When the pain never ends
Contents
Sunday afternoon sermon on March 4, 2012
When the pain never ends
Text Exodus 6:1-13
People get confused when things get more complicated even when they live according to God's will.
The same is true of Moses and the Israelites in the text. Moses and Aaron followed God's guidance, and the people obeyed what Moses and Aaron taught. However, the problem has not been solved and has only gotten worse. The pain increased, and the long tunnel of pain seemed to have no end in sight.
The text tells us the reasons why God makes things more complicated even if God's people obey God's will.
First, it is to show the power of God.
Moses told Pharaoh to go and let my people go, but Pharaoh refused. On the contrary, Pharaoh's heart was hardened and the pain was exacerbated. Then the power of God was revealed. What does “Now you will see what I am doing to Pharaoh” mean? “Now I will go. I will raise my strong hand and show you my power. So the whole world will know that I am the true God.”
When a person has everything in place, he does not depend on the power of God. Even when God's power is revealed, it is easy to fail to acknowledge it. However, when things get more and more twisted, when I say that I can't do it on my own, I admit that God worked at that time. God wants to come and show His power when we are most hopeless, when we think everything is over.
Does your work keep getting tangled and add to the hardships? Believe that it is time for God to work, pray and expect God to work.
Second, to show God's faithfulness.
God said, “I am the Lord” (verse 2), “I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the Almighty God, but I did not make my name known as the Lord to them” (verse 3). YHWH (Jehovah) is the name of God who makes and keeps covenants. “I remember my covenant” (v. 5). God repeatedly emphasized that he must keep his promise to deliver him from the land of Egypt and to give him the promised land.
God is the one who always keeps His promises. But the reason we don't realize it is because it doesn't happen when we want it. When I do not want to, when I want to give up everything, is an opportunity for God's promise to come true.
It is to show God's faithfulness that it gives us difficulties and makes things seem tangled, so that we can rely more on Him.
When times of suffering seem never to end, I hope you will win by relying more on God's faithfulness.
Third, it is to show that we must live by faith.
God spoke to Moses. “Pharaoh will let them go.” But things got more twisted, and the pain only increased. As a result, the hearts of the people were broken as much as they could. The word of God was clear, but the reality seemed to have no hope at all. The difference between God's Word and reality is to show that we must live by faith that only believes in God's Word under any circumstances. It seems that if we do according to God's word, it will not work properly. It seems much wiser to live comfortably and to the best of your ability with moderate compromises. In times like these, we need a decision of faith. The only way to break through is to believe in the Word and go out with faith.
We are people who are called to live by holding on to the Word and not being complacent with reality. Because of the Word, things are going well, but while suffering because of the Word, we are called to live by revealing God in this world. Those who refused to settle for reality and stood up believing in the Word became the protagonists of history. So was Joseph, so was David, and so was Daniel. This shows that the way is to live by faith according to the word of God without compromising with reality in the midst of difficulties.
The harder the environment and the more difficult, the only way to truly live is to rely on the Word. There is no other way.
Please do not compromise with reality and stand up in faith.