By about this
point in the Exodus story I’m imagining Moses is pretty stressed out. He’s over 80 years old and been called out of
being a shepherd to go back to Egypt, which he fled in the first place because
he murdered someone. Now he’s supposed
to go back and free the Israelites from slavery by the power of God, whom the
Israelites do not know. Moses goes, he
meets lots of opposition, but he stays faithful. By the power of God the people are set
free. Then there is trouble at the Red
Sea. There is also trouble with food and
with water. There is constant grumbling
from the people. Then more trouble with
God coming to give the commandments. It
is almost as if Moses has to not only lead this uncooperative people but he
also has to keep God’s temper under control.
Last week we read
about what happens when Moses steps away from the people to talk to God. They immediately get Moses’ brother Aaron to
make them an idol to worship. Moses gets
mad. God gets mad. The people are scared. You didn’t read these parts, but the story
gets weird. God orders the Levites to
kill 3000 people and God sends a plague to kill many more. That brings us to today and we again find
Moses trying to keep the people under control while also placating God.
Talk about stress! I did a Google search of memes about
stress. Listen to some of these results:
-No matter where you are in life, celebrate it! It’s either a product of your growth or a
place that will help you grow. Cheers to
today!
-Don’t let people pull you into their storm. Pull them into your peace.
-Storms don’t last forever.
-Anxiety happens when you think you have to figure out everything
all at once. Breathe. You’re strong. You got this.
Take it day by day.
And one more: -Keep trying.
Be believing. Be happy. Don’t get
discouraged. Things will work out.
And I want to
say, “Yeah right. Try telling Moses
that!” There’s lots of cheap sayings out
there meant to cheer us up. I suppose if
you’re in a bit of a funk over something fairly easy that sort of advice is
fine. But what about the real things in
life? What about medical pains and
conditions that just won’t get better?
What about financial stresses beyond your control? What about people caught in abusive
relationships or systems? What about family
dynamics that just overwhelm you and you know won’t get better?
I’ve shared
before about my aunt and uncle who couldn’t have children of their own so they
adopted: one, two, three kids. They had
a strong healthy family. Then they were
contacted to see if they would accept an emergency adoption of a child whose
mother was on drugs during the pregnancy.
The child would surely have some issues but they were unknown. My aunt and uncle, in the love and care of a
stable family decided they could offer this newborn a good chance at life.
Let me tell you,
he was a holy terror from day one.
Uncontrollable – often needed to be kept on a leash and sometimes the
other end of that leash was tied to a tree.
As he grew he became worse, constant injuries and run-ins with the
police. His brothers and sisters had to
keep their doors locked at all times to keep him out of their stuff. Therapists, specialists, you name it, they
tried it; to no effect. Trips,
vacations, holidays, family fun events all ruined by this terror of a
child. This is not true -just my
imagination- but instead of having a file on him at the local police station I
imagine they had a whole drawer on him!
It is as if the other kids in the family gave up their childhood to
support this guy.
Telling my aunt
and uncle and their other children to just hang in there, or this storm will
pass, or that God has a purpose for it, is just plain nonsense.
My cousin was
killed in his early 20s in a motorcycle accident. What was the point of his life? What was the point of the sacrificing? There was none – at least not that I can see.
I keep telling
myself I’ll get a copy of the book by Kate Bowler, Everything Happens for a Reason, and Other Lies I’ve Loved. What do you do when you’re caught in stupid,
helplessness? What do you do when your
whole life is heading nowhere? You’re
treading water at the moment but you know you can’t keep it up forever.
I think this is
the mindset we need to bring to Moses as we come up to our text today from
Exodus 33. His problems aren’t going
away! This storm will not pass!
Moses does two
things. One is very very subtle. The other is more obvious. The subtle one, and it is the foundation of
the second, is that Moses recognizes the need for God’s presence.
What is it that
makes the Israelites unique?
Nothing. There is nothing about
these freed slaves that gives them and identity. They have no heritage of land at this
point. They have no resources, no
uniquenesses. There is absolutely
nothing about them that sets them apart from any other nomadic people in the
Bronze Age. The one and only thing that
sets them apart from anyone else – the only thing that makes them unique – is that
God chose them.
Do not
underestimate how profound and essential that is to their identity, and it
speaks to ours as well. What made them a
people? God. Who made them special? God.
Where does their value lie? With
God and God alone. What is their only
hope for a future? God.
Our identity as
individuals and as a community of faith is similarly rooted. When times are tough –so tough that cute
memes are an insult- we turn to God; which is just what Moses did.
And that’s the
second thing. Are not Moses’ questions
and requests of God exactly the same as our own?
Here are Moses’
prayers to God from Exodus 33:
Show me your
ways…
Let me feel your presence…
Let me see your glory
These are bold prayers to make! They are insistent upon God. Theologian Walter Brueggemann notes this,
“[These prayers] are concerned with the person and presence of God. Moses’ mind does not wander onto other
agendas, but stays fixed on the presence as the crucial issue for his people. Second, Moses knows when to stop, for after
vv. 21-23 he goes no further. Moses is a
model for prayer, because he takes into full and knowing account the one with
whom he must do business. He
acknowledges not only the sovereignty of God but also his own considerable
freedom in prayer.” (New Interpreter’s
Bible, Volume 1, pg. 942)
So, when you feel overwhelmed, when
problems are just too great, or when there seems to be no hope or progress for
the future, remember whose you are. You
are God’s. You are not your job or your
income level or your social status or how many friends you have.
You are now, have always been, and
will always be, God’s. Nothing else
gives your life -your existence- any purpose or meaning. That’s not a cute meme. That’s a powerful and profound truth.
Will it solve your problems? That would be nice, but it might not. Will it make you a happy person? That would be nice too, but it might not. But it does mean that you are secure. In that security we can find hope.
We’ll be looking at the Exodus story
for a few more weeks. If you know it you
know that Moses does not reach the Promised Land. The people he led move into it under Joshua’s
command. While you could say the story
has a happy ending Moses does not get to participate in it.
And sometimes life truly is too
much. But God’s promised presence is
that God will be with us always – through thick and thin, through easily solved
problems and through unsolvable, unbeatable problems. And God’s presence takes us into the promise
of eternal life. For we do well to
remember that when things are too overwhelming that is our final and ultimate
reality.
Let me conclude with these words of
St. Paul’s from 2 Corinthians 4, “So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting ways,
our inner nature is being renewed day by day.
For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal
weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but
at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be
seen is eternal.”
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