The Life and Times of Joe Suttle

Finally finished the book of Exodus. There were so many things that piqued my interest. Things like acacia, and how much a talent was (75#)? When the report talked about “talents” of gold, my mind was boggled doing the math. Remember, these people were slaves who when they left Egypt asked for and took gold and silver from the Egyptians who had seen God’s mighty power at work.

Not only did the Israelites bring gold out with them, they gave offerings to be used in building the Tabernacle. Just imagine if you will, that they gave 2175 pounds of gold. At today’s value of gold (approximately $1000 per ounce), that would be $34 million dollars – from slaves! Remember, this was not all the gold they took out of Egypt, just their offerings to build the Tabernacle.

That was based on the account at the end of Exodus where all the work to make that portable building was completed. This was the record. The repetition was that at the end, all the work was just as God had commanded Moses. Somewhere, I had mentioned that if you think God is not interested in the details of your life, you are sadly mistaken! When you take a look at the book of Exodus, you can’t miss the details. God gave Moses not just the dimensions, but very clear instructions on how the Tabernacle was to be build, down to almost the last nut and bolt (okay, so they did not have nuts and bolts back then, but I think you understand).

What’s most amazing about this, and really repetition is the phrase “just as the Lord had commanded.”

That was the key to their accomplishments – doing what God said to do! Whenever they failed in their trek through the desert (that’s coming) or in the centuries ahead, it was because they did not do what God said. You don’t have to believe me, you can read it for yourself. As you read through Exodus 39 and 40, you find it repeated over and over.

Doing what God says is not difficult, it’s just that we make it difficult. Perhaps it’s because what God wants of us (we think) will make us look ridiculous, or not politically correct, or not in touch with the times, community or family. But God does not call us to meet the criteria of the world or our civilization. He called us to do what He says. As difficult as that might be, He leaves us no room. He does not “suggest” or “ask” us to do something. His words are “do this.”

So, at the end of our lists, will you and I be able to put “just as the Lord commanded“?

Reading through the Bible has gotten me to Exodus. Forget the fact that I do not remember all the names that were in Genesis. That trip through Genesis was fun though! Names, numbers, places and lots of history. Many names of places took me to the computer to look for “where is that?” It’s interesting that the battles still rage over exactly where something is or was. Eventually archeology will make a great discovery under the sands or earth and we will know.

What I find of even greater interest (just the way my mind works) is that so many of the places mentioned in the Bible have actually been found. And even with all those places being documented after years of “there is no such place,” people still dispute what the Bible says. For me, it’s just more questions to ask when I get to heaven. Who knows, maybe by then, it won’t make any difference.

So, here I am working my way through Exodus, and seeing the amazing display of how stupid people can be. Just think about it – we keep on cheering our sports teams on, even in the middle of a 5-10 year losing streak. But there were the Israelites, coming off an exit that scared all the people around them. Everybody heard about what the God of the Israelites did, and didn’t want anything to do with “those people.” After all, “if their God could beat the living daylights out of the mighty Egyptians, we don’t want to mess with them.”

Okay, so their natural enemies didn’t want to challenge them, but leave it to the people who got delivered to turn around and “dis” that same God. It’s biting the hand that took care of them – “did you bring us out here to get us killed.” “You forgot to bring any food Moses, and we’re hungry.”

Kinda like us – we forget too quickly what wonderful things someone has done for us and complain about the little nagging thing they forgot to do. You know, maybe they didn’t even think that they had to do that. Makes me think of Paul’s words, when he was challenge believers to “think on (remember)” the good things in Philippians 4. Too soon we forget, and maybe that is because we did not work at a constant remembrance of the good that we have or got.