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Ring of Truth provides 366 daily ‘proofs’ that the Bible is consistent throughout from Genesis to Revelation, and relevant for our lives today!
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Exodus 20:3
“You shall have no other gods before Me.”
The Egyptians had many gods and the Israelites would have been influenced by their pagan worship.
But in releasing them from their captivity, God had proved by His miraculous power and authority that there was ‘no contest’. The gods of the Egyptians were no gods at all but impotent imaginations of the minds of men. However, it was now time to establish the fact that their God was the Only true God.
It is vitally important that we establish some facts here. God did not rescue the Israelites because they were good. He did not rescue them because they followed Him and served Him. He rescued them because they were His chosen people. They had not chosen Him, He had chosen them. Just as Abram did not choose God, God chose him. Just as Jacob had not chosen Him, He had chosen Jacob. God had chosen this race from all the others to be His special people. In the same way, Jesus said of His disciples, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). And He says the same about us. It’s another ‘Ring of Truth’! (See also Deuteronomy 7:6–9.)
The 10 Commandments were given ‘after their salvation’, not before. They were not given in order for them to get out of Egypt – they were given to protect them, bless them and keep them separate to God and distinct from the nations around them once they were out. They were not given to establish their righteousness but to make them prosper in righteousness. It is important for us to fully accept and understand this because so many see the 10 Commandments as something they have to keep in order to make themselves right with God. The 10 Commandments will never do that. They were not designed to do so.
Like Israel, those of us who have taken Jesus as our Saviour, our Passover Lamb, as we saw yesterday, have been given the free gift of God’s grace. (See also Ephesians 2:8–10.) But like their salvation, it is not supposed to be the ‘be all and end all’ of our walk with God. We are saved so that we might walk with Him and become more and more like Jesus. Salvation is not just an escape from God’s wrath and a ticket to Heaven; it is to be used to help develop a righteous life in an ever-deepening relationship with God.
Like Israel, we need to hear again, “YOU shall have NO other gods before ME.” We need to hear that challenge again at the beginning of each New Year – No other gods. Not money, food, possessions, sport, ambition, position, work, or even ministry. No other gods. We must not treat a Holy God with disdain, complacency, indifference, or convenience or put Him in second place or lower.
So often the Israelites give us a mirror image of ourselves. No sooner had they experienced a miraculous deliverance from death and slavery than fear set in and they grumbled at God. He performed another mighty miracle at the Red Sea so they went through on dry land whereas the Egyptians drowned. And then they grumbled about the lack of water. That was provided and they found it bitter, so they grumbled again and God ‘healed’ it. Then they grumbled over the lack of meat and bread, so God provided Bread (manna) and (meat) quails. Then it was a lack of water again.
Do you grumble at God? Ask yourself - What sort of attitude do I have - positive or negative? Tell me – where is the joy of your salvation? You have been set free from death, the penalty, power and guilt of sin and the sentence of God’s holy wrath and on top of that given His righteousness? So what stops you being grateful and thankful?
Take time out today to get back into focus. God has blessed you with every spiritual blessing in Christ – start rejoicing. Take your eyes off temporary things and focus on the spiritual and eternal (see Ephesians 1:3).
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.
Make sure you are thankful, and make sure you have no other gods.
Not today, not this year or ever.
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