Series: The Mind of God
Message: Thinking God’s Thoughts
Preacher: Mark Johnson
Refresh: Open with prayer. Read or listen to Psalm 34:1-10.
Read: 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 - Re-read in the ESV translation for new insights/questions.
Reflect: Moses is called a type of Christ (Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 330), and spoke to God “face to face, as a man speaks to his friend,” (Exodus 33:11, ESV). With God’s help, he had led the Children of Israel out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, to the base of Mt. Sinai, where God had called him up on the mount to give him His law. During his absence, the people convinced Aaron that Moses had been gone so long that he must be dead. They persuaded him to let them build a calf of gold, a god of the Egyptians, and they were worshipping the calf in a drunken orgy at the foot of Mt. Sinai.
Take a moment to read Exodus 32:7-10.
This is surely where the bumper sticker would come in handy, “God said it, I believe it, that’s all there is to it.” But Moses was thinking God’s thoughts after Him.
Take a moment to read Exodus 32:11-14.
The wording makes it sound as if God truly wanted to destroy the people and Moses talked Him out of it; that He changed His mind. I can’t prove this, but I believe, on the basis of the character of God revealed throughout the rest if the Bible, that God was proud of Moses. Thus he was a type of Christ. Thus he was a friend of God who spoke to Him face to face as a man speaks to a friend.
Recalibrate:
Respond: Pray for the qualities of a friend of God.
Research: How many people in the Bible are called “friends” of God?