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Daily devotionals are a good introduction, helping to explain the main of ideas of the text without getting overly technical. As devotionals, they aim to enrich our relationship with God rather than turn us into academics!
Most nations have a founding event or story which shapes their understanding of who they are. In Australia we have the stories of the Dreamtime, the First Fleet, the Eureka Stockade, Gallipoli, and Sporting Heroes of every kind; all of which tell us who we are and how we got here. Israel’s founding story is the Exodus. This was when God took them, a group of slaves, from obscurity and thrust them on to the centre stage– defeating Pharaoh and his armies in spectacular fashion, and freeing them from their slavery in Egypt.
It’s a key moment in God’s self-revelation and in the outworking of his purposes for the world. In the centuries that follow this event, God will identify himself to Israel time and time again as “the God who brought you out of Egypt.” We read in the Exodus account the unfolding story of God shaping a people who will be the answer to the question posed in Genesis: how will God redeem his world and restore the creation order?
As you reflect on the following passages this month, ask yourself some questions:
What does the Exodus tell me about God and his plans for redemption?
Where is God up to in his redemption purposes now?
What is my founding story?
At the beginning of the book of Exodus, God’s promises to Abraham are still unfulfilled. His descendants are many, but they have no land of their own. But God has not forgotten his promises to Abraham (remember Gen 1:1-3; Gen 15: 1-21; Gen 17:1-8). Although silent for generations, God introduces himself to Moses in spectacular fashion as “I Am.” This is no mere family or tribal deity, but rather God eternal who reveals himself to Israel in his saving actions. He also reveals himself to Egypt and the whole world as Israel’s Deliverer, bringing judgment upon those who reject his rule and salvation for his chosen. Here is a useful overview of the significance of the name ‘I Am’.
Food for thought:
In Exodus 3, Moses is thought to have been over 70 years of age. How has Moses’ life up to this point prepared him for God’s calling?
What has God built into your life to date that he might use for his purposes today?
What does God’s calling of Moses in Exodus 3 show you about God? (notice the 5 verbs describing the activity of God in v7-8)
Why might this passage be such a key moment?
The Exodus of Israel from Egypt is an unprecedented intervention. God is God, and Pharaoh is not. It is a defining moment in Israel’s narrative, and the Bible is clear the Israelites must remind themselves of this great event regularly. They must know themselves as the people God rescued from Egypt– rescued from slavery and death by God’s grace.
Food for thought:
Yeast (or the lack of it) seems to feature in the regulations for the Passover meal. What is its significance?
How is the Passover meal a marker of inclusion and exclusion? How do you feel about the apparently binary nature (either ‘in’ or ‘out’) of God’s salvation?
Look for, and mark, words in Exodus 13:11-16 that are like ‘redeem’ and ‘redemption’. What does the writer mean when he uses that word? What is a dictionary definition? What do you learn about God’s redemption in this story?
God has rescued Israel dramatically, but days into their journey they have lost faith. ‘Grumbling’ is a constant theme as Israel wanders in the desert, but God remains their faithful provider.
Food for thought:
To what extent might we have ‘sympathy’ for the wandering Israelites? Or perhaps they are culpably faithless and ‘hard-hearted’?
Israel’s desert wanderings find a parallel in the experience of the Christian: they have been miraculously delivered by God but they do not yet experience the fulfilment of all that has been promised. A time requiring obedient trust in the commands of God, even in the face of trials, ensues. What situations do you face that feel like ‘desert wanderings’? What specifically might God be calling you to do in them?
At Sinai God makes a covenant with Israel, giving them a purpose and a mission– to be a ‘kingdom of priests’. Priests facilitate God’s blessing and forgiveness to people. Israel is to be a whole kingdom of priests, a nation called to facilitate blessing and forgiveness to all people, of all nations. Here we see God fulfilling his promises to Abraham (Gen 12:3). In this context– already saved by grace out of Egypt (Ex 20:2)– God gives Israel the Law, providing a framework for the appropriately grateful response of obedience. The Law is part of God shaping the descendants of Abraham into a people who will live according to a new pattern of life, a pattern that is radically different from that of Egypt, Canaan and the other surrounding nations.
Food for thought:
What do the 10 commandments reveal about God himself?
What do you learn from this passage about God’s purposes and hopes for his people? How might this shape your responses to God?
Despite the clear command not to dishonour God by creating idols, Israel’s heads are still stuck in Egypt. In Egypt, deities were man-made statues, among a pantheon of other competing deities. And so making a golden calf to honour God seemed to make a bit of sense– despite commandments #1 and 2. A constant theme throughout Israel’s history is the way they turn to other nations for their picture of what God and the good life looks like, rather than allowing God to give them that picture.
How can you tell where a person is looking for their vision of God and ‘the good life’? Where do you look for your vision of God and ‘the good life’?
The Exodus is not the only freeing of God’s people from slavery, it is also when God comes to earth to live with his people. Since the exile from Eden, God and his people have been separated by sin and death. The sacrificial system that had been set up was a continual reminder of the barrier of sin separating God from his people. The Tabernacle (a transportable temple) and the system of sacrifices, purifications and rituals emphasised the holiness of God and his ‘difference’ from his people. Only through sacrifice to atone for sin could God be approached. And yet, all this was graciously provided in the tabernacle system. So, in the Exodus, God comes to live in the midst of his people in the Tabernacle.
Food for thought:
In the bible’s narrative so far, how has God expressed his desire to live with his people? In this regard, what has been the impact of human sin? How does the tabernacle resolve this tension?
At the end of a long and detailed process, climatically, God’s glorious presence takes up residence among his people. How do you experience this today?
The story of the Exodus ends with Moses’ final blessing of Israel before his death. We don’t read about this until the end of the book of Deuteronomy but it’s worth jumping ahead to consider where this epic journey concludes (for Moses, anyway). There is hope: God has been faithful, but as the baton of leadership is handed on to Joshua, the story of redemption remains incomplete.
Reflect on the account of Moses and Israel. What does it show you about living your life now, as you wait for the final fulfilment of all of God’s promises?
The Exodus is a major theme throughout the bible. The biblical writers continue to return to the Exodus as a powerful model of God’s redemption. Read the following passages and reflect on what we learn about the type of redemption God is bringing about.
A.An incomplete Exodus: Psalm 95
Written many years after the events of Exodus, this Psalm acts as a testimony against Israel. Despite their escape and exit from Egypt, the people of Israel did not prove faithful to the God who has saved them. The experience of wandering in the wilderness for 40 years should serve as a warning to future generations when they are tempted to disbelieve God’s promises.
B.Praising God: Psalm 105
Throughout Israel’s worship, God’s character is revealed by what he has done, in this case, through the events of the Exodus. This Psalm teaches Israel how to respond to God’s redemptive acts, giving their praise a narrative framework. See if you can write a prayer that gives praise to God through the narrative framework of your salvation and experience.
C.Longing for a New Exodus: Isaiah 35
After the Exile into Babylon, Israel longed for a new Exodus, a rescue that would take them back to their Promised Land with freedom to worship God. Prophets such as Isaiah use Exodus imagery as they look forward to the day when God will again bring salvation. Having enjoyed the image of a new exodus in Isaiah, consider the way in which Jesus introduces himself in Luke 4:16-21.
D.A New Exodus: Matthew 2-5; Mark 14:12-25
Matthew presents a picture of Jesus as the living ‘new Exodus’: he is born under a genocidal king; his family escapes to Egypt; he returns from Egypt and is baptised (think Red Sea); then wanders forty days in the desert while being tempted. Afterwards, Jesus goes up a mountain and teaches his people a new way of life. Significantly, in his final week Jesus chooses the Passover festival, commemorating Israel’s Exodus, as the backdrop to explain the significance of his coming death.
E.A completed Exodus: Hebrews 4-5
The warnings of the ‘incomplete exodus’ (Joshua did not bring ‘rest’ in the Promised Land) serve to call Christians to faithful living, as they anticipate their ‘complete rest’ in the kingdom of God.
Growth Exercises are practical exercises we can try to help us grow as disciples of Christ. They are split into exercises to focus on for the coming week.
Describing someone’s life as “simple” could be interpreted as an insult. But “Simplicity” as it’s defined in the spiritual disciplines does not refer to one’s intelligence, status, or possessions; instead it offers a way of living where we are no longer defined or driven those things. Simplicity offers our heart freedom from its obsessions, attachment to riches, rank and reputation; there is freedom to live contentedly, freedom to live generously.
Richard Foster describes our current condition: “Inwardly modern man is fractured and fragmented. He is trapped in a maze of competing attachments. One moment he makes decisions on the basis sound reason and the next moment out of fear of what others think of him. He has no unity or focus around which life is oriented.” Simplicity and generosity address this condition and those distracting attachments. They encourage us to develop unity and focus, which help us, as Christ commands, to seek first the Kingdom of God. Jesus and the rest of the Bible have a lot to say about the Christian life as one of single-minded devotion. But both Scripture and experience suggest two main obstacles lie in the way.
The first is what pop-philosopher Alain de Botton calls Status Anxiety— a worry “that we are in danger of failing to conform to the ideals of success laid down by our society… that we are currently occupying too low a rung or are about to fall to a lower one.” Worrying too much about what others think surrenders to them an authority that rightly belongs to God. In the end, that becomes de-humanising.
The second obstacle is Material Anxiety. Francois Fenelon referred to simplicity as “the pearl of the Gospel.” If we were honest, most us would rather have the pearls! And the house, the car, the holiday home, and the boat. Nowhere is our divided loyalty more obvious than in the area of material wealth. Jesus knew it, which is why warned us that we couldn’t serve both wealth and him. Cute car, flash yellow car, or no car—the problem is not necessarily in the having, it’s in the obsessive hankering. In today’s culture, the pressure to obtain a certain level of living can be relentless.
To try and convince ourselves that we haven’t succumbed, Foster* notes that we cleverly rename the vices: “Covetousness we call ambition. Hoarding we call prudence. Greed we call industry.” Again, this is, profoundly dehumanising and, ultimately, profoundly enslaving. Few of us could honestly say, as the Apostle Paul does, that we have learned the freedom of contentment in all things.
The disciplines of simplicity and generosity are powerful antidotes to status and material anxiety. They offer us a way to enjoy life regardless of our rank or wealth, and encourage us to locate our primary identity in terms our relationship with God and his Kingdom. Sadly, living with simplicity and generosity is made more difficult for most of us have a remarkable sense of entitlement. We accumulate position and possession because we believe that we’re owed, by God and by others.
This makes it extremely difficult to address the two obstacles above, and almost impossible to be truly generous. Very few of us give away as much as we could. Consequently, life becomes cluttered and fragmented as we try hold on to everything we can for ourselves. Fortunately, this month we will be reflecting on creative ways to introduce simplicity and generosity into our patterns of life. The suggestions aren’t sensational or spectacular; instead they are… simple. But don’t let that fool you into thinking they are easy. Status and material anxiety are part of a cultural disease that is so widespread, even a small move in the opposite direction will take effort. But the resulting trust in God, and freedom from anxiety, will be well worth it.
The author of Ecclesiastes writes in Chapter 7: “This is all that I have learned: God made us plain and simple, but we have made ourselves very complicated” (GNB). People of a certain age can still remember when the cereal options every morning were limited: Weet-bix, Rice Bubbles or Corn-flakes— that was it. Today the better part of an entire aisle offers you every conceivable combination of grains, nuts, fruits, and sugar!
This does interesting (and often unhelpful) things to our ability to live simply and contentedly. We consumers demand choice—preferably with lots of colours and a free toy in every box. Life is now complicated. African American musician Keb ‘Mo puts it this way:
“Two cars, three kids, six phones
A whole lot of confusion up here in my home
Five-hundred stations on the TV screen
Five-hundred versions of the same ol' thing
Y'all know it's crazy
And it's drivin' me insane
Well, I don't wanna be a superman
I just wanna go somewhere, use my hands
And keep it simple
Oh real simple
Well, I went down to the local coffee store
The menu went from the ceiling all the way down to the floor
Decaf, cappuccino, or latte said the cashierI said gimme a small cup of coffee and let me get up outta here”
In your Journal, make some observations on the ways in which you experience ‘complexity’ in your life (more than just at the breakfast table or at the coffee shop). What does your environment (your desk, your diary, your car) tell you about your experience of complexity?
Can you identify situations where you might make choices to reject complexity and embrace simplicity? We will know that we are beginning to live a life of simplicity (i.e. truly seeking God and his kingdom first) when we notice some freedom from anxiety. Consider arranging a time to meet with a trusted friend. Read Matthew 6 together, and ask yourselves honestly, “Are our loyalties divided? How do we know? What does that look like? What are some solutions?
This week we’re going to try a more practical exercise in simplicity and generosity. Sometime over the next two weeks, try surviving one week on $100. That is, limit yourself to just $100 (per head in your household) for food and entertainment. Invite others in your family or your flat-mates to join in: this needs to be a voluntary commitment. It is going to be easier to do with more people.
When you’re done, calculate how much less you spent than usual and donate the difference to your favourite charity (that’s the generosity that comes out of simplicity). Make your own ‘rules’ : Is it OK to use up what you already have in the pantry? Are there exceptions for birthdays? Are some expenses excluded?
Let grace be your guide, but make sure you ‘feel’ the impact of living on less. Now here’s the important bit. Reflect on your experience: Was there anything you found particularly difficult? Did anything surprise you?
Has the experience changed your outlook on the way you ordinarily live, such that you would consider making some permanent changes?
Previously, we tried a practical exercise in simplicity and generosity. The idea was to try to survive for one week on $100 per person in your household, although it was very important that we each set our own ‘rules’. See if you can find an opportunity to give this growth exercise another go, but this time try to reduce the amount of money you live on. Can you live for a week on $75, or $50? Remember to set up your own ‘rules’ at the beginning of the week: Is it OK to use up what you already have in the pantry? Are there exceptions for birthdays? Are some expenses excluded? Let grace be your guide, but make sure you ‘feel’ the impact of living on less.
Again, the growth comes from our reflection. How did it go? Can you make some notes in your Journal about how it felt to ‘simplify’ your consumption? Did you make the calculation on how much less you spent than usual and donate the difference to your favourite charity? Was anything particularly difficult or surprising?
The season of Lent (40 ordinary days before Easter) often arrives before we’ve considered what to do about it. Traditionally this has been a time for the church to focus on prayer (towards God), fasting from foods and/or festivities (towards self), and alms-giving (towards others). We have a tendency to turn Lent into a token stand against chocolate and the tide of consumerism, but it’s more than that. Lent is a season of repentance, simplicity and generosity in preparation for the celebration of our Saviour’s suffering, death and resurrection.
Just as Passover was created to remind Israel about the Exodus– the hardship of slavery and the greatness of their salvation– the church has created Lent as a way of reminding us of our need of a Saviour, of his grace towards us, and our role in the world. This year Lent begins on Wednesday 22nd of February.
There are several biblical parallels where God provides seasons of preparation: Israel’s exodus and desert wanderings provided a transitional period of simplicity and hardship before the blessings and abundance promised in the Land. Ironically we can be tempted to chastise Israel for their dietary complaining over forty years in the wilderness, yet be unwilling to simplify our own diets for forty days!
In preparation for Lent, spend some time investigating the wisdom of some of the ancient Christian activities practiced during the 40 days leading up to Easter. Consider observing some simplified practices, not as a mere denial of consumption, but something you (and perhaps your community) actively put in place as a discipline to help you focus on the events of Easter.
