Psalm
70:1, 4
Make
haste, O God, to deliver me!
O
Lord, make haste to help me!
. . . .
May
all who seek you
rejoice
and be glad in you!
Are
you always in a hurry? Do you always want things right away? I can relate to
the psalmist here – come on God I figured out I need you – please don’t make me
wait! Well to be fair there really are times when we need help right now, and
sometimes it isn’t even through something we’ve done or left undone, it could
be we just need help. I love the story of Peter walking on water. Jesus says –
come to me and out he steps and walks right across the top of the sea...until
he notices that is and then what happens? He sinks – or he starts to but
instead of sinking he cries out, HELP! And Jesus grabs his hand and brings him
back up. That is what our psalmist is doing today – he is crying out for help
and like the psalmist we have reason to believe our prayer will be heard and
answered. This will indeed make us exceedingly glad.
Our next reading is in Exodus, and as we read we see this
isn’t exactly at the first sing of trouble, it is after all three days of searching for
water and finding none; this can make a person cranky. Yes, they complained to
Moses, but God gave them sweet water and a directive:
"If
you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which
is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his
statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians,
for I am the Lord, your healer."
(Exodus 15:26)
So,
here we are getting a glimpse of what is to come; this is God revealing himself
to the Israelites who have not known what it is like to be free for 430 years.
And this is God letting them know that there will be commandments and statutes –
and that he will be with them; after all how can they give ear to him if he is
not around?
Next
bit of complaining and they are wishing to be back dying in Egypt. God though
is going to help them in this new freedom and in their education in trust – and
how to listen. God gives them food for the day and enough for double the day
before the Sabbath rest day. Yet they figure they don’t need to pay attention
they’ll just go and look for more...And just to remind them God said to keep a
little bit in a jar and put it on the altar so they would remember God’s
provision.
In
Ezra today we find the Israelites finishing the Temple, I don’t think they had
any of the manna left in a jar, however they do celebrate the Passover first
thing so they don’t forget God’s saving work on their behalf. I’d say this is a
very good place to start.
It
is fitting, I think, that Paul ends our reading today with these verses:
Wretched
man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God
through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my
mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (7:24-25)
Now
we see there is a way of salvation that doesn’t depend upon our remembering –
or keeping a jar of manna on the Altar – Jesus has made the perfect sacrifice for
us in our sin – and forgetfulness, and through his actions we are able to be
brought back into the presence of God.
Today’s
readings: Psalm 70, Exodus 15:22-16:36, Ezra 6, Romans 7
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