Monday, February 9, 2026

Opening Scripture

“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28-29

Opening Prayer

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty! God in three Persons, blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy, all the saints adore Thee, casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea. Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee, Who wert, and art, and evermore shalt be. All praise, honor, and glory belong to You. Help me to worship You well today. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen!

Daily Bible Reading

Exodus 34:1-7

The LORD said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”

So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”

Reflection  

Today’s passage describes Moses’ second encounter with God on Mount Sinai. Out of respect for Yahweh’s absolute majesty and holiness, no one else was to come near the mountain. God revealed Himself, proclaimed His name, reaffirmed His covenant with His people, and gave Moses His law.

The stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments (decalogue = 10 words) were a tangible representation of Yahweh’s holiness and special relationship with His people. This second set of tablets replaced the ones Moses had broken in anger when he came down from meeting with God the first time and found the people worshipping a golden calf his brother Aaron had made at their request.

While Moses was experiencing a spiritual “high” on the mountain for 40 days with God, the people were experiencing a spiritual “low.” Exodus 32 documents how quickly the Israelites turned from Yahweh to practice the immoral “revelry” and idol worship of their pagan neighbors.

Aaron the priest was at a loss to defend this unfaithfulness to God. “They gave me the gold jewelry they took from the Egyptians. I threw it into the fire and out came this calf!” He didn’t seem to have an excuse for the altar he’d also made.

God’s deep love for His people, along with His absolute holiness and justice, demand our complete loyalty and devotion to Him. Our faithfulness or unfaithfulness to God has lasting implications for us, our children, and our grandchildren. God takes our worship very seriously because, it not only affects us, it also affects future generations.

A recent post by Ryan Burge entitled, “The Generational Collapse of American Religion,” offers this summary statement: “Religiosity is declining (in large part) because each successive generation is less religious than the one before it.”

We must follow the Lord whole-heartedly for our own sake, for the sake of those who will come after us, and for the ones who will come after them.

Flourishing Habit

Meaning and Purpose

When you look up at the night sky, you see a pinpoint of light that you call a star. Astronomers create big maps that track the stars, but the truth is they’re nowhere. Stars are moving at incredible speed across the galaxy, but from so far away they seem stationary. If you could move up close to them, they would no longer be small dots of light. They are raging hydrogen explosions that can totally engulf and destroy everything! And they are incredibly huge, larger than we can imagine. They only seem small from very far away.

The same thing is true of God. Most people only “see” Him from a safe distance. He seems small and stationary, predictable and harmless. But as we move closer to Him, we discover that He is an uncontainable, consuming fire! He is larger and more powerful than we can imagine. His presence demands our complete reverence, awe, worship, and surrender!

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God. For this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself, and the most (significant) fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like. We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God. This is true not only of the individual Christian, but of the company of Christians that composes the Church. Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God.” A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy

How will you worship God acceptably today?

Remember: Nothing changes until something changes!