Hosanna Restoration Church

There come times when we have to decide who’s side we are on. I know that we should always be on the Lord’s side. We should always be perfect. We should never make even one wrong choice. But the truth of the matter is, we may well love God, but we are not always perfect, and we do not always make right choices. We should however, be continually improving on the choices we make.

This portion of scripture, which many readily recognize, comes right after God has led Israel out of slavery. He has destroyed their enemy in the Red Sea, and promised to bless them. In return, they make a golden calf and worship it. God is so angry at this that He wants to destroy the whole bunch of them and start over with Moses, but Moses intercedes on their behalf and God gives them a break. So now Moses asks for the one’s who are the Lord’s side to step up and take a stand for Lord. He then sends the Levites through the crowd to kill all who will not follow God. It is hard to imagine that three thousand were killed. Even with such an obvious choice staring them in the face, they still would not serve God. That sure doesn’t make much sense does it?

Then again, if we really think about it, we could find that we make choices that are just as obviously wrong. We are just fortunate that there is no one there with a sword to kill us for it. Or is there? What sort of destruction takes place when we open the door to the enemy. How vulnerable are we when we lay down our sword of the Spirit which is the Word and the ways of God. When you are in a war with no defense, it is dangerous.

In verse 29, Moses commends the Levites for obeying the Lord, even if it meant killing their own sons and brothers. Wow! Truly that takes commitment. We are fortunate that we do not have to kill anyone who will not follow God, but there are times when we have to choose between God and friends or even family. The right choice always results in great blessings from God for those who do it.

As the story continues to unfold, God promises to send an Angel before Moses to remove all who oppose them. God would not be among them however because He said He would be tempted to destroy them. But to Moses, He said, “I will personally go with you Moses. I will give you rest–everything will be fine for you.”

This is the promise the Lord makes now, to all who will go with Him. To everyone who will believe on His Son Jesus Christ and make God first in their lives, He makes this same promise. And just as Moses stood between the people and God, so it is today, that we have Jesus as our advocate when we make the wrong choices, as long as we make the one most important right choice. Choose each day to serve the Lord!! This is not just for salvation, but for our every day lives. God will give us rest and make everything fine for us. Seems like an obvious choice!!