Daily Devotional

I love the Moses stories we are examining in this series of sermons called, “Let My People Go.” There are many lessons to be learned from the prophet, Moses.  He was a Hebrew baby pulled from the Nile and adopted by pharaoh’s daughter.  He grew up in the palace of pharaoh.  When he reaches the age of 40, his life changes when he kills one of the Egyptian guards who Moses saw mistreating a Hebrew slave.  Now, he must flee and leave this life of luxury.  He becomes a sheep herder in the wilderness.  It is there that Moses encounters God in the burning bush in Exodus 3.  When God calls to Moses to come closer, he admonishes him and says, “Take off your sandals for the place you are standing is holy ground.”       

What is holy ground? 

Recently, my family and I took a quick trip to Southwest Oklahoma to visit our favorite fishing holes.  Located in the National Wildlife Refuge, we enjoy this place for so many reasons. It is a beautiful place within the Wichita Mountains. I personally think it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. This place is home for me.

As we drove into the mountains, we lost our cell phone signal. The lake we fish at is even further into the Refuge. Once you arrive, you have no digital distraction, only the beauty that surrounds you. We fished, we fought off a snake or two, and we had a blessed time in the beauty of God’s creation.

When we take time to look around, we can see the wonder and splendor that God has created.  Folliot Pierpoint experienced much of the same thing, only he lived long before the time of cell phones…

“And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you this day, with all your heart and with all your soul; then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes, and have compassion upon you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will fetch you; and the Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, that you may possess it; and he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. And the Lord your God will put all these curses upon your foes and enemies who persecuted you. And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord, and keep all his commandments which I command you this day. The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground; for the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”

“How lovely is thy dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yea, faints
    for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
    to the living God.

Even the sparrow finds a home,
    and the swallow a nest for herself,
    where she may lay her young,
at thy altars, O Lord of hosts,
    my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in thy house,
    ever singing thy praise!”

Our faith calls us to love, to love God and to love one another. Christians have the great privilege to love. It is a high calling. It is a difficult calling. Luke records the expanse of love, to which we are called, when he shares these challenging words of Jesus in Luke, chapter 6.

When I read the words, “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,” I cannot help but think of the life and work of Corrie Ten Boom. The life and faith of Corrie Ten Boom has been a blessing to so many people around the world. Corrie Ten Boom was living with her family in Haarlem, Netherlands when the German army invaded in 1940. During the German occupation the Ten Boom family worked to help hide and smuggle Jews to free and liberated areas. Because of their efforts to protect and save so many from certain death, they were themselves arrested, imprisoned, and later sent to concentration camps…

“You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” – Leviticus 19:34

From the beginning, God was working with humanity to create a community of love, justice, and mercy. Repeatedly, the stories of both testaments teach us to show respect for others and treat one another with kindness. God use Moses to deliver the people from slavery in Egypt to new life in the promise land. While on the long journey to the new land, God gives the people the law. This law was not simply a list of dos and don’ts. The law that Moses offers the people is their new freedom and the structure by which God’s love would be lived out amongst God’s people.

One such scripture appears in the book of Leviticus…

“The Lord bless you and keep you:
The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.” -Numbers 6:24-26

Found in the book of Numbers is a priestly blessing that God shares with Moses. God commands Moses to tell Aaron and his sons that this is how they are to bless the Israelites. This blessing reminds God’s people that God is present. God’s people are not alone. They are blessed by God’s presence and by the work that God will do among them. From the time of Moses to today, this blessing is often spoken among God’s people.

The most current setting that I experience the sharing of this scripture is with the youth group at St. Luke’s. I love hearing this blessing being shared in our youth group…

Between college semesters, I recall having jobs that I really disliked!  I hated what I was doing so much and counted the days until I’d be free to go back to school.  My parents considered this a great tactic to get my siblings and me to finish college, and it worked!  My brothers worked in hay fields or plowed, and they’d come home in the evenings covered with dirt.  My sister and I worked at a factory, which required us to arise early each morning!  We were all thrilled to go back to college, and I’m sure our parents were glad to see us go, too!

You may have a job, marriage, or other life situation that makes life difficult.  Perhaps you are simply existing and counting down the days until something will change!  Surely the Israelites must have felt that way when they were enslaved in Egypt.  Exodus 1:14 recounts, “They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.”

“One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.” – Luke 5:17-19

I must admit this has always been one of my favorite passages of scripture. In one brief story, Luke offers the church a beautiful visual of the love we are called to have for our neighbors. The story begins with Jesus teaching the experts and ends with everyone bewildered by what they have witnessed.

It is not Jesus’ teaching that necessarily amazes all who have gathered in this house. It is the love of God and the love of neighbors that bring about the amazing events of this day…

Then God spoke all these words, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. “You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it. “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female slave, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”