Insight for Living

Speaker 1

Imagine what it was like for Moses to ascend Mount Sinai in order to meet with God. His heart must have been pounding.

Well, today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll will draw a parallel between this exciting moment for Moses and our devotional times with God. It's likely your quiet times don't look anything like a spiritual summit on Sinai, but Exodus chapter 20 provides a helpful guide on how to meet with God and how to cultivate meaningful moments in his presence.

Chuck titled today's message "Sinai, where Moses met God."

Speaker 2

What was the reason that God wanted to meet with Moses? Why did the meeting occur? There were two reasons. Look at chapter 20 and verse 20. How healthy they are. What good reminders. Chapter 20, verse 20. Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid, that is frightened in the flesh, for God has come in order to test you. And now notice in order that the fear of him may remain with you so that you may not sin." There's the first reason God wanted to establish a healthy fear of the Almighty to deter sin. You know, when you have a proper fear of God, you live a cleaner life.

All right, now there's another reason. Chapter 24, verse 12. This is clearly defined. The second reason was to communicate written instructions for the people to obey. 24:12. The Lord said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and remain there. Now here's the reason. I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandment which I have written for their instruction." The second reason was to give Moses written instructions for the people to obey.

Now that we know the reasons that Moses was on the mountain, let's answer the question, what did God reveal? Well, we have just seen right here in verse 12, the first thing he revealed: his written word. The first thing that God gave to this man who met with him was his written word. He took the time to inscribe it in stone. He broke off a peak of Sinai, he honed it down so that it would be able to be handled by Moses, and he wrote it with his own finger.

Look at 31:18, still in Exodus, the last verse of chapter 31. One of the few times you find God writing anything. He wrote the law and gave it his autograph. When he had finished speaking with him on the mountain, he gave Moses the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone written by the finger of God.

Now there's another revelation that God gave. And look back in chapter 25, verses 8 and 9, just before I apply all of this to that number one priority. One more passage, 25:8-9. After God revealed the written word, he revealed the design of the tabernacle. 25:8. "Let them construct a sanctuary for me that I may dwell among them according to all that I am going to show you as the pattern of the tabernacle," the first mentioned now in all the Bible of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, "just so you shall construct it."

He gave them the word of God that they might know his mind and obey. He gave them the design for the tabernacle, that they might build it and he might come and dwell among them. He didn't want to remain on a mountain. He wanted to be accessible and available. But in keeping with his own design, he would dwell in a certain place. That's the tabernacle. That's another study all to itself, which we won't get involved in our study of the life of Moses.

I want to suggest from the passages we've looked at, four principles to remember and to apply.

Number one. To meet regularly with God, you need a place. I think it's noteworthy that the very first thing that's mentioned in the chapter we studied, chapter 19, is that they came to a place where they met with God. Now, it's not practical for you to wait until you can find a mountain. Christian conference grounds are great, but if you wait for that, you're going to be carnal a long time before you get there. You need to have a place that's accessible.

Remember when they came to that mountain, they were in the wilderness. They camped in the wilderness, and there was their meeting place with God. You need to have the place in the realm of your wilderness where you can, namely your dwelling. You need to have a place in your dwelling where you meet with the Lord. Let me even be more practical than that. You must provide yourself with that place. You need three things: a desk, a light, and quietness for that place.

It may be in your bedroom where you can close the door and be alone. It may best be in a part of your den or kitchen area, wherever you can be all alone. You need to have a place to be with God. May I even say this? You, because you haven't planned a place, don't meet regularly with God. You can't have it sitting on the edge of your bed. You won't do it sitting on the sofa in the living room. You need a desk, you need a light, and you need silence. And you must be legalistic in preparing a place for that time with God.

Now, second, to approach God you need to be prepared. You can't waltz into God's presence. You can't go with an idle mind, as if hands in the pocket, thinking, "That's going to be my time with God." No, the heart needs to be prepared. You can't prepare yourself in five minutes. Most of us have difficulty getting ready for that time with God in 10 minutes. You need a good 30 minutes a day regularly with the Lord—not asking too much; it'll mean all the difference in the rest of your day. All the difference in the world.

Now, I don't want to be mystical about this. Let's get earthy and practical. Look at what the people of God did. You just wrote it down on your chart, on your sheet. They had a willingness to obey. When you sit down at that desk, say, "Lord, I'm willing to obey." I'm here not to play games, but to invest 30 solid minutes in listening to your voice. I want to be sensitive. I don't care if anybody else knows I'm here. I want to hear what you're saying.

They had to have consecration of life. Remember, be explicit about those areas that have been wrong with the Lord. Between you and the Lord, deal directly and keep short accounts with sin. The Israelites even washed their garments. You know, I'll let you in on a secret about me. I don't do well in my time with the Lord if I'm dirty. I do better after a shower early in the morning or late in the evening. I don't do well if in the sweat of the day or after I've mowed the grass or whatever may have been the job for the day, just to sit down and do my time with God doesn't work like that. My body needs to be clean. That's my case. And so without being preoccupied with other things, I'm able to get prepared to hear from God.

You know what else I use? I use the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship hymnal. Now, I don't make a cut on this, so if you get one, that's great. I'm not in on that team. The hymn book is broken down into several phases: when you gather for fellowship, when you speak of Christ to others, when you pray, when you search the Scriptures, when you seek fellowship with God. And there are, oh, 164 hymns. Good ones. "May the mind of Christ my Savior," "O Master, let me walk with thee," "The sands of time are sinking," "We rest on Thee," "Our shield and our defender," "Arise, my soul, arise." Charles Wesley's great hymn, "I'm not skilled to understand," "How Firm a foundation." You memorize those. You spend time before the Lord singing in his presence. And you won't remember them without having this available.

So have that on your desk or get one that's like it. Take that hymnal you took home from church. It's a good way to spend it. Better still, bring it back and get one for yourself. Man, what are you doing running off with our hymns? That's a sin. You need to confess. If you've got that hymnal at home, get that. You gotta get your heart together. Get it all together so that when God speaks, you hear. You can't handle some little ditty and expect the God of Heaven to pay attention to what you want. Get it together.

Now, the third. To hear from God, you need the Scriptures, that book. I'm impressed that God did not give Moses a revelation and say, "Go down to those people and give them a vision." Why, you'd have Israelites looking for visions all over the desert. They'd hear visions and see visions and witness visions and share visions. He gave them the book and he said, "Take those written truths and instruct them." Open this book. Don't rely on your memory. Rely on print on a page. And don't flip from page to page or verse to verse or the old open window method that sort of blows the verses and you find one for the day. That's equal to spiritual stupidity. You'll never get God's verse for the day that way.

Start at the beginning of a book and work your way through it slowly, systematically. Read it aloud, read it thoughtfully, pray it, personalize it, sing it. Make that a part of your conscious moment and forget everything else as you turn that high-priority time to him. Listen to what your lips say. Ask him to make that live. Block everything else out. You say, "Well, that's nothing new." Well, why have you stopped doing it? I know it's nothing new. Our problem is not getting something new. Our problem is doing what we should with something old. That will revolutionize your marriage, your business, your evangelism, your whole attitude towards school. It's remarkable what that discipline will do to your study habits. Remarkable. I know, because when I don't, I pay a terrible price.

Now, there's one more. So far, you could pretty well think ahead of me and get it together. But this one might throw you: to remember what God says, you need a journal. You need a notebook. Some people call it your life's notebook. But when you say that, you think in terms of gold leaves and embossed name on the front and you know, beautiful cover, great big book. Something you know, like this, a life's notebook, that type of thing. All you need is a composition book. The main thing about it is that it's a study guide. It's not a diary. You're not recording what you have done. You're going to record what God has given you. And time with the Lord must be accompanied by a pencil and a piece of paper.

You know what Webster calls a journal? Listen to his definition. It's super. A record of current transactions, experiences, ideas, and reflections kept for private use. Isn't that good? Now let me give you a hint. Don't let anybody read your journal. Journals are not written to be published. They're written to help us maintain our memory with what God is doing. A journal will help you remember what God has said. Some of you got the most profound thoughts in those few times with the Lord. But they're all left because you never recorded them.

I have kept a journal ever since I studied the life of Jim Elliott, whose testimony was so beautifully put together by his wife Elizabeth in the book entitled "Shadow of the Almighty," which is nothing more than a published volume of that man's journal. What a great gift to give your wife or husband or to give a friend. What a good way to handle a project with your children. We're just beginning to get into journals with our kiddos now that they've learned how to write and to believe that what they write actually is making sense. That's a real breakthrough. We've had them see now God can speak. And we want you to put down what God is saying. Just a sentence or two is fine.

You know, this applies to you that wrestle with the area of your romance life seeking God's mate for your life in the journal. Record the desires that you have. Talk about the design of that man or that woman that you believe God would have you spend your life with. Talk about the wrestlings that go with that whole realm of finding that person. Put those wrestlings into writing. What a difference it makes. This is one of the ways I cultivate. My pen is through my journal. The think it overs are nothing in the world more than an overflow of oh how many pages I have in how many journals lost track years ago.

Jim Elliott put this down: "I walked out to the hill just now. It is exalting and delicious to stand embraced by the shadows of a friendly tree with the heavens hailing your heart and the wind tugging at your coattail. To gaze and glory and give oneself to God. What more could a man ask? Oh, the fullness, the sheer excitement of knowing God on earth. I care not if I never raise my voice again for him. If only I may love him and please him. Perhaps in mercy he shall give me a host of children, that I may lead them through the vast star fields to explore his delicacies. But if not, if only I may see him touch his garments and smile into his eyes. Ah, then not stars nor children shall matter. Only Himself."

I want desperately for your walk with Christ to become consistent and deeper. That's my desire for every one of you. If that walk with Christ is that you will have very little struggles with evangelism, attitude conflicts, relationship hang-ups, schooling, authority, or even God's will. That's why it's priority number one.

Let's bow, shall we? Okay, let's just wait upon God for a few moments. I feel that in especially the last few minutes of this message, some of you have had your attention grabbed by the spirit of God. Now, it's easy for you to substitute an emotional moment for a volitional decision. But I want you to do that. I want you to make a decision, not think a good thought or dream a new dream. I want you to plan tonight on keeping an appointment with God daily. The enemy is going to tell you to set it aside to do something else. You've got far too many things involved, far too busy, and I'll tell you everyone is a lie. Every excuse he suggests, if you're too busy to meet with the Lord, you are too busy. You've got to carve out the time.

Now let's make plans before we go to bed tonight. Lord, we have witnessed a man who met with you. And then we have talked about some of the disciplines involved in doing that, but we have yet to do it. It's sort of like taking a course on prayer but not praying, or learning the techniques of evangelism but not witnessing. We have learned very little that has been brand new. But we have gotten a hold of some profound reminders from your word. We need not so much a new technique as much as we need a swift kick in the pants. We need a reminder from your spirit. We need a rebuke because we are so slothful and procrastinating and sleepy when it comes to digging and climbing that mountain and meeting with you.

And so do a work in spite of us, in spite of our bad track record. Stop us with a reminder that we could be much more men and women of God if we would maintain such times with you, if you will. Do this, Lord, if you will begin anew in our hearts by your grace, we would appreciate it more than words can say. Have your way, have your will. Silence the enemy's suggestions to delay in the name of Christ. Amen.

Speaker 1

Concluding message number 15 in his 20-part biographical study on Moses. You're listening to the Bible teaching of Chuck Swindoll, and this is Insight for Living. To hear this message in its entirety and to access helpful Bible study resources for digging deeper on your own, just go to insight.org.

We've set aside several minutes to hear closing comments from Chuck, but first, I want to remind you that this Bible teaching program and all of its companion resources are prepared just for you. We love getting your emails, letters, and phone calls because we love hearing your stories of life change.

For instance, this one said, "Pastor Chuck, when I was 17, you planted seeds of faith and understanding that have grown and blossomed in ways I could never have imagined. Your books and words and broadcasts introduced me to a God whose depth and love I've come to know intimately. Your steadfast living of the truth has been a beacon, a light, and a legacy that continues to nourish my soul. Now I'm 56, and I stand with immense gratitude for the journey you helped ignite, forever blessed by your wisdom and light. Thank you for 60 years of faithful pulpit ministry and for the broadcast of Insight for Living."

Well, on behalf of this gentleman and countless others like him, we want to say thank you to all those who give generously. Simply put, we thank God for the gift of you. God is using your generosity to reach people, many who live in lonely places, with the comfort of his word.

Speaker 3

Here's Chuck. Time has a way of distilling the truth. The issues that seemed a little fuzzy in our 20s and 30s came into complete focus in our 60s, 70s, and 80s. Well, in October, I passed another birthday, and I'm here to profess that God is faithful. The one whom I embraced as a young man has never once let me down. In fact, as I remained committed to a long obedience in the same direction, my trust in my God was fortified by the promises he continually kept.

We're coming to yet another milestone. It's December 31, which marks the end of another ministry year for Insight for Living Ministries. God has been magnificently faithful to this media ministry that aired its first broadcast back in 1979. And now I want you to look back and reflect on God's faithfulness to you. Do you remember the time when he entered your life and extended his amazing grace to you? Do you recall the first time you sensed God's grace through Insight for Living?

Well, as you reflect, I'm asking you to reciprocate—to express your gratitude by giving a generous year-end gift. We will continue to do our part. What I'm asking you today is to do your part. In fact, I covenant with you to keep teaching God's word with the same passion and the same focus you've come to expect from me.

With a track record that dates back to our very first broadcast in 1979, at Christmas time, we celebrate the humble arrival of God's Son, Jesus, in Bethlehem. As Mary laid her precious baby in the manger, the fullness of grace bloomed like a rose, later to be crushed for all our sins, its heavenly fragrance released.

Now it's up to us, you and me, to keep spreading that fragrance of grace all around the world. So let's give generously together so all might come to know and receive God's greatest gift to us, his one and only Son.

Speaker 1

To respond to Chuck Swindoll, let me give you our contact information. To write a letter or send a donation, here's the address to use:

It's Insight for Living, Post Office Box 5000, Frisco, TX 75034. That's Post Office Box 5000, Frisco, TX 75034.

If you'd like to speak with one of our friendly Ministry reps, call 800-772-8888 or, any time, day or night, go online to insight.org/donate.

I'm Bill Meyer. Join us when Chuck Swindoll describes what he calls grumblings against a godly leader, Tuesday on Insight for Living.

The preceding message, "Sinai: Where Moses Met God," was copyrighted in 1976, 1978, 1981, 1985, 1998, and 2024, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2024 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.