We left Moses yesterday with God on Mt Sinai.  After Moses had prayed for God to reconsider the destruction of the Israel children and God had relented; Moses went down from the mountain with the two tablets; the Ten Commandments engraved on both sides by the finger of God.  Then Moses saw the golden calf and the dancing and singing in the camp!  “So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.” Exodus 32:19b NKJV

You know I am really grateful for the “humans” that God choose to lead His people!  I say that, because, they are just like me…or maybe I should say, “I am just like them!”.  That is very encouraging, because whenever I feel like I have failed to live up to “my” expectations of what I should be as a Christian, I can remember them and not feel so badly!  We are made in the image of God, but we are still human with our weaknesses.  At the same time, I am reminded of God’s forgiveness and can say a heartfelt, “Thank you, LORD!”

Now God told Moses that He would not go with them to the land He had promised them because of the way the “stiff-necked” people had reacted;  but would instead send  “My Angel” (Exodus 33: 1-3) to guide them.  Once again,  Moses interceded for the people he loved so much,  hoping that God would forgive them and would lead them to the Promised Land by His Presence.   ^“So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” Exodus 33:17 NKJV

The following passage is one of my Mother’s favorite verses which is also written in a song, “He Hideth My Soul  in the cleft of the rock.”  “Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”  And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock.  So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.  Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”  Exodus 33:19-23 NKJV  (Just for you, Momma!)

Moses made new tablets; God wrote the Ten Commandments on them again; Bezalel and Aholiab led the gifted artists to complete the Tabernacle and the furnishings along with the priest’s clothing as God had commanded Moses. Ten months after they had arrived at Sinai, Moses erected and arranged the “Tabernacle of the tent of meeting” and all it’s furnishings and anointed them!  “So Moses finished the work”  Exodus 40:33b

^“ Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.  And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.   Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys.   But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up.   For the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.”  Exodus 40:34-38NKJV

Now, I feel like singing, “I love to tell the story!  ‘Twill be my theme in Glory!  To tell the Old, Old Story of Jesus and His  Love.” Now, because of Jesus, we have the glory of the Lord dwelling in us!  We are the tabernacle!!

I never get tired of studying God’s Word!!  I pray you feel the same way, My Fellow Journeymen!