Week 35 - September 20 - Doug Weincouff

Exodus 19

What does it mean for something to be holy? That is the over arching theme for chapter 19. God Commits himself to Israel and chooses them to be his “treasured possession”. He brings them to Mount Sinai, God’s mountain. It is here that God shows the people his majesty and power. The simple sentence in verse 16 “Everyone in the camp trembled” caught my eye. I realize that there is an element of fear but I think there must have been a sense of awe and reverence for God.

I think of myself and how often I take the power, majesty and holiness of God for granted. I tend to focus on his love and mercy which are wonderful and forget that we worship a holy God. God had to be very specific that no one and no animal could touch the mountain while God was present. My challenge is to appreciate and embrace God’s love, mercy, forgiveness while I respect God’s Majesty, power and holiness.


Exodus 20

God gave such straight forward instructions to the Israelites. Ten commandments to keep. Four that focused on our worship of God and six that focused on our relationship with others. Ten commandments that reveal our bent toward disobeying God and doing life our own way.

The section of this chapter that I found interesting was God’s instructions to Israel on how to build an altar. It should be made out of earth and stone. It was meant to be a rough hand made altar. I wonder why? Why did God not want the people to use tools and make the altar more artistic? I honestly don’t know the answer but I wonder if it was meant to be a very personal intimate experience of worship. I don’t think God wants us to focus on the trappings of worship but upon him. Keeping it simple makes it easier to focus on the important things.

Psalm 35

Psalm 35 appears to be written by David during a very dark and difficult time in his life. It may be referring to King Saul trying to kill him and chasing him all over the countryside. It could also be when his son Absalom tried a coup to take over the kingdom. David had to flee for his life so that his son would not kill him. Either way David was desperate for God to come to his defense. This psalm in some ways makes me uncomfortable. Asking for God to bring ruin upon his enemies doesn’t seem right. What it does show me is David’s transparency. He talked to God in a very intimate, vulnerable and authentic way. There was no playing “church”. My prayer is that I would be as authentic and transparent in my relationship with God.

Ecclesiastes 4

Reading Ecclesiastes is not a pick me up. In chapter 4 the teacher points out that oppression is everywhere. Men work and toil out of envy or without purpose. The section of this text I appreciated the most was verses 9-12. Life was intended to be experienced in community. We need to have people in our lives. For men this is a challenge. As I have talked to guys I have found that very few of us have many deep friendships. We have lots of acquaintances but few deep friendships. So here is my challenge to all of us; can you name 3 or 4 people that you would turn to when life got tough or you needed advice or you wanted to celebrate a significant event in your life? If you don’t I would encourage you to start looking for those types of friends.

Acts 14

Acts 14 is the story of success and suffering. Paul and Barnabas are totally committed to sharing about Jesus. At each town them have some who believe and then they have some that are so opposed to their message that they want to kill them. Jesus can be offensive. Truth can upset people. It is our challenge to live like Paul and Barnabas speaking bolding about our relationship with God and trusting Him. I don’t think I will ever be stoned for my faith, but the truth is I am more afraid of being rejected by people or mocked by them. It is my prayer that I would boldly look for opportunities to share about my faith.