Our reading for today comes from Exodus chapter 19 Moses went up to God; the Lord him from the mountain saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: you have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you up on eagles’ winds and brought you to myself. Now, therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples…. you shall be for me a priestly kingdom, and a holy nation.”
God has rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and now he tells Moses if they listen to him and they do what he says, then God will make them a priestly kingdom, and a holy nation. God has claimed them for himself. God did that when he called Abraham, or Abram and Sarai to follow him and promised them the land to which he would bring them when he promised that Abraham would be the father of nations. God called him to follow and he reaffirmed that promise that Israel would be a great nation when they listen to his voice and follow his commands. God would love and bless his people. God continued to be with them just as God is with us today.
Of course there’s times when we don’t listen to him, we decide we want to do what we want to do. And there’s times when we listen but we don’t quite do exactly as God calls us to do. We get caught up in our own selves, yet God is always there. He constantly reaches out to us, as a loving Father, leading and guiding us to what is best for us. God is always there. God always hears us, and he continues to be with us through his word in the pages of scripture as we read, study, and listen to what his word says to us. He is with us in prayer and always answers our prayers, not always the way we want, but in the way which is best. God is with us in community, where he surrounds us with other believers, our brothers and sisters in Christ, who share in our joys and our sorrows. God comes to us in the waters of baptism, and in the bread, and in the wine of communion and God continues to call us. He says to us that he will make us a holy nation as we listen and follow him. He promises to bring us to him and always be a part of our lives. God loves us, and God wants to bless us. He is that great and wonderful father, who wants nothing better than to bless his children. What blessings does God have in store for us today? How is he calling us to be his?
In Jeremiah, we hear God's command to sing, proclaim and give praise for God is about to bring the remnant of Israel back together. ...
The prophet Joel calls the people to return to the Lord, in the face of uncertainty. We certainly live in a time of uncertainty. ...
A reporter once asked a tele-evangelist what if there were no heaven. He responded that he would rather live as if there were and...
