God Pause - Lutheran Seminary - Moved by the Promise - Monday, 24 February 2014 - Exodus 24

God Pause - Lutheran Seminary - Moved by the Promise - Monday, 24 February 2014 - Exodus 24:12 Yahweh said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commands that I have written, that you may teach them.”
13 Moses rose up with Joshua, his servant, and Moses went up onto God’s Mountain. 14 He said to the elders, “Wait here for us, until we come again to you. Behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever is involved in a dispute can go to them.”
15 Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 Yahweh’s glory settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. The seventh day he called to Moses out of the middle of the cloud. 17 The appearance of Yahweh’s glory was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. 18 Moses entered into the middle of the cloud, and went up on the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
In this passage, God calls Moses to the mountain. This is an incredible invitation to meet God and then bring back commandments that will shape a band of runaway slaves into a people. Lucky Moses! But then he spends six long days waiting for God's call to come up higher. In the meantime, Moses is neither with Israel in the camp nor with God on the mountain; he is between the present and God's new thing.
I hate to wait. And the more wonderful and new the thing coming, the harder the wait is. But when the moment finally comes, it can feel too soon. When my first child was finally born, I was struck by how unready I still felt.
How long those six days must have been. But Moses was not alone—he was with God in the promise God had made to meet him and to send him back with a gift and call for all the people.
Gracious God, you have called us and promise to be with us and gift us for your service. Thank you for filling even times of hard waiting with your life-giving presence. Amen.
Jonathan Strandjord
ELCA Churchwide Office, Chicago, Ill. 
Master of Divinity , 1978
Exodus 24:12 The Lord said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction."
13 So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God.
14 To the elders he had said, "Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them."
15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.
16 The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud.
17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.
18 Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.--New Revised Standard Version
-------