{"id":20325,"date":"2022-02-18T22:00:22","date_gmt":"2022-02-19T05:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/exodus-34_1-9-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-02-13T18:11:15","modified_gmt":"2022-02-14T01:11:15","slug":"exodus-34_10-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/exodus-34_10-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t Waste Your Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exodus \u00a034:10-20\u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Exodus 34:10-20.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Exodus 34:10-16 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the\u00a0LORD, will do for you.
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Do not worship any other god, for the\u00a0LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 10-16:\u00a0\u00a0God was committed to doing wonders among the Israelites never before done in any other nation (v10).\u00a0\u00a0His plan was that other nations would see how awesome is the work that God would do on behalf of the Israelites (v10) and as part of this to drive out six of the nations that the Israelites would encounter (v11).\u00a0\u00a0However, God needed the Israelites\u2019 cooperation for this plan to fully be realized and thus God tells them to \u201cObey what I command you today\u201d (v11).\u00a0\u00a0In particular, God tells the Israelites not to make treaties with other nations (v12) and not to worship other gods (v13-14).\u00a0\u00a0The reason for telling the Israelites not to make treaties with the other nations is not because God was against the mixing of races and cultures, but because God knew that intermarrying with people who worshiped other gods would lead the Israelites to worship other gods too (v15-16) and lose the most important part of their lives in the process, which is God\u2019s own presence and blessing.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Just as God had a plan to use the Israelites to show the world His greatness, so God has a plan to use His church \u2013 you and me \u2013 to show the world how great He is.\u00a0\u00a0For this plan to be fully realized, however, it requires your and my cooperation.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0In particular,\u00a0we must be careful that in our interactions with people who do not believe in the LORD that we do not become so influenced and affected by unbelievers that we lose the most important aspect of our lives, which is our faith.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0That is why Paul tells Christians in 2 Corinthians 6 not to become yoked with (\u201cbound to\u201d) unbelievers in romantic or other co-dependent relationships such that the unbeliever\u2019s beliefs can have as much impact on the Christian as the Christian\u2019s has on the unbeliever.\u00a0\u00a0Practically speaking this is such wise advice, for easily the most frequent killer of Christians I have seen is actually not a lack of Bible study or inconsistent church attendance, but the yoking of a Christian with someone who does not share the same faith.<\/p>\n

Exodus 34:17-20 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n17\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Do not make cast idols.<\/em>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Redeem the firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem all your firstborn sons. “No one is to appear before me empty-handed.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 17-20: Some commentators see verses 17-26 as a set of 10 commands that were in some ways overlapping with, though not exactly like, the original 10 commandments in Exodus 20.\u00a0\u00a0Other commentators see the commands in verses 17-26 as setting the Israelites straight after their fall into worshiping a golden calf in Exodus 32, and thus the LORD tells the Israelites:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t make cast idols (v17), which is what the Israelites did with the golden calf;<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Celebrate the feasts the LORD had instituted for the Israelites, namely the Feast of Unleavened Bread (v18), the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Ingathering (v22), instead of holding a festival in honour of the golden calf;<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Use your wealth to redeem your firstborns (v19-20a), instead of using it to make and worship idols;<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t appear before the LORD empty-handed (v20b), giving away your wealth such that you have nothing to present to the LORD, as the Israelites had done with the golden calf.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from all this?\u00a0\u00a0We are to use our time, money and resources in ways that are pleasing to the LORD<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/strong>to worship and honour the LORD rather than to worship something else.\u00a0\u00a0Also,\u00a0don\u2019t come to God like a spectator who just wants to watch Him do stuff or a consumer who is in it only to get for themselves.\u00a0\u00a0Rather, come to God with something to offer, for God is a King who is worthy of our honour and worship<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, may I not waste the time and resources You have given me, but use them in ways that honour You and that are consistent with Your plans for me.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Exodus 34:10-20.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Exodus 34:10-16 (NIV)
\n10\u00a0\u00a0Then the\u00a0LORD\u00a0said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the\u00a0LORD, will do for you.
\n11\u00a0\u00a0Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
\n12\u00a0\u00a0Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you.
\n13\u00a0\u00a0Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles.
\n14\u00a0\u00a0Do not worship any other god, for the\u00a0LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
\n15\u00a0\u00a0“Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices.
\n16\u00a0\u00a0And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.<\/p>\n

On verses 10-16:\u00a0\u00a0God was committed to doing wonders among the Israelites never before done in any other nation (v10).\u00a0\u00a0His plan was that other nations would see how awesome is the work that God would do on behalf of the Israelites (v10) and as part of this to drive out six of the nations that the Israelites would encounter (v11).\u00a0\u00a0However, God needed the Israelites\u2019 cooperation for this plan to fully be realized and thus God tells them to \u201cObey what I command you today\u201d (v11).\u00a0\u00a0In particular, God tells the Israelites not to make treaties with other nations (v12) and not to worship other gods (v13-14).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20326,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20325","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20325"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20327,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20325\/revisions\/20327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}