Exodus day 20
Transcript
00:00Reliability, Providence, and Availability Faith is not a leap in the dark.
00:09It is a leap in the light into the light.
00:12It is conviction based on evidence.
00:15By the time they reach Exodus 16 the Lord has given his people ample ground for trusting
00:19him and gives us, too, ample ground for facing life with a basic and immovable spirit of
00:25trust.
00:27A spirit of trust, each morning, looks out into the unknown day and says, Come what may,
00:32I trust you.
00:34A faith meets adversity with, Nevertheless, I trust you.
00:38In today's reading we experience one example in forty years of God's steady reliability
00:42in supplying Israel's daily needs.
00:46Every day for forty years the reliable God delivers the day's quota of manna.
00:51Never once does Israel have to call heaven to say, It hasn't come today.
00:56To trust such a God for our needs is not a leap in the dark, is it?
01:01Isn't the evidence for such trust there?
01:04God is reliable.
01:05He is also provident.
01:08The very word itself means forward looking.
01:11Had he not prepared beforehand a tenderhearted princess to provide a home for Moses?
01:17Had he not grown a tree at Marah in anticipation of Israel's far future need?
01:22Had he not built into the fabric of creation itself a water supply and readiness for his
01:26pilgrim people?
01:28Can we not, then, step in confident faith into the unknown future?
01:33Wherever our foot touches the ground, we can say, The Lord has been here in anticipation
01:38of my needs.
01:40He has his plans long since laid.
01:42The message of the final section of our reading is that, when need arises, the Lord is there
01:47to hear and answer prayer.
01:50What else can the uplifted hands of Moses signify but a cry heavenwards which brings
01:54the Almighty God victoriously into our crises?
01:58We too can say, The Lord is my banner.
02:01He has come into the thick of the battle to rally his troops, and to give heart and direction
02:06to his campaign.
02:08The translation of verse 16 is insecure, but the most like rendering is, For he said, There
02:14is a hand upon the throne of the Lord.
02:17Just imagine it.
02:18We lift up our hands and touch his throne.
02:21Reflection Ponder the words of this hymn.
02:26Prayer moves the hand which moves the world to bring salvation down.