Preparation and Prayer

I’m teaching an adult class this quarter (beginning tomorrow) on Exodus. When I was asked to teach it, I thought to myself, “That’s 40 chapters in 12 weeks in an Old Testament book that many people see as rather dry history.” Accepting the challenge after a day or two of thought, I now face the challenge of making this class something like our education minister had in mind for it.
Of course, we will need to do kind of an overview thing this quarter. There’s no way we can discuss each verse, or even each event, story, or section of the book. I’ll have to find the highlights, and for that I’ll need some kind of guidance to land on those places that I think will make the most relevant sense for us today.
In thinking about that, I was taken back to many years ago when I did a series of sermons on Joshua. I took much of my information from a book written by Dale Ralph Davis called “No Falling Words”. In the book, he zeroes in on God’s promises and how those promises were kept. Joshua, in his farewell address to the people in chapter 23 said that “Not one word of all the good words of Jehovah have fallen to the ground.” Of course, he meant that God has kept each and every promise that he gave to the nation of Israel.
Although the first promise to Israel was given to Abraham in Genesis 12, the fulfillment of that promise, and many others, in many ways begins as Exodus opens with the story of the calling of Moses and Aaron. I think it will be quite good to prepare the upcoming lessons based on the idea of “No Falling Words” and what that means for God’s people today.
I have all 12 lessons (we won’t meet for class Easter Sunday) outlined, and the introduction to the first lesson done. I’ll prepare the rest of tomorrow’s lesson later on today. We’ll look at the first three chapters of the book.
I enjoy teaching, as it gives me fresh eyes to look at something I perhaps have looked at many times before. I don’t pretend that I will cause any earth shattering changes in the lives of my students, but I do encourage them to think for themselves, to examine what they’ve always thought about God and their relationship with Him, and to go from class a little more refreshed than when they came into class. I am also acutely aware that as a teacher, I will be held to a greater account (according to James in 3:1).
Tomorrow should be interesting just in seeing who will be coming to this class. I doubt that I will have a house full, but hope that there will be enough that we can have good discussions. I would ask you to wish me luck, but suspect that preparation and prayer have much more to do with it than luck. So as I prepare and pray, if you’ll pray with me, perhaps the favor of the Lord will shine.