Today’s Chapters: Exodus 16-20
Pete’s Thoughts:
Exodus 16
What an amazing what in which God provided food for His people. Every day, they would go out and gather enough food for that day. They had to trust God daily for the provisions that they needed. God is faithful and will always provide for all our needs.
Exodus 17
Part of the provision that the people needed was water. Imagine the amount of water that was needed for the entire congregation (most scholars estimate at least between 1 million and 3 million people) and all their livestock would need each day! God used the miracle of bring water from the rock not only to provide water for the people but also to prove to them that He was in their midst and receive the glory from it.
Exodus 18
Moses’ father-in-law was a wise man. When he saw that Moses was solely responsible for judging every case for the people, he recommended setting up an order of command for smaller sections of people to judge. This was a great suggestion that saved time, energy, and allowed more people to air their grievances the was otherwise allowed. Who are some to the wise people around you that you can talk to and gain wisdom from? Are you listening to them?
Exodus 19
After three months of travel, the people reached Mount Sinai. Here it was that God met with them and instructed them. How awesome it must have been to see the clouds and hear the thunderings from the very presence of God, to not be able to approach the mountain because it was holy ground and the Lord would allow nothing to defile His presence.
Exodus 20
Here are the 10 Commandments. I find it interesting that out of all the law that God gave the people of Israel, the 10 Commandments are the only commandments that the people heard directly from God. After He told them these, the people were so fearful of the presence of the Lord that they could not stand it any more and asked Moses to go up for them an intercede on their behalf. It was after this awe that the people felt in the presence of God that He reiterated that the people were not to make any false gods in imitation of the True God – for none could or can compare to the real God.
