March 2023 – Praying Pint

44.a. “Wilderness” – 8.h. “Come up to the LORD” & the “Book of the Covenant”

Exo 24:1 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. Moses alone shall come near to the LORD, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.” Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.” And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

We are reminded that God spoke Exodus chapters 20:22 through 23:33 to Moses alone. Now others were to come up on the mountain and keep their distance. When the people heard the law of God they responded with complete agreement (all the people answered with one voice). Then they verbally agreed to obey the LORD. Israel here was perhaps guilty of tremendous over-confidence. The way they seemed to easily say to God, “We will keep Your law” seemed to lack appreciation for how complete and deeply comprehensive God’s law is. However, a nation that had been terrified by God’s awesome presence at Sinai was in no state of mind to do anything but agree with God. In the previous verse (Exodus 24:3), Israel verbally agreed to a covenant-relationship with God; but there is a sense in which this is simply not good enough. They must do specific things to confirm their covenant with God. First, the word of God must be written. God’s word was important enough that it was not be left up to human recollection and the creative nature of memory. Just as much as God would not negotiate His covenant with Israel, neither would He force it upon them. They must freely respond. “Half of the blood being sprinkled on the ALTAR, and half of it sprinkled on the PEOPLE, showed that both GOD and THEY were mutually bound by this covenant.”

The blood of Jesus’ covenant saves us: this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. The blood of Jesus’ covenant is also the foundation for all our growth and maturity in Christ: Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Guzik)

For a moment, the people were ennobled, and obedience seemed easy. They little knew what they were saying in that brief spasm of devotion. It was high-water then, but the tide soon turned, and all the ooze and ugliness, covered now, lay bare and rotting. ‘Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.’ We may take the lesson to ourselves, and see to it that emotion consolidates into strenuous persistency, and does not die in the very excitement of the vow. *MacLaren)

God’s covenants and commands are so just in themselves, and so much for our good, that the more we think of them, and the more plainly and fully they are set before us, the more reason we may see to comply with them. (Henry)

44. “Wilderness” – 8.g. “When my angel goes before you”

Exodus 23:23 “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

How rich are the particulars of this promise! The comfort of their food, the continuance of their health, the increase of their wealth, the prolonging their lives to old age. Thus hath godliness the promise of the life that now is. It is promised that they should subdue their enemies. Hosts of hornets made way for the hosts of Israel; such mean creatures can God use for chastising his people’s enemies. In real kindness to the church, its enemies are subdued by little and little; thus we are kept on our guard, and in continual dependence on God. Corruptions are driven out of the hearts of God’s people, not all at once, but little by little. The precept with this promise is, that they should not make friendship with idolaters. Those that would keep from bad courses, must keep from bad company. It is dangerous to live in a bad neighbourhood; others’ sins will be our snares. Our greatest danger is from those who would make us sin against God. (Henry)

These promises secured to the people not only the protection and help of God during their journey through the desert, and in the conquest of Canaan, but also preservation and prosperity when they had taken possession of the land. (Keil)

The promises of God are great and awesome and reveal His mighty power over His creation in heaven and earth. Is anything too hard for God? No! Can He do more than we ask and much more than we can imagine? Yes! We do not have the knowledge and understanding or wisdom to begin to know the power of God and the fullness of His grace, mercy, and love. We do have glimpses of these though through His Word and by the indwelling Holy Spirit in all who believe. He has given us great promises so that we have a reason for belief, faith, and hope for today, tomorrow, and forever. It is in these promises that we find peace and rest for our souls in the midst of the confusion going on around us. It is in these promises we find a reason to live in such a way of obedience for the single purpose to honor and glory to Him in all we think, say, and do. Though a mountain is before us, God is with us. Though a great divide is in front of us, God is with us. Though darkness is all around us, God is with us. Though our trials and troubles seem unbearable, God is with us. Though I do not know Him fully, He knows me fully. Though I do not know what tomorrow brings, God knows. God created all there is. He placed every star in every galaxy. He parted the Red Sea, brought water out of a rock, fed His people in the wilderness, sent messengers, prophets, and priests to guide and warn, He sent His Son for the redemption of all who would believe, He healed the sick, raised people from the dead, He is coming again, and has promised eternal life to those He has called.

43.z. “Wilderness” – 8.f. “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way”

Exodus 23:20  “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.

Exodus 14:19    Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them

Psalms 91:11   For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

Isaiah 63:9   In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

Malachi 3:1    “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.

The Book of the Covenant terminates, very appropriately, with a series of promises. God is “the rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” He chooses to “reward men after their works,” and to set before them “the recompense of the reward.” (Ellicott)

It is here promised that they should be guided and kept in their way through the wilderness to the land of promise, Behold, I send an angel before thee, mine angel. The precept joined with this promise is, that they be obedient to this angel whom God would send before them. (Henry)

The declaration of the rights conferred by Jehovah upon His people is closed by promises, through which, on the one hand, God insured to the nation the gifts and benefits involved in their rights, and, on the other hand, sought to promote that willingness and love which were indispensable to the fulfilment of the duties incumbent upon every individual in consequence of the rights conferred upon them. These promises secured to the people not only the protection and help of God during their journey through the desert, and in the conquest of Canaan, but also preservation and prosperity when they had taken possession of the land. (Keil)

THE REWARDS OF OBEDIENCE. God always places before men” the recompense of the reward.” He does not require of them that they should serve him for nought. The “Book of the Covenant” appropriately ends with a number of promises, which God undertakes to perform, if Israel keeps the terms of the covenant. (Unknown)

God’s promises for obedience and warnings for disobedience are consistent.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

43.y. “Wilderness” – 8.e. “Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me.”

Exodus 23:14 “Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed. You shall keep the Feast of Harvest, of the firstfruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall keep the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor.

God commanded that three times a year, all men in Israel had to come together to keep the most important feasts.

Three times thou shall keep a feast unto me in the year. The feast of the passover, on the fourteenth of the month Nisan or March; and the feast of weeks or pentecost fifty days after that; and the feast of tabernacles on the fifteenth day of Tisri or September. (Gill)

keeping a feast to the Lord, and appearing before Him, were both of them privileges bestowed by Jehovah upon His covenant people. Even in itself the festal rejoicing was a blessing in the midst of this life of labour, toil, and trouble; but when accompanied with the right of appearing before the Lord their God and Redeemer, to whom they were indebted for everything they had and were, it was one that no other nation enjoyed. For though they had their joyous festivals, these festivals bore the same relation to those of Israel, as the dead and worthless gods of the heathen to the living and almighty God of Israel. (Keil)

Remembrance of God’s mercy, grace, and love through specific set aside festival days or remembrance and giving are still good for our soul, though every day we should remember it equally too. Far too often God’s great grace, mercy, and love get lost in the busyness of life. Teach yourself and learn to recognize when this busyness is pulling you away from keeping remembrance of Jesus Christ in your everyday living.

Pathway to Victory, Dr Jeffress

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. . . . One and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
–1 Corinthians 12:4, 11

The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to trust in Christ as our Savior. And when we are saved, the Holy Spirit also gives us a unique spiritual gift. What does that mean? Well, when you were born into this world physically, you were born with certain natural abilities. Maybe you have the ability to play an instrument or to sing. Maybe you have the ability to work with your hands. Maybe you have leadership abilities. Those are natural gifts.

But the Bible says when you were born again into the family of God, the Holy Spirit brought into your life a spiritual gift, both a desire and a unique power to be a part of God’s ministry. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 12, “There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. . . . One and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills” (vv. 4, 11). And Paul listed some of the gifts the Holy Spirit has distributed. To some Christians, He has given the gift of prophesy–not foretelling the future but speaking God’s Word with conviction. He has given some Christians the gift of mercy, empathizing with the sorrows of other people. Other Christians have the gift of giving, the ability to multiply financial assets and use them for kingdom purposes. Still others have the gift of leadership. Every one of us has a spiritual gift.

It is no accident that “charismaton,” the Greek word for “gifts,” comes from a word that means “joy.” As a pastor, I have seen no other truth give Christians more joy than the discovery and the use of their spiritual gifts, the realization that God has empowered them in a unique way to be a part of His kingdom purpose.

I think of Pastor Ray Stedman, who said he tried to remind himself of several things when he got up in the morning. He wrote, “I remind myself that I am part of the plan of God, that God is working out all things to a great and final purpose in the earth and I am part of it. What I do today has purpose and significance and meaning. It is not just a meaningless thing that I am going to go through. Even the smallest incident, the most apparently insignificant word or relationship, is involved in that great plan. Therefore it has meaning and purpose.”

It is the Holy Spirit of God who connects you to God’s eternal purpose by imparting to you a unique spiritual gift when you are saved.

43.x. “Wilderness” – 8.d. “Pay attention to all that I have said to you”

Exodus 23:13  “Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.

Joshua 22:5   Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Joshua 23:11   Be very careful, therefore, to love the LORD your God.

Psalms 39:1   I said, “I will guard my ways, that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, so long as the wicked are in my presence.”

Ephesians 5:15   Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

1 Timothy 4:16    Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Deuteronomy 4:9    “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children—

Psalms 16:4    The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;

And in all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect,…. Or observe them, be careful to keep them punctually and constantly, even all that are delivered in this and the preceding chapters: and make no mention of the name of other gods; neither call upon them, nor swear by them, nor make vows to them; and, as little as possible, ever utter their names, and never with pleasure and delight, and showing any honour of them, and reverence to them, but with the utmost detestation and abhorrence. (Gill)

We hear of those who are popular and how they have found some sort of inner peace through following after some form of religion/god. This god they worship is not the God of heaven and earth but rather a manifestation of man’s attempt at creating a god that seems more to their liking. They replace God with whatever seems right in their own eyes rather than seeking their creator. For whatever reason, they deny the one and only true God and chase after another. They replace God with man-made god(s) and proclaim to their followers that this is the way to true happiness. The same can be said of those who are not popular that follow after the same foolishness.

God reached out to His creation. He spoke to them, did wonders and signs, and recorded His Word so that His creation might begin to understand and know Him. He proclaimed His holiness and mankind’s sinfulness. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem His creation, forgive their sins, and fill them with the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit, He gifted His creation to live with ever-growing knowledge and understanding of His grace, mercy, and love. He offers peace, rest, comfort, courage, joy, hope, faith, love, kindness, gentleness, generosity, and patience. Denying or rejecting all of this will leave a void in a person that wants to be filled. People will try to fill this in every way possible, but apart from God, it is not.

Seek to ever-grow, understand, and know how to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all that you think, say, and do every minute of every day.

43.w. “Wilderness” – 8.c. “Seventh Day and Seventh Year”

Exodus 23:10  “For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field may eat. You shall do likewise with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard. “Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

Nehemiah 10:31   And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.

Deuteronomy 5:13-15   Six days you shall labor and do all your work,  but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.  You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

The object of the law was threefold—(1) to test obedience; (2) to give an advantage to the poor and needy, to whom the crop of the seventh year belonged (Exodus 23:11); and (3) to allow an opportunity, once in seven years, for prolonged communion with God and increased religious observances. (Ellicott)

The institution of the sabbatical year was designed, 1st, To show what a plentiful land that was into which God was bringing them, that so numerous a people could have rich maintenance out of the products of so small a country, without foreign trade, and yet could spare the increase of every seventh year. 2d, To teach them confidence in his care and bounty while they did their duty; that as the sixth day’s manna served for two days’ meat, so the sixth year’s increase should serve for two years’ subsistence. 3d, Thus he would try and secure their obedience, keep them in dependance upon himself, and give to them and all their neighbours a manifest proof of his singular and gracious providence over them. 4th, By this kind of quit rent they were likewise admonished that God alone was the Lord of the land, and that they were only tenants at his will. And being thus freed from their great labours in cultivating the ground, in manuring, ploughing, sowing, weeding, reaping, they were the more at leisure to meditate on God’s works, and to acquaint themselves with his will. 5th, Another reason also is given here, That the poor of thy land may eat. God gave a special blessing to the sixth year, and in years of so great plenty, men are generally more negligent in their reaping, and therefore, the relics are more. So that in this appointment God had in view a more comfortable provision for the poor. (Benson)

Every seventh year the land was to rest. They must not plough or sow it; what the earth produced of itself, should be eaten, and not laid up. This law seems to have been intended to teach dependence on Providence, and God’s faithfulness in sending the larger increase while they kept his appointments. It was also typical of the heavenly rest, when all earthly labours, cares, and interests shall cease for ever, (Henry)

six years thou shalt sow thy land—intermitting the cultivation of the land every seventh year. But it appears that even then there was a spontaneous produce which the poor were permitted freely to gather for their use, and the beasts driven out fed on the remainder, the owners of fields not being allowed to reap or collect the fruits of the vineyard or oliveyard during the course of this sabbatical year. This was a regulation subservient to many excellent purposes; for, besides inculcating the general lesson of dependence on Providence, and of confidence in His faithfulness to His promise respecting the triple increase on the sixth year (Le 25:20, 21), it gave the Israelites a practical proof that they held their properties of the Lord as His tenants, and must conform to His rules. (Jamieson)

In a primitive condition of agriculture, when rotation of crops was unknown, artificial manure unemployed, and the need of letting even the best land sometimes lie fallow unrecognised, it may not have been an uneconomical arrangement to require an entire suspension of cultivation once in seven years. But great difficulty was probably experienced in enforcing the law. Just as there were persons who wished to gather manna on the seventh day (Exodus 16:27), so there would be many anxious to obtain in the seventh year something more from their fields than Nature would give them if left to herself. If the “seventy years” of the captivity were intended exactly to make up for omissions of the due observance of the sabbatical year, we must suppose that between the time of the exodus and the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, the ordinance had been as often neglected as observed. (Unknown)

Sabbath is that ancient idea and practice of intentional rest that has long been discarded by much of the church and our world. Sabbath is not new. Sabbath is just new to us. Historically, Christians have kept some form or another of the Sabbath for some two thousand years.

But it has largely been forgotten by the church, which has uncritically mimicked the rhythms of the industrial and success-obsessed West. The result? Our road – weary, exhausted churches have largely failed to integrate Sabbath into their lives as vital elements of Christian discipleship. It is not as though we do not love God — we love God deeply. We just do not know how to sit with God anymore.

We have come to know Jesus only as the Lord of the harvest, forgetting he is the Lord of the Sabbath as well.

Sabbath forgetfulness is driven, so often, in the name of doing stuff for God rather than being with God. We are too busy working for him. This is only made more difficult by the fact that the Western church is increasingly experiencing displacement and marginalization in a post-Christian, secular society. In that, we have all the more bought into the notion that ministering on overdrive will resolve the crisis. The result of our Sabbath amnesia is that we have become perhaps the most emotionally exhausted, psychologically overworked, spiritually malnourished people in history. Similarly challenging are the cultural realities we face. (Comer)

It is good for us “to remember” and “to observe” the Sabbath. that Sabbath observance depended on Sabbath remembrance. To do, one must first remember. (Swoboda)

43.v. “Wilderness” – 8.b. “Abstain from every form of evil”

Exodus 23:4  “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him. “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.

Proverbs 4:14-15   Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil.  Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.

Isaiah 33:15    He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil

1 Thessalonians 5:22   Abstain from every form of evil.

Proverbs 17:15   He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.

Romans 1:18   For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Romans 2:5-6   But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.  He will render to each one according to his works:

Exodus 34:6  The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

How you feel about someone does not determine right and wrong behavior towards them. There are principles of justice that must be observed above our feelings. This command to do good for your enemy was important. It showed that goodness and kindness in Israel was not only required for those one liked and loved, but to all. One might not need a command to do this for a friend, but it was necessary for the enemy and one who hates you. God knew that it was always easy for the poor to be neglected in the administration of justice. Being poor did not make one right in a legal dispute, but it should never keep them from getting a fair hearing and justice. God knew how much evil and injustice is justified among men by lies, so He emphasized truth telling in Israel’s daily life and legal practices. In the promotion of justice, God also commanded against bribery. Specifically, He commanded against the taking of a bribe; bribe makers can’t exist without bribe takers. (Guzik)

Here we have a sort of anticipation of Christianity—active kindness to an enemy being required, even when it costs us some trouble. The principle of friendliness is involved—the germ which in Christianity blossoms out into the precept, “Love your enemies.” (Ellicott)

Every thing in it is suited to the desired and avowed object, the worship of one only God, and the separation of Israel from the pagan world. Neither parties, friends, witnesses, nor common opinions, must move us to lessen great faults, to aggravate small ones, excuse offenders, accuse the innocent, or misrepresent any thing. (Henry)

Keep thee far from a false matter, from receiving a false testimony, or taking the false or wrong side of a cause, or engaging in a bad one; keep aloof off from it, as much at a distance from it as possible. God will not justify those wicked men cleared by them, but will, in his own time and way, sooner or later, inflict the deserved punishment on them. (Gill)

To be bribed by gifts, because “the gift makes seeing men blind, and perverts the causes of the just.” (Kiel)

It is very easy to be swayed by what we hear and what we read, but how are we to know the truth from lies, good from bad, and right from wrong? Someone with clear intent on causing harmful reactions in their hearers or readers can speak convincingly and so craftily that a person is moved to think badly or even take some sort of shameless action. Wisdom has two faces. Wisdom from and of the world will confuse, make anxious, cause fear and hate, division without remedy, needless pain, suffering, and death, and guide the weak and blind down paths that neither honor nor glorify God. The other face of wisdom is of God. It comes to us in and through the presence of the Holy Spirit and manifests itself by peace, truth, faith, hope, without fear, unity, grace, gentleness, kindness, patience, and generosity, all of which honor and glorifies Jesus Christ. It is sad that in many, more time is spent with worldly wisdom than seeking and desiring Godly wisdom. No one is immune to the temptations and offers of worldly wisdom. We are bombarded with it constantly. If time in God’s Word is second in our lives to what the world is spewing out that person is in trouble of being dragged away into unholy thoughts and actions. Be cautious about your time, what you take interest in hearing and reading, and what you allow to influence your thoughts and actions. Seek and desire the Holy Spirit to guide you and allow you to recognize the worldly from the Godly in what you hear and read. Allow the filter to your heart, mind, and soul to be the Word of God and the Holy Spirit indwelling there.

43.u. “Wilderness” – 8.a. “You shall not spread a false report” – Lie

Exodus 23:1-3  “You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man to be a malicious witness. You shall not fall in with the many to do evil, nor shall you bear witness in a lawsuit, siding with the many, so as to pervert justice, nor shall you be partial to a poor man in his lawsuit.

Psalms 101:5     Whoever slanders his neighbor secretly I will destroy. Whoever has a haughty look and an arrogant heart I will not endure.

Proverbs 17:4   An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.

Proverbs 6:19    a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

Proverbs 19:5    A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who breathes out lies will not escape.

Proverbs 24:28   Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause, and do not deceive with your lips.

1 Peter 3:16   having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

Ephesians 4:25    Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

2 Timothy 3:3    heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,

Revelation 12:10  And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.

John 8:44   You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

It has always been in the nature of man to follow a crowd to do evil. It is easy and dangerous to turn aside after many to pervert justice, to follow with our peers and popular opinion. This is why it is so important for us to choose our crowd carefully: Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.” “The history of all right movements has been in the first place the history of lonely souls, who, having heard the authentic voice of God, have stood alone or in small minorities.” (Morgan)

Thou shalt not raise a false report,…. Of a neighbour, or of any man whatever, either secretly by private slanders, whispers, backbiting and tale bearing, by innuendos, detracting from his good name and credit, suggesting things false and wicked concerning him; or publicly in a court of judicature, bringing a false accusation, laying a false charge, and bearing a false testimony against him: or “thou shall not receive a false report” (p); if there were not so many, that say, Report, and we will report it, that are ready to receive every ill thing of their neighbours, there would not be so many that would raise such ill things of them; everything of this kind should be discountenanced, and especially by judges in courts of judicature, who are chiefly spoken to and of in the context; these should not easily admit every charge and accusation brought; nor bear, or endure a false report, as the word also signifies, but discourage, and even punish it. (Gill)

Following after the crowd is easy. We have heard it said; “wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it. and right is right if only one is doing it”. The past 3 years surely have demonstrated the effects of this. False witness, slander, lies, innuendos, false charges, accusations, etc…… It only takes one person to proclaim a lie as truth to convince the masses of it.

God’s Word is truth, full of righteous wisdom and understanding, and able to guide and lead a person in truth. The problem is that far too often this truth is neglected and time that could be spent on it is given over to news outlets and other social media talking heads who may or may not be committed to speaking the truth with their words. Far too often they will be led by the father of all lies in capturing ratings or more followers. Even when they have been caught in a lie they will spin it into a false claim about another. The world is full of this and it is good to stay away from it when it is obviously abounding in virtually every source.

Time spent in God’s Word is time well spent and will keep your heart, mind, and soul from being polluted with lies of this world and the people who are being led by the Father of All Lies.

43.t. “Wilderness” – 8. “You shall be consecrated to me”

Exodus 22:31. “You shall be consecrated to me.

Revelation 4:8   And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

Revelation 6:10   They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

Leviticus 11:45   For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”

Leviticus 19:2   “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.

Deuteronomy 14:21    For you are a people holy to the LORD your God.

1 Peter 1:15-16  but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,  since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

You shall be holy men unto me. The holiness really desired was holiness of heart and spirit. Outward ordinances could not effect this; but, to keep the thought perpetually before- men’s minds. (Ellicott)

And ye shall be holy men unto me,…. They were so by God’s act of election, not special and particular, but general and national; choosing and separating them to be an holy people to him, above all the people on the face of the earth. (Gill)

And ye shall be holy men unto me. Ye shall not be as other men, but “an holy nation, a peculiar people;” (Unknown)

The moral excellence of God that unifies his attributes and is expressed through his actions, setting him apart from all others. Believers are called to be holy as God is holy. God’s nature is holy, He is perfect, He is uniquely holy, God’s name is holy, God’s dwelling-place is holy, God’s holiness is revealed in his righteous activity, God’s people are to be holy because he is holy, The holiness of believers originates from God., God’s holiness is to be seen in his people, God’s holiness makes sin objectionable to him, God’s holiness necessitates dependence upon him for forgiveness.

We do well to seek to ever-grow in our understanding of God’s Holiness and the sinfulness of sin.