Our Blog

You can listen to the reading and reflection by clicking here.

Deuteronomy 30.15-20

See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

As I read through this passage, I kept thinking about the choices that I make on a daily basis. My choices – big and small – have consequences. I heard from a friend in AA that you are either moving closer to a drink or further from a drink. There really is no middle ground he explained because if you do not make a choice toward sobriety you are really moving closer to a drink. I kept thinking about that as I read through these verses in Deuteronomy. The choices I make in life will bring me closer to God or drive a wedge between God and me. It is pretty easy for me to identify where a choice will take me – closer or further from God. The hard part for me is making the right choice. Sometimes I do, sometimes I do not. I strive to make more right choices in life that bring me closer to God rather than those choices that move me further from God. I am reminded often and especially in this season of Lent that I am perfectly imperfect. I am also reminded that it is both my “right choices” and my imperfections, my sins, that draw me closer to God as I pray for forgiveness knowing that Christ died for my – our - imperfections and sins so that we may have eternal life.

Exodus 5:1-6:1

⁵Afterwards Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.” ’ ²But Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the Lord, that I should heed him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.’ ³Then they said, ‘The God of the Hebrews has revealed himself to us; let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord our God, or he will fall upon us with pestilence or sword.’ ⁴But the king of Egypt said to them, ‘Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get to your labours!’⁵Pharaoh continued, ‘Now they are more numerous than the people of the land ^* and yet you want them to stop working!’ ⁶That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, as well as their supervisors,⁷‘You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸But you shall require of them the same quantity of bricks as they have made previously; do not diminish it, for they are lazy; that is why they cry, “Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.” ⁹Let heavier work be laid on them; then they will labour at it and pay no attention to deceptive words.’

¹⁰ So the taskmasters and the supervisors of the people went out and said to the people, ‘Thus says Pharaoh, “I will not give you straw. ¹¹Go and get straw yourselves, wherever you can find it; but your work will not be lessened in the least.” ’ ¹²So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt, to gather stubble for straw. ¹³The taskmasters were urgent, saying, ‘Complete your work, the same daily assignment as when you were given straw.’ ¹⁴And the supervisors of the Israelites, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and were asked, ‘Why did you not finish the required quantity of bricks yesterday and today, as you did before?’

¹⁵ Then the Israelite supervisors came to Pharaoh and cried, ‘Why do you treat your servants like this? ¹⁶No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, “Make bricks!” Look how your servants are beaten! You are unjust to your own people.’^* 17He said, ‘You are lazy, lazy; that is why you say, “Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.” ¹⁸Go now, and work; for no straw shall be given you, but you shall still deliver the same number of bricks.’ ¹⁹The Israelite supervisors saw that they were in trouble when they were told, ‘You shall not lessen your daily number of bricks.’ ²⁰As they left Pharaoh, they came upon Moses and Aaron who were waiting to meet them. ²¹They said to them, ‘The Lord look upon you and judge! You have brought us into bad odour with Pharaoh and his officials, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.’

²² Then Moses turned again to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, why have you mistreated this people? Why did you ever send me? ²³Since I first came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has mistreated this people, and you have done nothing at all to deliver your people.’

 “Why me?” Have you ever said those words? Or better yet:  “Why me, God? I worship you, I pray, I do my best to live out Your word. So why me?!!”  I know I have uttered those words once or twice (at least). We are raised in a society that encourages good deeds.  Good deeds with the expectation that if we do good work we will be rewarded.  For instance: I eat healthy and exercise so I should not suffer any chronic diseases. I work hard at my job so I should be promoted.  I did “X” as I was asked so I should get “Y” the reward.  Fill in the blank.  But when we do the work and don’t get the reward life can feel unfair, to say the least.
 
In this passage, God directs Moses to ask Pharaoh to allow the Israelites to take three days to go into the wilderness to offer a sacrifice. You would think that if God told you to do something and you did it it should work out.  Surely, Moses had the same expectation, but what happened was quite different.  Instead of Pharaoh saying: Of course, Moses, if the Lord wants it then yes, Pharaoh instead questions God, berates Moses and then punishes the workers making them do more work, more difficult work, all because Moses did what God asked him to do!  Even worse, the workers turned on Moses.  How is that fair? Moses turns to God and asks: Why did you send me? Why are you not helping us?! God responds to Moses’ cry and assures him that He will deliver the people of Israel and that they will be freed. And God always keeps his promises.
 
In moments of pain, heartache, death, unemployment, despair, illness, and separation it is difficult to see God at work.  It can be difficult to know if he is even there. If he really is, then why am I suffering so much?  Over time, I have come to believe that God does not create pain, heartache, death, unemployment, despair, illness or separation.  He does not make us feel those things. Instead, I have found that God promises to deliver us from those dark moments.  I find He uses those darker moments in my life to draw me closer. When I have experienced those low moments, and after the “Why me’s” have faded away, I have found myself closer to God than ever before. Why me? That’s why.