Timeline:
[showing the Patriarchs, time in Egypt and time in exodus]
Abraham, the
father of Isaac; Isaac the father of Jacob; Jacob the father of Joseph.
Joseph was
sold into slavery by his brothers, who were envious of him. Joseph was his
father’s favourite.
Joseph works
his way up to a position of influence in Egypt.
When there
was a famine in Israel, his brothers went to ask for grain, and the family is
reunited. The people of Israel were in Egypt for about 370 years.[i]
Exodus 1: 6-10
After Joseph, his brothers, and everyone else in that generation
had died, 7 the people of Israel
became so numerous that the whole region of Goshen was full of them.
8 Many years later a new
king came to power. He did not know what Joseph had done for Egypt, 9 and he
told the Egyptians:
There are
too many of those Israelites in our country, and they are becoming more
powerful than we are. 10 If we don’t outsmart them,
their families will keep growing larger. And if our country goes to war, they
could easily fight on the side of our enemies and escape from Egypt.
The people of Israel continued to increase in number, the Pharaoh
tried making them work harder, and asked the midwives to kill all male babies;
but they continued to increase in numbers.
Exodus 2:23-25
23 After the death of the king of Egypt, the Israelites still
complained because they were forced to be slaves. They cried out for help, 24 and God heard their loud cries. He did not forget the promise
he had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 25 and because he knew what was happening to his people, he felt
sorry for them.
Then Moses is called to lead the people out of
Egypt. And there are various plagues to convince Pharaoh to let the people
leave Egypt. Plagues that only effected the Egyptians, and not the people of
Israel.
[map 1]
Finally, the people leave, and here is a map that
shows the wandering in the wilderness.
[map 2] Here is the
google maps version, Moses and the people could have made it to Jerusalem in 30
days, walking just 5 hours each day.
But the people
took much longer than 30 days.
And here we
are, less than 2 months into the journey, and the people are complaining.
Remember when
you have been on a car trip with children:
·
Are
we there yet,
·
I’m
bored,
·
She’s
taking up my space,
·
He
keeps looking at me,
·
I’m
hungry,
·
Are
we nearly there yet?
And on, and on…
The people are
hungry
There is not a lot in the desert, and no
McDonalds to stop at.
They remember that
in Egypt there was food, forgetting how hard life was.
Every so often
something will come up on Facebook about the good old days:
when fireworks
were readily available
you could smoke anywhere
pools were not fenced
you could drive after a night out drinking
and seat belts were not compulsory
you could smoke anywhere
pools were not fenced
you could drive after a night out drinking
and seat belts were not compulsory
and then we remember
why things changed.
And in the church,
I hear about the good old days:
When churches and
Sunday schools were full
people spent all day at church
there was enough money
there were plenty of Ministers
people dressed properly for church
people spent all day at church
there was enough money
there were plenty of Ministers
people dressed properly for church
if only we
could go back …
to Egypt
to our youth
to no Sunday trading and no Sunday sport
to our youth
to no Sunday trading and no Sunday sport
if only we
could go back …
The people of
Israel had been slaves in Egypt for many generations, and now they are no
longer slaves, they need to learn how to live as free people.
There are a
few points I want us to think about this morning
1. God is present, all the time, despite
how bad things look, God is present.
2. Things look worse when we leave God
out of our thinking.
3. The people needed to depend on God for
their food each day. It was manna – which means what is that – each morning,
and quail each evening. Not a varied or inspiring diet, but food.
4. they were not to hoard; no collecting
more than you need. There was enough for everyone, for one day.
5. Except, one day a week, the Sabbath,
then you did not collect food. You could collect twice as much the previous
day. Still enough for everyone. [ii]
In what ways do
we need to trust God?
Where do we
need to not look back, but trust God for today and tomorrow and the day after?
One message from this passage is that:
It is very tempting
to look for the good old days.
quote: nostalgia
is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days [Doug Larson][iv]
the good old
days in Egypt may have had food, but also slavery and hardship.
We can be like
the people of Israel
enslaved by a
system that looks at output,
that values status
that provides enough entertainment that we don’t revolt;
that we don’t notice the ways in which we are disempowered.
that values status
that provides enough entertainment that we don’t revolt;
that we don’t notice the ways in which we are disempowered.
Or we can be
the people of God:
Trusting that
God will provide what we need
that there is enough for everyone
that we can take some rest
that we are loved by the God who is always present.
that there is enough for everyone
that we can take some rest
that we are loved by the God who is always present.
Can you think
of a time when you were aware of the presence and power of God, what from that can
you take hold of into the future?
