20 March 2010
Psalm 107:33-43, Exod. 2:23-3:15; 1 Cor. 13:1-13; Mark 9:14-29

The burning bush. Moses sees the sign and hears the voice calling him. How long had he longed to hear God’s voice telling him what had become of his life, for what purpose was he saved as a baby. The Lord makes an announcement of who He is, the God of Moses’ fathers, and of His intent, to deliver Israel from bondage and take them to the promised land. Then comes the shocker, “So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” I can’t imagine that Moses saw that coming at all and his response is incredulity, “Who am I…” He is uniquely positioned to be able to speak to Pharaoh and also now to identify with the Hebrews. Remember that Joseph told his family to tell Pharaoh they were shepherds because the Egyptians don’t like shepherds, well that is what Moses has been for the past 40 years in a foreign land, which he will now repeat as shepherd of Israel in the wilderness for the next forty years. At the end we get the majestic name of God, “I AM.” Moses is to be the emissary of the great I AM. God’s identity begins with being or existence, everything else comes from the only One who simply is, all the rest is created stuff.

The disciples are unable to heal a boy with a demon. After having seen miracles worked through them they are now mystified by their inability to perform any work on this man’s son. At the end of the passage Jesus tells them that this kind can only come out with prayer. Does this signify that they had believed that the power to do miracles was their own and they no longer need rely on God? It seems that they have failed to understand the key to working with God is abiding in God. The man’s unbelief possibly stems from the fact that this situation has obtained for a long season of time and that the disciples of the One who had healed so many are now unable to help. This was his last hope and it seems to have failed. His faith is weak and yet Jesus summons him to examine his faith and his response is one we all need to remember.

Paul is apparently speaking a word that the church in Corinth needs to hear. We have seen that the Spirit is very active among them in gifts and signs but yet there seems also to be a lack of love and humility in this church. He has already lectured them about their communion practices and other instances where they are still not “one.” He has urged them to unity in the body as it seems that they have exalted some of the gifts and therefore those who have those gifts. There also seems to be a sense of separation due to economic circumstances and they are taking pride in who taught them rather than in Jesus. Love must be the motivating factor in all that we do for the Lord. We can do a great many things but if we don’t share God’s love for His people and the world in doing them then we have accomplished nothing of kingdom value but rather done some self-serving acts.

You turn rivers into a desert,
springs of water into thirsty ground,
a fruitful land into a salty waste,
because of the evil of its inhabitants.
You turn a desert into pools of water,
a parched land into springs of water.