Jethro's Worship (Ex. 18:9-12)

6/1/2008 7:54 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time           Focus:  Jethro’s worship

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 18:9-12

            Message of the verses:  “9  Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness which the LORD had done to Israel, in delivering them from the hand of the Egyptians.

10  So Jethro said, "Blessed be the LORD who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and who delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.  11  "Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods; indeed, it was proven when they dealt proudly against the people."  12  Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law before God.”

            Moses’ father-in-law was a Gentile, not an Israelite, but he was a believer in the One True God, for he, like Melchizedek was a Gentile priest.  At this time the Law had not been given to Israel and the priesthood had not been established so it was on problem for Jethro to sacrifice to the Lord and for Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel to join in with him for this feast.  I suppose that the next time that this kind of thing happened was in the book of Acts with Peter eating at the house of Cornelius, which was a long time coming.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Jethro praised the Lord for what He did for the nation of Israel as seen in verse ten.  I would suppose that there have been times in my life when I should have been praising the Lord over something good that happened to someone that I knew, but did not do it because of me being jealous or at least not in a praise giving mood due to their blessing from the Lord.  I think that the point that I am trying to make is that I need to rejoice in the Lord more for the good things that happen to those that I know.

            I have noticed that there were some people that I know when they heard that we might be going to work in Hawaii did not rejoice with us because they did not want to see us leave, and I guess that is ok if they realized that it was good for us to get a job and were rejoicing that we got a job.  I can also appreciate that fact that they would miss us as I would miss them too.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to continue with the steps of faith that the Lord has laid on my heart and that is to learn to pray like Epaphras as seen in Col. 4:12; to be yoked up with Jesus as seen in Matthew 11:28-30; to follow the path that the Lord has for me to follow as seen in Proverbs 3:5-6; to learn contentment as Paul speaks of in Phil. 4:11; and to trust the Lord to deliver me from temptation as Paul wrote of in 1 Cor. 10:13.

Memory verses for the week:                                  Col. 4:12

12.    Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave in 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.

6/1/2008 8:21 AM