Exodus

I absolutely love the book of Exodus. I have learned so much about God through this book. I would like to add a couple of comments...

1. I think we can all learn about being delivered and going through our own personal exodus'. If we look, the Israelites forget what God does...over, and over, and over. And Moses, and eventually the prophets, all continually say, "Remember..." Remember when God delivered you from Egypt. Remember when God was there and separated the water. Remember when God provided for you. And I think we, the church, and individually, forget sometimes that God has taken us out of our own Egypt and delivered us. I think we can hear the prophets words echo in our hearts..."Remember..." Remember when God provided the money. The food. The people. The resources.

2. I think it's very interesting to see God's nature on Mt. Sinai. God says, "You will be my priest...a holy nation." (NASB/Vince version). Priest? We, just people, full of sin, are to be priest. God was looking for a body. Looking for a group of people to dwell amongst. He says that he "hears the cry of the oppressed" and "he listens, and redeems them". God is looking for people, to be His body, his priest, to be "God on earth". And so as his body, we have to ask the question, "What are we supposed to do." And in my mind it's simple, we hear the cry of the oppressed. We hear, we listen, and we deliver...just as God delivered us. God says to Moses that we are to take care of the orphan and the widow. Take care of the oppressed. And if we don't, well...we're putting people back in Egypt. We're doing exactly what God doesn't want us to do. And to that, God says he will deliver those people, just like he delivered us. But at our own expense. So the question I pose is this, are we hearing the cry of the oppressed? Redeeming, freeing people? Or are we, in a way, Pharaoh, and putting people back into Egypt. Where they are crying, and broken, and needing deliverance. And if we are...then that puts God at an awkward juncture. We are supposed to people of God, priests. And if we aren't being what he's called, then what are we being? And how does God deal with that? The Israelites eventually became the biggest Empire around Solomon's reign. And they stopped listening to God, the stopped hearing the cries of the oppressed, and started getting things at others expenses. They had slaves, armies, money, ivory temples, and God doesn't like any of that (Isaiah 1 NASB). And he sends Amos to King Amaziah (a descendent of Solomon). He says that they must stop, or God will put destruction on him, his family, and the Israelites. Amos says, "I was neither a prophet, not the disciple of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord took me out from tending the flock and said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.'...Therefore this is what the Lord says: 'Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword...And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land." (Amos 7.14-17) WOW! Exile...it's funny. At the height of power, Israel misused blessings, favortism and entitlement. They became indifferent to God, to the calling they had to bring liberation to others. Exile. When you still have the power and the wealth and the influence, and yet, you blow it. You forgot who you were in the first place. So I ask...have we forgotten? Are we in exile? Have we forgotton our story? Have we failed to convert our blessing into blessing for others? Exile...is when we find ourselves strangers to the purposes of God.

Just some things to think about this weekend. Where are we in God? Where are we in the world? Where are you...in St. Louis? Are we in exile? Do we hear the cry of the oppressed? Do we take care of the oppressed, the orphan, widow? (Isaiah 1.17 NASB) Do we free people...or put them back in exile...back in Egypt?

VM