6/7/2008 8:50 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Changing clothes and washing
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Exodus 19:10-11, 14-15
Bible
Reading & Meditation: “7 So Moses went back and summoned the elders of
the people and set before them all the words the LORD had commanded him to
speak. 8
The people all responded together, "We will do everything the LORD
has said." So Moses brought their answer back to the LORD.
9 ¶
The LORD said to Moses, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud,
so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their
trust in you." Then Moses told the LORD what the people had said. 10 And
the LORD said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and
tomorrow. Make them wash their clothes 11
and be ready by the third day, because on that day the LORD will come
down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the
people.”
14
After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated
them, and they washed their clothes.
15 Then he said to the people,
‘Prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain from sexual relations.’”
Verses seven and eight actually
belong in the commentary from the SD done on 06/06. Verse nine actually belongs in the commentary
for today’s SD.
At the end of the beginning
statements in most chapters that Dr. Wiersbe writes he give a hint on how the
chapter will be divided up, and at the beginning of this chapter I read these
words: “When God spoke to His people, by
His grace He called them to a very special life.” The first section was entitled “A life of
maturity” and this was the last two SD’s.
Now the next section begins today’s SD and will have three subsections
in it, the first today. This section is
entitled “A life of sanctity.” It could
be called a life of purity or holiness or a life of blessedness. These three subsections under this section
speak of the sanctity of the nation as the holy people of God.
One must understand some important
things from this chapter and other places in the OT to understand what the
significance of changing ones clothes means, for people in many societies to
day have running water, soap and a place to shower each day and then change
into a new set of clothes after taking a shower, however that was not the case
in the OT days and taking a bath or shower and washing ones clothes meant more
to them. The background of this section
we find that all of the children of Israel
were now at Mt. Sinai
I want to give a couple of examples
from the OT when this practice was done.
The first one is in Genesis 41:14, “Then Pharaoh sent and called for
Joseph, and they hurriedly brought him out of the dungeon; and when he had
shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came to Pharaoh.” Next is found in Leviticus 14:8-9, “8 "The one to be cleansed shall then wash
his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe in water and be clean. Now
afterward, he may enter the camp, but he shall stay outside his tent for seven
days. 9
"It will be on the seventh day that he shall shave off all his hair:
he shall shave his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair. He
shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in water and be clean.” These verses speak of a leper being
healed. The last one I want to look at
is found in 2 Samuel 12:20, “So David arose from the ground, washed, anointed
himself, and changed his clothes; and he came into the house of the LORD and
worshiped. Then he came to his own house, and when he requested, they set food
before him and he ate.” This verse
happens after David’s son, which was conceived out of adultery with Bathsheba
died. The point in all of these stories
is that there was a great change happening in the lives of these people as they
were going from one phase of life to another phase and so they wanted to get
cleaned up before they went to that next phase.
Now there are a couple of NT verses
that believers in the Church age can look at that pertain to this OT concept of
cleaning one’s self up, or being holy or sanctified before the Lord and the
first one is 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Another verse is found in 2 Cor. 7:1, “Therefore,
having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of
flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: There are
times in my walk with the Lord that I get my spiritual feet dirty and am in
need of spiritual cleansing to begin afresh with the Lord. There are undoubtedly sinful thoughts that go
through my mind on most days of which I need to be cleansed from, however there
may be something that has happened a while ago and needs to be discussed with
the Lord so that I can be freed from the guilt and sin and thus start a new
beginning. I believe that there is one
of those that I need to talk to the Lord and my wife about today. And by God’s
grace I will as it was no accident that this was the exact time that I needed
to do this lesson today.
My Steps of Faith for
Today:
- I want to trust the Lord to speak the correct words to my wife about something that I am very thankful for that she has done from the past and I have not thanked her for, for her support in this area of my life that has been troubling to me since childhood.
Memory verses for the week: Col.
4:12
12.
Epaphras, who is one of your number, and a
bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly
for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the
will of God.
6/7/2008 9:38 AM
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