Good morning and happy Friday, the official start to the weekend. Speaking of the weekend, did you know that the weekend is a relatively modern invention? The U.S. adopted a 40 hour, 5 day workweek in only 1940. Yep, believe it or not the weekend is only 79 years old! Of course, in our society I think the weekend is only loosely followed. It seems that for most of my working life I have never really had weekends off. Between the grocery business, retail and now working with university students, it seems it’s always necessary to work a Saturday or two. Which is fine by me because I think the best day to have off is a weekday. Less crowds to hassle with and I mean come on, can you beat having Taco Tuesday off?
Well, today we chug right along in Exodus and we hit the brakes to take a good look at chapter 13. So far, we’ve been on quite the journey in Exodus. We’ve seen baby Moses go sailing in a basket, we’ve seen him try to liberate the Israelites on his own by murder, we’ve seen him flee his home only for God to find him and call him to service through a flaming desert shrubbery. But most of Exodus thus far has been spent on the plagues. God has been at war with the false Gods of Egypt and the hearts that worshipped them in order to free His people and get them to the Promised Land. As of chapter 13 the plagues are finished, and the people are free. But if you thought the journey for the Israelites was just winding down, think again, they are really just beginning their journey with God.
The Israelites are a big group. We’re told in Ex. 12:37 that they are “about 600,000 men on foot.” Now that does not include women and children, so if you extrapolate, the total number of Israelites would be somewhere between 1.5million and 2 million. That’s a big group of people to take on a hiking trip through the middle of the desert! But we’re told in Ex 13:18 that through this entire escape from Egypt there was great order. They actually marched in a 5x5 military formation so that there would not be confusion, chaos or disorder. God is indeed a God of order and harmony. And to top all of this they didn’t even need a GPS. Why? Well, in one of the most amazing parts of the Exodus journey, we see that God personally leads the Israelites exactly where He wants them to go. And just how does God guide His people without satellite navigation? I’m glad you asked.
“By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.” Ex 13:21-22
Amazing. I want you to vividly picture this in your mind. A huge pillar of perfect white. A massive perfectly vertical cloud rising from the ground to the sky far above. As far as you can see, up, up, up. And God is the cloud. The cloud moves along carefully and methodically. Leading and guiding His people exactly where He wants them to go. Clouds are mesmerizing to me; I could just lay down and gaze at clouds for hours. Especially on a sunny breezy day when the clouds are puffy, soft and white. They meander across the sky assuming shapes seemingly only to appease the imagination. I think it’s so beautiful and poetic that God appeared as a cloud.
And at night the cloud erupts into a fire that burns brightly, the flames lapping at the sky, illuminating their way and being visible for miles and miles. What a sight this must have been for this huge travelling caravan. And what comfort it must have given them. To see that God was close, He was with them, He was in control, they were safe. Sometimes I daydream about if we could have this same arrangement today. How sweet would it be to have God lead us around like this? A huge cloud to show you the way.
But as we read through our text today something else spoke to me. We just saw God strike down the firstborns in the land of Egypt in order to finally get Pharaoh to release the Israelites, but God turns right around and asks for the same thing in return.
“The Lord said to Moses, “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.” Ex 13:1-2
God wanted the firstborns to be dedicated to Him not the false gods of Egypt. Now today I realize this sounds pretty weird. The whole “consecration of the firstborn” is not something that we openly observe today. But I want you to think about it in a different way. Laser in on the word “first.” You see, God didn’t ask for the second, or the third or whatever you think is appropriate to give Him. He said first.
Now let’s bring this thought up to speed. Let’s bring it 3500 years forward to 2019. God wants your first. He wants your best. He blesses you with the first and the best and He wants you to turn right around and dedicate it right back to Him. You might be saying, “Dan, I just don’t get it, give Him what, I don’t have kids or donkeys?” It’s not one specific thing He is asking for…it’s everything.
I want you to try to imagine something in your life today that has not been given to you by God. Time? Every second of it, a gift from God. Give God the first and the best of your time. Serve Him first, not with your leftovers. Most people work to exhaustion to make money and then tell God they don’t have time for Him. They don’t give Him their first or their best. Talent? All from God. What are you good at? What do you have a passion for? Use it to serve God first. It constantly amazes me to see how God can use any talent for His glory when people will harness it and dedicate it to Him. I’ve seen powerful ministries revolve around flying airplanes, roasting coffee, classic cars, sewing, golf, Pokemon Go, cycling, yoga and cooking. Give God the first fruits of the talents He has first given you and He will use it to further His Kingdom. You knew this was coming but what about money? Most people firmly draw the line of worshipping God at money. I mean, come on, I’ll sit through church once a month and play around with God, but give Him my money, are you kidding? I mean I work hard for this money, I need all of it to pay my bills and buy myself stuff. Where do you think that money came from? No matter how you may reason or justify with yourself that you made it all, folks, God gives us all that we have. In fact, I heard a powerful barometer test the other day to see if the item in question is really from God. Simply ask yourself this, “can it go away?” If it can go away it means you have zero control over it, and it must be provided by someone outside yourself. Today your breath can be taken away, your job taken away, your family taken away, your home and cars taken away, your food taken away, your freedom taken away. You see, it all comes from God and it can all be taken away.
So back to your hard earned cash. God gave it to you, and He asks for you to give some of the firsts of it back. Why? Because He needs your money? Far from it, God doesn’t need your money, but He does desire your heart. And where your treasure lies, there lies your heart also. (Matt 6:21) You see God doesn’t need your time, your talent or your treasure, He wants your love. He wants your heart…all of it. He knows that if left to our own devices we will make false idols of the things in our life. We will start to worship ourselves by dedicating all of our time and talent to serving ourselves, neglecting His world all around us. Or we will start to worship our money, thinking that we earned it all with our own talent. And as we do, we will start to value it above God. A selfish heart is all about me, me, me and not all about God and others. You see, by giving God our first and our best, we keep our priorities where they need to be. We keep our focus on God, not on ourselves. What a great lesson from God today.
I pray today that you give God the first of your day. That before you turn on the negativity of the news, before you start rifling through your countless work emails, before you scroll through Facebook and let the unnecessary drama of other’s lives ensnare you, that you give God the first of your day. Put everything else aside, be still and just focus on God. He gave you this day, He gave you His Spirit, He gave you Hope, He gave you His Son Jesus, He has given you an eternal home in Heaven if you claim it. In return He asks for your first and your best. Start out your day today worshipping the King and spending time with Him in His Word. You won’t regret it; it will be the best part of your day…God guarantees it.
Rich blessings to you.
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