Week 31 - August 23 - Dan Swartz

Psalm 31

I am, at first, amazed at how David moves between praising God for his goodness in one breath (verse) and then lamenting his life circumstances in the next and begging for God's favor. I say "at first" because when I'm honest, I do this more often than I'd like to admit as well. And as I think about it a bit more it makes some sense. When one has experienced God's blessing and favor in life, and then life circumstances change such that we experience loss, fear, etc., it should be only natural that we cry out to God for rescue. The key is to remember where our blessing comes from in good times, and know that our loving God is in control even during hard times in our life. Then we can "be strong and courageous, all who put your hope in the Lord!"


Exodus 11

This chapter details with God's final plague on the Egyptians - the killing of every firstborn male (even animals). As with some prior chapters, this one reminded me of the importance of keeping my heart soft (as opposed to becoming "hardened" like Pharaoh). I sometimes pray that God would hit me over the head with a spiritual 2x4 (metaphorically speaking, of course), since I can sometimes mis-prioritize life. My prayer is that our nation's heart would not become hardened as well.

Exodus 12

This chapter details God's requirements for the Passover and his deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt. As Pastor Doug Weincoff relayed in a recent sermon message, 430 yrs seems like a long time for an omnipotent God to act, but God's time is not our time. I need to be patient for God's time, especially when his answer to some of my prayers is "wait" or "not now". I found it interesting that "A rabble of non-Israelites went with them. . ." v.38 NLT Apparently, not all of the Egyptians were hard-hearted. The entire Passover ceremony foreshadows Jesus' perfect sacrifice for our sins. The lamb represents Christ. Its blood saved the Israelites from the angel of death (Chapter 11); Christ's blood saves us from eternal death. There are also similarities to the celebration of the Passover and the celebration of communion. Both are done in remembrance of God's great work in our lives: saving the Israelites from the angel of death and delivering them from Egypt (Passover) and delivering mankind from our sins so we can have a restored relation with our Creator (communion). God limited the Passover to Israelites and foreigners who were circumcised (converted); He limits communion to believers (the converted - those who have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior of their lives). Both were meant to be celebrated in community. Both involve baked goods and beverages (similar to many of our remembrance celebrations such as birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, etc.).