Advent Devotions

Today’s author is Prince of Peace member Scott Tunseth.

In Exodus 19:3-7 God calls to Moses on the mountain in Sinai and makes a stunning promise, “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now, therefore, if you obey my voice and keep covenant, you will be my treasured possession of all the people. Indeed, the whole earth is mine.”

Notice the word if? It’s such a small word, but it is packed with consequence. “If you obey my voice and keep covenant, then . . .”

A covenant is an agreement between two parties, and each party makes promises to the other. Here, God has already acted, leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and carrying them as on the wings of an eagle. And this is not the first time God has offered covenant promises to the people. We heard God’s covenant promises to Abraham in Genesis (chapters 12, 15, 17). Abraham and his descendants will be a great nation (as numerous as the stars), they will have their own land, and they will be blessed to be a blessing to all the nations. That’s what God promises, but what is Abraham’s promise? In Genesis 12, he promises to go to the new land. In Genesis 15, he simply believes. “He believed the Lord, and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

This made me wonder, What if Abraham hadn’t gone or hadn’t believed? What if Moses had declined God’s command to go back to Egypt and face Pharaoh and eventually lead the people out of Egypt to the Sinai wilderness? Would God simply have chosen others to receive God’s covenant promises? Would the story have been the same with different leading characters?

“If.” There’s a lot riding on that little word. It can sound like law: “I will love you only if you do what I say,” or “I will work with you only if you vote for me.” It would be easy to read God’s “if you obey me” as only law, too. And, of course, it is about law and laws. In the next chapter of Exodus we hear about the Ten Commandments and then many other laws that make up the covenant. That’s a topic for Friday’s devotion.

But here at the beginning of Exodus 19, God has already acted and shown love for the Israelites. They aren’t being asked to trust a punitive parent or a would-be dictator. They are being asked to put their trust in (and yes, obey) One who has their best interests in mind and at heart. We gladly follow, believe in, and trust those who show us real love and concern. We know deep down that they care for us. In a relationship like that the “if” is no longer a threat. “If you obey” is not a burden because it is an open door to life-changing promises like “you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6).

Of course, we all struggle at times against the “if,” because it almost always introduces consequences into our lives. But trust that God knows not only what is good for us, but what is best.

Loving God, we give you thanks for your covenant promises. Give us strength to obey your good word, that our relationship with you and with all our neighbors may grounded in love. Amen.