Author: Kristen Kansiewicz, LMHC

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 23 before reading the devotional below.

God is trying to set his people up for success and cast vision for the long road ahead. Interestingly, we find out a little bit more of the reason why the Israelites cannot rush into the Promised Land quickly: if they did so the land would be ruined for farming and the wild animals would take over. God makes it clear that he is the one leading this journey. He promises to go ahead of them and drive their enemies out of the land a little at a time.

In the meantime, God has two things he wants his people to focus on: remembering the poor and remembering Him. As we have already seen, God set up his laws to ensure justice and fight oppression. His intention is to fight every kind of evil, to ensure that everyone is treated fairly, and to make sure the poor are not taken advantage of. He also lays out three national holidays: the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Harvest, and the Festival of the Final Harvest. The point of each of these holidays? Celebrate God and honor him for all he has done.

Here’s your freedom for today: God is fighting your battles for you. Honestly, we often make the Christian life way too complicated by feeling like we have to do the right thing plus fight a whole bunch of spiritual battles and ward off Satan in our daily lives. We try to do what God asks us to do plus we take over his job. Let God handle Satan — he’s already fighting those battles for you. Today, right now, in this one moment, what is the best way you can honor God, remember the poor, and stay away from evil? Just do that, and you’ll be alright.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 22 before reading the devotional below.

Remember a few days ago when Moses’ father-in-law helped him avoid burnout? Moses was so busy helping people work through their disputes that he ended up having to appoint a whole team to help him manage the job. In today’s chapter we see that God is handing Moses divine wisdom for all kinds of disputes and problems. It may seem like a strange compilation, but God knew exactly the kinds of issues his people were having. They had no president or king, but rather they were in what is called a “theocracy.” God was the leader and Moses represented him to the people.

God has standards. He is revealing that about his character here as he lays out his laws. It is important to remember that God’s grace demonstrated through Jesus did not remove his standards. Rather, the work of salvation makes plain that we can never keep all of God’s laws. There are a lot of them! You will never meet God’s standards on your own. And the punishments for failing to follow God’s laws are not good.

Here’s your freedom for today: you don’t have to follow a bunch of rules to find God. In the Old Testament, he set up all these complex legal systems as a way of clearly defining his standards and also allowing people to see their own failures. He just rescued his people from slavery, and he’s telling them exactly what to do to follow his ways. The inability of the people to follow God’s standards does not change his standards. Rather, it opens the door for God’s grace. God’s not mad at you, nor does he want to punish you. He wants to invite you into a better life. A rescued life. You can come or not, it’s up to you.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 21 before reading the devotional below. 

Have you ever noticed that we tend to repeat the patterns we learned in the past even when we don’t want to? If your family had a high degree of conflict or was abusive to you, you might find that you yell at others or even become abusive. Bullies on school playgrounds are often those who themselves have suffered from abuse or neglect. God’s people spent a lot of years in oppressive slavery. As much as they would probably say they would never want to oppress anyone else, God knows that is exactly what they are likely to do without guidance. It’s what they know.

These Old Testament passages are tough to swallow as 21st century readers, but we need to keep in mind our question, “What is God trying to reveal to us about his character?” In today’s chapter, we see God’s opposition to oppression coming through. Notice he says, “If you buy a Hebrew slave…” He’s talking about ways they need to interact with each other to prevent oppression. After seven years, the slave gets to walk free, no questions asked. If someone causes injury or death, you can’t take more from them than they took from you. “An eye for an eye” sounds ruthless until you realize that God is saying that “death for an eye” is not okay.

Here’s your freedom for today: God’s justice protects. He wants his people to be spared from repeating the dysfunctional patterns they have experienced. He wants them to be known as people where freedom is the end goal — even in slavery. He wants to help his people think about justice and fairness so that the right things get punished in the right ways. Those who do wrong do need to be called to account, but those who intend harm can’t be treated the same as those who cause it accidentally. God is on your side if you have been oppressed, and he wants better things for you if you are an oppressor. The end of God’s story for you is always redemption.

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 20 before reading the devotional below.

Quick, no peeking, what were God’s top 10 laws of all time?? Oh, sorry, too slow… Guess you’ll need to take time to read Exodus 20 to refresh your memory (or learn the answer for the first time). When we read the Bible, it is always helpful to ask, “What is God trying to tell us about himself?” So let’s ask that question as we take a look at his laws for his people.

The first thing I notice is that God wants to protect his people. He wants them to remember what is true and not be deceived by lies. He is the God who can save them. No one else can. He’s establishing laws to try to help them remember that. Lies and deception is what started this whole sin problem back in the Garden of Eden. He also wants to protect his people from harm. His laws reflect the way of living that will keep them safest. He ends with an extra reminder not to build any altars to any false gods. As we will see, they forget this one over and over again and it makes their journey into all that God has promised take so much longer.

Here’s your freedom for today: God desires a great life for you. Some people see the Bible as a bunch of outdated rules to follow. And I get it — if you are not trying to understand the heart of God then you do miss the whole point. God wants you to worship him because no one and nothing else will ever get you anywhere. He’s it. God is the only one who can get you out of this sin-mess of a world. When you follow God’s ways, your life will be more free from all the garbage getting thrown at you every day. None of us can fully escape just yet, but the closer we are to God’s presence the closer we are to our best possible life. What is God dreaming up for you that you need to stay close to him to see?

Take a moment to read the entire chapter of Exodus 19 before reading the devotional below.

Two months is a long time in the desert. I can’t imagine what the Israelites might have thought and felt if they had known they still had 39 years and 10 months to go on their wilderness trek. Watching God’s plans unfold, and watching the impact of people’s choices in delaying God’s plans, is sometimes excruciating even when you know the ending. (And let’s not forget that it was here in this very wilderness that Moses spent about 40 years being a shepherd before God even told him about his real life purpose…)

Equally heartbreaking in this story is seeing the huge distance between God and his people. Moses has to act as an intermediary, and even as this chosen messenger he has to climb to the top of a mountain to meet with God. The people have to cleanse themselves before they can interact with the cloud that protects them from interacting with God’s actual presence. At that time in history, even God’s own people couldn’t get too close.

Here’s your freedom for today: you are free to dwell in the presence of God with no barriers. Jesus’ life on earth, death on the cross, resurrection, and return to heaven all paved the way for him to change history forever by sending his Holy Spirit. The divide between God and his people is gone. Every believer can speak directly with God — one spirit to the Spirit. When I remember that this type of intimacy with God was not always possible, it drives me to sit in God’s presence even more. Take a moment today to thank God for giving you the Holy Spirit. Sit with him and bask in the wonder of his presence (and if you feel like climbing a mountain to do it, go ahead, but it’s no longer a requirement…)