Exodus 19:1-6

The people of promise are poised on a precipice of new possibility, yet God tells Moses (in so many words) hold up, wait a minute let me put some preachin in it.


In other words these ex-slaves have just spent 400 years in bondage and now have been wandering in the wilderness, drifting in the desert and ambling about in barrenness for the last 3 months and they need a focus point.


God first reminds them of where they have come from. In verse 3 God says to Moses "this is what you are to say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel." It seems God is saying that they once were the blues people and now they are the miracle people(to quote Cornell West). Jacob was a liar, Jacob was a trickster and Jacob was a hustler who brought blues into the lives of a lot of people. Yet God Reversed his rout at a river called Jabok and changed his name and his destiny when he called him Israel. It is an awesome thing to know that God is able to make miracles out of our messes.


God then reminds them that it was he (or more specifically She) who bore them on Eagles wings from Slavery to freedom to him. It is the female eagle who carries the babies thus the text uses the female personal pronoun for God here.


Yet the best is yet to come. As God has gathered his people at the foot of Mt. Horeb (The Mountain of God) and God gave them what they needed the most; Their Identity!


God says you are my "Treasured Possession" a "Kingdom of Priest" and a "Holy Nation!"


Treasured Possession did not mean that they were better than any other people but God saw in them what they could be before they became what they should be. He saw in them something that could bless the world.


Kingdom of Priest-That they were to mediate for the masses to the master. They were to intercede between the other nations and God. They were to bring others closer to God!


A Holy Nation-That they were set apart for sacred work. They were to be an example to others of what abiding in the presence of the Holy looked like. God was not expecting them to be perfect but Excellent. No one could achieve excellence but all could give their best which is excellence.





Relevant questions:





What has you bond, frustrated and afraid to move forward in your destiny?



Where do you see yourself wandering in what seems like barrenness?



Where do you see God taking you from a Jacob mindset to an Israel new reality in relationship with him?


Where in your life can you see the swift wings of God whisking you out of weariness, and worry to his Wonder?


Where do you see yourself in the text as you journey through this life?


Where do you see this nation? Is it poised on the precipice of promise?


How important to you is it that all people remember their own particular sacred stories (history) as a compass to their future?


Finally God's words to God's people here are conditional; there is an "If" clause. How does that if clause inform your personal journey with God?





Bless you on your journey with God of Joy