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.

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭34‬:‭29‬-‭30‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Moses was lit.

Some people maintain such a close and personal relationship with God it’s evident even before they speak.

They just light up a room.

They don’t say much, but when they do, it’s gold. Humble but so helpful.

There’s a man I know like this. He spends the bulk of his time in study and prayer. Even a brief chat with him leaves me feeling enlightened, invigorated and challenged.

Seek out people who inspire you.

Be the radiant light for others, yourself like a brilliant gem reflecting the love and wisdom of God gained only by time in Word, prayer, and deed.

Others will see it on your face.

Peace on earth?

We wish it in greetings of prose and song this time each year but is it really possible? Is it just a relic of holiday grammar? An empty, outdated hope from a simpler time long ago that we refuse to abandon?

Giving up on peace would be a resignation of hope and I don’t think most of us are ready for that just yet.

But nowadays, fewer and fewer believe peace on earth is genuinely attainable.

It sounds warm, lovely and hopeful like many season’s greeting cards but is just as quickly drowned out by the next hostile report of murder, act of war or mayhem across the globe or in our own backyard.

I, for one, believe peace on earth is still possible because peace on earth isn’t a state but a movement.

What if we abandoned the impossible thought of global peace and viewed peace on earth emergent as a series of individual efforts which, consistent and connected, create the cause of peace and move it forward, if but an inch with each deliberate effort?

By definition, movements move. They gain momentum. They don’t and can’t stop. Those who pay peace forward do so in small, imaginable, deliberate ways. And not because of a season or words on a greeting card.

Peace is the easing of pain, the healing of wounds, the comfort of the afflicted.

Peace is a warm coat, a hot meal, a ride to the store or a touch to the untouchable?

We can do peace. Each of us can be peace to another.

Peace on earth is a sacrifice.

It takes effort.

Selfish people will never have peace because they never give it, leaving it up to the rest of us.

At this time of year, there is more selfish indulgence than at any other. But conversely, it’s the time when peace-full people make the extra effort.

Stories of individual and family gives, rejection of conformity to the commercialization of the holidays and ensembles of strangers uniting for the purpose of sharing with the impoverished abound.

Peace on earth is deliberate.

Peace on earth won’t ride in on the political coattails of a determined leader. It doesn’t take residence in a world of good intentions. It can’t be legislated or mandated and never arrives in waves of mass conviction.

Peace on earth comes deliberately, in one act of goodwill at a time and it’s never bound to a time of year.

Peace on earth is an all-year commitment.

Truth is, when the holiday season ends, so does much of the giving. Corporate giving is least expected to continue when the PR opportunities are fewer and less available and drops in individual giving follow.

People justify their inaction by complaints of being tapped out.

But authentic movements of peace don’t slow or stop simply because the season is over. It never lacks resources. It doesn’t take a break. It continues to move. It has to.

Very soon, the celebration will be over.

But the cause of peace will go on, feeding the hungry, warming the cold and touching the neglected, with or without you, albeit with less momentum, but never lacking intention and purpose.

Peace is a movement.

At this time and at all times, our wish must be: Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.

Don’t give up the hope. We can get there. Vow with me to do your part to keep the momentum of peace going all year long.

Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭23‬:‭25‬-‭26‬ ‭

Among the many laws for and promises to his people found in Exodus is this simple gem.

God promised health and a full life on condition of faithful worship.

The foundational and fundamental ingredient for vital living is always a robust faithfulness.

It’s clear that God’s perfect plan for his people is to provide not just for their needs but also for their thriving and flourishing.

Healthy living begins with worship but ends with a dispassionate abandonment of our creator as Jehovah Jireh, our provider. God will not stand for neglect nor neglect of the vessel he has provided each of us.

A whole person and a full life is his plan. It’s up to us to get on board.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭20‬:‭8‬-‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The only time most of us take an actual day of rest is when we come down sick. And it’s not a day we’ve prepared for. To the contrary, it usually arrives as a thief of our plans and preparations.

Besides, there’s always work to be done no matter what day it is.

God wants us to value down time for its regenerative and reflective properties, both of which are essential to optimal performance the other six days.

But we regard the day of rest as a good suggestion rather than the commandment that it is, on par with not murdering, coveting or sleeping with your next door neighbor’s wife.

Those commandments are a lot easier to keep than taking 14.29% of your week—less than a standard tip you leave as thanks to a stranger— to rejuvenate and reflect.

Preparing the other 85% of the week for a day free of obligations preserves you for performing your best at your actual obligations.

Chill. Keep it holy.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭20‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Anything or anyone.

A person, a habit, a goal, money, all are potential gods blocking the pathway to worship the Lord your God.

It’s the first rule of being a Christ follower and the last word in living a fulfilled life.

Competition for your worship is fierce and the field of battle is cluttered with adversaries clamoring to derail you from the singularity of your truest love.

“I am the Lord your God” is a statement of fact for us all.

Clear a path. Eliminate distractions. Make way for God to rule your destiny. He will make your path straight.

Moses told his father-in-law about everything the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the Lord had saved them.

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭18‬:‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Family meetings were once a place to pass on historic accounts of God’s mercies. Thankfulness was a way of life taught generation to generation.

Thanksgiving was an everyday celebration.

Today, the family has become a shallow navigation to circumvent differences and preserve peace at all costs, at least for the duration of a shared meal.

What was once a safe harbor of shared beliefs is now a smoldering set of competing ideas too easily raked into a raging fire capable of destroying the very essence of community.

And it took all of two or three generations to do.

The enemy strikes where it hurts most.

Pray for a return to safe harbors and common foundations of shared beliefs based on the one true God who unites us for his glory.

Pray for families, yours, mine, and ours, and a return to the thankfulness of unity.

Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭11‬:‭5‬-‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The leader of a nation who does not fear God brings consequences upon its people.

In a democratic government, who you elect to lead can pronounce either your life or your death.

History has demonstrated this truth and still does today.

Pharaoh’s continued resistance even in the midst of God’s many demonstrations of power took out an entire generation and crippled Egypt until Pharaoh finally acquiesced. The collateral damage of his hardened heart was devastating.

Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt.

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭12‬:‭40‬-‭41‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Let my people go” was never meant as a suggestion but a command. And after all the horrible plagues, this one, with human consequences including a personal loss for Pharaoh, finally made him obedient though still reluctant.

When God speaks as directly and clearly as he did with Pharaoh throughout most of the book of Exodus as he had up to this point, he means business, never to be trivialized as just good advice.

Consequences of continued disbelief are deadly.

But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭8‬:‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“Lord just get me through this situation and I promise to follow you forever. Amen.”

We’ve all prayed that prayer of desperation before, then reneged on our promise.

Hardened hearts find no place in God’s mercy and empty promises on repeat only take us further and further from redemption.

There’s a little Pharaoh in all of us that cries out to God for relief and rescue—exchanging nothing in return in the end.

It’s a dangerous game, and Pharaoh was masterful at it up until the point he was not.

It’s better to never make a vow than to make one and not keep it.

God is patient and long suffering not for his own sake but for ours. He is always focused on his end game, our salvation and redemption.

And he always wins.

Let that sink in.

This matter of eternity is no game.

Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.””

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭5‬:‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Stubborn would be an understatement.

Those of us who’ve watched Charlton Heston in ‘The 10 Commandments’ from the passenger seats of our living rooms witnessed 2nd hand what followed in awe.

As the miracle of plagues waged on, Pharaoh laughed in the face of God, soon to discover that God always wins.

Not unlike present day deniers among us in increasing numbers who have misplaced themselves as pharaohs and kings of this world, they all will eventually fall and kneel to the God of the universe.

“Who is the Lord that I should obey him?” asks Pharaoh.

FAFO.

Meanwhile at the burning bush…

Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” But Moses said,

Pardon your servant, Lord.

Please send someone else.

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭4‬:‭10‬-‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God can answer prayer in every possible way from here to Hawaii and still you don’t want his solution.

Even after hearing his voice audibly and witnessing his miracles firsthand, Moses resisted.

This really hits home for me and probably for you.

My God, literally what will it take for you to proceed in faith when God offers an answer to your prayer?

Seriously, sometimes we need to pause praying long enough to hear God speaking.

Resistance is futile.