May 8th, 2012
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Holiness and Light

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Opening Prayer

Lord, with Your people in every corner of creation, I count it all joy to be able to praise Your name.

Read Exodus 34:18-35

[18] “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. [19] “The first offspring of every womb belongs to me, including all the firstborn males of your livestock, whether from herd or flock. [20] Redeem 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. [21] “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest. [22] “Celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. [23] Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Sovereign LORD, the God of Israel. [24] I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the LORD your God. [25] “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning. [26] “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.” [27] Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” [28] Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant-the Ten Commandments. [29] When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. [30] When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. [31] But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. [32] Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the LORD had given him on Mount Sinai. [33] When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. [34] But whenever he entered the LORD’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, [35] they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

We who believe are being gradually transformed into the likeness of Christ. This is the process of Christian sanctification, which is God’s will for us.

Think Further

There is a remarkable change in this passage, not in the words of instruction, because this is a restatement and renewal of the covenant already given, but in the people’s attitude to Moses. They’ve moved from impatience at his absence and thinking they can replace him with Aaron, to wondering at his special relationship with the Lord, signaled by the radiance of his face after each meeting. When Paul refers to this reflected glory (2 Cor. 3:7-18) he suggests the veiling is so the people do not see the brightness diminishing, but here initially their reaction is one of awe. It gives them another indicator of both the wonder and the holiness of the God who calls them into relationship. Prior to the giving of the Ten Commandments, this new nation had received little teaching on sin and disobedience. Now they have seen both the wrath and the glory of their God and experienced the resulting fear and awe.

We are told that Moses was not aware at first of his beaming countenance—a sure mark of his humility. We are very rightly wary of a holier-than-thou attitude in people who profess exceptional spiritual encounters. Rather than leading us to think of ourselves as extra worthy, such experiences should produce humility and self-forgetfulness. C.S. Lewis reminds us that the more we come into God’s light the more aware we become of our own unworthiness. It is like a wretch released from captivity in a deep cave whose joy at being free is tempered, as he comes closer to the light at the mouth of the cave, by the realization of his filthy rags. The point is not that Jesus’ release is less than enough, but that in the light of God’s holiness we become more and more aware of our need of cleansing.

Apply

“Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psa. 51:10). Let that be your prayer as you ponder God’s holiness.

Closing prayer

Spirit of God, revive me I pray, and may something of Your grace and beauty be upon me. I want to be more like Jesus.

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