The TEN Covenant Words (commonly referred to as the Ten Commandments) are truly a blessing when we understand the original intent and purpose God had for His people!
The TEN are intended to be a covenant between God and his people to establish healthy community. Why a covenant? Notice it says in Exodus 19:5, “if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people.” Instead often times they have been misunderstood as being a set of laws that we have to do or we will be separated from God.
The problem with that theology is that it skims the surface for easy answers. This one true God is multi-faceted, complex, ever-changing, and always the same.
The issue is much more complex as well. When we consider our spiritual self through the lens of our psychological self we need to realize as we process information we either internalize and hide our feeling memory from ourselves and from God or we externalize our feeling memory.
If we internalize our memories and we hide, we can be burying it from ourselves and trying to bury it from God. There are varying degrees of hiding, so bear that in mind. The reason we bury what we’ve done or what’s been done to us is that we feel pain from both. That’s where the waters get muddy. We can tell ourselves it’s okay and we can survive with less. From that point on that’s exactly what we do…we begin surviving. Our relationships are not what they could/should be, including our relationship with God.
When we externalize our painful feeling memory we experience a separation as well. The difference between internalizing and externalizing is found in how our reaction emerges. When we externalize our feelings we may be angry and experience anger in varying degrees, we may become controlling of everything in our world, we may become passive/aggressive, or we may blame.
Our choice to turn away from our essential self is the cause of our separation from God. It's important to note here that God is always active and present in our lives but because we are not facing our essential self we may not be fully engaged. God is fully engaged with us but we are not fully engaged with Him. We are not facing the root of the problem.
So, here's the thing. God never turns away from us. We turn from God. By choice. We choose to stuff down our pain instead of taking it to God. Since there are hundreds of scenarios it's impossible to be specific about how everything plays out but for our purposes you need to understand that when we internalize there are a number of things that can happen that separate us from God. Likewise, when we externalize we have a separation as well. The difference is in how the pain emerges.
It's fight or flight.
Now, let’s look at the children of Israel who suffered great pain and hardships in Egypt. When Joseph and his brothers first came they were not slaves, but because God blessed the children of Israel with children and livestock, the Egyptians became afraid of them. Soon, they outnumbered the Egyptians. That was when everything started to change.
The Egyptian pharaoh decided to enslave Israel in order to control them. Because pharaoh was afraid he externalized his pain and sought to control the children of Israel. Eventually the enslavement became severe because God blessed the children of Israel even more.
When the Hebrew people who were enslaved cried out to God, He raised up a Hebrew leader from within pharaoh's own house who would conquer pharaoh and set the children of Israel free.
Moses was raised in pharaoh’s house with full rights of the royal family. He was educated as an Egyptian, understood the Egyptian culture, and most importantly understood the pharaoh. Moses knew exactly how to strike and where to hit.
Still after all his preparation God sent Moses into the desert to prepare him for what he wanted Moses to accomplish. For several years, Moses lived in the land of Midian. He lived a separate life. When the time was right, YHWH came to Moses in the form of a burning bush and called him to go back to Egypt. Moses had pain from his past, and God gave him time to deal with his internal and external pain. It was essential that Moses be fully aware of God so that he would listen clearly and obey exactly every command.
In Exodus 19 we realize that everything that had happened to Moses and Israel was for a purpose. God was building their their faith as a nation. Their suffering in Egypt taught them He would be with them IN their suffering. The appearance of Moses gave them hope that God was providing a ‘way out’. Each plague that hit Egypt reminded them that God was fighting for them. They needed to be reminded that their God was a God who would fight for them. Many miracles followed, including their release from Egypt, crossing through the Red Sea, seeing the Egyptians get swallowed up in the sea, God promising to provide for them in the wilderness (food and water), and showing them how they would conquer their enemies. All of those things were building blocks that gave Israel a faith history with Yahweh God. They were reminded this was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
In Exodus 19:1, the pillar of cloud led Israel to the Wilderness of Sinai. In Exodus 19:2-4 we learn that “Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.”
God knew that he would appear closer to Moses than he had been to anyone before and he needed to prepare Moses for His arrival on Mt. Sinai. In Exodus 19:5, it says, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all the people; for all the earth is Mine.”
God told Moses they would be a holy nation. So Moses went to Israel and told them what God said and what God wanted for them. In Exodus 19:8, NKJV, together Israel replied, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.”
God was clear with Moses about the covenant. God's intention with the covenant of the ten covenant words was that we would face our pain together as a community. In order to do that we need to turn to God. We cannot hide our problems, nor can we spill them out in inappropriate ways on others. The covenant tells us we are not to hide or control. We are to give it to God.
God was about to give Israel a covenant that included ten covenant ‘words’ to live by.
Fast forward.
In Luke 9, Christ went up on a high mountain where he was transformed into a spiritual being. He met Moses and Elijah there. This meeting of the OLD and the NEW covenants depicted a merging and we begin to understand the strong bond that was created through the Law and Grace.
Grace did not nullify the law...it just completed it.
Today’s Spiritual Practice is: Speaking Covenant Words
Believers are in a Covenant relationship with God. We rely on God’s promises and protection. Today, speak or in your case may be re-speak words receiving ‘God’s promise to care for you’ and receive or renew your covenant ‘to accept what God has for you’.
In God BE BLESSED, Deb
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