The people groaned and cried out for help. The Lord heard and He remembered, He saw and
He knew. Those verbs are incredibly
comforting to know that we have such a God as this. The rest of the story of the Exodus,
beginning with the burning bush is the story of God’s love, it could be reduced
to a few words, God acted on behalf of those He loved. His work starts very small, a bush burning
but not burning up, a fire that does not consume, a spectacle for the benefit
of one man. A metaphor for the life to
which he is being called in many ways, set on fire for the Lord but not being
consumed or destroyed by that fire. On this
same mountain when he returns with the people he will definitely know in a much
more powerful way that this is indeed holy ground. Again we see those verbs from before, “I have
seen, I have heard, I know, and I have come down to deliver them.” Remember the question I noted yesterday, here
Moses asks the Lord the same question, ““Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh
and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
For forty years he has been haunted by that question and now he gets the
chance to do what he thought was his birth right and he has to know the
answer. Now, he gets his answer, “I AM.”
Uncreated, eternal Being, life, the one who can only be described with respect
to what He has done has sent him. What
do you say to that?
He has just revealed or been revealed in glory to the three
disciples who seemingly always accompanied Him and now in another way Jesus is
revealed to a crowd of people as greater than anyone living. He stands above His disciples in His ability
to heal. He understands something they
seem not to understand, that the power to heal comes not from a gift given them
for all time, but from prayer. When Moses
undertook to help the people in his own power and without being sent or
empowered for the task he failed. The disciples
have had such success before and now it seems they have taken for granted that
they can do something. Belief is never
to be in self or in the gifts we have received, being connected to the vine is
always critical.
When this passage is read at weddings I always think, “Good
luck with that.” This is a supernatural
kind of love being described, no one is able to love this way unless they are
truly born again and utterly reliant on the One who is the embodiment of love
itself. We can’t will ourselves to be
that loving it requires the Holy Spirit to come close to this ideal. Paul knows something of love and of human
nature and knows that nature has to be conquered before true love, selfless
love, can emerge. For a wonderful
exposition of the poverty of our earthly love, read CS Lewis’ Great
Divorce. Love and life requires constant
prayer, abiding in Him, the great I AM.
The character of our love for others will reveal who has sent us.
Let us praise, and
join the chorus
Of the saints
enthroned on high;
Here they trusted Him
before us,
Now their praises fill
the sky:
“Thou hast washed us
with Your blood;
Thou art worthy, Lamb
of God!”
Hark! the Name of
Jesus, sounded
Loud, from golden
harps above!
Lord, we blush, and
are confounded,
Faint our praises,
cold our love!
Wash our souls and
songs with blood,
For by Thee we come to
God.
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