Exodus 33, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

Max Lucado Daily: A Dramatic Deliverance - November 2, 2021

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33). Does your view of God include a certain relief and a dramatic deliverance? This is no small question. Indeed, that is the question. For most people, their summary of life reads, “We live in a beautiful but broken world, and we just make the best of it and die.”

But God offers a better story, and his story ends in a better place. His story says our Creator made this world and did not destine it for brokenness. His death gave birth to eternal life. He arose from the dead and is recreating our world and invites all of us to be a part of it. One day he will restore this world to its intended beauty and reclaim his family, and we will live with him forever. That’s the story God offers. Is it your story? I sure hope so.

Exodus 33

God said to Moses: “Now go. Get on your way from here, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt. Head for the land which I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I will send an angel ahead of you and I’ll drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. It’s a land flowing with milk and honey. But I won’t be with you in person—you’re such a stubborn, hard-headed people!—lest I destroy you on the journey.”

4 When the people heard this harsh verdict, they were plunged into gloom and wore long faces. No one put on jewelry.

5-6 God said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You’re one hard-headed people. I couldn’t stand being with you for even a moment—I’d destroy you. So take off all your jewelry until I figure out what to do with you.’” So the Israelites stripped themselves of their jewelry from Mount Horeb on.

* * *

7-10 Moses used to take the Tent and set it up outside the camp, some distance away. He called it the Tent of Meeting. Anyone who sought God would go to the Tent of Meeting outside the camp. It went like this: When Moses would go to the Tent, all the people would stand at attention; each man would take his position at the entrance to his tent with his eyes on Moses until he entered the Tent; whenever Moses entered the Tent, the Pillar of Cloud descended to the entrance to the Tent and God spoke with Moses. All the people would see the Pillar of Cloud at the entrance to the Tent, stand at attention, and then bow down in worship, each man at the entrance to his tent.

11 And God spoke with Moses face-to-face, as neighbors speak to one another. When he would return to the camp, his attendant, the young man Joshua, stayed—he didn’t leave the Tent.

* * *

12-13 Moses said to God, “Look, you tell me, ‘Lead this people,’ but you don’t let me know whom you’re going to send with me. You tell me, ‘I know you well and you are special to me.’ If I am so special to you, let me in on your plans. That way, I will continue being special to you. Don’t forget, this is your people, your responsibility.”

14 God said, “My presence will go with you. I’ll see the journey to the end.”

15-16 Moses said, “If your presence doesn’t take the lead here, call this trip off right now. How else will it be known that you’re with me in this, with me and your people? Are you traveling with us or not? How else will we know that we’re special, I and your people, among all other people on this planet Earth?”

17 God said to Moses: “All right. Just as you say; this also I will do, for I know you well and you are special to me. I know you by name.”

18 Moses said, “Please. Let me see your Glory.”

19 God said, “I will make my Goodness pass right in front of you; I’ll call out the name, God, right before you. I’ll treat well whomever I want to treat well and I’ll be kind to whomever I want to be kind.”

20 God continued, “But you may not see my face. No one can see me and live.”

21-23 God said, “Look, here is a place right beside me. Put yourself on this rock. When my Glory passes by, I’ll put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I’ve passed by. Then I’ll take my hand away and you’ll see my back. But you won’t see my face.”

* * *

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Tuesday, November 02, 2021
Today's Scripture
Matthew 28:16–20
(NIV)

The Great Commission

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.d 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.e 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,f baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,g 20 and teachingh them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with youi always, to the very end of the age.”

Insight

Matthew 28:17 says, “When they saw [Jesus], they worshiped him; but some doubted.” Theologian D.A. Carson comments: “If the ‘some’ refers not to the Eleven but to other followers, the move from unbelief and fear to faith and joy was for them a ‘hesitant’ one.” This seems to suggest that Matthew presents worship and doubt in contrast to each other. By positioning some as worshiping while others doubted, Matthew may be suggesting that these two responses are incompatible, at least in a specific moment. Worship may help rid us of doubt, and doubt may inhibit our worship. Doubt may plague us from time to time, but worship can shift our focus.

Reaching Others for Jesus

Go and make disciples of all nations.
Matthew 28:19

A decade ago, they didn’t know the name of Jesus. Hidden in the mountains of Mindanao in the Philippines, the Banwaon people had little contact with the outside world. A trip for supplies could take two days, requiring an arduous hike over rugged terrain. The world took no notice of them.

Then a mission group reached out, shuttling people in and out of the region via helicopter. This gained the Banwaon access to needed supplies, crucial medical help, and an awareness of the larger world. It also introduced them to Jesus. Now, instead of singing to the spirits, they chant their traditional tribal songs with new words that praise the one true God. Mission aviation established the critical link.

When Jesus returned to His heavenly Father, He gave His disciples these instructions: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). That command still stands.

Unreached people groups aren’t limited to exotic locales we haven’t heard of. Often, they live among us. Reaching the Banwaon people took creativity and resourcefulness, and it inspires us to find creative ways to overcome the barriers in our communities. That might include an “inaccessible” group you haven’t even considered—someone right in your neighborhood. How might God use you to reach others for Jesus? By:  Tim Gustafson

Reflect & Pray

Who are the hardest-to-reach people in your community? In what ways can you tell them about Jesus?

Father, please use me as You see fit in order that ________ might turn to You in faith.

Read Evangelism: Reaching Out Through Relationships.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Tuesday, November 02, 2021
Obedience or Independence?

If you love Me, keep My commandments. —John 14:15

Our Lord never insists on obedience. He stresses very definitely what we ought to do, but He never forces us to do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit with Him. That is why whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an “If,” meaning, “You do not need to do this unless you desire to do so.” “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…” (Luke 9:23). In other words, “To be My disciple, let him give up his right to himself to Me.” Our Lord is not talking about our eternal position, but about our being of value to Him in this life here and now. That is why He sounds so stern (see Luke 14:26). Never try to make sense from these words by separating them from the One who spoke them.

The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear. If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself. Jesus Christ will not force me to obey Him, but I must. And as soon as I obey Him, I fulfill my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small, petty happenings, altogether insignificant. But if I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God. Then, when I stand face to face with God, I will discover that through my obedience thousands were blessed. When God’s redemption brings a human soul to the point of obedience, it always produces. If I obey Jesus Christ, the redemption of God will flow through me to the lives of others, because behind the deed of obedience is the reality of Almighty God.

Wisdom From Oswald Chambers

We are not to preach the doing of good things; good deeds are not to be preached, they are to be performed. So Send I You, 1330 L

Bible in a Year: Jeremiah 27-29; Titus 3

A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Tuesday, November 02, 2021

Something Beautiful From Something Ugly - #9082

We went on this guided tour of this large cave near us. You walk through these winding and really narrow passageways and you admire the wonders that God has created from stalagmites, stalactites, and underground rivers. We entered this one large chamber, and the guide turned on the light and directed our eyes to this high vaulted like cathedral ceiling. You can probably guess what animals we saw hanging up there - bats, lots of bats. The guide told us that the early explorers of this cave had found large quantities of what she called bat guano. If you don't know what that is, never mind. It's gross, that's what it is. But they made lots of money selling that stuff. Really? Who would buy it? I mean, "What good could bat dung possibly be?" Surprise! She said they make gunpowder out of it! And even more surprisingly, they said they can turn that gross stuff into makeup like mascara and lipstick!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Something Beautiful From Something Ugly."

It's amazing how people can turn something seemingly useless and ugly into something useful and even beautiful. What's more amazing is how God does that with our lives! In fact, He's wanting to do that for you - to make something beautiful and useful out of the ugliest things that have happened in your life. And only He can.

One way He does that is described in our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. "The Father of compassion and the God of all comfort ... comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." I don't know what kind of "troubles" you've been through; it could be anything from sickness, to abuse, to addiction, to grief. But whatever the trouble, I know that it's made you need the Lord more than ever before. And so if you've reached out to Him, you experienced His compassion, His comfort, His strength, and His support in some deeply personal ways.

Now, in a sense, God wants you to be for other hurting people what He has been for you. That's how He takes the worst things that ever happened to you and makes them into something beautiful. Scott was listening to my youth broadcast one night when he was desperately lonely; desperate enough to be considering suicide. Instead, that night he gave his life to Christ. Later, he told me that he decided to have a ministry to people like himself for the rest of his life. He knew how to help lonely people because he had been the lonely people.

Jane was sexually abused by two different family members. When she brought that awful garbage to Jesus, He began to give her a ministry to abused girls and she has helped a lot of them. Her history of abuse became her strange credentials for caring for abuse victims. My friend Don has had a tremendous ministry to young people that others might call rejects. He's so tender and he's so compassionate toward them. You know why? He says it's because he remembers the hurt he experienced as a child born outside of marriage in a terribly dysfunctional home. God has recycled his wounds into life-changing compassion.

See, that's the kind of thing God wants to do for you if you'll bring Him all that pain, all those wounds, all those memories. He wants to take all that ugly stuff - stuff that looks like it's useless, and He wants to turn it into something very beautiful - a tender, compassionate, helping heart in you. Because of what Christ can do with the waste of our lives, the ones who have been hurt the most, they turn out to be some of the greatest healers in the world.