Glory

When you make the offering, I, the Lord, will meet you there and speak to you. I will meet with the people of Israel there, and that place will be holy because of my glory. Exodus 29:42-43 NCV

For years I have pondered the concept of God's glory. Through scripture and song, I have puzzled over it's meaning. Recently I came across an article in the NLT Study Bible that put things into a better perspective. Here's an excerpt:

Glory has a rather different connotation in the Old Testament than it does in the English usage. The English word suggests something thin and passing--the glory of a sunset, the glory of last year's winning team. The root idea of the Hebrew word for glory is "heaviness" or "solidity." It connotes "significance" or "worth," the absolute opposite of "vanity" or "nothingness." When God's glory appears, it is not merely a bright light or a glittering cloud, but a visible expression of His absolute reality.

God's glory is the manifestation of His person, His power, and His majesty. God's glory may be revealed in nature, such as in a thunderstorm or in the plagues sent on the Egyptians. God's glory can also be a unique manifestation, such as the revelation on Mount Sinai. At the dedication of the Tabernacle and Solomon's Temple, God's glory filled those structures indicating His approval of them and that His presence would now reside there.

To give glory to God means to speak or act in a manner that acknowledges who God is. (167)

I have given a lot of thought lately about whether or not my life reflects what I purport to believe, particularly in this day and age. It would be terribly easy to walk through each day paralyzed with a spirit of fear. However, if I truly believe that God is sovereign, my life needs to reflect that. I suspect that my days would be better served learning to give glory to God in all my circumstances.

Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live. 1 Thess 5:16-18

Treasured...

I appreciate each one of your prayers on our behalf as we once again battle some ridiculous illness. (one of the questions I'll have on my list when I arrive in heaven will be what purpose viruses serve. Because surely they must serve a purpose.)

One thing that I am trying to do differently this year as I read through my bible is to check more background and reference material. I want to try and see things from every angle. I don't want to miss a thing. (working in a christian book store makes it a lot easier to get my hands on all kinds of material. Woo hoo!) I recently checked out the Holman Old Testament Commentaries and I am absolutely thrilled with the material that they provide. They are set up like a Sunday school lesson with illustrations, breakdowns of the text, summaries and so forth. I think I'll be adding them to my list of "must haves."

Max Anders says that Exodus is a redemption story. Not just the story of the Israelites making an "exodus" from Egypt, but a picture of a loving God hastening to save His chosen people. This appeals to me on so many levels. As a person with "issues", nothing thrills my heart more than when scripture uses words like "treasured possession, delighted, chosen." Words like these add balm to a heart that has been hurt more times than I would care to count. I hold scripture like Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left it's place in front of the people (13:22) and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself...if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession (19:4) close to me. It brings me such comfort on difficult, complicated days. (and it brings a smile to my face on the rather ordinary days as well.)

I hope you know how God sees you. I pray that you realize that you too are His treasured possession. How He loves each one of us! I encourage you to keep reading. I know that we have some...um...interesting passages ahead of us as we listen to descriptions of cubits, curtains, and rings.

***

I am taking a few days off work to a) begin planning my daughter's wedding (we are wedding dress shopping today) and b) celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary on Valentine's Day. I am planning on catching up on your posts these next few days as well. If you have a moment or two to spare, please remember our city in your prayers. We finally got every one's power back on from the ice storm only to have a wind storm sweep through and bring down more trees and power lines. Sigh. We like the dark. It encourages napping.

Job 20-42, Exodus 1-4

Each week, as I read, I mark different verses in my Bible and then stick a sticky note on the page so that when I do the recap, they are easier to find. By weeks end, I look like I have a little rainbow along the edges of my Bible. I like the reminder that I am delving into the Word and that these pages spoke to me in some way.

This week I have the same number of sticky notes that I usually do. But I'm not sure what to do with them. I don't want this to become the "endless" post, with so much information that it becomes distracting. So, I am going to choose the one section that has been lingering in my mind for the past few days. I may go back and touch on a few other things this week but this particular section of scripture has captured my imagination.

Five weeks ago we started our reading with "in the beginning." We saw God create light, darkness, earth, sky, the seas, dry land and so forth. And to be perfectly honest, while the wording was concise and not terribly detailed, it was enough.

Because it was what I expected. The creation story was, is and always will be this way.

Until this week.

Until God spoke.

And let me tell you, His words spoke to the poet in my soul. Did you see the creation story in Job 38?

Where were you when I made the earth's foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Who marked off how big it should be? Surely you know!
Who stretched a ruler across it?
What were the earth's foundations set on,
or who put its cornerstone in place
while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted with joy?

"Who shut the doors to keep the sea in
when it broke through and was born,
when I made the clouds like a coat for the sea
and wrapped it in dark clouds,
when I put limits on the sea
and put its doors and bars in place,
when I said to the sea, 'You may come this far, but no farther;
this is where your proud waves must stop'?

"Have you ever ordered the morning to begin,
or shown the dawn where its place was
in order to take hold of the earth by its edges
and shake evil people out of it?
At dawn the earth changes like clay being pressed by a seal;
the hills and valleys stand out like folds in a coat.
Job 38:4-14

For someone like me, someone who absorbs the printed word like it's her very lifeblood, someone who thinks in word pictures, this passage is a beautifully crafted story of "in the beginning." And I am delighted to find it here. The morning stars sang, the angels shouted for joy, clouds like a coat for the sea...I am so in awe of my God. He delights me. Once again, I found treasure in a place that I least expected it. Although, after all that I have learned of my God, I should not be surprised.

So tell me, how has God delighted you this week?

Exodus

My wonderful little book of knowledge gives us this information about the book of Exodus:



The theme of Exodus is the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, in fulfillment of the promise made by God in Genesis 15:13-14. The book records the birth of the nation of Israel, the giving of the law, and the origin of ritual worship.



Exodus begins where Genesis left off; with the relocation of Jacob and his descendants to Egypt, in fulfillment of Genesis 15:13a. But in fulfillment of Genesis 15:13b, the Israelites are soon enslaved and oppressed by the Egyptians. The rest of the book begins to fulfill Genesis 15:14, 16--the exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. The majority of Exodus concentrates on the eighty-one years between the birth of Moses and the setting up of the tabernacle.



The name Yahweh first appears in chapter 3. God proclaims that He has "come down"--that He is specially present on Earth to deliver His people from bondage and lead them into the bountiful land of promise.



Israel breaks the first two commandments when the people build the golden calf and worship it as their god. Though God responds with judgement, He still reveals His character as Yahweh, the compassionate and gracious God who forgives the repentant but judges the unrepentant. This compassion is one of the most important revelations about the character of Yahweh, and is repeated throughout scripture until it culminates the the coming of Jesus in John 1:14. (p.13-14)



This is one of the reasons that I love reading the Bible chronologically. As we read, we see how God has "progressively revealed Himself in word and action" throughout history. Good stuff!