Introduction
Where God gets involved in the human condition, and we as humans can actively see such involvement, we state 'there must be a God.' We admit that things are rotten in Denmark, that there is trouble in River City, that things cannot seem to get any worse, and then it does. But then we turn and view the work of God, in someone's enterprise, or in another's relief or in the rain in the parched west, and we boldly announce, "There is a God."
Oswald Chambers, Scottish theologian died 1922) is quoted as saying, "Faith for my deliverance is not faith in God. Faith means, whether I am visibly delivered or not, I will stick to my belief that God is love. There are some things only learned in a fiery furnace." Of course Chambers is referencing the story in the book of Daniel about the 3 friends of Daniel and their experience in the Furnace that consumed everything, except them! It is a metaphor for troubles in this world, and Chambers is encouraging us in the midst of troubles. Most of us seek no pain and suffering. Many would rather avoid all misery. But as Chambers says, "some things are only learned" in such misery.
In this chapter, we see various scenes of a drama. The Jewish people are longing for someone to help, and the king is also. Where is deliverance?
Act 1: In Egypt at birth. The delivering one is delivered
Today's story begins near the river Nile. Egyptians viewed the river as a god which supplied them with bounty, produce, rest and comfort. The river will play a significant role in the rest of the book. Jewish heroes may just pop on the scene, but they are from somewhere and their genealogy matters. The story features the princess of Pharaoh welcoming a basket with a baby, and she noted it was a Hebrew baby. How did she know he was Jewish? I believe it was the circumcision of the boy which was distinguishing. I'm guessing that there was some kind of arrangement signed or spoken and thus at the end of the contracted time, Miriam brought Moses back to the princess. The future deliverer is delivered out of the Nile and out of the care of the princess and spared for sparing. God's plans will not be thwarted.
Act 2: 40 years later: Conflict resolution.
The story skips ahead. There is no need for equal measurement in the drama. And he gets to the next major conflict, the one between an Egyptian and a Jewish man. Something angered Moses. Probably it was the injustice. Even so, the people to whom Moses is being sent, or at least is beginning to be sent, don't exactly welcome him as their deliverer. That will be the case throughout our Jewish history, summed up most dramatically in the person of Yeshua, Jesus who will be rejected to the end of his days by many of the very people to whom He was sent.
Act 3: In Midian: Moses delivering the daughters of Jethro
Moses exits after being outed and approaches the area of Midian, and sees some women being taken advantage of by some shepherds who no doubt muscle their way into the wells. These women are daughters of a man we know as Jethro. Moses delivers the women. As a direct result he gains a wife in Zipporah.
The new couple have a boy whose name means a Stranger There. In other words, Moses' ministry is not to be a settler in that place, in the wilderness, but rather, somewhere else. Strange, isn't it, since he spent another 40 years in the wilderness with the disagreeable people of our ancestry.
Act 4: Back in Egypt: Where is the Deliverer?
Our story today ends with the aching of the Jewish people back in Egypt. They don't know the adventures of Moses. They don't even know he's our hero yet. They think he was a one-off wonder who fancied himself a hero. But what they were not seeing was God's plans and God's sculpturing of his hero, the servant of God, Moses.
Conclusion: What do we learn as a result of reading this text?
1) God has begun the answer to your prayers long before you even pray them
2) God's choice of His deliverer is not always a welcome one to the people to whom he is sent
3) God's plans will not be thwarted
4) Jesus, God's eternal choice as Messiah and Lord, carries on the deliverance ministry of Moses, and is not always welcomed by his own people
No comments:
Post a Comment