11-03-2023

Good Morning All,

         Exodus 14:21b; “All that night the Lord pushed back the sea with a strong east wind and turned the sea into dry ground.”

    Do you remember that song by Simon and Garfunkel called “Sounds of Silence?”  It is a very plaintive song about a person who feels that he is completely isolated from anyone and everyone.  In the process of this event, he feels the cold and damp while seeing people who are talking but he doesn’t hear anything because they are speaking to him.  He feels lost and without hope.

    That is how the Israelites found themselves while they were in captivity in Egypt.  They were isolated from their land and were alone in a foreign land, enslaved by their cruel taskmasters.  They sat in bondage and cried to God to save them.  Even as they prayed, God seemed distant and unhearing.  The Egyptians continued to beat them and crush their spirit, crush their hope.

    There are times in our life when we probably feel the same way.  Perhaps it is waiting for the results from a doctor’s visit.  You know, one of those visits where cancer is still a possibility.  Or maybe even worse is when the doctor just scratches his head and says, “I just don’t know.”  Perhaps your boss keeps talking about “downsizing” or “re-structuring.”  Maybe it’s been more than a year of hearing, “we aren’t hiring right now.”  I visited with a young man whose family just showed him the door, gave him a suitcase, and then closed the door; how far away is God there?  These are but a few examples, you can probably add some of your own.   The thing is God is never far away; we just don’t always see it clearly.

    In our verse, God was at work for the Israelites at a very dark time in their existence.  The only life that they knew was slavery.  Then, miraculously, they were freed by the Egyptian Pharaoh only to have him change his mind and then begin to chase them through the desert.  Maybe you have felt that way.  Some pain just seems to chase after us.  It seems that many of us have some form of an addiction.  It doesn’t have to be to a chemical, like drugs or alcohol, it might be a feeling or an inclination to a mood.  It might be that nagging desire to gossip or envy your neighbor.  Or it might be that constant feeling that, deep down, you don’t think you are good enough.  This can be dark times.

    Yet our verse gives us a clue into our God.  He used the very creation that is his to save his people.  The winds pushed back the sea to form dry land.  The Israelites were saved from the Egyptians and their slavery.  God does the same thing for us; he uses his creation, simple and plain, for our good.  He uses water connected with his Word to cleanse us of our sin and he uses bread and wine tied to his Word to nourish our spirit and to refresh our soul.  Yet he also uses the beauty of a flower or the freshness of a summer rain to give us comfort.  He uses the members of his church to console us as we need.  We don’t always “see” or “feel” God active in our life, but he is.

Father, thank you for the blessing of today and the promise of tomorrow.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret