Gooooood Morning Gorgeous,

It’s a brand new day. A fresh start. A new dawn for feasting our eyes onto the Lord and for walking in His promises. A new day to move ahead another step or two. A new day to look up at Jesus in expectation that something wonderful is about to happen. A new dawn to rekindle your hope that just as the sun is going to rise again, so will you rise again up and out of your current wilderness and move into your promised land.

As we continue learning about the Israelites, sometimes you just gotta shake your head and ask, “How come they didn’t get it?” Then, we remember, that often times in our own life we act in shockingly similar ways before the Lord. It may look different in our culture than in theirs, but the matters of heart are still the same. For this next turn of events, the Israelites are shown the Glory of God and then just as quickly as they commit to Him, they turn away.

They see and hear His Presence from the mountain. They are so struck by His Presence that they ask Moses to speak to Him and then deliver His words to them. They recognize the Lord’s awesome Glory. Moses goes up the mountain and returns with the 10 commandments and other regulations from the Lord that will bring increased safety and order to the camp. The people hear the words of the Lord from Moses and they see His Great Presence on the Mountian, and they readily agree to follow all of the instructions. The bible says that they responded with one voice, “All the words which the Lord said, we will do.”

Then, Moses created an altar for the Lord at the base of the mountain with 12 pillars to represent the 12 tribes of Israel and then He and the people offered sacrifices and offerings to the Lord. In the presence of the people, Moses read the book of the covenant aloud to the people. It included all of the instructions from the Lord. They AGAIN agreed with, “All that the Lord has said, we will do and be obedient.” Twice now they heard the instructions and the core 10 commandments. Twice now, they wholeheartedly agreed.

They are feeling close to the Lord and they have the physical proof in the representation of Moses. And THEN, they are faced with a short season of waiting on the Lord. They are faced with a season of quiet with no new instructions. A season to just obey what they have heard from God. In this time, Moses is called back up the mountain to recieve more instructions from God regarding how to build the tabernacle and other instructions for how to prepare a place for worship so that the Lord and the people could be in communion. He is up there for 40 days and 40 nights because the instructions are very specific. The bible gives a detailed account of all of the instructions for the sanctuary, the offerings, the items to be built, the way to enter, what the priests should wear. We serve a God of details. He cares about the details.

Well 40 days and 40 nights without any new news from God and 40 days and nights without a sighting from Moses was just too much for the newly covenanted people of God.

They cry out to Aaron for him to make them a golden calf to worship! Already? They’ve just been sealed unto the Lord. They have been named a Holy people, His own special treasure, and already they are fleeing from His ways and looking for a new God to worship. They built a golden calf and begin to celebrate and give it offerings and even declare that it was the golden calf that really delivered them from Egypt!

Moses comes down from his meeting with God, and he is furious. He breaks the stone tablets that the Lord had inscribed the 10 commandments and he begins to restore some order to the people. He divides the people by calling forth those who are on the side of the Lord to come forward and stand by Moses as a physical sign and then those who are not are put to death.

It’s a tragic turn of events in the story, but there is hope around every turn. The Lord is merciful and quickly forgives the people because Moses acts as their mediator.

Yet, this story is a reminder to us that we often behave in similar ways. We are shown the glory of God. We may have a moment with Him where we clearly hear Him, or a particular message at church may strike our hearts as “just for us”. We may cry out to the Lord, “Yes, I will obey that instruction.” And then for a time, He may be quiet. And then the trusting season begins. The season when He doesn’t speak for awhile. We may pray, but not hear anything new for awhile. So, we turn to other avenues to get our blessing. We work for own treasure in our own ways. Trusting our own decision making, our own finances, our own solutions that seem quicker and better than just waiting on the Lord for His next instructions. That is what He was doing on the mountain, He was giving Moses the very next set of detailed instructions for the people. He spoke to them what they needed to know and then gave them an opportunity to follow His instructions while He prepared the next set of instructions. So that He could bring them from glory to glory.

He will do the exact same thing for you in your life. He will instruct you and then give you time to obey, as He prepares your next message from Him.

We can take heart from this story in that if we are in a waiting season, God is STILL at work. He is preparing your next Word from Him as you work out the last one He gave to you. Be patient and wait on the Lord. He is a good, good God who can be trusted to fulfill everything that He has promised you.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Trust in the waiting season. Lord, help us to obey You even in seasons when you are quiet. Lord, we are learning to trust You more and more. In Jesus’s name, Amen.

Blessings to you today!

Vanessa Lynn