What Are You Holding in Your Hand?
You probably know that my husband and I have been reading the Bible chronologically. We didn’t begin on January 1, 2020, as most people, we began sometime in late February or early March. We have a plan for reading, but some days we read more than the chapters assigned to that day.
We met Moses back in the second book of the Bible, but the third book, chronologically, Exodus. Job comes in the middle of Genesis and the readings skip back and forth between those two books.
We’re all familiar with the story of Moses. He was the Hebrew baby who was taken by his sister Miriam and left in a basket in the Nile River. He was found by the daughter of Pharoah and grew up as her son in the palace. Eventually, Moses becomes the one who leads the captive Hebrew people out of Egypt and he remained with them for the forty years that they wandered in the wilderness.
The stories of Moses and the Hebrews carry us through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Today, we got to the end of Deuteronomy and the death of Moses. My heart was sad that I had to say goodbye to this old friend, because he’d become just that. But I was sad because he didn’t get to go into the Promised Land. The land of Canaan, which we know today as Israel. God took him to the top of a mountain so that he could see the beautiful land of milk and honey, and then Moses died.
THE PENTATEUCH
The five chapters that make up the Pentateuch are hard to read. There’s some pretty wicked stuff going on in there. The Israelites were a stubborn people as Moses often called them. They were so accustomed to the pagan ways they’d learned while held captive in Egypt, they had a hard time acclimating to the new way of thinking. This, even though God was right there with them in the form of a cloud or of fire.
I don’t know about you, but I know if I saw that cloud and that fire and I knew it was God, no way would I be acting the way those people did. Unh-unh. And then when God opened up the earth and swallowed 250 of them and all they owned—tents, cattle, sheep, ev-er-y-thing, I think if I hadn’t been listening, I’d be getting myself right with my God.
Moses was a good, good man. He went up on Mt. Sinai and spoke with God. Can you imagine? I know, God still speaks to us, but this was audible. I can’t say as I’ve ever heard the audible voice of God. Maybe I need to listen a little more closely, huh? Moses went to bat with God for the people time and again. And even though they were about as wicked at times as one can be, they got to enter the Promised Land while Moses had to see it from afar.
All because of that one time He didn’t do as God commanded. The end result was the same, water came from the rock, but He didn’t do it the way God told him to. I can’t help it, I felt for Moses. God knows my heart. He knows I have so many questions. One day, I’ll know the answers.
The Pentateuch is such a good, good read. Hard, yes, but it opens so many doors to the New Testament. God had that plan from the foundations of the earth. If you’ve never read the Bible chronologically, I implore you once more to go do so. Here’s one little bit of info. Go read just the first chapter of Genesis. Notice the wording. Pay close attention to Genesis 1:26. Ask God to give you fresh eyes and an open heart as you read. There’s no day like today to begin. You will not believe all the things you’ve probably never known that will be revealed to you in these five books.
FAREWELL, MOSES, SEE YOU SOON
As we say goodbye to Moses and we move on to Joshua, I’m leaving you with the link to an anthem we sang in our church in Brandon, Florida, under the direction of Tom McColley. It was one of our favorites. I hope it blesses you.
Here’s my question for you today, straight from Moses—what are you holding in your hand today? Give it up, let it go. Trust God.
Read the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. You will be amazed and blessed.
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Hi, I’m Debra
Jesus Follower, wife, BoyMom, DD, author, blogger, musician, southern cook, amateur genealogist, amateur artist, living life with an accent on Southern.
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