I surrender to His Will;
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life
And supremely happy with Him
Forever and ever in the next.
Amen.
Reference: the Serenity Prayer (Full Version, Reinhold Neibuhr, early 1940s)
Day 31: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective; Second Chances; If I Surrender to His Will…
Read and inspired by the Old Testament, The Book of Exodus Chapters 33-37
Bible Notes:
This Book of Exodus is so called from the Greek word exodus, which means going out.
It recounts the persecution of the Jews in Egypt, the call of Moses, the ten plagues, the Jewish departure from Egypt, and the giving of the Mosaic Law on Mount Sinai.
The Book of Exodus closes with the consecration of the Tabernacle.
Exodus Chapter 33: God threatens to withdraw His grace; The people mourn for their sin; Moses places the tabernacle outside the camp; The Lord talks familiarly with Moses; Moses asks to see God’s glory.
For I will not go up with thee, because thou art a stiffnecked people: less I destroy thee in the way.
And the people hearing these very bad tidings, mourned: and no man put on his ornaments according to custom.
The tabernacle of the covenant, outside of camp.
And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man is wont to speak to his friend.
I know thee by name, and thou hast found favor in my sight.
And may find grace before thy eyes
And I will give thee rest
Thou canst not see my face: for man shall not see me and live.
Exodus Chapter 34: Moses renews the tables; Moses asks God to forgive the people; Friendship with idolaters forbidden; Feast of unleavened bread; Law of firstborn males; Sabbath day and feasts; The tables are rewritten; Moses’ face is horned with rays of light.
Then he cut two tables of stone, such as had been before.
O the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, patient and of much compassion, and true, who keepest Mercy unto thousands; who takest away iniquity, and wickedness, and sin, and no man of himself is innocent before thee.
I will make a covenant in sight of all. Adore not any strange god. The Lord his name is Jealous, he is a jealous God. Thou shall not make thyself any molten gods.
Molten—produced by melting and casting: a molten image.
Thou shalt keep the feast of the unleavened bread.
Neither shalt thou appear before me empty.
Write thee these words by which I have made a covenant both with thee and with Israel. And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water, and he wrote upon the tables the ten words of the covenant.
And he knew not that his face was horned from the conversation of the Lord
And he gave them in commandment all that he had heard of the Lord in Mount Sinai.
And they saw that the face of Moses when he came out was horned, but he covered his face again, if at any time he spoke to them.
Exodus Chapter 35: The Sabbath; Offerings for making the tabernacle; Skillful workers called to build the tabernacle; Gifts to the Lord; Beseleel and Ooliab called to the work.
There are the things which the Lord hath commanded to be done.
Set aside your firstfruits to the Lord. Let every one that is willing and hath a ready heart…
Whosoever of you is wise, let him come, and make that which the Lord hath command…
… the vesture of Aaron the high priest, and of his sons, to do the office of priesthood to me.
… offered firstfruits to the Lord with a most ready and devout mind…
All the children of Israel dedicated voluntary offerings to the Lord.
And hath filled him with the spirit of God, with wisdom and understanding and knowledge and all learning.
Whatsoever can be devised artificially, he hath given in his heart.
Exodus Chapter 36: Offerings are delivered to the workmen; Ten curtains; Coverings for the tabernacle; Boards of the tabernacle; Bars for boards of the tabernacle; The veil; Hanging for the door of the tabernacle.
The people offered more than is necessary.
And all the men that were wise of heart…
Exodus Chapter 37: The ark; The propitiatory; Table and vessels; The candlestick; Altar of incense; Oil of sanctification and incense.
The propitiatory, that is the oracle,…
Setin wood.
Wherein the libations are to be offered.
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