It has been a very restful weekend. The weather has been spring-like so almost every day I’ve had the windows in the house open for some fresh air. It was so nice out on Saturday that Bobby and I headed to the coast for the afternoon. The drive was beautiful there but shortly after we arrived the clouds started moving in. They moved so fast that it seemed like we were watching them in fast forward mode. We were excited that the Olympic Games have begun and caught some of the opening ceremonies on Friday night. It’s so interesting to see the “Parade of Nations”. Some of the nations are so small, I have never even heard of them, having a population of only one million or less. I like how they all come to one place to compete together, even if they only have one athlete representing their country. Bobby and I especially like watching the luge and half-pipe snowboarding. So we’ll probably be following the games these next couple of weeks.

Today I enjoyed getting to hear Bobby teach twice. In an adult class He taught an excellent lesson from 2 Timothy 2 and in the high school group I was really inspired to hear his lesson from Exodus 33 in his series on God’s glory. This account of Moses and the Israelites always amazes me. God was going to give them all He had prepared for them in the Promised Land but was not going to go with them into it. Moses meets with God and tells Him that they will not go unless He will go before them. But when the people heard this they mourned because God would not go with them. I find a profound lesson here because how easy it would be for many of us to take the gifts but forget about the Giver, to want blessing but to not have to give anything in return. But in this account, the people were not happy to take the blessings and run, but were devastated.

An incredible part of this story is that Moses sees the people mourning and so he goes to meet with the Lord. As he walks outside of the camp to the tabernacle all of the people who sought the Lord rose and stood in the doorway of their tent and watched Moses. When he went into the tabernacle a pillar of cloud descended to the tabernacle and the Lord met with Moses there. Exodus 33:11 says that God spoke there with Moses as a man speaks to a friend. The people, who are all standing in their doorways watching, rise up and worship.

As I listened to Bobby teaching I wondered what I would have thought if I were an Israelite back then. Would I have just said, “Ah, let’s go into this place flowing with milk and honey!” and left God behind? Or would I have been devastated remembering all the things I had seen, the great miracles God worked to free the Israelites from Egypt and said, “This is my God, if He isn’t coming I will stay here”? I think that we are much more prone to have the first attitude easily forgetting all that God has done in our lives, how He has shown Himself to us, kept His promises to us and blessed us. Like the Israelites we are often quick to complain, slow to believe. I’m thankful to have learned from this passage today. I don’t want to go anywhere, if He isn’t there.I am praying that as my life goes on–no matter the hardships or changes– that I will be faithful to remember His great faithfulness to me.