Exodus 14:19-31
(See Prayer for the Prayer of the Day)
Good morning … welcome to Covenant on the Corner!
I’m glad to be here, and I know that you are, too.
A Kindergarten teacher was observing the children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work.
As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was.
The girl replied, "I'm drawing God."
The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like."
Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, "They will in a minute.
We’re all drawing God-pictures!
I met a young man the other day who said to me, “I grew up with a harsh God – rules and requirements, and if ya’ didn’t do it right, God would get ya’ in the end.”
“So I’ve chosen another God.”
“The nurturing, loving God … that’s the God I believe in and honor, and it’s made a huge difference in my life.”
We’re all drawing God-pictures!
What’s your God-picture like?
In the bulletin, 4 images:
Square,
Circle,
Straight line,
Curlicue …
If you were going to choose one of the four images for your God-picture, which one? … or is there another image you’d prefer?
give it some thought for a moment … which image seems good to you? As a God-picture.
We’ll do a little work here this morning …
Turn to your neighbor - share the image you’ve chosen … and why?
[Pause … … … … …]
Like the little girl in school, we’re all drawing God-pictures …
The Bible is a virtual museum of God-pictures …
From Genesis to Revelation … God-pictures …
Straight lines, curliques, boxes and circles … every color in the rainbow and then some …
Genesis, Deuteronomy … Leviticus … Job and Psalms … Ezekiel’s wheels and Isaiah’s “peaceable kingdom.”
Matthew and Mark … Paul and Peter … Hebrews and the Book of Revelation …
I have my favorite God-pictures … I bet you do, too.
I like the picture of God out for an afternoon stroll in the Garden of Eden …
God telling Moses how to get water from a rock …
God visiting us in Bethlehem … a little cradle boy who one day carries a cross …
And I like the God-picture in Revelation – when God puts it all back together again!
The Bible is like a visit to LACMA… different galleries, different periods of time; different artists … different styles; different techniques …
Some pictures are hard to look at: the brutal destruction of Canaanite towns …
But right next to it hanging on the same wall, Jesus and the woman at the well.
Some pictures I understand; some elude me.
This morning, we’re in one of the galleries … the Exodus Gallery …
I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.
The Exodus Gallery …
One room of many …
Let’s back up a bit and review …
Last week, a question:
What should God do with us?
What should God do with you?
With me?
God learned the hard way – violence doesn’t work.
The flood failed.
The world was no better off, not one bit safer, after the flood.
All of that shock and awe didn’t work!
So what’s God to do?
God decides to work with the world as it is …
To work with us, not against us … work in partnership, accepting our limitations; the way we do things … sometimes doing things very well, and sometimes capable of hideous behavior.
But God works with us as we are.
In the hopes that we can all build a better world together.
So what’s God to do?
God creates a people in the midst of the nations … a people with sensitivity … guided by the Ten Commandments … not better than anyone else; not bigger and tougher … just different …
Starting with Abraham and Sarah, God creates a family.
And the family grows … strives and struggles to figure it out.
Famine drives them down to Egypt, and there they stay … to become slaves of Pharaoh, for 400 hundred years …
What’s God to do?
God raises up a leader … Moses by name … a Hebrew baby rescued from the reeds and raised in Pharaoh’s palace … in a moment of rage, Moses kills an Egyptian overlord and then runs for his life to the desert of Midian, where he becomes a successful shepherd …marries and settles down.
What’s God to do?
A burning bush on the hillside … Moses steps over, and before he knows it, God says, Take off you shoe Moses. Kick back and relax. We’re going to be here for a while.
Moses, I want you to go back to Egypt … lead my people to freedom.
So Moses, albeit reluctantly, takes up the mantle of leadership and returns to Egypt … but no smooth sailing for Moses.
Because Pharaoh doesn’t like what Moses suggests.
Pharaoh has a dream … a sense of the world and how it ought to be … Pharaoh sees himself as divine, and Egypt is a divine power … the world belongs to Egypt … Egypt, love it or leave it!
What’s God’ to do?
Plagues come and plagues go … finally the trump card: the death of the first-born – Pharaoh relents and lets the people go.
But buyer’s remorse sets in … Pharaoh calls up the army and off they go to bring these runaway slaves back to Egypt.
And when Pharaoh’s army arrives, the Hebrew people have their back to the sea.
Trapped!
Ever feel trapped?
Trapped in a crummy job.
Trapped in a destructive relationship.
Trapped in self-defeating behavior?
Trapped in an unpredicted turn of events?
Trapped in someone’s gossip?
Trapped in childhood memories?
A father who drank too much and raged and rambled …
A family member a little too friendly with you …
You were too tall for a girl, and too fat for a boy … and you’ll never forget the withering remarks and scalding jokes …
Trapped!
Ugly feeling.
We’ve all been there.
It’s a part of life …
So what do you do when you’re trapped?
Let’s look at the story again.
The situation appeared hopeless:
Pharaoh threatening …
The sea ahead too deep to cross.
No way through.
No way out.
Yet at the last moment, salvation.
Why did God wait?
Right down to the wire.
The last tick of the clock.
No more timeouts.
I don’t have an answer for that.
Maybe an answer isn’t needed.
What we have is a promise.
I am with you always!
I will never leave you or forsake you.
I am at work in all things for good.
The Exodus story is a story of hope and encouragement.
The seas part and the people are safe.
And you’re safe, too.
There is always a way through …
Over.
Under or around …
There’s always a way …
Sometimes God waits to the last moment to make it clear …
Patience is everything …
When you find yourself trapped, remember the Exodus story.
God is a God of escape!
You will be safe!
Amen and Amen!
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