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What on Earth Am I Here For?
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Monday, September 8, 2003
My Prayer Today
Heavenly Father, Moses knew a deep and abiding fellowship with You. I pray for that same fellowship in my life. I pray that I will trust You enough to see Your presence in my daily living. I pray that I may fellowship with You and with other brothers and sisters in Jesus on a daily basis and that as I do, that Your Holy Spirit will bind us together at the Apostle Paul states it in Ephesians 4. Thanks You for all Your blessings in my life, and may my life be a blessing to others today and always. This I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Bible Verses*
Exodus 33:8-17
8Whenever Moses went out to the Tent of Meeting, all the people would get up and stand in their tent entrances. They would all watch Moses until he disappeared inside. 9As he went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and hover at the entrance while the LORD spoke with Moses. 10Then all the people would stand and bow low at their tent entrances. 11Inside the Tent of Meeting, the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Afterward Moses would return to the camp, but the young man who assisted him, Joshua son of Nun, stayed behind in the Tent of Meeting. 12Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘take these people up to the Promised Land.’ But you haven’t told me whom you will send with me. You call me by name and tell me I have found favor with you. 13Please, if this is really so, show me your intentions so I will understand you more fully and do exactly what you want me to do. Besides, don’t forget that this nation is your very own people.”
14And the LORD replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses. I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.”
15Then Moses said, “If you don’t go with us personally, don’t let us move a step from this place. 16If you don’t go with us, how will anyone ever know that your people and I have found favor with you? How else will they know we are special and distinct from all other people on the earth?”
17And the LORD replied to Moses, “I will indeed do what you have asked, for you have found favor with me, and you are my friend.”
Reflecting on Worship
What would it be like if there was a place you could go, and God would talk with you “face to face”?
Exploring Worship
What was the relationship between the people and God, and Moses and God? (33:8-11)
What was Joshua’s role at this time? (33:11)
What was Moses’ concern about the journey into the wilderness and God’s relationship with the people? (33:12-17)
Understanding Worship and My Purpose
What do we learn about fellowship through God’s interaction with Moses?
Why do you suppose that God only had intimate fellowship with Moses and with no one else among the Israelites?
Applying Worship to My Daily Life
What can you apply concerning fellowship to your daily life from today’s reading?
Moses and Worship
Fellowship is a word that we use often in the church, but all too often what we mean by it is drinking coffee with other Christians and talking about the weather or our favorite sports teams. In today’s Scripture we see that fellowship is actually an intimate relationship with God and one another. In fact, Rick Warren says that fellowship is really caring about one another as much as we care about Jesus! When God went to the tent of meeting we’re told that God spoke to him “face to face as a man speaks to a friend.” The intent is obvious: when we are friends with one another we invest time in each other’s lives and we speak “face to face,” that is we look each other in the eye and share the important details of our lives. It isn’t that we don’t talk about the weather and our favorite sports teams—we do, but we also talk about our relationship with God, about our families and what’s happening at work or school. Fellowship is sharing life with one another. Moses understood this. In fact, he told God that if God wasn’t going to go with the Israelites and to maintain that close fellowship with them, that Moses wasn’t going to go another step on the journey. That’s how important fellowship with God and each other is! It isn’t an “add on” or a luxury in our lives. Fellowship is the glue that holds us together in our walk with God and each other. As we go about this day let’s invest our lives in developing that deep, abiding fellowship with God and one another that will carry us through anything that life may have in store for us!
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