The New Year has come, and so has my tournament, MHQ. Today is set up day, and tomorrow begins the competition. And so also begins some of my more busy times of the year. While I look forward to all of my travel, it does take a toll on me to some extent. I love being out with you all and watching you compete, giving feedback where I can, and getting some confirmation that there are still godly young people all over the country, who will be the leaders of the future. And this should give us all some hope. I absolutely love what I do, and the students I work with are keeping me young. You are all a blessing and I am honored to be your coach.
I am well into Exodus now, having gotten a little jumpstart on the year with reading Genesis mostly in December. There is so much in Exodus that applies, I will give you just some of the things that are standing out to me today.
The first thing was the advice from Jethro to Moses. Moses had been sitting all day listening to the problems of the people and helping make decisions. Jethro watched this and then asked Moses, “What in the world are you doing?” Jethro then advised Moses to delegate a good portion of the decision making to other men who feared God and were wise enough to make decisions on the lesser cases. Moses could handle all the tough issues, and that would keep him from working himself to death. This is advice that I am also taking. As my club and tournament grows, as hard as it is, I need to let some things go to others. This can be hard as I like to be in control, and “nobody can do it like I do it,” or so I can pridefully think. I am so thankful for the moms in my club who are taking some things off my plate so I can focus on the things I can do best. It is still hard to relinquish control, but I am not as worn out either.
Another friend of mine said, “You are over 60 now, and if you really want to keep doing this until you are over 80, you are going to have to let some others help.” Sage advice from others that I need to hear.
With that, my oldest daughter is planning on coming to work for me part time to take much of the things off my plate that an executive assistant can do. She is looking to go back to school soon to get her residential appraiser license and will need some part time work. She is very organized and her work will give me much more time to be a content creator as well as have more time to coach. I need to rewrite some of our books and I have other books I would like to write, but currently don’t have time for. Again, Jethro’s advice is good.
Next comes the crossing of the Red Sea. God put Israel in a position they couldn’t get out of themselves, and He did it on purpose so that they would see and experience the power of God to save. There is much to say here, but I want to focus on a line in the Song of Moses where it says, “Who is like Thee oh Lord among the gods?” Indeed, who is like our God? Looking back at the end of Genesis where Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery, he gets thrown in prison, then gets elevated to second ruler of the world power, Egypt. His family comes and gets the best of the land away from everyone else as God is growing their population to nation size.
Israel I think would have been quite comfortable staying in Egypt in the Land of Goshen, but God had given them the land of Canaan. So, God raised up a ruler that didn’t know Joseph who treated the Israelites as slaves and treated them so poorly they cried out to God for help. Sometimes God needs to make things so uncomfortable in your life you want to make major changes. God systematically wiped out all the gods of Egypt, which the Israelites needed to witness as they were steeped in idolatry as well. God sets them apart at one point to show that He is their God and they are His people.
God then sets them free through His power, and then takes them to a bottleneck where He destroys the Egyptians before Israel’s eyes. God then feeds them and gives them water in the wilderness. I mean, there are somewhere around 3 million people who need fed every day. And the whole time, many of them continue to grumble and complain.
But then God brings them to Mt Sinai to make them a nation. Until then, they were His people, but now they would be something more. Never has God taken a group of people like this from out of one country and put them into another place like this. And the way God initiates the deal is in Exodus 19. God tells Moses to say to the people,
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ (Exodus 19:4–6a)
I want to point out the words God uses. “You shall be My treasured possession.” He goes on to say that ‘all the earth is mine.’ So, God owns everything, which we know, but He has a people who He truly delights in. Think of it this way. All of the money you have is yours (so to speak). But there is some that goes to the mortgage, some to utilities, groceries, etc. It’s your money, but much of it is budgeted out to other things that are necessary. However, there is, hopefully, some money that you have that you can spend in any way you want. It is your ‘pocket money.’ It is this money that you delight in because it is especially yours. This is what God is saying here. All the earth belongs to God, but there is a people He delights in because they are His pocket money. He is going to make them into a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. This was not totally fulfilled in the Old Testament Israel, but has been fulfilled with the finished work of Christ. 1 Peter 2:9 says,
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Those of us who are saved are the fulfillment of Exodus 19. You are a treasured possession, a royal priesthood, a chosen race. And God delights in you and is calling you to proclaim His excellencies because He has called you out of darkness and into His light. And just as a quick note, the word “into” comes from the Greek word that means to turn something into something else. We were darkness, and now God has turned us into light. Jesus called us salt and light. He says of Himself that He is the light of the world then He turns around and calls us the light of the world as well. How? Because we are His body. He is the head, and we are the body. He works in and through us to proclaim His excellencies as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
And this all goes back to Exodus 19. God has made us His people, His treasured possession. Do you know who you are? Do you believe who you are? Dare to believe your beliefs. And then go and proclaim His excellencies to all who will listen.
Amen
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