Home thoughts from abroad.wordpress.com

Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.

Someone was telling me about another person they had conversed with. They made the observation about that individual, that they just seemed ‘defeated’.

We saw yesterday that the preacher must speak God’s Word whether or not it is received.

But the preacher needs to understand that members of the congregation may be carrying things which make it hard for them to accept and respond to the message – even though the living word  offers them freedom. Maybe they feel they’ve heard it all before. Or they think it might work for others, but it doesn’t work for them. They are ground down by life, and so is their expectation.

You may know the saying attributed to Socrates (the philosopher, not the footballer!):

‘Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.’

The preacher needs to remember that the people in the pews are not machines or automata. They have their struggles. Many of them have dragged their weary, discouraged, fearful, hurting, maybe even doubtful, selves into church. But they are there all the same. Some are unwell, perhaps in pain. There are the sick in mind as well as body. Socrates was right, they all have some kind of struggle. Or if they are not going through one currently, they have been through one (or several) in the past, or they’re going to go through one (or more) in the future. Life can be hard.

We all bring our weather-beaten souls into the sanctuary. (Let the congregation ever remember that this also applies to their leaders. They are not machines either! Pray for them).

Notice that the people’s lack of response did not alter God’s plan to set them free (10,11). Again, we marvel at, and are grateful for the grace and mercy of God.

‘…they were too discouraged and disillusioned to believe. Often we deprive ourselves of God’s comfort and encouragement by turning away from Him rather than listening to His word.

On the other hand, people who are terribly crushed down have great difficulty with believing, hoping, persevering; this was certainly true for the Israelites. So God didn’t wait for them to believe his words; instead, He began to act on their behalf. He knew their weakness and their suffering. And in mercy He came to their rescue.

God sometimes waits until we reach the end of our strength, and then He acts; that way we will know it was God who delivered us, and not we ourselves. “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” ‘ Tom Hale: ‘Applied Old Testament Commentary’, pp. 216, 217.

“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’”

A young preacher asked an older, more seasoned preacher, ‘What should I speak about?’ The older man’s reply: ‘About God, and about 20 minutes!!’

Well, not everyone would agree with his thoughts about duration (and it does, in fact, take under a minute to read verses 6-8). But Moses certainly spoke about God.

More importantly, he spoke from God.

God was speaking through him.

At the end of our first term in Bible College, I was sent to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, for two weeks of ministry experience. I went with a good friend and fellow-student, Billy Williamson, a Scots lad from Greenock. We were warmly welcomed into the church, and into the home of the ‘Elim’ pastor and his wife: Dennis and Ronaldine Phillips. Dennis passed on this piece of counsel about preaching, and I’ve never forgotten it: ‘Just give them what you’ve got.’ He was saying, ‘Don’t worry if it’s short; don’t get hung-up about the length. Just receive from the Lord, and then deliver it. Give them what you’ve got.’

Such as I have give I unto you!

Well, Moses had a word from the Lord.

But note that although the preacher needs to give what he or she has got, the congregation aren’t guaranteed to receive it: to believe and obey it. They won’t necessarily like it. As we will see tomorrow, this ‘church’ didn’t enjoy Moses’ sermon. No-one was likely to listen again online. They pushed the dinner plate full of good food away.

But here’s the important thing: Moses spoke what God gave him to say. He was faithful; and I suppose we could say the talk ‘went viral’, because it has been heard by innumerable people through the centuries, and we are still listening, and benefitting today.

Whether people believe His Word or not, God is powerful and God is able.

PRAYER: Lord, we pray for all who are called to preach your Word. May they hear from you, and loyally and courageously pass on whatever you give to them

God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.

Spiritual memory is important for our perseverance in the faith. We remember (deliberately call to mind) what God has said and done in the past.

This applies to our own experience. Whenever I look over an old journal, for example, I am often surprised, and encouraged, to see some of the things I have recorded.

It also applies to the experiences of fellow-Christians. Church history and Christian biography can provide fuel to feed the flames of our faith. We are energised by the stories of other churches and believers.

But most of all it applies to Scripture, where we have the inspired record of God’s words and deeds.

Verses 2-5 are in many ways an appeal to memory. See here:

• Who God is (2,3; see also 6 & 8): Note the inference that this is a new day. The Patriarchs knew the Name “Yahweh” (“the Lord”), but they did not know Yahweh in their personal experience – not  in the way Moses and the Israelites were going to know Him. They didn’t understand the full implications of His Name. Warren Wiersbe makes the point that this is ‘the special name of God that links Him with Israel and His covenants, and it is so sacred to Jews even today that they will not speak it when they read the Scriptures in the synagogue. Instead, they substitute “Adonai” (Master) or simply say “the Name.” ‘ (Old Testament Commentary, p.154)
• What God has done (4): and there is within this, surely, a nod to what he is going to do;
• What God does (5): He hears the earnest cries of His people. When He says, “I have remembered my covenant” it does not mean He had suffered a temporary memory lapse. Rather it is a way of conveying that He had been waiting for the right time to act. That time was now. Faith in God includes trust in His timing.

PRAYER: Lord please help me to remember what you have done for me, what you have done for others, and, most of all, the things you have done and recorded in your Word.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.” (6:1)

‘God’s chosen servants must expect opposition and misunderstanding, because that’s part of what it means to be a leader; and leaders must know how to get alone with God, pour out their hearts, and seek His strength and wisdom. Spiritual leaders must be bold before people but broken before God (see Jer 1) and must claim God’s promises and do His will even when everything seems to be against them.’ Warren W. Wiersbe.

As we saw last time, and as Wiersbe so rightly points out, it was a good and right thing that Moses should pray. Someone said what a person is on their knees before God, that they are and nothing more. However Moses seemed to have missed, or misunderstood, or forgotten (or not accepted) something the Lord had clearly foretold about Pharaoh’s resistance.

But when God replied to Moses, He did not castigate him for his frail fallibility. He is so gracious and merciful, and if He were not, what hope would there be for any of us? He just said, in effect, ‘It’s time!’ ‘It’s my time to act, and I’m going to show my power and deal with this situation.’ (The reference to God’s “mighty hand” is about His power). God, by His power, can deal with our enemies; God, by His power, can change the worst of situations.

Spurgeon said: ‘The holiest of Christians, and those who understand best the gospel of Christ, find in themselves a constant inclination to look to the power of the creature, instead of looking to the power of God and the power of God alone.’

So we may want to pray today:

“Summon your might, O God. Display your power, O God, as you have in the past.” (Psalm 68:28: ‘New Living Translation’).

Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? 23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”

 I heard a story about a preacher who had a highly effective ministry. When asked about the secret of his success he replied, ‘I don’t really know. All I can say is I am a serious reader of the Bible.’

God’s Word is congruent with reality. It describes the world as it is. God wants people to take Him simply at His Word, walking by faith and not by sight.

Serious readers of the Bible are careful readers. We need to be. Otherwise we might miss something, or misunderstand it.

As I will say in the next thought, leaders need to know how to bring their troubles to God in prayer. This is a good thing. But in his praying, Moses seems to have completely missed what God foretold about Pharaoh’s intransigence. Had Moses not heard this? Had he forgotten it? Was he simply worn down by the complaining and criticism? The truth is I don’t know. But as Moses prayed this desperate prayer, it was as if God had not said what He clearly had spoken (3:19), namely that Pharaoh would resist, but his resistance would not be the last word on the situation.

“Relying on God has to start all over everyday, as if nothing has yet been done.” C.S.Lewis

PRAYER: Lord God, help me to be diligent in studying and knowing your Word, faithful in believing it, active in obeying it

‘Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ (See also verse 8).

Not everything said about you is true. Not everything you say about you is true. We can hear lies, and they can depress us. We are not ultimately defined by anything anyone says about us other than God. Be careful what you believe.

Three times in this chapter Pharaoh accuses the slave-driven Israelites of being “lazy.” That is a bit rich when you consider the details surrounding his accusation.

Simply to say this: you may well find the finger of a pharaoh-like conscience wagging at you whenever you endeavour to make time to pray (in obedience to God’s own Word). Or perhaps as you try to observe a weekly rhythm of Sabbath.

There may even be other Christians who think you are slacking if you spend much time in intercession. (But anyone who has attempted to make a serious business of prayer knows what hard work it actually is!) I think of Paul’s words about Epaphras: “He is always wrestling in prayer for you…” (Colossians 4:12b). I used to watch the wrestling with my dad when I was a kid – regular Saturday afternoon entertainment for him. In my memory, wrestling conjures up images of perspiration.

The devil is a ruthless opponent and he has a vested interest in trying to choke your prayer life. If the accusation that you are lazy works, then he’s going to use it.

I don’t remember the exact quote, but in ‘Brothers, we are not professionals’, John Piper said there is something counter-cultural about the sight of a pastor kneeling beside a desk piled high with papers. He has lots to do, but he’s going to prioritise time on his knees. He’s not going to allow the cry of the urgent to drown out the call of the all-important.

“That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people: 7 “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. 8 But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.”

10 Then the slave drivers and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw. 11 Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.’” 12 So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. 13 The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.” 14 And Pharaoh’s slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed, demanding, “Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?”

15 Then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why have you treated your servants this way? 16 Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”

17 Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.”

19 The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.” 20 When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, 21 and they said, “May the Lord look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

22 Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? 23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”

‘If you’re going through hell keep going’ Winston Churchill.

I remember a line from Ronald Dunn’s excellent book ‘Don’t just stand there, pray something!’ He said he had noticed that when you start to seriously pray about a situation ‘on the way to better it regularly drops by worse.’ That observation resonated with me. It’s not always the case, but I think it often is, and faith has to persevere and hold on to the promises of God whilst traversing a barren landscape. Many times you may find yourself having to ‘return to the Lord’ (22), feeling the weight of doubt, fear and questions that threaten to asphyxiate your trust.

In Moses’ case, the promise of 3:18-22 still stood, and note that within it God had foretold Pharaoh’s hard-hearted resistance:

 “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

21 “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. 22 Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.”

But it must have been hard to live through that middle bit when the king was digging his heels in and the people were suffering intensely. It is a test of faith when the promises of God assure us deliverance is coming, but our daily reality is the burden of oppression, with no end in sight.

‘Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of doing the hard work you already did.’ Newt Gingrich.

But…

‘By perseverance the snail made it to the ark.’ C.H.Spurgeon.

“Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’”

2 Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”

3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”

4 But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!” 5 Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working.”

First of all, note the possible implication at the end of verse 3b that if the Israelites fear God, Pharaoh and the Egyptians certainly ought to! He is not to be messed with. They have been warned.

Secondly have you ever been in a situation where you felt valued only because of your work? (Maybe under-valued because of it?) Perhaps you were at a social gathering and someone asked what you did, and they quickly moved on to find someone ‘more interesting’ or ‘more important’ to talk to. Your status (or earning capacity) wasn’t quite high enough.

What of the unemployed, the parents who choose to stay at home, those who work in the voluntary sector, or the retired?

Henri Nouwen chose to spend seven months in a Trappist monastery from June to December in 1974, and afterwards he published a report of his time there in ‘the Genesee Diary.’ One entry I always remember referred to his father who had recently retired as an academic. His dad told him that stay in the monastery  would be ‘good preparation for that time which only seemingly is far away from you” (meaning retirement). His father, who he describes as a joyful man, not bitter, nevertheless felt something of the anonymity of his new status.

In Pharaoh I see an emblem of a world system which values work over worship, if it values worship at all. Pharaoh was not concerned about the Israelites as people; he was only interested in them as economic units – contributors to the Egyptian economy.

But in the beginning man/woman had a relationship with God before they were set to work. First and foremost we are called to worship God, then our work flows out of our worship. It is empowered and informed by our worship. In fact we should not drive a wedge between worship and work. Our work can be an act of worship when we do everything in the Name of Jesus.

“Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’”

“Why is it,” comedian Lily Tomlin asks, “that when we speak to God we are said to be praying but when God speaks to us we are said to be schizophrenic?” Dallas Willard.

At this time, in these circumstances, Moses and Aaron knew God’s mind; they were aware of what God wanted. When you have such an insight it tends to give you a boldness to be able to speak to people – those inside and outside the church. They may or may not listen; they might or might not like the content of your message. But you have the courage to speak it regardless.

This is a crucial element of Biblical leadership. We need to so position ourselves that we are in a place to hear from God should He choose to speak to us. We are not asked to come up with our own clever strategies for growing the church. It’s not about going to a conference and picking up a brilliant idea from someone else’s context and then trying to make it work ‘here’. Of course we can learn from other churches and leaders, and I think we should want to, but our essential call is to walk with God.

As God leads you, He may not give you the whole map, but if He let’s you have even a fragment showing you the next step it will be sufficient.

As I reflected on this I thought about those from “Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.” 1 Chronicles 12:32.

May all church leaders be in their tribe!

Thought: “Few people arise in the morning as hungry for God as they are for cornflakes or toast and eggs.” Dallas Willard.