Out From Egypt: Freedom In The WildernessSample

Out from Egypt: Freedom in the Wilderness

A New Creation

Thankfully, the people of Israel had Moses to plead their case after the horrors of the night of the golden calf. Moses reminded Yahweh that the nations around were witnessing this astounding act of grace and that if Yahweh refused to go with them through the wilderness and to the Promised Land, it would be better they did not go at all. Moses desired the Holy Presence above anything else. Moses is then given the privilege of hiding in the cleft of the rock while Yahweh’s glory passes close by, a singular experience for a human being whose sinful nature would cause him to die in the presence of such purity.

It’s easy to look back and judge the Israelites for their backsliding, for their tendency to run toward sin instead of away from it and to turn back to Egypt for solutions to their problems. But if we are honest with ourselves, we are not really so different, are we? We give ourselves excuses, we imitate the world, we minimize our sins and call them “mistakes,” we refuse to follow the perfect laws of the Lord and take advantage of the grace that we’ve been given.

And yet, Yeshua (Jesus), our Great High Priest still mediates for us. He pleads our case before a Holy God whose glorious presence would kill us where we stand. And because of Yeshua’s perfect sacrifice, we will one day stand before the actual throne of Yahweh—made clean and safe through the shedding of his blood. We will not need to be hidden in the cleft of a rock. We will bow before the Almighty and worship his Holy Name. I can’t wait for that day. How about you?

In the meantime, we have the honor of coming before the Holy One in prayer and actually communing with him through the Spirit. He desires us to come close to him, to speak with and to us and to transform us into his image. We can lay our sinful hearts, our pain, our wounds, and our brokenness before him and still be assured that he loves us with an everlasting, unconditional love.

Take some time today to mediate on the fact that Yahweh, the Creator of the Universe, the same God who rescued the Israelites and hid Moses in the cleft of the rock, knows your name. He desires relationship with you, personally. There is nothing that is hidden from him. He knows who you are, from the inside out. And still, he loves you and wants to walk with you, every moment of every day. He has, through his precious Son, made you clean and new.

Questions to Consider:

How have your past choices and wounds tainted your perceptions of who you are in Christ? Have you laid that brokenness before the throne to allow for healing?

When have you moved forward into a situation before waiting for the Lord’s leading? What was the fallout from that decision? In what ways did God redeem that situation?

What things in your daily life are hindering closer communion with the Lord? What steps can you take to throw off those hindrances and experience more intimate relationship with the Father?

In what ways have you changed since Yeshua made you clean and new? What transformations do you want to see happen in your life as you grow closer to the Lord?