Spend time in prayer and silence with God asking him to meet you and speak to you.
Bible Reading
Then the LORD said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the LORD, will do for you. Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
“Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant-the Ten Commandments.
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the LORD had given him on Mount Sinai.
When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the LORD’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD.
– Exodus 34:10-16; 27-35
Devotion
As an expression of God’s covenant faithfulness to the Israelites, He promised to proactively drive out the inhabitants of the Promised Land. God warned them to avoid making compromises and treaties with the people living in the land. This would help to protect the Israelites from being ensnared by their enemies.
Moses was changed in a physically dramatic way by spending time with the Lord. His face radiated God’s glory. He didn’t notice the change right away, but the people around him certainly did!
The Big Question
What are the “enemies in the land” that God has graciously removed from your path? How can you avoid being compromised or re-ensnared by them? As you grow in your relationship with God, in what ways can others see His radiance shining through you?
Conclude in prayer and silence reflecting on what you’ve learned.