Exodus 15:22-25

Exodus 15:22-25 

English Standard Version 

  It's interesting to think about this in light of the first plague.  Then, God turned the waters of the life-giving and sustaining Nile into blood as a way to show that God was in control of life.  Here, the bitter waters prevented the people from drinking, and so God turns the water sweet, so the people can enjoy the life-giving and sustaining water in the desert.  

  As with so many things in life, bad things from the past are redeemed, because God is at work, setting up patterns of redemption in our lives, showing us the restorative power of the Gospel.  Have you ever had something bad happen in your past, only for something good that you never could have expected come out of that thing?  I think about all the struggles I had with engineering in college, to the point where I eventually dropped that major and ended up studying religion and accounting, two skills that sustain me at this point in my career.  Not what I ever expected -- but where I looked at things with disappointment, there was opportunity in the threads that God was weaving.  

  This is the power of the Gospel.  This is the message of Good Friday -- the ultimate tragedy, and yet from that, God draws the ultimate life-giving and sustaining miracle.  So let us not despair.  It is right to mourn some things in life, and yet there is always hope in the midst.  Sometimes it is hard to see it, and sometimes we are too broken to look.  That is the power of community.  They come sit alongside us and help sustain us, and when the time is right, they help us find the hope to move forward, to find the life sustaining power of the Holy Spirit at work redeeming the broken things in life and making them beautiful.

Exodus 15:1-3

Exodus 15:1-3 

English Standard Version

  Here's a challenge for you -- take a few moments and write a few lines praising God for what God has done for you. 

  Moses and the people sing this song to celebrate God's triumph over the Egyptians and their deliverance out of slavery.  What has God done for you?  Spend some time writing out some words that give praise to God for God's gracious treatment towards you.

Exodus 14:30-31

Exodus 14:30-31

English Standard Version 

*************

  This has to be one of the top moments from history that you'd want to see in person, right?  If you had a time machine, you'd want to go back and see the waters parted.  I'd be so curious to know what it looked like, how the people walked through the sea bed, and how the waters closed over the Egyptians.  I'd want to marvel at the waters piling up.  It's easy to think that if you ever saw such a miracle, you'd never doubt the power of God again.  Right?

  Well, until the next time something bad happened.  That's what the Egyptians thought.  As soon as they grew hungry or thirsty, they assumed that God had forgotten about them.

  We have short memories. We're very much a people who evaluate others based on what they've done for us lately.  We don't consider extenuating circumstances or give people credit for years and years of activities -- if they mess up the most recent thing, they're out. 

  Thankfully, God doesn't consider us in the same way.  God doesn't kick us out when we get something wrong.  God pours out grace upon us, just as God continues to feed and sustain the Israelites.  

  May that transform the way we treat one another, offering others the same grace we have received.

Exodus 14:19-22

Exodus 14:19-22 

English Standard Version 

  When the Old Testament speaks about The angel of the Lord, it's referring to Christ.  Here he is, just as he is in the New Testament, placed between the people and their enemy.  The Egyptians are pursuing the people, and Jesus goes between them, sending light into the Israelites, that they might have hope in the face of their fear.  

  It may seem to the people as though there wasn't a way out, but with Christ shielding them from their enemies, suddenly a way appears, miraculously.  There is hope, and in the place of despair, there is a path through the waters, and the people walk through on dry land.

  I don't know what fearful situation you might be facing, but give thanks that our Savior comes to stand between you and that fear.  Through his power, there is a way made where there was no way, and there is life beyond despair through the power and love of Christ.

Exodus 14:10-14

Exodus 14:10-14 

English Standard Version 

  So the Israelites are fleeing from Pharaoh, and they are afraid.  They ask Moses if they were brought out into the wilderness to die, such is their confidence in God's deliverance.  They wish they could undo it all and go back to the lives of slavery that they knew.  

  Into this chaos, Moses tells the people to not be afraid, and he says what is one of my favorite lines in the Bible.  The Lord will fight for you, you have only to be silent.

  This is the Gospel message.  We are not the ones who need to triumph -- the battle belongs to the Lord, and he will emerge victorious.  His strength and might will carry the day, and our job is to trust and believe.  We who are weary and beaten down need not find a way to battle to the top of the mountain -- we are to give thanks that the one who secures the mountain comes down to find us.  It is improbable, but it is wonderful, because I can scarcely find my way through the day most days.  God is good, and we are to trust in the one who fights for us, no matter the enemies that gather around us.

Exodus 13:17-22

Exodus 13:17-22

English Standard Version 

  Sometimes, when I'm flying home, the pilot has to wait to park the plane because the ground crew isn't there yet.  The pilot needs the ground crew to direct the plane and ensure it's safely parked.  They need to direct him.  

  The Israelites had the advantage of having God direct their journey.  God appeared in a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day, constantly guiding the people so they'd know where to go.

  Did that make it easy?

  Based on the amount of grumbling they did over the next few years, it clearly didn't serve as a constant reminder of all that God had done for them.  They forgot, and they grumbled.  

  So let's not assume that it was any easier for anyone.  It's always tough, because we see opposition and forget about the God who is with us.  God sends reminders, although in these days it's often not such visually obvious ways, but God still reminds us.  So let us keep our eyes and the eyes of our hearts open for what God has in store for us.

Exodus 13:3-8

Exodus 13:3-8

English Standard Version 

  How do you remember?

  When we were kids, we thought about what would make us happy, and when we hit those targets later on... the scoreboard had changed, and we wanted more.  Later on, we achieved more... and once again, the target had moved.  Our appetites had grown.  We grew accustomed to success and forgot about where we'd come from.  We get comfortable.

  Moses is trying to set up a practice to help the people remember. He wants them to remember, once they get into the promised land, where they have come from and how they got there.  Moses wants them to remember all that God has done for them, so they don't start grumbling as soon as things go wrong.  Moses wants them to be anchored in their identity, so they don't drift away from God, growing comfortable in ease and not thinking about all that God did to free them from slavery.

  So how do we remember all that God has done for us?  How do we continually remind ourselves that we have been bought with a price, that God loves and treasures us, and that we have been set free for a purpose, and we should live in gratitude towards God?

Exodus 12:33-36

Exodus 12:33-36 

English Standard Version 

  God didn't let God's people leave empty-handed.  They'd been through something incredibly challenging, an awful four centuries of hardship.  They probably wondered if God had forgotten about them.  

  God had not forgotten.  No matter how many times they'd wondered... God did not forget.

  In the same way, God does not forget about you.  God does not abandon you.  Prayers are not always answered in the time frame that we'd like, but that doesn't mean that God isn't listening, and it doesn't mean that blessings are not coming.  

  So hold onto hope, no matter how dark the night may seem.  

Exodus 12:29-32

Exodus 12:29-32 

English Standard Version 

  I wish I had an easier answer as to why some things in the Bible happen the way they do.  For that matter, I wish I had better answers as to why some things in the world happen the way they do.  To be alive is to know heartbreak, in one way or another, for ever since Genesis 3, the world has been separated from the way it was created to be.  That means that death, decay, and heartbreak are part of our lives, unfortunately.  It will continue to be that way until the fullness of time.  All I can do is read these passages of dismay and know that God didn't ask anyone to sacrifice what God was unwilling to sacrifice.  God gives up Jesus Christ, God's own son, to experience a painful death on the cross, and Jesus descends to hell for 3 days, separated from the eternal joy that he had experienced beforehand.

  I don't think that makes it any easier to understand the death in Scripture, but it does give me comfort to know that God understands what it is like to suffer, and so when I go to God in prayer with my own suffering, I pray to someone with compassion for me.

Exodus 12:25-28

Exodus 12:25-28 

English Standard Version 

  It's amazing to think -- this very year, thousands of years later, the Jewish community will gather and celebrate the same meal, giving thanks for the same act, worshiping the same God.  They remember the same way that God protected the Israelites in Egypt.  Tradition is powerful -- I love to be part of the church because we're part of something so much bigger than ourselves.  We're truly anchored -- so many things come and go and society shifts over time, but in the church, we stand on a foundation that has existed for millennia.  In a world where things change, we can give thanks for the stability of the church. 

  At the end of this passage, the simplicity is beautiful.  Moses tells the people to do this thing... and they do it.  Of course, they were properly motivated -- they'd heard that death was coming to all who didn't comply.  That will light a fire.  So often, in their 40-year journey through the wilderness, they spend all their time grumbling rather than complying.  Granted, I could take a lesson here -- I don't always embrace my commitment to God whole-heartedly.  I often long for something easier, something clearer, and so I grumble.  

  It's good for me to remember how high the stakes are.  In Christ, we have life, and he paid a high price to redeem us back from the dead.  May the thought of Christ, the sacrificial lamb, going to the cross willingly out of love -- may that thought bring us gratitude and peace to our souls, and may we follow God with joyous hearts with the hope of God's kingdom in our minds. 

Exodus 12:1-4,7

Exodus 12:1-4, 7 

English Standard Version 

  Here we are, a thousand years before Christ, and God is laying out the plan.  There is a pattern to salvation, and there are echoes throughout the pages of the Old Testament.  The groundwork was set here in Exodus 12, when a lamb is sacrificed and the blood is on the doorpost as a sign that God is at work in that house.  I love how any household that is too small is combined with another -- we see community being formed through the death of the lamb.  Three thousand years later, we marvel at what God has done, what God is doing, in providing salvation through the death of a lamb.  God has been at work, and God remains at work through God's beloved church, and so we continue to gather for a feast.  This is what Jesus was thinking about during the night of his arrest -- this meal, this plan, this path to salvation.  

Exodus 11:4-7

Exodus 11:4-7 

English Standard Version 

  Heartbreak.  I think of the stubbornness of leaders, refusing to admit defeat and condemning others to death.  It has happened for centuries, and it is no different here.  Pharaoh will not acknowledge that God is a greater power than he is, and as a result, God brings devastation in a way that will be clear, similar to how Pharaoh had all the Israelite males thrown into the river to die.  Pharaoh could have let the Israelites leave before this, but his heart was hardened by his pride, and as a result, all of Egypt will suffer loss.

  We are often caught up in things larger than ourselves.  I cannot explain why so many bad things happen in the world.  We read headlines, but it's easy to forget that each headline impacts an individual life, be it a war on the other side of the world or job cuts here at home.  They all impact people.  One of the things that I love about Scripture, and particularly the Gospels, is that the interactions happen at individual levels.  Jesus comes to heal this woman or that child, and their story is told.  Individuals matter to God -- each of us is fearfully and wonderfully made.  I don't think God finds joy in the death of individuals, be here in Exodus or later on in Joshua or in plenty of other places throughout history.  Violence tears apart.  This is the impact of sin.  Thanks be to God for Jesus who comes to mend the rift, to sew back up what violence tears apart.  He is truly our only hope, greater than death, able to defeat the powers that bind us.

Exodus 10:21-24

Exodus 10:21-24

English Standard Version 

  A darkness to be felt -- this is total darkness, completely encompassing all of Egyptian life.  How frustrating would it have been for them to cast their eyes towards Goshen and see the Israelites living in light, while they dwelt in darkness so thick that they could not even see one another.  They spent three days in darkness, looking forward to the three days that Jesus will spend in the darkness of the tomb, waiting for the light.  

  In Genesis 1, God divides the darkness and the night, setting each to their own place.  Here, once more, God is showing us God's complete control over the natural world.  

  In seminary, I had a professor that talked about thin places, where the veil between this world and the next grows so thin that they blend.  This is often in places where death lingers near at the end of life, and it is sacred ground -- for in this world, there are plenty of shadows, but we know the power of the light.  We are drawn to it.  There will, one day, be no more night in the fullness of the Kingdom of God, for God will be our light.  May we spend our time well, that we invest our energy in seeking out the light, and letting it shine through us and into the lives of others.

Exodus 10:3-6

Exodus 10:3-6 

English Standard Version 

  Can you imagine the Pharaoh, considered a god among the Egyptians and certainly by himself, humbling himself before God?  That kind of thing just wasn't done.  It'd never been done before.  How would he look among the people?  They'd never see him the same again.

  The same kind of thinking locks us in.  We worry about engaging in new ways.  We worry about humbling ourselves fully before the cross.  What might people think?  What might people say?  If we go and join with this organization or serve this kind of people... will rumors start?  Some of these things just haven't been done.  What might happen?

  To fully serve God, we have think only of what God thinks.  That's the only seal of approval we need.  Let others say what they might say... may we only live for the love of the one who hung the stars in the sky.  On this Ash Wednesday, let us fully humble ourselves before God, acknowledging our shortcomings and our mortality, giving thanks to God for covering us with grace and mercy and making a path through death, a way where there was no way.  

Mark 4 Sermon for March 2, 2025

Exodus 9:27-30

Exodus 9:27-30 

English Standard Version 

  It's wild to me that there were ten plagues.  I will never understand how Pharaoh didn't throw in the towel somewhere around the frogs or the flies.  Here, we're at the end of the hail, and it seems like Pharaoh is capitulating... but there are more plagues to go.  Pharaoh has recognized his own sin, but he's going to change his mind about letting the people go.  His mouth is speaking, but his heart isn't fully there yet.  He still wants to be in charge.

  We all know this dance.  We have moments of clarity where we'll realize that God is God and that we are not.  We see clearly our own sin and brokenness.  We sometimes weep for opportunity lost.  We come before God and we repent, but we often only do half-measures.  Are our hearts truly broken and set before God?  Or are we trying to control God, convincing God and ourselves that we're humble just to get what we want?  We've all tried to walk that line.

  Jesus shows us the beauty of a life lived fully committed to God.  He shows us the peace available to us when we pour ourselves out to bring glory to God.  Jesus offers this to us, day after day.  God's mercies are new every morning.  May we pray for wisdom to humbly follow God, and courage to pray hourly, depending on God for it all, seeking God throughout our lives.

Hand Warmers and the Gospel

Exodus 8:20-23

Exodus 8:20-23 

English Standard Version 

  If you're in Egypt, and you look at Goshen, where the Israelites live, and you see zero flies, and you are surrounded by them, what's your thought?  How do you deal with that?  One reaction is to hope that the flies make it to the Israelites.  The other is to go and see out of curiosity, to assume that the God of the Israelites is demonstrating authority over all of nature, and to ask a lot of questions.

  One takeaway from all of this is to live our lives in such a way that other people see something different.  They see hope, and it shines like a light in a dreary world.

  Another is that we should ask big questions.  We're blessed to have the writings of Christians throughout the centuries that we can read to know how other people dealt with similar problems that we face.  We can ask big questions of these Christians.  We can also reach out to one another and ask how people deal with the things that we face.  What's it like to live in the light?  To be in a place unplagued by flies?  

Exodus 8:16-19

Exodus 8:16-19

English Standard Version

  The plagues are always fascinating to me due to their terrible range.  From turning a river to blood to boils to frogs to gnats, they demonstrate God's complete control over all of creation.  The Egyptians have enslaved the Israelites for 400 years, and the people are groaning for freedom.  Pharaoh believes that he is a god, and Moses and Aaron are the instruments through which God is pointing out that there is only one true God.  From the gnats to the stars, all of creation will obey its Creator.

  We, too, struggle with the idea that we're not in control, that we're not in charge.  We want to be in control.  We need to be in control -- we so often read world news and it breaks our hearts and stirs our anxieties.  We feel so small, so helpless, that we need some thing, no matter how small, to be in control of, so that we feel like all is not lost.

  God tells us to cling to God.  God tells us that are safe in God's hands, and that the eternal Kingdom of God is a place where we don't need to be in control, because we can trust the one who is.  It's hard to trust in something that we cannot see, and yet that is how we are called to train our hearts -- looking forward, beyond the chaos, to the hope that shines on the horizon.  Then we're called to invite others to rejoice in what we can trust, to hold fast to hope and love and peace and joy, and walk forward as a community, carrying those who cannot walk on their own, and letting our hearts rest in the blessed assurance of grace.

Exodus 8:8-10

Exodus 8:8-10 

English Standard Version 

  Pharaoh is a fascinating study in dealing with things in the moment.  In the midst of the plagues, Pharaoh will promise anything, but once the frogs are gone, then he changes his mind.  The crisis has passed, and he'll submit to no one when his freedom is regained.  It makes me think of the old saying that there are no atheists in foxholes... but when the moment passes, are the promises that were made to God in the moment of crisis still valid?  Or were they simply words tossed out to gain freedom from under oppression?

  It's amazing to me in the Psalms when it talks about how well God knows us.  In Psalm 139, we hear about how God has searched us and known us, hemmed us in, and such knowledge is too wonderful to us.  God knows us fully, more fully than we can be known on this earth, and God still chooses to love us.  Despite our failing to live up to promises we've made in the past, despite fickle hearts that blow with the winds, God chooses to love us, chooses to redeem us, chooses to send the Holy Spirit to send words of affirmation to us and remind us that we belong to God.  

  So rather than promises, let us make choices, consistently, to make time to worship God each day, confessing our shortcomings but more importantly praising God for God's love and patience.  May we lead our hearts to praise.

Exodus 8:1-6

Exodus 8:1-6

English Standard Version 

  How committed to your path do you have to be that frogs in your bed don't change your mind?  I'm not sure that I'm that committed to anything.  I don't know exactly where I'd draw the line, but somewhere before frogs started jumping into my bed.  

  Pharaoh was not to be discouraged lightly.  Or heavily.

  Sometimes, our opponents are committed to their course of action.  We'd like to change their minds.  We pray for wisdom to know how to deal with it.  We talk to trusted loved ones, hoping for some guidance on how to persuade them.

  At times, it doesn't matter.  All we can do is trust in God, stay faithful to our calling, and endure the hardship.  The Israelites were not to be freed by the Nile turning to blood, nor by frogs in Pharaoh's bed.  It would take far more than that.  But they would be freed, because God is victorious.  

  May we find the courage to trust God in all things, no matter what, even when the light of hope is shining so dimly that we have to look twice to see it.  It is there, because God is present and at work.  

  

Exodus 7:14-19

Exodus 7:14-19 

English Standard Version 

  Like so many things in Scripture and in life, it comes full circle.  Moses was meant to be hurled into the Nile as an infant to die, but instead he floats in an Ark until he is saved by someone from Pharaoh's household.  Now, as an adult, he goes back to the Nile to meet Pharaoh, where he tells Pharaoh that the Nile, the source of life in Egypt, will turn to blood.  It didn't turn to blood due to the violence Pharaoh meted out to all those Israelite children, but now it will turn to blood to show Pharaoh that he is not in charge of the world.  Pharaoh had probably given little thought to all of this, but we see the bigger picture when we are patient to see what God has in store.

  I would never promise you that things always wrap up in such neat little packages exactly when we want them to in life.  Plenty of Israelites were waiting for this day their entire lives, never to see Pharaoh humbled.  The Israelites were in slavery for 400 years -- how many prayers seemed to go unanswered?  God was there, but planning in a completely different time scale than most of the people would have imagined.  

  One of the hardest things about being a Christian is accepting that there is a time greater than the one we know.  True life, as it is known in God, extends beyond the life that we know in the here and now.  We can't see it or touch it, and so we struggle to trust it, but the Bible tells us about it, and Jesus shows us the path to it through his own death and resurrection.  

  May that reality, the one we cannot see, teach us to trust in God to resolve injustice, and may it encourage us to work for peace in the time that we do have.

Exodus 7:8-13

Exodus 7:8-13 

English Standard Version 

  If you're Moses and Aaron, you're watching your staff turn into a serpent and feeling pretty good about things.  Surely, you think, this will convince Pharaoh that God is with you and the rest will be easy.

  But no, then Pharaoh's wise men figure out how to do the same thing.  Which I've never fully understood -- why is it that just anybody can throw their staff down and have it turn into a serpent?  Have we lost this capability?  Can I try this?  Am I simply doing it wrong?

  Moses and Aaron are disappointed for a moment, but then their serpent eats the other serpents, and you're back on top of the world, sticking your chest out, feeling good about life... until Pharaoh still says no.

  Some things are bigger than us.  No matter what we do, we get swallowed up in them.  I think of kids in the midst of violent conflicts and wars... they're small and innocent, with no power to influence things, and yet there they are, damaged by it all.  It's so hard to trust in times like this.  It's so hard to continue to believe.  

  And yet God can still be at work.  We can still trust in God for the bigger picture.  God's plans are not derailed by our setbacks.  

  Trust and believe.

Exodus 7:6-7

Exodus 7:6-7 

English Standard Version 

  

  Ever think you're too old to be useful to God's church?

  Moses was 87, and this was at a time when 87 was even older than it is today.  He'd spent decades tending sheep, not a profession that makes one younger.  Aaron, his key assistant, was 83.  These were not young men, but they were charged with leading the Israelites out of Egypt, and God called and equipped them.  

  And so they went. 

  They succeeded not because of their strength.

  They succeeded because God was at work.

Exodus 6:10-13

Exodus 6:10-13 

English Standard Version 

  All of Moses' questions are valid.  Moses goes to God with crucial details, wondering if God is missing a few important details.  Is God paying attention to what's going on outside?  Moses feels like maybe God is out of touch a bit.

  We know this feeling.  We often go out into the world and wonder about the call to discipleship.  We sometimes wonder if God is paying attention.  We think that God should be doing this or that, and perhaps God is missing a few key details.  

  God knows.  God heard the Israelites, and God knows the details.  God knows every hair on your head and every wish and heartache of God's people.  God has a solution, even if it's not immediately evident to the people or the community.  It may take more time than we think to play itself out.  We need to be patient.  But God is present, and God is watching.

Exodus 6:2-9

Exodus 6:2-9 

English Standard Version 

  When God talks to Moses, God doesn't bring some new relationship or solution.  God links everything back to a historic relationship that has endured for centuries.  God isn't choosing something new -- God is being consistent with the faith of Abraham that started in the wilderness.  It's been a journey, and God has been present throughout the long and uncertain days and weeks.

  When Jesus Christ comes to the people in the 1st century A.D., Jesus doesn't come to radically break away from the past.  Jesus comes to reform religious practice, pointing backwards to the centuries of relationship and basing his ministry on that.  Jesus is doing a new thing, but it's rooted in history.

  In the same way, God isn't calling us away from the past.  God is calling us as a new chapter in the same book, rooted in history, branching forward.  We are one church, with believers in every time and place, and we stand together with our brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the centuries to rely on what God is doing today, linked to history and looking forward as one community.

Exodus 6:1

Exodus 6:1 

English Standard Version 

  The pages of Scripture echo with this promise -- we will see what God can do.

  Over and over again, the people are waiting, and God eventually demonstrates God's glory and grace.  Imagine the disciples after Jesus was crucified -- this was the promise they needed to cling to.  They would see what God can do.  The same promise was made to the early church, a promise that we still cling to -- we will see what God can do.

  May our lives hang on this promise -- that we wait with eager anticipation to see what God can do.  God has promised great things, and God is a promise-keeper.  I trust God with my life, with my everything, and will live like someone waiting for the best that is yet to come.

Exodus 5:19-23

Exodus 5:19-23 

English Standard Version 

  At this point in his journey, Moses cannot see why God is acting the way God is acting.  Moses sees things getting worse, and he despairs.  He cannot hold onto hope, for the people are turning against him, Pharaoh is opposing him, and Moses doesn't know what the next step of the journey is.  

  Have you ever felt this way?

  We've all been there.  I remember when I was 18 and the world was falling apart, I went and sat in an empty sanctuary by myself and wondered where God was.  I didn't have any answers at the point.  I didn't hear anything from God, either.  To be completely honest, there are prayers that I prayed this day that I'm still waiting on answers for.  I'm guessing you know this feeling.  

  What's admirable is that Moses doesn't simply turn and walk away.  He goes to God with an honest prayer.  He prays through his questions and anger and despair.  He doesn't dress up a prayer to make it presentable to God.  He simply tells God what he is thinking.

  The Psalms are filled with prayers like this.  Scripture is filled with prayers like this.  Our lives can be, too -- when you despair, take it to God and set it before God.  Don't hide it and pretend that all is well.  God can handle it.  God's solution may be far longer-term than we want, and the answer to many of our prayers may be no.  But it's a good relationship practice to be honest and open with God, that we may pour ourselves out and trust God with everything.

Exodus 5:10-14

Exodus 5:10-14 

English Standard Version 

  I saw a picture the other day of two young girls sitting next to each other on the doomed American Airlines flight.  There was an amazing future in front of them... and then...  it's not fair.  I am haunted by that picture, because it's so not fair.  

  We are made in the image of God, and we are made for eternity.  Sin and death have stolen us away, lured our hearts far from God with promises of ease and pleasure.  We are confused and deceived.  Where the promise of Eden, walking in the cool of the evening with God once was a reality, now there is brokenness and tears.

  Thanks be to God that we worship a Savior who plans to set all things right.  We mourn for what we have lost, for what we continue to lose.  We were not made for despair and for pain, which is why it hurts so much when beauty and love is ripped from us.  We ache because this is not the way things are supposed to be.  Little girls should be allowed to grow up into the people God made them to be.  Planes should take off and land as intended.  People should dwell in peace.

  Until Christ returns, it will ache as we see the evidence of sin's discord woven into our lives.  May we look with hope to the one who comes to sew things together and restore community the way it was created.

Exodus 5:3-9

Exodus 5:3-9 

English Standard Version 

  You want to worship God. 

  The world wants to keep you from worshiping God.  

  This has been true since the time of Moses.

  It will be true until the return of Christ.

  Think of all the things in your life that distract you.  You may intend to worship, to spend time in prayer, to focus on devotionals... and life interferes.  This is not by accident.  We were made to worship, and the world finds substitutes to pull our attention away from Christ.

  The only thing to do is double down, to continue to intentionally make time, to focus.  Turn your phone off.  Put it in a different room.  Turn off the computer.  Set aside time every day.  It won't happen on its own.  You will not find the time -- it only happens when we make the time.  Heavier work will find a way to you.  May we be persistent and steadfast in our commitment to worshiping God.

Exodus 5:1-2

Exodus 5:1-2 

English Standard Version 

  We run into barriers all the time.  Some of them are financial, others are physical.  Some are there for our own protection -- I remember Rachel and I driving on a road in the Turks and Caicos years ago that had a little wooden barrier right where the road ran into the ocean.  Barriers like this are welcome.  Other barriers pen us in and prevent us from doing what we'd like.  Physical distance is a barrier that separates us from seeing people as often.  

  Pharaoh thought he operated without any barriers.  He thought that being Pharaoh meant he was God and answered to no one.  He had no regard for any rival, and so he would not answer to Moses and Aaron when they demanded something.

  We can live like we are our own gods, and ignore the reality of barriers, or we can acknowledge that God alone is Lord and King, and make our choices based on the reality of submitting to God's perfect will.  There will be things that we cannot do.  But God promises us far more than we can ask or imagine in return for pledging ourselves to God.  What we gain is far more than we give up.

Exodus 4:27-31

Exodus 4:27-31

English Standard Version 

  Moses was so focused that the people would not believe, but Aaron and Moses do exactly as God had instructed them, and the people believe.  They are ready to believe, eager to hear what God has in store for them.  Aaron and Moses work together, and through them, the people are led into their next step.  This is what happens when people work together to glorify and serve God -- the people are strengthened.  

  May we follow their example.  Moses and Aaron had to work together, and they each used what God had given them.  They may have been afraid or uncertain, but they trusted in God, and they learned to trust in each other.  The people looked at them and saw God working through them.  They bowed their heads and worshiped.  

Exodus 4:24-26

Exodus 4:24-26 

English Standard Version 

  On the list of verses that I'd just as soon skip, this strange passage is near the top of the list.  It's an obscure passage that struggles away from most attempts to explain it.  Here is Moses on the way to liberate the Hebrew people from Egypt, and he is suddenly battling for his life.  Remember, the Lord has told Moses that he can go in peace, because the people who seek his life are dead.  So the way is thought to be clear, but there is more adversity to face.  There is a bloody struggle.

  Perhaps the event points forward to the bloody struggle in Egypt that awaits.  Perhaps it is a test in the wilderness, as many other Biblical characters must face.  

  I cannot fully explain it -- there are mysteries beyond what I can comprehend.  I do know that the Bible often reminds me that God is less tame than I am tempted to think.  As Aslan explains in C.S. Lewis' works, God isn't safe, but God is good.  To entrust ourselves to God is to trust something wild that cannot be fully known.  Are you willing to take that step?  Moses could've turned and run at this point, recognizing that this was a God not to be controlled.  Moses stayed, faithfully, continuing to trust in God.  If Moses can do so after such an event, then perhaps we should as well, despite not being able to see fully what God has in store for us.

Exodus 4:21-23

Exodus 4:21-23 

English Standard Version

  Like many of you, I've often wondered what it means for God to say that he'll harden Pharaoh's heart.  Does this mean that God isn't allowing Pharaoh to exercise his free will?  Is God forcing him into this situation?

  I don't think that's the case.  It would be in conflict with so much else of what we see in Scripture.  I do think that God allows Pharaoh's worst tendencies to stand out here, and Pharaoh's arrogance ends up ruling his mind and heart and driving his decisions.  

  What we see is a clash -- Pharaoh's belief in himself as a god, and God's actual power and strength.  At some point, all of our false gods come into conflict with the reality of God's awesome wisdom and sovereignty.  We have a decision to make -- will we stubbornly stick to our own view of the universe, or will we submit to God's lordship, trusting that as hard as it may seem, God's wisdom is greater than our own?

Exodus 4:18-20

Exodus 4:18-20 

English Standard Version 

  I'm guessing that Moses omitted the part about fleeing for his life from Egypt when he was initially talking with Jethro.  Probably a good thing to skip over when meeting your future father-in-law if you want to make a good impression.  

  We all have things in our past that we'd prefer weren't there.  You do.  I do.  Moses did.  

  But that doesn't stop God from using you, just as it didn't stop God from using Moses.  I don't think this is God endorsing Moses' prior action, but it is God saying that this doesn't have to be an obstacle to faithfulness going forward.  

  

Exodus 4:14-17

Exodus 4:14-17

English Standard Version 

  When we make obstacles, God makes a way.  

  Moses had countered every one of God's arguments as to why Moses should go, and God continued making a path forward.  When Moses said that he wasn't a good enough speaker, God then brings the community into it, utilizing Moses's brother to join with Moses.  Moses built a wall, and God created a path forward.

  It's the story of sin.  Humans put obstacles between us and God, and Jesus creates a path through them.  It was at tremendous cost, but cost was no object -- you are of such surpassing value to God that God would do anything to redeem you.  No matter how hard we make it, God's love is greater than our failures, greater than our stubbornness.  God wants to dwell with you, and God will not be denied.

  

Exodus 4:10-13

Exodus 4:10-13

English Standard Version 

  We omit this part of the story.  Moses, one of the greatest Biblical leaders, really was not interested in doing his part.  He'd already fled Egypt and wanted to spend his days caring for sheep in Midian, far from Egypt and the life he left behind.  Every time God made a way forward, Moses came up with a reason as to why Moses wasn't the man for the job.  Moses kept saying no -- he was afraid and uncertain.  He seems convinced that it is God asking him, but he wasn't want any part of God's plan here.

  Moses is human, too.  You can probably relate to being afraid and uncertain.  It's easy to think that if we knew what Biblical characters knew, we'd go along joyfully with God's plan, but that's omitting the reality that most of them didn't go along willingly.  They resisted, often every step of the way.  They were human like we are, and God loved them and used them as part of the greater story of liberation.

Exodus 4:6-9

Exodus 4:6-9 

English Standard Version 

  There is only so much we can control.  I feel like we need to remind ourselves of that every day -- we like to be in control, and it's easy to make an idol out of it.  Moses could've spent so much time trying to figure out exactly what the Egyptians might respond to that he never would have actually executed the plan.  Instead, God was laying out a path for Moses to step into trusting God.  Moses was afraid and filled with doubt, but God showed how God would continue to work and open the eyes of others.  It was outside of Moses' control, though -- Moses was going to have to trust God to move in the hearts and minds of others.

  We need to do the same.  The actions of others are often beyond our control.  We need to trust God with this step, and the next step, and God will take care of the ones after that as well.  

Exodus 4:1-5

Exodus 4:1-5 

English Standard Version 

  Moses doesn't come across as the bravest figure, willing to run headlong into conflict, does he?  Moses is struggling to find any possible way out here.  Moses seems to think that God doesn't have a backup argument... as though God would just admit defeat and move on to Plan B!  Maybe that happened with someone else and it didn't get recorded -- maybe Moses is the plan B.  I've never thought of that before.  

  I've said it hundreds of times before, but I love how human the Bible is.  There's room for us in here.  Do you have doubts?  Do you have questions about God?  Ask God.  God's not afraid.  God's not going to walk away.  The God who created the sea and sky and redeems you out of death's strong grip isn't going to turn tail because you aren't sure exactly what God is doing for you or because you don't know if you're ready for it.  God wants you to succeed -- we forget that sometime, probably because we face so much opposition elsewhere in life.  God wants the best for you, and will pay any price to bring that into our lives for all eternity.  

Exodus 3:19-22

Exodus 3:19-22 

English Standard Version 

  Egypt was renowned for its fabulous wealth.  Luxuries and jewelry would've been known throughout the world.  Egypt was power and affluence, and the thought of the Jewish people stripping away some of that on their way out would have delighted the listeners of this story.  Much of that wealth, the story tells us, is built on the backs of Hebrew slaves, who moved to Egypt and helped bring the people through famine, only to be enslaved later on.  

  God tells Moses here that the king will not let them go unless compelled.  So perhaps they see opportunity, but there is real fear as well.  Will this work as God says?  How will they know?  What might happen if they are wrong?

  There always seem to be more questions than answers.  God is in the midst of the uncertainty, in the midst of the fear, and God will do wonders in the midst of it all.  

Exodus 3:15-18

Exodus 3:15-18 

English Standard Version

  God is giving Moses assurance here -- the people will hear, and they will listen, and they will seek an opportunity to worship.  God is using Moses to remind the people of their history with God -- this isn't something new that God is doing with a new people, but God is building on a history of intervention, and just as God sustained the culture before, God will sustain them now.  

  This is what's helpful about reading church history.  We read about things the church endured in previous generations, and we see how God brought the people through challenges, pushing them beyond obstacles into new stages of growth.  It's the same church, generation after generation, and the same God, faithfully guiding the people into the future.  It can be an uncertain future in our minds, but we can know with certainty that God will be with us and that God holds that future in God's hands.

Exodus 3:13-14

Exodus 3:13-14 

English Standard Version 

  If you were going on a mission from anyone, you'd want some signal of authority.  You'd want something that offered proof that an organization is vouching for you as an official emissary.  That's exactly what Moses requests -- evidence of God's authority for his mission.  

  Moses, as usual, gets more than he bargains for.  

  God gives him not just a name, but a divine mystery.  I read this once translated as I will be whosoever I will be.  God doesn't fit neatly into our ideas of identity -- a name cannot contain God.  God is bigger than our concepts.  God is bigger than our minds -- we cannot wrap our minds around God.  We try, all the time, but God escapes our grasp, time and time again.

  And this is a good thing.  We do not want a God that fits neatly into what we can expect.  We do not want a God that fits into our minds, because that means that God isn't bigger than we can imagine.  A God who exists outside of time and space is a God we'll never be able to fully conceptualize, but this is a God worth chasing, a God worth pursuing, and a God worth worshiping.

Exodus 3:10-12

Exodus 3:10-12 

English Standard Version 

  Moses isn't alone in his hesitation.  Isaiah and Jeremiah had similar responses to God's calling.  That Moses has some fear about going is natural -- his first attempt at intervention between the Hebrews and the Israelites didn't go very well -- he ended up in Midian due to fear at being found out.  Moses is an outsider now -- he's not seeing his upbringing as fantastic preparation for the mission God has set before him.

  God gives Moses an assurance that Moses doesn't go alone.  It's a little funny to me to picture Moses having this conversation with a burning bush, but Moses realizes there is something extraordinary going on here.  God is calling him now and promising a future to Moses.  

  In the same way, God calls us, having prepared us in particular ways, sending us into uncertain situations, and always promising God's presence with us.  We never go alone -- we go with God, and surrounded by the great cloud of witnesses that is the church in every time and place.

Exodus 3:7-9

Exodus 3:7-9 

English Standard Version 

  To all of you who suffer:  God sees.  You may have questions about God's response and questions about the community and questions about what comes next, but God sees.  Your suffering is not unnoticed.  God knows your suffering, and God will come down to deliver you.  I can't tell you when, and I'll not pretend that it makes everything ok in the meantime... but God sees, and God will come down in order to bring you up.  There is hope.

Exodus 3:1-6

Exodus 3:1-6 

English Standard Version 

  Moses says to himself that he'll turn aside to see this great sight... and he has no idea how this will completely transform his life.  He'll go from a shepherd in the backside of the wilderness to confronting Pharaoh in an attempt to free the Israelites to talking to God on a regular occasion as he leads the people to the cusp of the Promised Land.  

  We often don't know what we're getting into.  But God calls us, often having uniquely prepared us in ways we don't fully understand in the past.  Suddenly, we realize that the thing that happened years ago was actually preparation, and God will use that experience now to get us ready for what is to come.  

  We are called, out of the ordinary, day to day life, into the extraordinary.  May we go with humility, with courage, and with confidence, trusting in God every step of the way.

Exodus 2:23-25

Exodus 2:23-25 

English Standard Version 

  God hears.  God remembers.  God knows.  

  In all of our suffering, may we hold on to this.  The suffering of the Egyptians didn't immediately end.  They probably had a lot of questions, a lot of long, dark nights, and a lot of pain.  But that doesn't mean that God didn't have concern or interest.  There was a plan.  There is a plan.  There is salvation and deliverance, even if we cannot see it in the moment.

Exodus 2:16-22

Exodus 2:16-22 

English Standard Version 

  Here we see Moses, liberating people from an enemy.  The image that is funny to me is that Moses saves these women from the enemy, waters their flocks, and they up and leave him there.  He's hanging out by the well on his own, and their father has to convince them to bring him home.

  There are multiple scenes throughout Scripture where a young man meets his bride at the well.  In John 4, Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at the well.  She's had a long history of failed relationships, but this isn't just another betrothal scene.  Instead, Jesus points beyond earthly marriage to the heavenly love and acceptance that earthly love points to.  He's telling all of us that these well scenes that end in love are simply precursors to the ultimate love that we find in God, and so we should celebrate love where we see it today, but ultimate, we are all sojourners in a foreign land who find our true home in God.

Exodus 2:11-15

Exodus 2:11-15 

English Standard Version 

  Here is Moses, a Jewish boy who grew up in the Egyptian temple, and his first actions as an adult are to strike an Egyptian in defense of a Hebrew, and then it is to mediate a dispute between two Hebrews, attempting to impose a standard of justice.  The Hebrews rebel, asking about his authority, and in these few verses, we see patterns that will emerge throughout his entire life.  Moses will be at the center of the conflict between the Egyptians and the Hebrews, and he'll be mediating disputes between the Hebrews, trying to impose a standard of justice upon their behavior.  

  For us, here in 21st century America, the lesson is to hold on to a standard of behavior.  There is right and wrong, and Scripture points us towards that.  Let us not fall into the American trap of believing that each person has their own ethic and they are all equal.  Moses fought against that, and we should as well.  

Exodus 2:5-10

Exodus 2:5-10

English Standard Version 

  The early story of Exodus isn't how we would design it.  But think of the gift that it gives Moses later on -- he's able to relate to the Israelites under slavery because he experiences it as a young child, but he's also raised in the palace, so he understands the Egyptians and their way of life.  What better preparation for Moses, who would later directly address Pharoah and lead the people out of slavery?  It works out in the long run, but in the short term, there is so much risk and danger.  I shrink back because I can't see the longer perspective, but that's the gift of being part of God's church -- it's an eternal organization, one that is guaranteed to conquer the forces opposing it.  That's the long term perspective that Jesus gives us.  

Exodus 2:1-4

Exodus 2:1-4

English Standard Version 

  Happy New Year!  We'll start the new year by following Moses for a while.  Even the beginning of his story is fascinating, because the work used for 'basket' is the same word for Noah's ark.  Just as the ark saved the people from destruction, so it will deliver Moses from the watery destruction that Pharoah has in mind for Hebrew boys.  Pharoah sees a threat and believes that he can conquer it through his worldly power.  He doesn't realize that he's up against a power greater than he can fathom.

  In the same way, obstacles that we'll face this year will seem more daunting than we can imagine.  We won't be able to see a way around them, but God can.  God has a different perspective, an eternal perspective, and God's power is greater than any we can wrap our minds around.  So may we seek first to trust God in all things, and may we learn that what look to be an ending may, in fact, be a new beginning.