When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him." - Exodus 34:29-30 (NIV)
Imagine you were physically talking to the Almighty God and you hear of a neighbour knocking loudly down at the gate. Do you abruptly stop and excuse yourself to go see what the matter is and return later! Many times we do. Or shouldn’t it be the fact that you are talking to God is so important that the neighbour might as well hold on.
Very often when talking to God in our prayers we allow distractions divide our attention. The phones are on and once they burn bright with someone calling we jump up to chat away. The simplest call must be responded to, urgently, while we put “God on hold”!
The prophet Moses spent a bit of time with God. It was never easy to get away that the people once started pressing on his right hand man Aaron, urging him to let them turn to idol worship because Moses had delayed (Exodus 32:1). And why would Moses delay anyway. It was because once he was in the presence of God he could not tear himself away. Everything counted less.
Prayer for today: Lord Father in heaven, today I pray that whenever I am in your presence I have undivided attention for You!
Related upcoming events
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19/04/2024 - 20/04/2024 All day“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” ( Isaiah 43:19).
Just before fire was unleashed down on Sodom and Gommorah, Lot was told to pack up with his wife and two daughters and leave their homestead. Now, once out of danger, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” ( Gen 19:26). Perhaps here we might pause and ask why she was bothered to look back.
Of course it could have been that old “curiosity killed a cat” mistake! Yet, it could also have been Lot’s wife was not sure where she was going and longed for her old life back. This is a common error. There was nothing stirring to look back. Just before Lot’s neighbors had attacked his house eager to rape his visitors. “They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” ( vv 5). Was there anything worth looking back to!
The case of Lot’s wife could be anyone else’s experience. The Lord has plucked you out of some mess. You have been delivered to a new life. Yet, somehow you decide to look back, as though there was anything good and worth longing for. Sometimes it is a bitter past you have been delivered from. Other than rejoice in your new blessings you keep being drawn back!
A wise caution goes, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly” ( Proverbs 26:11). If the Lord has just led you out of a certain mess why look back like it was much better! Instead look ahead, for “he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” ( vv 17- 18).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you for delivering me from the darkness of the past and I look forward to a bright new future in you, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
