You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation....
The Lord is lovely and ever generous. In meditating on these verses, He brought to mind John 15, wherein Jesus says, "Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full" (vv. 9b-11). God knows that only in Him does true satisfaction lie. He is so good and wise in commanding us; He commands us for our good like a father, knowing what will make for godliness, as a father trains in the way his children should go. It is true that what He has in store for us is greater than whatever we could ask or think or imagine (Eph. 3:20). Even when Israel murmured against Moses (and against the Lord), the Lord was patient with them and provided for them. (I am thinking specifically of the events at Marah, where the Lord turned the bitter waters sweet for Israel to drink in Exodus 15, at the end of which the Lord made a statute and a rule.)
Seeing the Lord's wisdom, omnipotence, compassion, plan, love, and mercy in Exodus and in these chapters specifically has enriched the faith He has given me and helped me see Christ in the OT. Growing in knowing the Lord and trusting Him, standing on and resting in His promises, experiencing the truly awesome grasp of Christ's presence in all of redemptive history and the scriptural parallels to the NT... After the Lord descended in fire in a cloud with thunder and lightning and a trumpet's blast, the mountain of God trembled greatly (19:16-18), and my soul shook a little with it.
1 comment:
You should blog more often.
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