the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 1 of 5
Exodus 23:20-33
The LORD does not only give commandments to Israel. He encircles them with His tender care. He provides a leader for them: His Angel, who was to go before them to lead them and at the same time direct them in their battles. Moreover, from this time on, He gives them instructions as to the end of their pilgrim journey. Wide limits had been traced out before this for the lands they are to inherit (v. 31).
In the same way, God has in our day made provision for the path of His Christian people on this earth, by giving then a companion on the way, the Holy Spirit. The exhortation to Israel in v. 21 "Beware of him, and obey his voice . . . for my name is in him" can perhaps be linked with the exhortation in the New Testament not to grieve the Holy Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:30). Similarly, in His grace, God would have it that His own should have knowledge of where their course leads: the beautiful heritage which He has prepared for them with Jesus in heaven.
However, among all the careful purposes of God, there is one thing which we are perhaps loth to understand and accept, in particular, His great concern that His people remain completely separate from the nations surrounding them. But it is not to deprive them of any good thing that God insists on this separation for them. On the contrary, it is in consequence of His love, in order to preserve them from what would certainly be a snare (v. 33).
