God called Moses to come up to him, so they could commune together. He had something specific he wanted to reveal to the people, and he wanted to come and make himself known to them, for them to become better acquainted with him. He wanted all the people to know him, not just Moses. He reminds them how he delivered them from the bondage and slavery of Egypt. How he has led them where they are and brought them to this dry place, and given them water, and food, and sustained them totally by his power. They were in the wilderness. There were no fountains, or rivers, they were unable to provide food for themselves. God had done so much for these people. He delivered them miraculously with his strong power. He led them, going before them in the cloud, day and night...watching over every single one of them, with love in his heart for this people.

When he says in verse 5 if ye will obey my voice and keep my covenant, ask yourself this: if you are not spending time in his presence, if you are not giving him quality time, getting alone with God, how can you know his voice, much less obey it? How can you keep his covenant if you are not getting into his word, and finding out what his covenant is? To keep something means to guard from injury, observe, preserve, to hold on to and not lose or part with, to keep in memory, mind or heart. To practice, do or perform, to obey, not neglect or violate.

If you aren't in this Book on a regular and frequent basis, daily is the best, if you aren't digging in and asking the Lord "to open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law" (Psa 119:18) then you won't be keeping his covenant, you will be willfully ignorant of it, by choice. Whether it be on purpose, or you make excuses, you still choose to be willfully ignorant of the treasures contained in the Word of God, but also the judgments. There are untold riches to mined in the Word of God. There are warnings that will make you wise and keep you safe from destruction, if they are heeded by the reader. These next few chapters in Exodus are heartbreaking. God has redeemed these people out of love, keeping his word to their forefathers. He has done so much for them. He has such big plans for them, such good things for them. He has a wonderful land waiting on them, with plenty of provision, where everything is set up and done, all they have to do is conquer by HIS power and move in and set up housekeeping.

He says in verse 6, ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests-he wants them all to commune with him, to get to know him. Not just Moses and Aaron. He's extending an invitation here. He is telling them they need to prepare to meet him, and hear him talk to them.

We must take into consideration two things, and keep them in mind as we read on:

The flesh does not want anything to do with God. Flesh-when you hear that term in the Bible, what it means is "self". Our own selfish desire to run our own life, do things our own way-even though we all lack the wisdom to do so, apart from God. There isn't one human being alive who has directed their own life that can say they haven't made mistakes. That don't have regrets. That wish they could live their lives over, knowing what they know now. How many times have you heard that said? Apart from the direction and counsel of God, people make one mistake after another-because they don't know the future, they can't read other people's minds, and they make bad decisions, because they don't have all the information required to make a solid decision most of the time. God knows everything about everything. That is why his people must listen to and obey his word, his voice.

In verse 8, the people said they would listen and obey what God said. I'm sure they thought they could. God wanted them to hear him speak to Moses so they would believe. Instead it caused them to cower in fear. They were given directions by Moses, to sanctify themselves, and wash their clothes and be ready. To sanctify is to cleanse, purify, or make holy; to separate, set apart for sacred use alone by God, to prepare for divine service and for partaking of holy things.

God gave them his commandments. Moses barely had time to relate them to the people, and they were begging, after retreating from where they were, they moved away from the Lord. They begged Moses, you talk to us but we don't want to hear God. His voice scares us almost to death. He had just given them these beautiful commandments. And if you look at them, they were designed by Almighty God to teach the people how to serve and honor him in the first few and the last few how they should love and honor one another. They were laws that if kept, would bring health, peace and prosperity to God's people.

Consider this: where people are taking care of their bodies, and not indulging in destructive habits such as smoking, drugs, or sex with multiple partners, of course, that body is going to be healthy, and much cleaner inside than someone who is doing all those things or some of those things. Consider someone who feasts on the Word of God, filling their heart and mind with good things, their conversation and life will be vastly different from someone who sets and feasts on porn, violent movies, where there is lots of cursing, and killing. Certain behaviors and lifestyles, obviously, impact our physical health, our mental health, and our spiritual health. Good or bad. You've heard the term "you are what you eat." It's true. Spiritually and physically speaking.

What are his commandments? Acknowledge me for who I am, I'm God. I saved you and no one else could have. Don't put me in second place in your life. I deserve first. Don't worship idols, or serve them. They won't profit you, and it's spiritual adultery to give your heart to the things of this world instead of the One who loves you and gave you his Best. He's jealous when his people neglect or ignore him in favor of something inferior-for he is matchless. Nothing compares to HIM. Everything is inferior to him. Don't lightly use his name. Don't take his name, as you belong to him when you worship him with your mouth but your heart is far from him.

He gives us 6 days to work, and take care of buisness. Can we not devote the 7th day renewing our minds, and hearts, by immersing ourselves in his word, spending time with him, getting to know him, and setting other things aside? We need him every day. We need to set apart time for HIM everyday. But the 7th day is to be set apart for him exclusively. And it is to our benefit to do this. We will find ourselves strengthened, ready to face the week ahead, having been fortified by the time we spend with God.