Bible Study - Exodus, Chapters 3,4

In the last post, we read about the birth of Moses, and how he was protected through unusual ways, as God wanted him to lead the Israelite's out of Egypt. Moses had escaped from Egypt, for the fear of the King, and landed in Midian. Moses also got married to Zipporah, the daughter of the priest of Media, Jethro (also known as Reuel). In this post, we shall see, how God called Moses to do His work, and the events there after. If you would like to read it for yourself, please follow this link http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+3&version=NLT

We see that Moses is a hard worker, as he was tending the sheep of his father-in-law, Jethro. He led the sheep far into the wilderness into the mountain of God. This shows that he is devoted and dedicated to the task that was given to him. He never did anything just for the sake of doing it. He put his heart and soul into it, and this is a very important characteristics which God expects from somebody who wants to be a leader. As Moses was dedicated in leading the sheep, God entrusted the mightier task of leading His own people out of Egypt.

We read that God met Moses through the burning bush in the mountain of God, and communicated him about the plan to lead the Israelite's out of Egypt. Moses was very naive and hesitated to undertake the task. But, God strengthened Him through signs and wonders, and made him to accept the task. This is very important to understand. It is always God who chooses people to accomplish His tasks, and when the time comes, even our worst hesitations won't let God to leave us from doing it. We will see how many times Moses tried to withdraw from this task, and how God lovingly empowered him to do it.

Moses magnified all his weaknesses and highlighted them to God, and to convince Him that he cannot go in front of either the Pharoh or the people of Israel, and inform about the plan of God. He also said that he was a stammerer and he cannot speak properly. He highlighted his emotional as well as his physical weakness to God. But, God encouraged him that He will be with him always and never leave or forsake him. This shows the amazing kindness of God, and how He treats the people whom He has chosen to do His work. "God strengthened an ordinary man like Moses, to face a mighty king like Pharoh". Today, We may be scared to face some things beyond our capability, but remember that the God who was with Moses is still with us, and He will help us to face any obstacles in our life.

Also, we see that the part of Moses was just to obey the instructions of God, then and there, and there was nothing that he had to devise. Even today, while doing God's work, we have to rely completely on Him to guide us, and we have to just obey what He says. We just need to be useful "tools" in the hands of God to accomplish His work.

In Chapter 4, we read about God explaining the various signs and wonders that He would do in front of Pharoh. Moses was resistant even to this point, and he was arguing with God that he could not speak before people and the King. God decided to give Aaron as a helper to Moses, and to speak on his behalf. This shows that if we are not able to do something by ourselves, God will help us by bringing other people to help us out. This also demonstrates the importance of partnerships in life, and how each of us should compliment others in doing God's work.

We also read the carelessness of Moses in not circumcising his son, and God trying to kill him. His wife was swift enough to immediately circumcise the child, and thereby delivering her husband out of God's anger. This shows two things.

1. Even while doing God's work, we should not neglect our individual responsibilities towards God
2. Husband and wife should compliment each other in spiritual matters.

Summary :It is God, who chooses somebody to do "His" work, and it is His plan from the start to the end. God will also prepare us, and enable us to do His work. God is also compassionate on His chosen ones and endures till the end to help them accomplish His work.

Bible study - Exodus, chapter 2

In the second chapter of Exodus, we see the birth of the man whom God chose to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. God always plans what somebody should accomplish in their life time and molds them accordingly. The life of Moses is an excellent demonstration of this fact. If you want to read the chapter for yourself, please follow this link http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+2&version=NLT

 

Moses was born in a Levite family. Towards the end of the first chapter, we read that the king ordered all the new born Hebrew boys must be thrown in the river Nile. But, God wanted to bring out a leader amidst this, and made sure that Moses was protected in a very unique way through being placed in a basket on the river Nile. The basket is what kept him alive. God shielded Moses through the basket, and in the same way, we are shielded from the flood of struggles in the world through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

What is even more amazing is that God made sure that the princess of Egypt looked at the baby with compassion, and adopted him as her child. Only God can change situations like this. Even today, God will grant us favor in the eyes of those who matter, to get things done and to protect us.

 

The next important thing is that God created a dislike in Moses towards the royal life, and created a passion and thirst for His own people. This is again a very important act of God. We also read about Moses's zeal towards his fellow people and how he risked his life to protect them.

 

Towards the end of the chapter we read about the Israelites crying out to God to rescue them from the hardships in Egypt, and the Bible says that their cries reached God. We see here, that the ultimate need was the liberation of Israelites from Egypt, but before that, God wanted to prepare somebody for this task, and picked up Moses in the most unusual way.

 

Summary: Even today, God has chosen and is preparing you and me for bringing thousands and thousands of people from the bondages of sin, and the lure of this world, into the Heavenly Kingdom that He has prepared. But, Do we have the same zeal and passion as Moses towards God's work?. We will see more about the events in the life of Moses in the next post.

Bible Study - Exodus, Chapter 1

The key to understand Exodus, is to go a little behind and understand why the Israelites ended up in Egypt. Joseph's brothers conspired against him, as they thought their father Jacob is partial to towards Joseph and they sold him to the slaves, and thereby he landed up in Egypt. Joseph found favor in the eyes of God, and he rose through the ranks in Egypt and became the governor. Now, there was a severe famine in Canaan, and all of Joseph's brothers along with his father Jacob, had to move to Egypt to escape the famine. Eventually, after the death of Jacob, they all settled in Egypt, multiplied and filled the land. The first 6 verses explain about this. If you would like to read the first chapter of Exodus, please follow this link http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=exodus+1&version=NLT

This became a big concern for the Egyptians and their King was threatened by the massive upsurge of the Israelites. The present King of Egypt was unaware of what Joseph did for Egypt, and he started viewing the Israelites as a potential threat. He started humiliating and oppressing the people of Israel by giving them very tough work and also appointed brutal slave drives to oversee them. But, the more he persecuted, the Israelites grew in number and they became strong. This has a clear resemblance to today's world. God's people are persecuted in so many parts of the world, but all these are leading to greater revival throughout the world, and the gospel is being proclaimed aggressively. This also demonstrates that when we are in God's plan and when He is with us, even when are subjected to cruel and brutal treatment from the world, God's blessing will always be with us, and we will always grow. We can read about this from verses 11 through 14.

In verse 15, We see the King doing something very cruel. He ordered the midwives who help the Hebrew women in delivery to kill all the male child. This is very much a move to stop the multiplication. But, again God made the midwives to look with favor on the Hebrew women. They didn't obey the king's command and didn't kill the male children. This demonstrates the incredible obedience of such very ordinary and simple people. They risked their lives and obeyed God's word. Now, How many of us can do that?. These are really some eye openers for us that God can do what He wants to do through very ordinary people, and He doesn't want any super stars for that. God was kind to the midwives and He blessed them and gave them families on their own.

The king was very furious to see his plan failing, and he came up with another plan of throwing all the new born male children into the Nile river, which sets the context for the second chapter of Exodus, where we can see the wonderful plan of God in bringing up a mighty leader from a small basket in the Nile river.

Summary : When we are in the plan of God, even when we are persecuted by the worldly system and people, we will always be blessed by God, and He will give us strength to over come it. God will dispose His favor to us through the eyes of people at the right places and at the right time.



 

Bible study - Galatians, Chapter 6

I would like to list some important points that I learned in the 6th chapter of Galatians. If you would like to read it for yourself, please follow this link http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=galatians+6&version=NLT

Right in the beginning, Paul explains how to treat another believer who is overcome by "some" sin. In our churches, we see many people who are down with certain sinful habits. Be it smoking, drinking, adultery or any other sin, we have a natural tendency to look down on them. This is absolutely wrong according to the Bible. The word of God teaches that if we are Godly, we would gently and humbly help them to come out of that sin. Now, how many of us really have the attitude to help someone caught up in a terrible sin?. Friends, this is what we are called for, that is to take care of other believers and to help them when they are morally, spiritually and physically down. If we don't have such and attitude so far, let us ask God to give us that. Another important point is that, when helping someone to come out of sin, we should be strong in prayer and make sure that we don't fall into that. So, it is basically a matter of relying on the strength of God to help that person.

Also, in verse 4 we see that, it is our "actions" that truly reflect whom we are, rather than what we "think" about our self. As true followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should imitate Him by being practical in helping others and winning their souls by our conduct.

Verse 7 explains about the outcome of our actions. It is very clear that if we use our "resources" to satisfy the world and flesh, we will reap only "destruction". We should always use our worldly resources to help others, and win souls for Christ. As Christians, we should not indulge in lavish and luxurious living which make others turn away from us. We should be very careful in our conduct. When we use our resources to please the Holy Spirit, We will reap eternal life. We will be known as faithful and good servants of God.

We should always do "good" to others whenever we get an opportunity. We should never procrastinate and turn away from an opportunity to help poor people with our money, or counseling somebody who is spiritually down or using our influence to help somebody to get a favor. God is watching over each and every thing that we do with the resources that He has given us.

Verse 12 speaks about the "easy" Christians who just want to show off themselves to others, by their outward appearances and by their artificial life. You can never purchase salvation, by any of your own efforts. However, there are some people who think that they can be saved by their actions. This is wrong, and the Bible clearly says that we are saved only by the act which Jesus Christ did on the Cross.

Finally, we are called to be transformed into new creations and never indulge in worldly passions. We should never try to be artificial and live to please others and seeking for their accolades. We should daily be renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and live a life which Pleases God. If there is anything that we can be proud of, it is the act of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary. Always remember this when you are proud and arrogant.

 

The test of Abraham

In Genesis chapter 22, We read about God putting Abraham to one of the most difficult tests of his life. The first verse of the chapter clearly shows us that God "tested" Abraham's "faith". Now, why should God test Abraham's faith? by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac, when it is very much evident that Abraham always obeyed God, right from the time when God asked him to leave his own place and start on a journey as a wanderer.

God always wants any true worshipper to have Him as the central point of life. Nothing should take the place of God in a believer's life. As Isaac was born to Abraham when he was 100 years old, Abraham's focus might have moved a little away from God towards Isaac. The important thing to note here is that Isaac is absolutely God's gift to Abraham, and there was nothing that Abraham and Sarah did on their part. They had even laughed in disbelief when the promise was made. But, when God fulfilled the promise, their heart changed, and Sarah even went to the extent of mistreating Hagar by driving her away mercilessly.

This is a clear picture of mistreating grace. When God gives us something, we need to be always thankful and focused on God, and at the same time, pride and arrogance should never get the better of us. God wanted to drive this point to Abraham, thereby preparing him for a greater walk with Him. Abraham immediately obeyed God,  and he in fact made all the arrangements and reached the top of the mountain and was about to slay Isaac, when the angel of God interrupted him, and asked him to stop it. We must spare a thought for this man Abraham, as how he must have felt when he was put under this intriguing test. But, Abraham was a true worshipper, and he wanted to be on God's side at any cost even if it means losing his son. This is true "faith", and the kind which God marvels at.

The result of this great act of faith is that, God spoke with Abraham and promised a greater multiplication of his offspring. The following verse illustrates it.

Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that ¹⁷ I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants^[a] beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. ¹⁸ And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me.”

In our lives, God gives us lot of un imaginable blessings. We must always remember that He also tests us, to ensure that we give Him the first and foremost place in our lives. We should be ready to part with anything to obey God. In Luke 17: 33 we read "If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it."

Dear friend, do you hold on to anything that makes you to wander away from God? Do you love anybody or anything more than Him?, if it is so, I request you to re-organize your priorities, and set God as the central point of your life. Never move Him out of that position. Always remember that it is God who gives you everything. The same God who tested and blessed Abraham is watching over us even today. Let us pray that we have the attitude of Abraham in obedience and faith. Truly, God will make us to prosper. God bless you!