Advertise on podcast: Where's God? Finding Him in the Small Stuff

When Moses descended Mt. Sinai with the "replacement" stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments, there was something different about him which everyone noticed. His face was shining. The word used to describe him meant radiant. What did he look like? What did it mean? How did the people react to it? Was it a one-time thing, or an on-going phenomenon? Has anyone else in the Bible been described that way? Hear the answers during this new podcast!

The Lord replaced the stone tablets for the Ten Commandments after Moses broke the originals when he threw them on the ground as part of his reaction to the golden calf incident. The replacement tablets were similar to the first ones, but not exactly the same. What kind of message did these new tablets send to Moses and the Israelites? And when Moses was in the cleft of the rock as God passed by, what did Moses actually see?

Moses is upset. God has informed him that He can no longer lead the people to the Promised Land because of their stubborn hearts. God says He will lose His patience and strike them with His wrath. Moses appeals to the Lord, making it clear that they want God and no other "substitute guide" will do. Moses asks God to reconsider and, in essence, wants God to prove that He loves Moses. How will God respond?

Bluegrass gospel about a cross on a hill that leads me back to my old home in West Virginia where the cold Coal River and hand-cranked ice cream awaits. Another cross on a different hill leads me like a lighthouse on a stormy sea.

As Moses and the people recover from the golden calf incident, God begins to distance Himself from the Israelites. God uses the language of distancing as Exodus chapter 33 opens. Did God mean what He said, or was He testing the people? How did they react? We also learn what happened to all of that gold which the Israelites received when they left Egypt. And we find out more about another person who will become very important later, a man named Joshua.

Moses had heard and seen what the people were doing as they worshipped the golden calf, and he made sure they suffered certain consequences. He also held Aaron responsible for his part in making the calf. In the midst of these things, the Levites were set apart as the priestly tribe. Eventually, Moses went back to the top of Mt. Sinai with a different perspective about how God might view these people because of their sinfulness!

Everyone knows that the Ten Commandments were written on two stone tablets. If nothing else, most of us have seen Charlton Heston as Moses descending Mt. Sinai with those stone tablets in his hands! The question is: "Why two tablets?" If you review some classical art and re-watch the movie, you might think that each stone tablet had five Commandments each. But that is not it. Both tablets had all ten. Why were there two exact copies? And what kind of punishment did Moses mete out to the people who were worshipping the gold calf? Yuck!

Well, Aaron has made the golden calf. What was he thinking? He must have known it was wrong, but the social pressure applied by the people was too great for him to withstand. What was God's response? How did Moses feel about God's plan? Was it really a "plan," or was it a test that God was giving Moses to see how he would react?

Moses had been at the top of Mt. Sinai for forty days and the people had lost their patience. If Moses could not lead them to the Promised Land, they would make a god who would go before them, at least an image of that god. So they turned to Aaron to make the golden calf out of pure gold. What kind of god did they expect Aaron to make, a pagan god, a new god, or a God they already knew? Why Aaron? And where did all of that gold come from? Oh, and what did they think had happened to Moses?

There is still a lot happening at the base of Mt. Sinai after God gives the Ten Commandments. Moses continues to interact with both God and the people. The Israelites pressure Moses to fulfill a specific role on their behalf because they are afraid to do it themselves. God appoints Moses to build an altar, and it must be constructed without any tools. Why? Moses is still busy serving the Lord and His people!

In this episode we look at the last five Commandments, which feature a lot of "Thou Shall Nots," like "Thou Shall Not Murder" and "Thou Shall Not Steal." On the surface, it seems like these Commandments would be somewhat easy to obey. However, Jesus says that if we even think about doing something that would violate them, we have already disobeyed. It is not the letter of the law that is the problem, but the heart of the law that gets us in trouble most often. When do I cross the line from obedience to disobedience in my heart?

Sometimes we discount the importance of the Commandment which says, "Honor your father and mother." After all, what does "honor" really mean anyway? And compared to such big Commandments as "Thou shalt not murder" or "You shall have no other gods before Me," it seems a little puny. However, it is cited twice in the New Testament as critical for us to follow, once by Jesus and once by Paul. So we need to know how to obey this Commandment from two standpoints: as a child, and as a parent. Besides, it is the only Commandment that promises a special blessing if we follow it!

The Ten Commandments not only call us to live a certain way, but also show us when we have failed to do so. God says in the third Commandment, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain," and we might wonder what the word "vain" means in this context. The idea is that we should not make the name of God "worthless." In the fourth Commandment, God says, "Remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy." The Hebrew word for "Sabbath" means to "stop work" or "cease labor." How well are we doing today in obeying these "Words of God?"

Probably the best-known facts in the story of Moses are the plagues of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, and the Ten Commandments. This new episode delves into the Commandments, or the "Ten Words" as they are known in Hebrew. We will look at each Commandment during this and the next three episodes. We'll even ask questions like, "Does the first Commandment begin with, "You shall have no other gods before Me," or does it begin with, "I AM the LORD your God?" And are the Ten Commandments still important to Christians in light of our salvation through Grace?"

Moses and the Israelites have been waiting at the base of Mt. Sinai as the morning of the third day dawns there. They are waiting for Moses to tell them what to do next. Before they know it, God arrives at the pinnacle of Mt. Sinai! His arrival is accompanied by thunder, lightning, and a thick cloud. But perhaps the most frightening thing is the blast of the ram's horn from heaven which not only gets louder and louder, but seems to be moving closer and closer. They are all trembling at this point, even Moses himself!