Exodus 21-24: A Prepared Place

“See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him. If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you.......Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.  - Exodus 23:20-26 NIV
This promise follows on the heels of the Ten Commandments and the other various laws that the Israelites are to observe.  We are God's people and his promises are true, but we have to uphold our end of the covenant.  We have to obey the laws that God has ordained, we have to listen to his emissaries and we have to worship the Lord God.  That seems like such a simple thing but we have as many problems doing that today as the Israelites did centuries ago. 

Most of us wander around here on earth half obeying and half doing our own thing.  In our hearts, we know God's word is true and that all the things we chase after in this life will never fully satisfy. God's plan has always been to give us life abundantly and to bring us to the place he has prepared for us...to bring us home to him.  That longing for home is deep within us even as we search for meaning here. Frederick Buechner writes "When a man leaves home, he leaves behind some scrap of his heart....It's the same with a place a man is going to.  Only then he sends a scrap of his heart ahead." (Listening to Your Life, p. 19, New York: Harper-Collins, 1992)

The Israelites may have left part of their heart in Egypt, but God had placed a longing for the promised land in them as well.  He set before them the path.  It is their choice to follow.

2010 Post - Exodus 21-24:  Fire on the Mountain