The first two chapters of Exodus stand out because of how little mention there is of God. He seems for the most part to be completely absent and largely passive. This begs the question - what should we do or think when we expect God to show up big for us and he doesn't show up? God's people, the Israelites, had every reason to think that God would show up big for them. Exodus picks up right from where Genesis left off, and based on where Genesis ends we would think that Exodus would immediately launch into the story of God's people triumphantly returning to the land God had promised to their ancestors.
This however is not what happens. The Exodus story begins with the Israelites still in Egypt and being brutally oppressed by Egyptians under the direction of Pharaoh the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was afraid of how many Israelites there were in Egypt, believing that they were a potential future threat to the empire. So his plan was to make sure they remained under Egyptian power. His plan began with enslaving the people, and soon escalated to an effort to slowly decimate them by killing their newborn boys. To do this he enlisted two Hebrew midwives. However the midwives we are told "feared God" (Ex 1:17). They recognized God's authority over all things and thus refused to obey the king's commands. Their fear of God is recognized by God and ends up blessing these midwives with families. And despite the king's efforts, the Israelites continue to increase in number (Exo 1:20).
How then should we view all this? Often, the reality is that while God's people today, the church, have great ideas and plans and great expectations of God, roadblocks come up, problems arise, and we find ourselves feeling quite alone and wondering where God is and what he's doing. The temptation is to give up and resign ourselves to defeat. What Exodus 1 shows us is that God is there and that he's always there with his people, even when it most seems like he's not there. In fact, throughout this chapter we can see God's "invisible" hand working. The Israelites kept growing even under oppression only because of God. The midwives were kept safe and were successful in their efforts only because of God.
It would be much later when God finally began to do big things on behalf of the Israelites in visible and obvious ways. It certainly happened much later than the people wanted. But it happened when God wanted, which means it happened at the perfect time so that the most perfect display of his greatness would be witnessed and experienced by his people.
Suffering and God's seeming absence often seem to be preconditions to God working great triumphs on behalf of his people. This first story in Exodus is one example of this, and it points ahead to an evener great example of this in the story of Jesus. Those around Jesus definitely thought God was going do big things through him. Jesus was the Son of God after all! But then Jesus was arrested, beaten, and crucified. And on the cross Jesus hung there forsaken, alone, abandoned, crushed. God seemed totally absent. If there was any moment to doubt God and his promises it was that moment of Jesus hanging on the cross.
Yet this bloody shameful death served as the setup for the greatest and biggest act of God in human history, namely, the rising of Christ from the dead, and his victory over all evil and death and sin. The story of Jesus reinforces and amplifies the main lesson to be learned in this beginning story of Exodus – that even in suffering, even in doubt, even in disappointment and discouragement, God is there, he's always there, working on behalf of his people and for the sake of his great name.
To become a Christian means looking through all the evils done to you and all the evils you've done to others until you see the God who was there, who was always there, steadily leading you to himself. It's seeing how the first big act of God in your life was setting Jesus before you and saying, "Trust me by trusting in what I did for you through him."
This trust sets a pattern now for our whole lives. To accomplish God's mission will for mean each of us a deliberate trusting and fearing of God. We will only be able to move forward with confidence when we know and trust that in the end God wins and that nothing can threaten that. Indeed, with only two midwives God was able to stop the murderous efforts of the mightiest king of that time. And above all, God was able to use his Son Jesus to stop every evil, dark, sin infested power from ruling over our lives.
This is a great encouragement! We should be honest though. It is likely that we will go through suffering and even doubt and discouragement before experiencing the fulfillment of God's promises for us. However, we will persevere, we will fear and obey God and stay "on mission," if we look with strong focus and dependence on Jesus. Jesus is the constant reminder that God is there and that he is always there working.
1 comment:
This was a great start to a series. Passages like these, always seem to bring up the question as to why God allows such evil-but what a powerful example of God's sovereign care and grace in saving Moses! I don't think I've ever read Exodus 1 and come away thinking about how big God showed himself to be even in these beginning verses...I've always thought of it as a prelude to the great miracles and deliverance.
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