Thursday, January 22, 2015

Thursday, 1/22/2015

“God creates out of nothing. Wonderful you say. Yes, to be sure, but he does what is still more wonderful: he makes saints out of sinners.” ~ Soren Kierkegaard

EXODUS 1-3

Jacob and his brothers all die and are forgotten in Egypt.  However their decedents are fruitful and begin to be a threat to the Egyptians.  Pharaoh becomes concerned and demands that all young boys be killed. Moses' mother hides him and then one day puts him in a basket to float down to where Pharaoh's daughters are bathing.  One of them discovers him and desires to have him as her son.  Moses' mother cares for him until he is older and then he goes and lives as an Egyptian.

One day Moses retaliates  when one of his people is being beaten and kills the Egyptian.  Pharaoh ultimately finds out and Moses flees for his life.  He joins a clan from Midian and marries a girl named Zipporah.  They have a son named Gershom.

One day while tending the flocks of his father-in-law, God confronts him in a burning bush and commands him to go to Egypt and help lead all the Israelites out and to the promised land. Moses questions God

"Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"  And God said, "I will be with you.  And this will the the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."

MATTHEW 15:21-39

Jesus withdraws again and goes to the region of Tyre and Sidon.  A Canaanite woman approaches him and asks him to heal her demon-possessed daughter.  Jesus does not acknowledge her and responds that he was sent to the lost of Israel.  The woman however is relentless and kneels before him and begs for him to help her.  Jesus responds
"Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." (28)
Jesus leaves there and is goes up on a mountainside where thousands of people follow him.  He heals their sick and then becomes concerned because they have been with him for three days with nothing to eat.
"I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat.  I don not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way."
So Jesus takes the little food they have and turns it into enough to feed all of them.  After he sends them away, he gets into a boat and go in the vicinity of Magadan.

JOURNAL

Times change, good deeds are forgotten and the Israelites go from being honored and blessed to slaves and despised. God again goes and calls the most unlikely into service.  Moses, is perfect in some ways but all wrong in others. While he does know the way of the Egyptians, he is a fugitive wanted for murder.

Here is God doing the unlikely, accomplishing his objectives yet also healing Moses and his heart.  When we would count someone out, write them off as lost and a screw up.  God enters the picture and does the impossible with the impossible.  It is almost as if God waits till the situation and circumstance is at its worst, just to show off.

But that is the beauty of God.  He is the master story teller whose signature work is to accomplish his purposes and redeem the lost.

The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. (Luke 4:18-19)

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