As I read this chapter, I’m met with a dilemma: it says Moses and God spoke face-to-face in verse 11 here, but less than ten verses later, God says to him, “No one can see Me and live” (verse 20) —- because of the holiness that would literally crush all of us since all of us have sin (see Romans 3:23) —- I think Moses wrote metaphorically, as when someone says, “so to speak.” Indeed, I read something years back about Moses seeing God’s back, apparently… I think he wrote this down as a metaphor, too, for that was what the Father was getting at. Indeed, John later says in chapter 1 of his gospel, “No one has ever seen God.” But this chapter is found in pages 51-52 of the NKJV Bible I’m using, pages 66-67 of the NASB Bible I’m using, pages 112-114 of my VOICE copy, and pages 108-109 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.
There’s more to unpack for this, since first of all, the golden calf incident had created a rift between God and His people —- here’s something you might not know: you know the phrase “cash cow”? I think the golden calf incident is where this strange terminology comes from. I still remember vividly the super-ridiculous Trump statue made out of gold that someone had set up in the White House some time ago… I think it was during the insurrection over a year and a half ago… but that’s another story for another time. But even so, I remember this one guy exposing the idolatry that the businesses were practicing in that one scene in a movie I saw in a college class once. 😳 I wish the unfaithfulness never happened, but unfortunately, it’s been happening for a very long time ⏳ but soon, time will run out for the unrepentant ⌛ just see Acts 17:30-31… but I’ll speak/write about how the day of accountability is too often idolized in all the environments in the future.
Anyway, God says to head for the land but He wouldn’t travel with them, since they had vomited on Him 🤮🤮🤮🤮 so to speak (Exodus 33:1-3). A lot of translations have ridiculous renderings for verses 4 and 5, but the words should be translated “dreadful news” (verse 4, VOICE) and “decide” for “know” (verse 5). I know I don’t want the Father’s heart to be forgotten. Indeed, that’s actually why I’m writing all these Bible notes nowadays. Oh, fun fact, I started writing Bible notes on a regular basis ten years ago around this time of this month. Crazy how time flies… but unfortunately, I haven’t been able to write as many notes as I would’ve loved to for almost a year, now… but for security reasons, I’ll keep my reasons offline unless God tells me otherwise. But unfortunately, I’m not sure I have the chance to keep a low profile about it 🔒🔐🔑🗝✋🏼🛑🚧 nor can I expect to do some other godly thing in the future without somehow causing offence, even if I did. Still, it’s nice that I didn’t get in trouble for godliness as if it weren’t worth pursuing, and I’m glad I was able to work at Café Rio last Monday (they didn’t offer pushing back any training days so I could make it to Fry’s some more, and I had worked there five days in a row before then, plus, it was five days of training as a cashier in a row, and 10+ days of work without a single day off is brutal, so I left, but it was fun, thank God —- I’d like to try this again sometime 😃 I hope I can find a good supplemental income method though) —- but I need to believe hardship isn’t the only possible method growth in Christ actually happens. I don’t know where it says that in the Bible, though, and I’ve feared in the past that misery is actually necessary for getting closer to God. It really shouldn’t be that way… but I’ll use the bathroom real quick 🚻🚽🪠 and then I’ll look up the Greek for James 4:9… (some minutes later) so I looked up the two words for mourn and dejection (NASB) —- for some reason I didn’t check the Greek for lament 😅 I’ll do this now… (later) it means to realize ones own misery… but I notice Matthew 5:4 as a cross-reference when I use the NkJV study Bible I have, so I think it’s about one’s sins… but I see no other such commandment anywhere in the New Testament… I might be missing something, though. I’ll have to show this to Josh and Tim, my young adult pastor. But even so, it’s not like someone whom im living with (neither of them are single, and both have a wife each 👫🏼 so I’m living with someone else, but I’ll have to mention this much, much, much later, if God wills) should dictate how I walk with Jesus (see 1 John 2:6). Not to be insubordinate in anything, but if anyone is trying to give me unbiblical commandments while they disobey God, that’s hypocrisy. It’s one thing if it’s a mental health condition, but I can’t be entirely sure.
The meeting tent ⛺ I think is an interesting phenomenon, and I’d like to see more of it when power fails —- this probably won’t happen much in the U.S., but I pray for more working power and light bulbs 💡 in this world, especially in places like Burundi 🇧🇮 where less than 10% of the population have any power 🔋 and I pray for much love there, too, and in all of Africa 🌍 —- I’ve been to a meeting tent before, but even though I would love to get some fresh air when I’m not working more often 🌤⛅🌫🌬 it’s nice to have cool air in a stadium 🏟 if people gather there to hear the word of Christ ✝️ = 💖 but I don’t think anyone should do this for selfish reasons. Funny how many are drawing away from that and into false humility, though… it’s about as messed up as assuming black people are bad, and that’s stupid. I don’t think it’s bad to have any kind of skin color! We need more lovers of humans in this world… but instead, there’s too many people who try and wreck everyone’s dreams and lie about it. I should say this to someone at work, too, maybe they might understand if we’re of similar beliefs. I guess people think it’s so obvious it doesn’t need to be spoken 🙄 and you know what else? I heard there’s been a bit of a sharp drop in people among churchgoers who believe sharing faith is important over the last 30 years (credits to Barna Research Group) —- at 64% nowadays, a 25% drop from 1992. I think the people only believe you can do this in a safe environment, but I guess most of us didn’t factor that we’d face opposition even from the U.S., government eventually, for on top of other evil things that are openly hostile to Jesus, the Trump administration had tried to stop Bible-believing Christians from giving life-saving aid to migrants from countries like Mexico 🇲🇽 and they knew God hated this but they told Him that He was delusional 🙄🤦🏼♂️😒 —- no one has addressed it since. I guess they don’t believe in God.
There’s only about 70% of people in the U.S. (it slightly varies by state) that identify as Christian, too, and the number seems to be decreasing (but people are getting saved all over the world), so I bet less than half of the people here actually believe in sharing one’s faith, especially in a considerate and loving sense. Thank God that might increase, though, if life plays out like God’s Not Dead 3 (I wonder if you’ve seen the movie) —- oops, sorry for the spoilers 😅😆😄 but hopefully being real increases here, too… but there’s still a huge number of people around the world, especially the 10/40 window (everything between these latitudes in the northern hemisphere that’s not in 🇺🇲🇲🇽 —- you get the idea, I hope) that have never been saved or have heard the Gospel of Christ before. It doesn’t help that many people in the U.S. are still trying to silence everyone who wants good for all humans, and that too many churches don’t teach the Bible and/or are trying to deceive everyone with their use of it… and before we know it, my notes might be criminalized soon, because they feature biblical material. Something like this should never happen.
I’ll share this with Josh and Tim. In the meantime, if you want me to pray about anything, you can let me know via email 📧 at ron.outland4727@gmail.com. I’ll read each one (I still haven’t gotten any messages), write them down, then tape them to my bedroom walls! I’ll see you next week, I hope, in chapter 34! ¡Hasta luego!
Ron And His Stories 