Insight for Today
A Daily Devotional by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Doing Time

(?)

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain. Stay there, and I will give you the tablets of stone on which I have inscribed the instructions and commands so you can teach the people.” (Exodus 24:12)

Now we know why God met with Moses. But what did He reveal? Verse 12 tells us: He revealed His written word. The first thing God gave to this man who met with Him was His truth in written form.

No one has ever had in his possession a more valuable document than this. Moses possessed the very autograph of Deity—the autographa etched in stone by God's own finger.

God gave His people the Word of God that they might know His mind and obey. He gave them the design for the tabernacle that He might come and dwell among them. He didn't want to remain aloof high up on a mountain. He wanted to make Himself accessible and available, but, in keeping with His own design, He would dwell in a sacred place within the tabernacle.

Moses is a man who met with God. He learned that it takes discipline and preparation to do so. It's one thing to know what to do; it's quite another to actually do it. How many of us take a course on prayer but rarely pray, or learn the techniques of evangelism but seldom share our faith? In this account of Moses' life, we may have learned little new, but we have been confronted with some profound reminders from God's Word. We do not need a creative new technique nearly as much as a swift kick in the pants. We need a rebuke from the Holy Spirit, because we are so slothful and slow and sleepy when it comes to climbing that mountain and meeting for half an hour with the Lord.

May He do a work in spite of us! Despite our bad track record, may He stop us this moment with the reminder that we could become far stronger men and women of God if we would only maintain a time of meeting with Him.

It may be on a craggy mountain peak, in a closet, or, as with my own mother, in a locked bathroom with a "Do not disturb" sign on the door. God isn't particular in the least about the place you choose or the amount of time you spend. All He wants is you.