Exodus 19 -- Something Extra Special Is About To Happen

Something amazing was going on here – even bigger than the 10 plagues of Egypt.  The group of Israelites had taken three months to travel the not-so-imposing distance between Egypt and Mt. Sinai, and now Moses was telling them to prepare themselves to meet God.  God had once walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.  He’d also communed with Abraham.  But Moses was apparently the only one hearing from God by this time.

Also, up until now, there had been no direct law of God, other than the one command not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  God was about to give the people The Ten Commandments.  They were rules to live by, but not rules giving eternal life.  Instead, they were designed to show mankind just how sinful and helpless they’d become.

The big “if” in God’s agreement challenged them:  “If you obey Me and keep my agreement, you will be My own possession, chosen from all nations …”  Without even hearing the agreement they were about to receive, the people answered together, “We will do everything He has said.”  They actually thought they had the ability and motivation to do it!

God told Moses to have the people prepare themselves to meet Him.  Doing this involved washing their clothes (and presumably themselves) and abstaining from sexual relations  for the current day and the following two.  As I read that, I thought about the way in which we prepare ourselves to meet God each Sunday.  How many people spend more than five minutes spiritually readying themselves to reach a spot where they are receptive to what God has to say?  Do we do anything the night before, much less two days before?  And would our worship be different and more meaningful if we had done this?  Verse 17 should cause us to think:  “Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God.”   As we leave our homes to head to church, is there that same expectancy?

Father, we’ve developed a microwave mentality regarding worship.  So often the very specialness of coming before the Creator of the Universe is nonexistent within us.  We think we can laser-focus for an hour in a church pew with no regard whatsoever for how we’ve lived up to the time we walk in the door.  Help us restore that sense of wonder and awe that these people surely felt.  Let us count it an honor and not a duty to come before You.  Cause us to ready ourselves days before we encounter You in much the same way as we would anticipate and relish the finest meal we could imagine.  Take the ordinary out of worship.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford