Bound with an Oath

I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately.  Partially because it’s a part of my training to be on Young Life staff and partially because God is pouring out wisdom through these many books I’ve been reading.  Usually I try not to read more than one book at a time, but lately, it has benefitted me to read several books alongside each other.  It’s almost as if they were written to be read together.  If you’re interested in reading books that challenge you in pursuing God on a deeper level I encourage you to read Knowledge of the Holy, by A.W. Tozer and Good to Great in God’s Eyes, by Chip Ingram.  I also just finished reading Back to the Basics, by John Miller which talks about the heart of Young Life’s ministry.  

In the past couple of weeks, all three books have pointed me to focus on one thing- the promises of God.  When praying or when living out my day to day life, I rarely think about God’s promises to me.  More often than not, I live focusing on and praying for God to fix one problem after the next.  How’s God going to fix this one?  I wonder how I would live, if I actually believed that God doesn’t go back on His word.  In The Knowledge of the Holy, Tozer speaks of God as being immutable and immeasurable.  He doesn’t change and He doesn’t have measurable qualities like we do.  Those characteristics of God alone vouch for His nature of holding true to His promises.  He can never love more or less than what he already does because He is the essence of love.  He can never become more or less powerful than what He already is because He is the source of everything!  He can never change; therefore He will never change the way He feels about us. 

One story in the Bible that has brought me to stop and think about how I approach God in prayer is found in Exodus 32 in the Bible.  For those of you Bible buffs, you might already be thinking, “I bet Moses is the main character in this story”.  In fact, besides God, Moses was the only righteous one to mention back when God led His chosen people out of Egypt from their slavery to the land He promised them.  It wasn’t a quick journey and Moses had his hands full with thousands of people counting on him to relay messages of God to lead them to a fruitful future.  Moses often went up on a mountain to spend alone time with God and God would give him instructions on how to lead His people and what they needed to live a fulfilling life.  This time in particular, Moses was away with God for a long time.  So long, in fact, that God’s people started to get impatient.  So, they started melting down gold and molding it into a golden calf in which they began to worship and proclaim it as their god. 

God knew what was going on and His anger over their sin erupted when He was with Moses.  “Then the LORD said, ‘I have seen how stubborn and rebellious these people are.  Now leave me alone so my fierce anger can blaze against them, and I will destroy them.  Then I will make you, Moses, into a great nation.’” Exodus 32:9-10

I can picture Moses sitting there dumbfounded at first.  What would your response be?  Wouldn’t it be tempting to say, “Great!  I share your frustration, God!  I can’t wait to get rid of those whiners!  And it’s awesome you’d be starting over with me and my family.  I can’t think of a sweeter deal!”  Seriously, I don’t think anyone would have thought Moses would be wrong to side with God’s justice on this one.  But, he doesn’t. 

“But Moses tried to pacify the LORD his God. ‘O LORD!’ he said.  ‘Why are you so angry with your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power ad such a strong hand?  Why let the Egyptians say, ‘Their God rescued them with the evil intention of slaughtering them in the mountains and wiping them from the face of the earth’? Turn away from your fierce anger.  Change your mind about this terrible disaster you have threatened against your people!  Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  You bound yourself with an oath to them saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven.  And I will give them all of this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever.’” Exodus 32:11-13

Moses CALLS GOD OUT.  He knows what God has promised because he was living by those promises.  He’s seen God’s promises come true on numerous occasions and knows that it isn’t in God’s nature to go back on His word.  He reminds God of who He is.  He also doesn’t even entertain the idea of God making him into a great nation.  His heart was for God’s people, not himself.  He speaks for those who aren’t apart of this conversation.  He speaks on behalf of the world.  He seeks to bring out God’s mercy. 

“So the LORD changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people.” Exodus 32:14  Like me, some of you might be thinking that it’s pretty crazy for a man to be able to persuade God in such a way.  God didn’t change to fit what Moses wanted.  God is justice and God is mercy.  This story brings them together to show how God deals with us today.  Because of this story, and all the confirmation I received through reading those books about God’s promises, I just want to find out what God promises me today.  There’s transforming power in them because, as demonstrated here, God cannot break an oath.  If I prayed like Moses, reminding God of His promises, instead of praying about every problem that comes my way, I know that my world would be a brighter place.  I know that I would start to see God fulfill more promises and fix more problems than ever before.  Would you like to join me?