“Remember” (Exodus 15:22-27)

Crossing the Red Sea

Israel won the great victory. They boldly crossed the Red Sea on dry land; their enemies were thrown into the sea. The Bible says, “Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great work that the LORD did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the LORD and believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.” (Ex 14:30-31) They sang, they danced, they rejoiced.

 

Red Sea to Marah

From there, they traveled for 3 days through the wilderness without finding any water. And they began to grumble… In three days! How quickly they forget the great work of God! How quickly they turn away from God! Sadly, that was Israel’s spiritual life pattern/ cycle.

1.     They have gone their own way. (apostasy)

2.     They were in trouble, cried out to God. (discipline)

3.     God delivered them. (deliverance)

4.     They forgot, grumbled, turned away from God again. (repetition)

Israel grumbles from beginning to end.

o   Before crossing the Red Sea, when they were surrounded by troubled, they grumbled, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?” (God parted the Red Sea!)

o   After crossing the Red Sea, in three days they grumbled about water. (God gave them water!)

o   After this, more grumbling. They grumbled about food, saying, “If only we died in Egypt!” (God gave them Manna and quail)

o   But they continued to grumble, “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”

o   12 spies were sent into Canaan. After hearing the 10 bad reports, they grumbled, “If only we died in Egypt. Did I tell you, ‘Leave us alone’?

o   After this, they were led back to the wilderness, wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. They never entered God’s rest (cf. Heb 3:11).

 

Deuteronomy

What should we do in order not to repeat this history? What should we do to break this vicious cycle of complaining? “Deuteronomy” is the answer to this question. The first generation of the Israelites failed to obey God and died in the wilderness. Now the second generation was about to enter the Promised Land. Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell sermon for them. If we sum up Deuteronomy in one word, it would be “Remember.”

o   Remember what God has done for you.

o   Remember his law/ his word.

(1) Keep God’s words in your heart. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them at home and on the road, day and night. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house! (6:7-9). The second half of the book (Moses’ sermon) is (2) Keep the festivals of the Lord (Passover, unleavened bread, first fruits, Pentecost, trumpets, Day of atonement, Tabernacles) – all year around. 24/7/365 – Remember your God.

Let us pause for a second here, and ask ourselves the following question:

“What great things God has done for you this year?”

 I don’t know about you, but for me – how easily, how quickly I forget! So for me, Journaling is a great way to remember what God has done for me. As I was reading this year’s journal, two words came to my mind: reconciled and reconnected. First, I realized how much Joyce and I were struggling and praying for reconciliation within our families in Korea. While we were in Korea this summer, there was relationship breakthrough. There was healing. There was reconciliation. Second, reconnected with our old and new friends. The wife of Joyce’s high school friend reached out to meet us. It was right after I had a nasal surgery and we just heard the news that Joyce has thyroid cancer. We had many bigger fish to fry, including hospital appointments. In addition, we have never met her. But she was persistent. She didn’t know our situations and never drove on the highway. She came anyway, listening to our story and weeping with us. In fact, she came to give us a special offering, though she is not rich and her two children have health issues. After her visit, Joyce and I realized that though wilderness is hard, it is a classroom to learn to trust God. Wilderness is love. “It is good for me that I was humbled, so that I might learn your statutes.” (Ps 119:71, NRSV)

 

Ebenezer and Jehovah Jireh

Hudson Taylor, missionary to China, had a plaque in every home he ever lived, reading, “Ebenezer, Jehovah-Jireh.” Two names of God.

The name Ebenezer is from 1 Samuel 7:12; when God saved Israel from the Philistines. Samuel set up a stone "and named it Ebenezer, meaning 'thus far the Lord has helped us.' We find the name Jehovah-Jireh in the story of Isaac (Genesis 22:14). This is when God provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice instead of his son Isaac. Abraham declared "Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide".

Hudson Taylor went through a lot of trials and tribulations in China. At that time all the mission works were done along the coast. No one dared to go inland. But he founded the China Inland Mission (CIM), and by faith he preached the good news to those who lived inland. Travel was dangerous, and foreigners and missionaries were forbidden, feared, and hated. In one of the letters to his mother Hudson Taylor shares his constant pain this way:

“[The need for your prayer] has never been greater than at present. Envied by some, despised by many, hated by others, often blamed for things I never heard of or had nothing to do with, an innovator on what have become established rules of missionary practice, an opponent of mighty systems of heathen error and superstition, working without precedent in many respects and with few experienced helpers, often sick in body as well as perplexed in mind and embarrassed by circumstances –

had not the Lord been specially gracious to me, had not my mind been sustained by the conviction that the work is His and that He is with me, . . . I must have fainted or broken down. But the battle is the Lord’s, and He will conquer. We may fail — do fail continually — but He never fails…”[i]

His wife Maria died when she was 33. Four of their eight children died before reaching age 10. He was often suffering from illness or injury. As an elderly man, he had to go through the Boxer Rebellion in his area. 58 of his missionaries had been killed, along with 30,000 Chinese Christians. At the lowest point of his life a few years before his death, he heard another sad news that some of the missionaries and converts were martyred. His response was this: “I cannot read, I cannot think; I cannot even pray; but I can trust.”

Hudson Taylor trusted God – trusted who God is – Ebenezer and Jehovah-Jireh. He trusted in God who had helped him thus far would see to it.

Are you worried? Are you afraid? Are you tired? Our God is able. Our God is Ebenezer. Our God is Jehovah-Jireh. Let us remember what God has done for us in our lives and in the life of the church. Thus far the Lord has helped us, and he will provide. Amen.

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[i] Dr. Taylor and Mrs. Howard, Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret (p. 141). Kindle Edition.

“P & P” (Exodus 14:1-14)

Exodus: Empty Pews, Empty Pulpits

Have you heard the term “Silent Exodus”? The term refers to the trend of second-generation Asian Americans leaving their parents’ churches. It was popularized in 1996 by Helen Lee in a Christianity Today article. We may say the church here in the US today is going through another massive exodus. According to Barna research, 12 years ago, in 2011, 43 percent of Americans said they went to church every week. By February of 2020, that had dropped 14 percentage points to 29 percent. In 2022, Lifeway research said that only 18% said they went to church weekly. Those who said they seldom or never attended church describe the following reasons why: (1) They practice their faith in other ways (44 percent) and (2) there’s something they don’t like about the service (38 percent)^[1].

A similar exodus takes place from pastoral ministry. In 2021 Barna Group asked pastors, “Have you given real, serious consideration to quitting full-time ministry within the last year?” In January 2021, 29% of Protestant pastors said “Yes,” but then in October 2021, 38% - nearly a third more pastors – had seriously considered quitting full-time ministry.^[2] Many Christians, both clergy and laity, work hard and faithfully for the growth of their church. They do everything they can do for the church. But in reality, we see more empty pews and more empty pulpits. Is there any hope for the church? The Book of Exodus gives us hope. The story of Moses is the story of hope in the wilderness. My prayer is that God may give us strength and nourishment for our upcoming journey individually and as a church.

Bricks without Straw

Moses did everything he could do. He did everything God commanded him to do. He left his comfortable place. He gave up his shepherding job and his family. He took risks. He went back to Egypt and stood before Pharaoh. Perhaps Moses expected that things would go well because he did the right thing. But the circumstances seemed to get worse. First, Pharaoh was not listening. When Moses asked Pharoah to let Israel go, he said, “Who is the Lord, that I should listen to him and let Israel go? I don’t know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go” (Ex 5:2). Then, he commanded the taskmasters not to give the Israelites straw to make bricks but to require of them the same quantity of bricks as before. Second, the Israelites were not listening to Moses. They were not able to make the same quantity of bricks without straw. They were beaten and mistreated. So when they met Moses, they complained and even cursed him, saying, “The Lord look upon you and judge! You have brought us into bad odor with Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us!” (v. 21) Moses was hard pressed within and without.

 

P & P

Here in today’s story we learn that we can be in trouble though we do everything right. Moses obeyed God, but he was in trouble. Job did everything right, but he was in suffering. We work hard to keep our church healthy, but the church struggles. We make effort to live a healthy life style, but still we can be seriously ill. My grandmother-in-law did everything she could do – early morning prayer followed by morning exercise, healthy diet, etc. Her only wish was not to become a burden to her children. But all of sudden, one day she lost her consciousness and remained in a vegetative state for more than a year. Is there any hope in all these circumstances?

When Moses was troubled in every way, he did two things. First, he prayed. When Pharaoh and the Israelites were not listening, he prayed, “O my Lord, why have you mistreated this people? Why did you ever send me? Since 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” (vv. 22-23). Yes, Moses complained. He was discouraged. He was frustrated. But he was still praying. He was still talking to God. He never turned away from God. He prayed, and secondly, he did press on. In this exodus story we find the phrase repeatedly, “Moses did just as the Lord commanded him” (cf. 7:6). Moses said, “God, I am a poor speaker,” but he went to Pharaoh anyway. Because of all challenging situations, he was depressed and discouraged, but he never gave up. He stood before Pharaoh again and again and again. He pressed on. “P & P” (Pray and Press on) – that’s Moses spiritual practice when he was hard pressed.

 

Shut In… BUT

While I was meditating on today’s passage this past week, the story of Rees Howells came to my mind. I love this story. Rees Howells was born in October 10, 1879. He was affected by the 1904-1905 Welsh Revival. He and his wife later became missionaries in Africa. In the meantime there were many trials of faith and deliverances. The following story is one of them. The time came for Rees and Elizabeth to go to London for their missionary training. But the thing is that they didn’t have enough money to go to London! They had to walk to the train station without the money. At that time Rees was with quite a few Christian friends who wanted to see him off at the station. The Spirit then spoke to him and said, “If you had money, what would you do?’ Rees answered, “Take my place in the queue at the booking office” The Spirit said, “Then, you had better take your place in the queue.” So he did. There were about a dozen people before him. There they were passing by the booking office one by one. The devil kept telling him, “Aha, look at you! You have preached much about Moses with the Red Sea in front and the Egyptians behind, but now you are the one who is shut in!” Rees answered, “Yes, shut in, but like Moses, I’ll be gloriously led out!” He prayed and pressed on. When there were only two before him, all of a sudden one of his friends stepped out of the crowd and said, “Mr. Howells. I’m sorry I can’t wait any longer, but I must open my shop.” Then he put 30 shillings in Rees’ hand. After he had the tickets, the people who came with him began to give their gifts all together.^[3] 

What a glorious reward for those who trust in God! People say, “To see is to believe.” But for Christians, “To believe is to see.” St. Augustine rightly said, “Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.”

 

Red Sea Moment

Today like the Israelites we may feel like we are standing on the edge of the Red Sea – discouraged, weary, and afraid. But let us be still, stand firm, and expectantly wait for God’s deliverance. He will surely come and save us.

When we face a Red Sea moment, like Moses, let us pray and press on. Let us thank God ahead of time. Let me close with a poem written by an anonymous Korean author. This is its rough translation:

When you are pressed on every side by troubles,

In front is the Red Sea,

Behind are the Egyptians,

On the one side is a range of craggy rocks,

On the other side are Egyptian fortresses.

Then, begin to praise God and thank him ahead of time,

because it is time that God will work for you!

 

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[1] Tyler J. Vanderweele and Brendan Case, “Empty Pews Are an American Public Health Crisis” (Oct 19, 2021), Christianity Today, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/november/church-empty-pews-are-american-public-health-crisis.html

[2] Kyle Rohane, “Our Pulpits Are Full of Empty Preachers,” (April 19, 2022), Christianity Today https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2022/may-june/great-resignation-pulpits-full-of-empty-preachers.html?utm_medium=widgetsocial

[3] Norman Grubb, Rees Howells, Intercessor (Lutterworth Press, 1952), Kindle location 2308-2331 of 4143.