Thursday, June 11, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Exodus 23-25
Key Verse
Exodus 24:13 — “And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.”
Devotional Thought
Most of us will never stand in a courtroom or hold a gavel, yet Exodus 23 speaks directly into the ordinary decisions of a Thursday in June. Here God instructs Israel on the small, daily practices that reveal whether His people truly belong to Him: refusing to spread a false report, refusing to follow a crowd into wrongdoing, returning a stray ox even when its owner is an enemy, and helping a donkey staggering under its load—even when the man who owns it hates you. Notice how practical this is. God does not merely command grand worship; He commands honesty in gossip, fairness in disputes, and kindness that reaches across hostility. Verse 2 is a warning against the pull of the majority, and verse 9 is a reminder to treat the stranger well because Israel themselves had once been strangers in Egypt. Even the land is given a Sabbath rest every seventh year so that the poor and the wild animals may eat. God’s law touches the field, the courtroom, the calendar, and the heart.
Then the scene rises. Moses reads the covenant aloud, the people answer with one voice, “All the words which the LORD hath said will we do,” and the covenant is sealed with blood sprinkled on the altar and on the people. Afterward Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders go up and see the God of Israel, beneath whose feet was a paved work of sapphire stone, clear as heaven itself—and they ate and drank in His presence. What mercy, that sinners are not struck down but seated at a table. Then Moses is called higher still, into the cloud and the devouring fire on Sinai, for forty days and forty nights.
And there, in that holy darkness, God gives instructions for the tabernacle: an ark of shittim wood overlaid with gold, a mercy seat with two cherubim whose faces look toward it, a table for shewbread, a golden candlestick with seven lamps. Every detail matters because God intends to dwell among His people. The ark holds the testimony; the mercy seat covers it. And from between the cherubim, God says, “There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee.” This is the heartbeat of the passage: a holy God preparing a place to live with an unholy people. Centuries later, that pattern finds its fulfillment in Christ, who is our mercy seat and our tabernacle. Today, let the small obediences of verse 1 shape your speech, and let the mercy seat shape your hope.
Reflection
- Where in your daily life are you tempted to “follow a multitude to do evil”—to stay silent, laugh along, or go with the crowd rather than stand with the truth?
- The elders saw God and ate and drank in peace, because blood had been sprinkled. How does the finished work of Christ change the way you approach God today?
Prayer
Holy and merciful God, You are the God who sees and knows, and You have called us to walk in truth, justice, and kindness. Forgive us for the times we have followed the crowd, spread careless words, or withheld help from those who needed it. Thank You for the blood of the covenant and for Jesus Christ, our mercy seat, through whom we may draw near without fear. Teach us to obey Your voice in the small things, to love the stranger as You commanded Israel, and to rest in Your presence. Dwell among us, Lord, and let our lives be a tabernacle where Your glory is seen. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.