Context: Moses has returned to the mountain for addition instruction and a new set of tablets for the ten commandments.
Today's Devotional Text: Ex 34:18-22
18 "Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt.
19 "The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. 20 Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons.
"No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
21 "Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.
22 "Celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. 23 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD, the God of Israel. 24 I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the LORD your God. (NIV)
taken from www.biblegateway.com
Today's text holds three areas of improvement for me:
1. Celebrations. Do you celebrate enough? We usually devote a week or so to celebrating Christmas at our house because we have so many different relatives we need to visit with. Easter also deserves special treatment, but after the church service our day often continues on as if it weren't a holiday. We go out to dinner for birthdays, but that is really the extent of celebration for us. God told the Hebrews to celebrate with feasts, worship, and fellowship. I want to work harder at making special days memorable!
2. Sabbath. I think the movement to open the stores on Sunday has done a lot of harm to our remembrance of the Sabbath. While our society doesn't stop laboring like many did in earlier times (after all, if you don't cut the grass on Sunday when will it get done?), but now it seems like just another Saturday filled with errands. How would life change if we all devoted our Sunday's to the work of the Lord?
3. Offering. Look back at verse 20...God says that "no one is to appear before me empty handed." We don't have the types of sacrifices that were required under Hebrew law, but how often to I appear before the Lord empty handed? I pray for his protection and blessing on my day, but I don't really hand my day over to him...I really want him to protect and bless the things I have planned. What am I willing to take to God each day? This is an area I need to pay more attention to!
Think about the four chapters you read today...what is God telling you to work on?
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