Real freedom day1

 EXODUS 20

 

The people were free! After all those years — centuries — of slavery and oppression, they were finally free and headed to claim their Promised Land.

But there were still a few kinks that needed working out.

For one thing, they had no idea how to live as a nation. They had been an extended family, living under someone else’s rules and laws. They’d never really had rules and laws of their own before.

So God decided to teach them how to live.

There is something we should consider about God’s communication with people. How He says what He says is often an important factor in being able to accurately discern His message. In fact, it could be said that how He delivers the message is part of the message itself.

Imagine, all those people standing around this gigantic smoking mountain. There’s thunder and lightning flashing around the top. They have been warned not to touch the mountain, lest they die — and you remember what happened the last time a warning like that was issued!

Most of us probably know how this is going to turn out, after all, the movie re-airs on television every year! But the Hebrews haven’t seen

the movie yet, they are living it. They have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen next. All they know is that this guy shows up saying that a shrub caught on fire and told him to go to Pharaoh to get them free. Then, when Pharaoh didn’t want to cooperate (and who could blame him, really?) there was an onslaught of plagues unleashed on those Egyptians. And now here they are on their own in the middle of nowhere, with more money than they know what to do with.

So now this crazy Moses fella climbs up this smoking and shaking mountain. Who knows how long he’s going to be up there?

At the top of the mountain, God tells Moses something amazing. If the people will commit to following His instructions, they will be His treasure, a people set apart for His purposes, set above all the other nations. That’s pretty impressive, to go from slaves to the envy of all, just by keeping God’s instructions. You’d think it would be a no-brainer, right? The deal of a lifetime.

Meanwhile, back down the mountain, the people grow impatient and talk Aaron (Moses’ brother) into melting all the gold they had received into an idol for them to worship. When he finally climbs down, Moses finds them throwing a giant block party with drinking, dancing and all kinds of sordid stuff that would get you thrown out of your local Sunday School.

Fortunately, God had told Moses something no one could have expected. Before He gave even one of the Ten Commandments, God told Moses, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Ex 20.2). In other words, the law was given after their freedom — not in order to gain their freedom. (Don’t forget that one.) Obedience was not a means of becoming God’s Chosen People, obedience was a response to God’s deliverance.

There were consequences for not obeying, of course. Sin is serious and brings about terrible results. Lots of the Israelites died as a result of their terrible choice. Still, God could have chosen to wipe them all off the face of the earth. He could have abandoned them then and there or sent them straight back into slavery in Egypt. But He didn’t.

See, God had a plan, and not even the disobedience of His people could stop it.

 

Prayer 

 

Lord God, where can I find life but in You? Teach me the error of seeking to reduce You to manageable proportions and to make the invisible visible. Protect me from the subtle forms of idolatry in which I worship and serve something in Your created order above You. I know that only one thing can occupy the centre of my being and that if it is not You, it is an idol that is not worthy of my allegiance. I thank You that when I do succumb to the sins of disobedience, Your grace always reaches further than my rebellion. Still, I desire to delight in You above all else, and I am grateful for the gift of Your Word that guides me in the way I should go. Your revelation teaches me how to live and gives me the perspective I so greatly need in a world of uncertainty.

In Jesus’s name, Amen