He [Pharaoh] summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites, go and worship Yahweh as you have asked.”
Exodus 12: 31 (HCSB)
Scripture: Exodus 12
There are times that we want things to change, but only in the way in which we want. When God answers our prayers, we don’t always like the rules that come with the rescue. This devotion looks at how we are called to worship God.
Cliff Notes
- Through prayer, we ask God to change our situations even though we hate change.
- We don’t always follow through with what we have negotiated with God in order for Him to rescue us.
- Ultimately, God calls us to worship Him.
- One way we worship Him is following the rules He has established.
- His established rules are different from the worldview.
I wonder what the Israelites felt as they were preparing to leave Egypt. They had been in Egypt 430 years (Ex. 12: 40). Slavery was all they had ever known.
Still, the Israelites were dressed and ready to go. It must have been an impressive sight.
Think of it this way. Depending on who you count, there were 66 (Gen. 46: 27), 70 (Deut. 10:22; Ex. 1:5; Gen. 46: 27), or 75 (Ac. 7: 14) Israelites in Egypt when they first moved there.
When the Israelites came out, there were well over a million. If Exodus 12: 37 says there was 600,000 able-bodied, military-age men, a good estimate of the total number of people would be 2.4 million. They were a nation now.
Exodus 12: 38 says, “an ethnically diverse crowd also went up with them …” (GNT). That says not just Israelites were lined up to leave. We have no clue how many these other people numbered, but the New International Version translates it as many.
Yep, it was an impressive sight.
Why Were They Leaving Again?
Many of us hate change. So, if this was all the Israelites had ever known, tell me again why they were leaving.
Sometimes, change is a good thing. The Israelites had been praying for a change, and their prayers were answered.
The Israelites had this opportunity for a better life because they asked God to save them. Exodus 2: 23-25 says, “Years later the king of Egypt died, but the Israelites were still groaning under their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry went up to God, who heard their groaning and remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He saw the slavery of the Israelites and was concerned for them” (GNT). Exodus 12: 51 says, “And on that same day the LORD brought Israel’s families and tribes out of Egypt” (CEV).
God had freed them from their slavery. God was leading them to utopia, the Promised Land. God wanted to be among them.
But look what Pharaoh said when he told Moses they could go. “… Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites, go and worship Yahweh as you have asked” (Ex. 12: 31 HCSB).
The purpose of the Exodus was not just to free the people. The ultimate reason — and the reason given for asking for their release (Ex. 5: 1) — was so they could worship God. It wasn’t about them; it was about Him.
How many times are we like that? “Oh, God. Just get us out of this bad situation. When You have rescued us, we will worship You.” How long do we keep that promise? Usually, it is not long because we make it about us instead of Him.
Freedom Comes With a Price
We are called to worship God. One way we do that is living as He has asked us to do. He gave the Israelites — and us — rules.
Yes, we don’t like rules or rule books. Leviticus can be especially boring.
God tells us how He expects us to live. He tells us how He originally wanted our world to be — before sin entered into the picture. He tells us how it will be some day in heaven.
Does God expect us to be perfect all the time? No. He wants to see our desire to obey Him.
But we need to hear the rules, just like the Israelites needed to hear them. They tell us how to live. Specifically. No doubt about it. God tells us exactly what He wants.
What Does This Mean?
The foundation is God. His character is revealed in His Word. He doesn’t want company (Ex. 20: 3). He wants our complete devotion. He wants us to be restored to the covenant relationship (Gen. 12).
God will meet our needs, just as he did the Israelites, even though we grumble just like they did. Even though we complain and gripe, God is faithful to meet our needs.
So, if God meets our needs when we have our grumpy on, just think of what our lives would be like if we had our faith on. How much more would God provide if we were completely faithful!
But it has to be a heart thing. It can’t just be a body thing. We can’t just give lip service. We have to be truly faithful and worshipful.
Our hearts have to be focused on God. He did the reconciling. All we have to do is the obeying. God revealed His holiness and wants us to be holy.
How Do We Apply This to Today?
God is still calling us to worship Him. He is still calling us to do the do’s and not do the don’ts.
Yes, we will fail in doing that because we are human. No matter what standard we are trying to follow, we will not measure up.
Amazingly, God doesn’t hold that against us — when we acknowledge our failings and ask forgiveness.
Unfortunately, people today don’t see the gospel as relevant. In the worldview, people have evolved and no longer need to be limited by the rules that God instituted. People today think the Bible needs to change.
When believers try to talk with some, they bring up their free will. Yes, God has given us the free will to make our decisions. He doesn’t force His Will on us. But doesn’t He leave us alone, either. He still loves us and convicts us.
Let’s look at it this way. Let’s say Adam is four, and he decides to play in the middle of the street. No, he didn’t follow a ball or one of the dogs into the street. He makes a conscious decision that the middle of the street is where he wants his new clubhouse.
Adam is smack dab in the middle of the street. No one can get around him without hitting him.
As mom, do I say, “Adam can made his own choice, so let him play wherever he wants”? Oh, no!
This Chick is in full momma-bear mode. I am striding out there, bodily picking up Adam. (Remember, we are pretending he is four, so this was long before he started using me as a chin rest.)
I am talking to Adam the whole time. Yes, I am trying to get him to see the errors of His ways, but I am loving on him the whole time because I know what could have been.
God is the same way. He lets us make our decisions, but He helps us to see the error of our ways.
Here is the thing. God’s ways are so much better than our ways. Because of that, God’s message cannot and should not change.
Besides, God is sovereign. He gets to call the shots.
If we try to change God’s rules to better fit today’s lifestyle, it will not work. Trying to use things for things they were not intended can be very risky.
God never intended sin to be a part of this world. Man made that choice. So, we do have to deal with sin.
This world will be never be as God intended it to be. That doesn’t mean we need to change the Bible to fit us.
People attack believers for championing things to be as God originally intended. We need to stay strong and worship Him in the ways He calls us.
God doesn’t want us to be faithful just for us. We have a world to tell of His love and grace. We have to represent God to the world.
Holy Father. You have conquered the enemies. You have freed us, saved us. You have established a standard of life. You even allow second — and multiple — chances. You have done all this so that we may worship You. Lord, help us to meet Your standards. Make us bold to tell others of Your holiness. Amen.
What do you think? How is called to change and called to worship connected? Leave me a comment below (about this or anything else) or head over to my Facebook group for some interactive discussion.
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