Almost 2:30 on this misty, albeit MUCH COOLER than last week, Tuesday afternoon. It was so nice out Saturday night that I turned my AC down to the fan setting, so yay!!

Speaking of Saturday, my parents, uncle, and I, had a successful trip to the annual Family Reunion and back. After a fashion, anyway... while I had gotten an idea of the neighborhood on google maps, I hadn't actually put the address into the GPS, figuring on homemade signs or obvious amounts of cars in a driveway. It was a bit embarrassing when we stopped at the wrong house first!! 🫣Anyway, they knew who we were looking for and we ended up fine. At least we know now, in case they host again another year.*

Jeremy and Sharon may have some really good news in terms of getting her here from the Philippines. Her brother has been offered a job in Virginia. This may be a better way for her to get a visa!! Pray that God's method and timing is shown here.

Nothing new from any other source, except that Mike's new meds are mostly working. He just wants to boost it a bit to get more pain relief; but he's been getting a good 4 hours sleep at a time, which is far better than he was getting before, so Praise God!! Continued prayers for both his ear and shoulder to exhibit full recovery from whatever their problems are. While his Chiari malformation is the likely source, we are unsure yet as to whether meds will be enough to manage his pain, or if surgery may be in the offing.

Raise your hand if you actually LIKE "cliff-hangers" in either TV shows or movies. Whether it's a car crash, building fire, or what have you, that closes out the season or the movie with one or more of the main characters involved, you generally have to wait anywhere from a few months to a year, (or more) to find out what happens. Gaaaaah!!! 😯😯 Noooo!! Of course, if you're like me these days, you just watch older series on Netflix and there's no waiting, except that which we either choose (or not, if we just get busy with other responsibilities). But we're only waiting an extra day or 2 at that point. We know we'll see the next episode (or movie) sooner than later. At least until we get caught up... Then, if there's another season, we DO have to wait...

What does any of this have to do with today's message?? While the book of Genesis ends with the "cliff-hanger" of Joseph's family coming down to Egypt, we have to continue reading into Exodus to pick up the story, some 400 years later. This series will focus on where God is in times of trouble, and we will discover that He never leaves us. His rescue just may take longer, and look different than we expect. (In his message, Pastor Matt mentioned the Avengers Movies, but I chose to keep my own commentary more general.)

And with that, we'll turn to Exodus 1 to begin our journey --

Exodus 1:6-14

New International Version

⁶ Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died, ⁷ but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.

⁸ Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. ⁹ “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. ¹⁰ Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”

¹¹ So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. ¹² But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites ¹³ and worked them ruthlessly. ¹⁴ They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.

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First of all, this past weekend being, as I mentioned last week, the 250th Anniversary of the United States of America, Pastor Matt's opening thoughts centered on that while at the same time, clearly relating to our message today.

He talked about how the Founding Fathers made sure that their ideals for this country would be kept as a constant and permanent standard, and proceeded to pass these principles on to the next generation, ad infinitum... As our title above, indicates, passing the torch of our history, and entrusting it to future generations. As with the Israelites in Exodus, our national history serves to shape our ideas and form an ever-changing artwork of diversity and unity in looking to our future.

The fact that the Hebrew people were shaped by the Exodus is one of the key themes of the entire Bible. It involved much-needed rescue/Salvation, the forming/shaping of a New People (both collectively and individually), and the dwelling of God in the midst of His People, both then and now. (Also indicated by our title) At this point, Pastor Matt brought out a quote that is often repeated, but the source of which seems to be unknown. "It took a day to get the Israelites out of Egypt, but forty years to get Egypt out of the Israelites." Accurate, isn't it?? -- Likewise, Jesus rescued us in a moment when He died on the Cross, and that takes effect for each of us who receives it; but then He takes the rest of our lives to develop our hearts and minds in Him.*

As we prepare to dig into our passage above, our takeaway thought for the day is this, "In times of suffering, God is faithful.". When we have trouble in our lives, or someone close to us is suffering, we just want it to make sense, right?? For example, this pain that Mike has been dealing with for the past 5 months now, we know the likely source of the physical problems. What we don't understand is the spiritual lesson that is clearly being harped on here. I want to tell Mike that, "It'll be okay.", because that's both what I believe and what I want to be true. How and when, I have no idea, as yet. I just want him happier and well rested. Because of my deep love for him, Mike's pain and suffering also makes me uncomfortable because I can't fix it.

The truth is, sometimes, our suffering comes as no surprise whatsoever. You go outside in the rain without protection, you're going to get wet. You eat too much, your stomach does it's impression of a trampoline, and you lose your lunch. Those situations don't surprise us. People warn us, and we don't listen. That's entirely our own fault. Other times, like with the discovery of Mike's Chiari malformation, suffering comes as a huge surprise. I mean, he'll be the first to tell you that he's always been "sickly Michael", but until recently, nobody entirely knew why. In the story of Joseph, found in Genesis chapters 37-50, we discover, as Joseph did, that, "What you (his brothers) meant for evil, God meant for good.".

In looking at verses 6-7 of our Scripture above, we start with the fact that the Israelites had become "exceedingly fruitful", "multiplied", increased", and "filled the plain". Pastor Matt pointed out here that these words were purposely chosen to recall Eden language. This echoes the Creation Commission of God to Adam and Eve to "be fruitful and multiply, filling the Earth...".

We then come to verses 8-10. After Joseph and his immediate family had died out, there was a new Pharaoh who knew nothing of him. Joseph's influence no longer held any sway with this guy. He felt threatened. We see in verse 10, the word "shrewdly" is used in relation to how the King sees fit to deal with the Israelites in his country. Once again, we have echoes of Eden here, as this is the same wording used to describe the Devil in Genesis 3.

In verses 11-14, we read of the beginning of their time of slavery, oppression, and hard labor. The Israelites have gone from a position of blessing to suffering. But here's the thing, okay?? Pastor Matt explained that this doesn't mean that God removed His blessing. It wasn't about the blessing "going bad", or God changing His mind. Rather, the point lay in the space it was all happening in. (It occurs to me here that this relates to the fact that Jesus couldn't do much in His hometown due to their lack of faith.)

So, although there are those of you who may not think it appropriate to question God, or question the Bible, Pastor Matt made it clear that the Book of Exodus literally DEMANDS that we ask the ever-burning question, "Where is God in all of this??". He then went on to show us something many people are probably entirely unaware of... (I had actually forgotten this, myself, even though I had read about it earlier this year.)

Turn with me, if you will, to Genesis 15 -- This chapter is about the establishment of the Abrahamic Covenant, and it holds a prophecy of God directly relating to the Israelites' time in Egypt. Let's look --

Genesis 15:13-15

King James Version

¹³ And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

¹⁴ And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

¹⁵ And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

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What!!?? Yep... God already knew what was going to happen, long before Abraham even had Isaac!!* Another aspect we discover in the story of Israel is their relationship with the Amorites, who were dwelling in the Promised Land before God led the Israelites into it. This shows that God's ways and timing are perfect in order to accomplish His Plans and purposes. It also proves that God doesn't lose sight of our suffering, nor does He stop caring.* In spite of what was said before about how the book of Exodus demands that we question God, it's also true that when we ask God for answers about our suffering, or that of others, it sets us up to judge Him. We may see Him as mean and capricious*, or fair and wise, depending on our faith, or lack thereof. (And this could be in the moment, or a complete unbelief in God.)* But as we said earlier, "In times of trouble, God is faithful.". He is that He is, as He told Moses at the Burning Bush, which we will get to in chapter 3. The point is that God cannot be explained. But we can have faith because He shows us just enough of the road ahead so that we trust Him. (Like in Jeremy's and Sharon's situation)

The bottom line is that, although suffering makes us uncomfortable, it's an honor to sit alongside someone else who is going through hard times. As Pastor Matt brought out, it's one of the ways in which God shapes us. At the same time, there is one Bible verse that stands out among the, "peanut butter panacea" of sayings and idioms, as Pastor Matt phrased it. And that is Romans 8:28, "all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.". I know, this sounds like another trite expression, but he showed us why it's not... The word "good", as it is used here, translates back to the Ancient Hebrew as the same word God uses to describe Creation in Genesis 1. God created, and it was "good". This meant that all was exactly as it should be. Perfect condition in a perfect situation and environment. Although Pastor Matt didn't mention it, this relates to the fact that God is actively working toward restoring all things to Himself.

The fact is that we are formed by God as His Holy Spirit dwells within us and gives us hope for our dwelling with Him later. As God's people, He gives us the strength to sit with our own struggles and those of others without the panacea of fearful sayings and idioms.

-- God Bless!!

Footnotes:

1. As it turned out, looking for a ton of cars in/around the driveway wasn't going to do us any good. The guy's driveway was nearly 1/2 a mile long!! We couldn't see anything of it until we were almost up to the house.

2. The issue of Jesus' Salvation only taking a moment but continuing throughout our lives to build our faith is something I've touched on in one of my Quora interactions recently. There was a question about how you can tell if someone's connection to their Church community is more important to them than their relationship with God. I answered that the most obvious thing would be a lack of Spiritual Growth, citing my mother as an example.

3. God's prophecy in Genesis 15 is one of the ways in which Scripture supports His Omniscience. Two others are the tree Zacchaeus was going to need in order to see Jesus, and the fact that Jesus actually says, in Matthew 6:8 that God knows what we need before we even ask. Another, which just showed up in my search for the Matthew reference, is Isaiah 46:10, "God knows the end from the beginning.".

4. The bit about how God doesn't stop caring is mine.

5. On Quora, among unbelievers and other Atheists, I see the phrase, "mean and capricious" quite a bit. Sometimes, if it's possible to add comments, I'll respond and explain about ensuring a safe neighborhood for the family.

6. When we are angry with God, even we Believers may see Him in an unfair light.

Music -- Never any rights in sights!!