CertaintyinUncertainTimes

Rebecca Sheridan
Sunday, August 30, 2020
Exodus 3:1-15


    Well, here we are, the end of August, and I am still amazed at how much has changed in the last 5-6 months. I know I am not alone in my frustrations of continually trying to make plans, and then having those plans upended. I was joking with some friends, who know that I am generally a positive person, that sometimes it feels like I’m trying to make lemonade out of lemonades but before I can get the lemons squeezed they fall into the dirt and are unusable!  Many of us are living with more uncertainty these days and at this point we wish we weren’t.  The news never seems to help – unrest on the streets of Kenosha, hurricanes, Republicans and Democrats vilifying and demonizing one another for political power grabs as we approach another presidential election, increasing division in our already divided nation.  At times, it seems too much to bear.  And so, I find it appropriate that we close our summer series of exploring these famous Old Testament Faith Ancestors with the story of Moses, the star of the book of Exodus, who actually thought he wasn’t much of a hero at all.  
Remember that Moses was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter and had it pretty good compared to his fellow Hebrews who were in slavery, but in witnessing one of those slaves being treated harshly, he kills the overseer and flees to Midian in the wilderness to be a shepherd in relative seclusion and peace. He probably planned on staying there the rest of his life.  He likely did not want to be bothered by God’s different plan for his life, but it’s kind of hard not to ignore an angel of the Lord speaking through a burning bush.  In our reading from chapter 3 today, we’re reminded of all of the uncertainty that surrounds Moses as he tries to listen to God and do God’s will.  “Who am I that I should go and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Moses asks.  “What is your name, anyway, Lord?”  “What shall I say to these people and why would they want to follow me?”  In chapter 4, beyond our reading for today, Moses shows even more uncertainty, “But what if they don’t believe me that the Lord appeared to me?”  “I am not eloquent, I have a speech impediment.”  And the clincher, and I direct quote, “O my Lord, please send someone else.”  Now, we know the end of the story.  God convinces Moses to go back to Egypt, with all of his uncertainties about who God is, with all of his reservations about his own leadership capabilities, and also with some amount of fear, I’m sure. With God’s help, Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt, bears with them for forty years in the desert, teaches them the ten commandments, and gets them to the promised land.  And God is with Moses every step of the way.  God provides certainty for Moses during a very uncertain time.
Even during this pandemic when it may feel like we’re trying to make lemonade with dirt-encrusted lemons, all of us are blessed to say we don’t have it as bad as the Hebrew slaves in Egypt.  Our situation is different.  But God remains faithful, and God provides certainty for us in our times of uncertainty as well.  For all of Moses’ questions…who are you? Why should I follow you? Why would anyone listen to me or follow me?  God provides direct answers to give Moses the confidence he needs to believe that God will make a bad situation better.  The Lord says, “I am your God, the God of your ancestors.”  “I have observed the misery of my people, I have heard their cry, and I know their sufferings.  I have come down to deliver them.”  “I will send you, and I will be with you.”  And finally, God tells Moses his name:  “I am who I am,” which a better translation might be, “I am the one who makes things happen.”  And of course God doesn’t make just anything happen, God causes really good things to happen for Moses and the Israelites:  freedom from slavery, the parting of the Red Sea, manna & quail in the desert, water from a rock, deliverance into the promised land, a land that the people of Israel can call their own.  God gives Moses and the Israelites certainty that he will be with them every step of the way to make good things happen, even though it will be difficult.  They don’t always know the plan.  They walk around for forty years in the wilderness, after all.  They still face many uncertain times, but God’s presence in a burning bush, a pillar of fire and cloud, on the mountaintop, and in so many other ways assures them that God is the one who makes good things happen and God will be there, always.
Just like the people of Israel, God hears our cries and knows our sufferings.  He has come down in Jesus the Christ to deliver us from slavery to sin and defeat evil once and for all.  In what has become the everyday uncertainty of these times, as people of faith, it is important that we remember this certainty we have in Christ. We have a God who is for us and whose very identity is to make things happen, and almost always, God makes things happen through ordinary reluctant heroes like Moses and like us.  Like Moses, we have a God who may call us to do difficult things, and we might want to pass that bush by and go on tending to our sheep in the quiet of the pasture.  In response to our fear and uncertainty, we remember that Christ has already come – we have been delivered, we have been set free, we have been saved. We remember that the triune God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses is our God, too, and God will be with us always.  That is who God is and what God does.  May we be strengthened for God’s service by this certainty in uncertain times.  Amen.