Pondering Exodus

I am slipping behind on my daily reading in the chronological bible.

I was originally only a few days behind, but I seem to have gotten "stuck" but stuck in a good way on Feb 4th, 5th, and 6th. I am finding it very interesting to read about Moses and his story about leading the Israelites out of Egypt. I feel the need to take notes, and go make markings in my other bible. I have heard stories about Moses before, being the baby put in the basket to save his life, and the burning bush, but don't remember ever reading in detail like this. It's a really cool story.

I think it's neat how God went ahead of them, he led them with a pillar of a cloud, and then at night he provided light with a pillar of fire. How neat is that? I know that God is still going "ahead" of me, and he is leading me just as he lead them,(when I follow of course!) but it sure would be nice if he'd show me the way as clearly as he showed the Israelites! Sometimes I make wrong turns, start straying off in the wrong direction, or it just takes me awhile to figure out where I am supposed to be going, and if I just had that cloud or flame to show me the way to go things would be so much easier!

I also can totally relate to Moses. When God first told him to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let the people go, Moses didn't want to do it! He said, "Who am I that Pharaoh is going to listen to me?" I feel that way sometimes too! I am too weak, I'm nobody! I can't! I don't want to listen!

There was a lot of things that intrigued me in these readings with Moses and the Pharoah. How God would send different plagues to get Pharoah to say OK to letting the Israelites go, but then when God would take the plague away he would harden Pharoah's heart again and he would take back what he said and not let the people go, then again God would send another plague on the people and the cycle would go all over again. I think it was interesting that God would harden Pharoah's heart, so he could show the people who he was.(that he was their Lord)

Then in time, he parted the red sea and brought all the Israelites out of Egypt just as he had promised he would. He set them free from slavery! I related that to God setting me free from the slavery of food, from being in bondage to Idols.

There was something that made me think though. After Moses had led them out of Egypt, the Lord told them he wanted them to OBEY his commands, and if they did, he wouldn't make them suffer diseases that he sent on the Egyptians. I guess this is something that I never thought about before. God sent diseases? Because they didn't obey. This got me thinking about God and sin. Isn't God still the same God that was in the old testament? The same God that hated sin?? I don't think he punishes us now when we sin because Jesus died to save us from our sins, but doesn't he still HATE sin as much as he did in the old testament? I don't know why these things roll around in my brain and bother me but they do.So what does that mean if God still hates sin? What does it mean if we are Christians and we know God hates sin but yet we still keep on sinning doing things that we could stop doing? Of course we can't be perfect, but what if we know that something is a sin, and we could stop but we choose not to? That's what I want to know. Does he still punish? Or does it just make him sad? Does anyone really even know that answer?

One more thing I'd like to remember was when the Amalekites attack the people of Israel, and as long as Moses held up that staff pointing it toward God Joshua would have the advantage against the Amalekites, but the min he would drop it or bring it down, they would start taking the lead. So when Moses arm got too tired, Aaron and Hur held up Moses arms to keep the staff up and they won the fight. That's neat. Reminds me to keep my eyes and heart focused on God, not myself, and things are better, easier, and I have more strength.