What Are You Packing? - Karl Romeus

Most of us spend our lives trying to prove we're strong enough. Strong enough to hold the marriage together. Strong enough to handle the bad news. Strong enough to carry the pressure.

But what if that's exactly the wrong thing to pack?
Drawing from Exodus 6 and the rescue story of Israel, Pastor Karl Romeus unpacks one of the most practical questions scripture asks us: what are you carrying into this season of life? Fear or faith? Doubt or memory? Panic or patience?

Through the story of Miriam — a woman who waited decades and still packed a tambourine — this message is a reminder that God isn't just taking you somewhere. He's making you into someone.

Whatever you're carrying right now, this one's worth your time.

Scripture: Exodus 6:2–8, Exodus 12:11, Exodus 15, Micah 6:4, Romans 5, 2 Corinthians 12
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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Come on, hey Hillside. It's always an honor and privilege to be with you. I'm so grateful for this church and all the things that God's doing in here. So um yeah, let's jump into God's word with a little bit of time, a lot of ways to go. You you guys have songs in your head that you don't sing them all the time, and you usually don't sing them in front of people, but they're like these songs that just go way back. Like you learned them when you were a kid, maybe in Sunday school, or you find yourself at a VBS. I know you guys just had kids' camp a couple weeks ago. For me, as I was preparing this message, just one little tune came to my mind, and I could not stop singing it as I was prepping. Some of you are gonna know this one. It's uh Jesus Loves Me. Right. Oh, see, you're there with me. I can tell all the flannel board people right there, right? When I was a kid pastor, I started off with flannel board. I don't know what they're doing now, but that was that was me doing flannel boards. So Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong. They are weak, but he is strong. So all these years, I've always thought that song was about little kids. I was like, oh yeah, like, yeah, because little kids are weak, right? You can just kick them and they just fall over, right? Like, but but but then in the purview that I look at a sovereign, almighty, eternal God, a God who spoke the world and universe into existence. This this this little childhood him took a different approach. When the writer says, they, when he says, the little children, y'all, in view of God's greatness and bigness and might, that's us. And then there's this proclamation in the word that they are weak, but he is strong. It's amazing that one of the first truths that we ever learn is one of the hardest truths to keep believing as we get older. See, children have no problem admitting they are weak. They have zero problem admitting it. Adults, we spend most of our lives trying to prove that we're strong. We want everybody to think that we've got it all together. We want to be self-sufficient. We don't want anyone to know that we're struggling. We spend all of our lives, most of our lives, trying to convince ourselves and everyone around us that we're strong enough. Strong enough to raise the family, strong enough to fight for the marriage, strong enough to get us back into financial health, strong enough to handle bad news, strong enough to carry the pressures of this life. But the older I get, y'all, the more I realize that that little Sunday school song wasn't just teaching children, it was teaching gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ, because in that those few lines is the entirety of all of Scripture. Remember this throughout the Bible. Abraham was weak, but God was strong. Jacob was weak, but God was strong. Moses was weak, but God was strong. David was weak, but God was strong. Esther was weak, but God was strong. The disciples were weak, but God was strong. Paul was weak, but God was strong. And if we're honest, we are weak also. But we have this hope that is attached to the strength and the goodness of God the Father. And that our hope can always rest in Him. This morning I want to take us through one of the greatest rescue stories in all of Scripture. Found in Exodus. We're gonna be in Exodus chapter six in a second. But the beauty about this story is it's not just about the Red Sea crossing, it's not just about the wilderness, it's not just about the Ten Commandments, it's about a promise. Set the context for you. God's people, the Hebrew nation, had been living in slavery for over 400 years in Egypt, generation after generation after generation, knew nothing except the oppression of Pharaoh. And they cried out to God, wondering if he had forgotten the covenant that he had made with them, the promise that he had made to his people. It reads like this in Exodus 6, 2 through 8. God spoke to Moses and said to him, I'm the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob to as God Almighty. But my name, the Lord, I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the lane, the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I've heard the groanings of my people of Israel, whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. I remember my promise. Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians, I will deliver you from slavery to them, I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, with great acts of judgment, I will take you as my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brought you out from under the burden of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord. Come on. Did you hear it? He keeps saying, he keeps saying, I will. I will, I will bring you out, I will deliver you, I will redeem you, I will take you as my people, I will be your, I will give you this land that I promise to you. Friends, before Israel ever packed a bag, God first gave them a promise. That's how God does it. More often than not, God will give a promise before he asks for our obedience. Imagine for a moment. Imagine for a moment this journey that they're preparing to go on. He doesn't explain the plagues, he doesn't talk about the Red Sea, He doesn't talk about manna, he doesn't talk about the water from a rock, he doesn't talk about 40 years in the wilderness. God simply says, trust me. That raises a question in my head, in my heart. What do I do when all I have is God's promise? What do you do when all you have is God's promise? Imagine with me for a moment. Tonight, there's a knock on your door. Someone walks in and they tell you, hey, pack everything you need. You're leaving immediately. You don't know where you're going. You don't know how long it's gonna be, and you can only take what fits on your back. Now, I'm gonna be honest, my wife would have a really difficult time with this thing right here. This woman packs her vacation two weeks in advance, and in the I open up the suitcase, there's a microwave, there's there's a lawnmower. I said, We're going to Phoenix, not the end of the earth. Everything would change in that moment. Nobody packs things that don't matter. No unnecessary weight. We only make room for what we believe we'll need because catch this what you pack reveals what you trust. What you pack reveals what you trust. And that's exactly where Israel found themselves. That's exactly where many of us find ourselves today. Our journey may not take us into a literal wilderness, but we are all preparing to journey in this life. And what we pack in our heads and in our hearts will be indicative of whether or not we make it to the destination that God has set for us. But I get it. Some of y'all, some of us, this morning we packed anxiety into our heads and our hearts. We packed shame into our head and into our hearts. We packed control with bitterness. Envy, anger. But what if God is inviting us to pack something different? What if God wants us to pack into our heads and to our hearts the deepest desire that He has for us, not just in this life, but in the next? What if God wants us to really own and be convicted by the fact that we are weak, but He is strong, and that's just the right formula. God tells His people and He tells us to pack faith and not fear. See, God, see, God first uses this incredible promise. I will bring you out, I will redeem you, I will get, I will be your God, I will bring you into the land. But here's what I love about God: He doesn't just make a promise, he invites us to trust him in that promise. Because a promise doesn't change your life until you decide to believe in it. You can sit in this room online, listen to all of Aaron's sermons, sing all of the worship songs. And until you make the active choice to believe, these are just God's promises floating around. You're walking through life and you're like, why does life feel the way that it does? I ask you, have you yet held on and captured the promises of God? Think about Israel in that moment. They've been living as slaves 400 years, generation after generation. They'd never lived as free people, they had never packed for a journey. They had never imagined life beyond. Now imagine trying to explain freedom to a slave. Imagine telling them, pack your things. The first question had to have been naturally where are we going? How long are we going to be gone? What should we expect? What if Pharaoh changes his mind? What if this doesn't work? What if we don't make it? Friends, those are the same questions that you and I mutter to God in the quiet of our hearts when we wake up in the middle of the night with a lump in our throat, the emptiness in our stomach. We ask God, what if I fail? What if this marriage never gets back together? What if my prodigal never returns home? What if the prognosis leads to death? God, what if I'm not enough? Y'all. But faith trust the one giving the direction. Listen to God's instruction to his people. In chapter 12, verse 11. In this manner, you shall eat it. With your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you shall eat in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. This is this is on the heel. This is this is right before the tenth plague. The angel of death is gonna come, and God sends the angel of death to wipe out all the firstborn males in Egypt, Hebrews and Egyptians alike. But he gives Moses an instruction to give his people, he says, but but I will pass over, death will pass over you, brokenness, shame will pass over you. If you take the blood of a of a blemish-free lamb and and and put its blood on your doorpost. Then when the the angel of death comes, it shall pass over. And that's the first time God's people celebrated the Passover. But God doesn't just tell them what to eat, He tells them how to behave. God says, I want you to dress as travelers, I want you to be ready. I want you to be ready to take the next step. Fasten your belt, put on your sandals, grab your staff, be ready because we are about to go on the move. Can you imagine that meal? For 400 years, every time Hebrew people ate in Egypt, they were sitting at a table or reclining by a table. And here, this meal, they are standing on their feet, staff in hand, cloaks tucked into their belt, sandals on their feet, ready to depart. And God is whispering in their hearts. Noah built an ark before it ever rained. Abraham left home before he knew the destination. Joshua stepped into the Jordan before the water stopped flowing, and Peter stepped out of the boat before he knew what it felt like to walk on water. Every one of them discovered this singular truth. Faith takes the first step before it knows the whole story. Faith takes the next step before it knows the whole story. So many of us are thinking to ourselves, I don't know if I should, I don't know if I can, I don't know if we would. And God's like, Would you just take one step? That's why I asked the question, what are you packing? See, some people pack worst-case scenarios. I pack control. Some of us are packing self-reliance. But what you must understand is followers of Jesus Christ packed faith, not because they know how everything will work out, but because they know the God who is leading them. God's people left Egypt. They couldn't take everything they owned. There was no moving trucks, no second trips, no storage units, but they truly believed in the God that was calling them. Food and water, clothes made sense. But eventually we discover in the text in a little bit that Moses' big sister Miriam, in all the things, she packs away a tambourine. We'll come back to that in a little bit. I told you, women be putting some crazy stuff in their person. Y'all, the first step of faith is often the hardest because fear asks, what if God doesn't come through? And you know how faith answers that question? God's never failed us before. Why would he start now? He's asking you and I to trust him. Not someday, but today. Not only are we to pack faith, God tells us to pack memories, not doubt. To pack memories, not doubt. First, I'm gonna I'm gonna say this. This is in my notes, but I gotta say this once. Listen, I'm not telling you not to doubt things. I'm not telling you you can't come to God with doubt. I'm telling you that God is big enough to handle your doubt. So don't get that twisted. I'm not saying you can't, I'm telling you God's big enough to handle your doubt. But but this actually one is for a specific group of people in this room. Raise your hand if you've been a believer, follow Jesus Christ for more than 10 years. Okay, buckle up. This is for you. See, when the excitement fades, when the question comes, when the waiting begins, and fear begins to whisper. This is exactly where God's people found themselves. And they had to continue to journey with him. God had kept his promise, he had brought them out of Egypt, he had delivered them from slavery, he'd redeemed them with an outstretched arm, and years had passed, and something dangerous had begun to happen. They forgot. We forgot. Isn't it amazing how quick quickly we can forget the faithfulness of God? We're praying for something for months, maybe even years. God answers it, we celebrate, we tell our friends, we tell our pastors, we tell our small groups, and we say, Oh my goodness, we will never doubt God again. Then another problem arises in a broken relationship and in our finances in a difficult season, and suddenly God had never been faithful before. Where are you, God? Just me. That's why throughout scripture, God continually tells his people one thing specifically. Remember, remember, remember. Listen to what he says through the prophet Micah, hundreds of years after Exodus, Micah 6, 4. For I brought you out from the land of Egypt, that sounds familiar, and I redeemed you from the house of slavery, that sounds familiar. And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Did you see what's emphasized here? God doesn't begin by talking about what Israel had done. He reminds them what he had done. I brought you out, I redeemed you, I rescued you, I sent leaders before you. God knew something about the human heart, how fear has a short memory, but faith says we remember. Faith brings us back to rehearse God's faithfulness. It was faith that told that 13-year-old boy who was insecure, who didn't feel like he fit in anywhere, who didn't think he had anything to offer to God. It's faith that told him he mattered. God told that 19-year-old Carl that he would one day preach and serve thousands of people, and and that kid couldn't read really well, didn't get great grades in school. And and imagine how God had positioned him to be somebody. That God, our God, looked at Carl and Jen, this new newlywed couple who didn't have two nickels to rub together, and said, Watch me provide for you. And he did over and over and over again. And God is saying, Do you remember my faithfulness? That's why God established his Passover, the Passover with His people. That's why Jews still celebrate it today. It's to remember, to remember the things of God. God gave them feasts, He gave them festivals, He commanded parents to tell their children stories about His faithfulness. Not because God needed to be reminded that He is God, but because His people needed to be reminded that He is God. Friends, I want to remind you this morning that He is God. That's why when we get together, we open up this collection of books. Not because God needs to hear His own story, it's that we would be reminded of the things of God. We were reminded of the miracles of God, we were reminded of those who were broken and put back together by God. That's why we engage in communion. What does Jesus say in his instructions? Every time we take a communion is remember me. When we sing worship songs, this is gonna get in your business. They ain't for you. I don't like the songs that Harmony chose this weekend. Who cares what you think? These are proclamations to God that when we utter those words, we would remember. I don't understand. Sorry, I know this only second service, but I'm in it now. I don't understand how believers can hear music written and inspired by the word of God and not be radically moved. I don't know how I can open the scriptures and not be radically moved. Confession time. Yesterday on my plane fight, I'm in, I got my speaker things inside my ears. I'm listening to some worship music. Not because anything's wrong, not because anything's going on in my life, not because there's some secret sin. I'm just weeping in my seat. I'm talking ugly crying. You know with a snot and everything I had the same towel and I'm like I was overwhelmed by the Spirit of God I was overwhelmed by the faithfulness of God that He has exhibited in my life in my children's life in my wife's life in my pastor's life faith grows every time we remember who God is and what he's already done friends we aren't to let today's problems erase yesterday's miracles God says pack memories pack memories because faith doesn't just look ahead it also looks back sometimes the greatest death of faith isn't remembering what isn't remembering what God has done it's trusting him while we're still waiting for him to fulfill his promise that's where Miriam comes in because Miriam packed patience not panic see most people don't know much about Miriam but the first time we meet her in scripture she's a young Hebrew girl standing on the banks of the Nile River watching her baby brother Moses float down in a basket and as she sits stands in the reeds and and Moses floats right to Pharaoh's daughter and as a little girl she has enough courage and conviction to go to the princess and say hey I know a woman that can take care of this baby for you and because of her faithfulness because of her patience because of her diligence now Moses' actual mother gets to spend the early years of his life growing him up in a Hebrew home before he lives and enters into the house of Pharaoh she didn't know how the story was gonna end but Miriam simply watched waited and trusted that her God would years pass uh Moses grew up it grows up in Pharaoh's home he he he flees from Egypt 40 years go by many struggles are happening and and still Miriam is waiting 40 years she is waiting some of us won't wait 40 minutes for God to answer a prayer and she waits 40 years the plagues come Passover arrives Israel walks out of Egypt Pharaoh chases them God takes them to the Red Sea God opens up the Red Sea opens up the waters and God's people millions of Hebrew slaves walk on dry land between two towers of water friends look me in the eyes you gotta get this some of y'all don't believe that that's real some of y'all think oh this was just Bible stuff that's no no no no no this isn't a metaphor people millions of people almost three million people are literally walking on dry land through towers of water and they get to the other side and when they get to the other side scripture reads like this in Exodus 15 then Miriam the prophetess the sister of Aaron took a tambourine remember that tambourine and all the women went after her with tambourines oh my gosh I just caught that Pastor Aaron you ever just catch something in scripture that you miss it says this look interesting all the women had tambourines that's funny a million tambourines just begging through the wilderness the whole time can you believe oh my gosh that's hilarious and Miriam sang to them sing to the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously the horse and his riders he has thrown into the sea don't rush past it it wasn't simply a woman or many women picking up instruments it was a lifetime of faithful servants finally singing their song whether Miriam and these other million women packed those tambourines in Egypt scripture's silent on this so we don't want to conject too much but somewhere between Egypt and the Red Sea these women got themselves some tambourines but they were ready to worship there was an expectancy that God would look me in the eye somebody you got to get this this morning do you have an expectancy in your life that God will I mean it do you have an expectancy in your life in your marriage in your finance in raising your kids that God will this is what's happening here in this text church what we what are we packing are we packing panic because the economy feels a little sketchy are we packing fear because somebody got elected or didn't get elected are we packing doubt and anger because this season is a little harder than we expect listen we are trying to carry tomorrow before tomorrow even gets here and God's saying you're panicking when I'm telling you to be patient you're panicking while I'm telling you to be patient because you don't even know what's on the other side in 1792 more than a thousand settlers of African descent sailed across the Atlantic to what is now Sierra Leone. Many of them had once lived as slaves of in on American plantations others had served in the British Army before settling in Canada. But together they crossed the ocean and began a new life in what was called I love this the province of freedom when they finally stepped out of the shore onto the shore they didn't build homes they didn't set up a government they didn't unpack supplies they didn't claim property they sang they sang notice I said sang not sing because it's a bunch of black people so they sang the the brother right there he got it he's yeah you get it right he got it they sang what'd they sing awake and sing the song of Moses and the lamb sing on rejoicing every day in Christ the eternal king why did they do this? It's because free people worship not just the promise being fulfilled but they worship the promise keeper these men and women had lived in bondage and had left it behind crossed an ocean stepped into a new beginning a new chapter and their first response listen to me Americans it wasn't work it was worship it was worship because a thousand because thousands of years before another group of redeemed people stood on another shore after crossing another body of water and they too had left slavery behind and they too had crossed impossible waters and when they reached the other side they stand Miriam lifted her tambourine and the people lifted their voice and worship broke out on a new shore John tells us in Revelation that one day the redeemed the redeemed of God's people we will sit we will stand on a shore of a sea that looks like crystal and we will join the creatures and the angels and all the elders sing a praise to God forever and ever and ever and ever that we will be on that shore one day that is good news friends but are you living today with an expectancy of that are you living today with an expectancy of that I think many people never reach the other side of difficulties and trials because we stop expecting God to be on the other shore and we quit before we can worship. We quit before we can experience you have anybody in your life who's become defined by disappointment defined by betrayal defined by loss defined by what happened to them and when things happen they stop looking forward they stop believing God is true they stop believing that he's writing their story maybe that's some of you sitting in this room today every conversation returns to a wound every decision is filtered through pain every relationship is shaped by an old hurt we never surrender to God where our brokenness becomes our identity listen I'm not saying that we are to deny our wounds that we don't have to pretend that we have to pretend that we're not suffering and it hurts but we should refuse to build a permanent residency in brokenness instead we should trust the God who is using every step of this journey to form us more into the likeness of the person of Christ Jesus every trial every disappointment every season of waiting every wilderness road God is shaping us to become more like his son because faith believes that there's still a shore ahead and hope says would you keep walking that's why God tells us to pack hope and not hurt the beautiful thing about Miriam's story is it doesn't end on the shoreline. The Red Sea was a miracle but it wasn't the destination it was just the beginning Israel celebrated one day at the Red Sea and then did what spent 40 years in the wilderness y'all most of us love Red Sea moments. We love some Red Sea moments but we don't like the wilderness season we love breakthrough but we do not like process Jesus give me a miracle but I ain't trying to wait for it you know what I love I love when God changes our circumstances God is more focused on changing using change his circumstances but his real work is changing your heart I don't know how I don't know when I don't know if I'm doing it right you ever put IKEA furniture together you put IKEA furniture together the box says it's gonna take you 90 minutes two days later you're still sitting there screws everywhere your finger is bleeding from that little wrench that they give you that you had to turn everything with that little wrench the left side's attached to the right side and then your spouse walks in and goes that doesn't look right yeah I know but you go back to the instruction page you're only on step 12 of 47 give it time I don't know if this is heresy or not but I think we're God's little IKEA project and he's giving it time working us into who he wants us to be all the meanwhile saying this is a process in Romans 5 the writer tells us that we are to rejoice in our suffering knowing that a suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us did you notice Paul didn't say suffering is good. He didn't say pain doesn't hurt or that Christians should pretend like everything is okay what he is saying is profound. He says God is producing something in you that he might produce something through you from suffering to hope God's telling us that there is no wasted pain in the lives of his people and that's exactly what happened to Israel God delivered them in a single night they spend 40 years in the desert they praise him on the shore and all the meanwhile God's like we're just getting started the strongest followers that I know I'm thinking of one of my mentors specifically really talks about how easy life is after burying children after battling illnesses after walking through difficulty raising prodigals losing jobs enduring disappointment yet when I sat with this man he couldn't help but talk about how strong God is and how faithful God had been that's the kind of faith that I want the goal is becoming so convicted that God's faith with God's faithfulness is that we stop trying to carry the things that only God can. See hope isn't denying reality hope is declaring that reality never gets the final word the same way that depression doesn't get the final word the same way that lostness doesn't get the final word the same way that brokenness doesn't get the final word the same way that death doesn't get the final word because Jesus does that's why Paul says we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God isn't just taking you somewhere he's making you into someone so he tells us to pack his strength and not ours there are seasons when where faith feels exciting where remembering comes natural where patience seems possible where hope feels easy but then there are other seasons where we are exhausted of trying to keep it together we're exhausted of trying to stay strong for our spouse for our family for our kids and if we're honest we are dog tired I know some of y'all crawled in here this morning you are dog tired can I give you some hope listen the words of Paul to the church in Corinth he says my grace is sufficient for you for my this is God speaking through Paul my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in your weakness therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weakness so that the power of Christ may rest upon me for the sake of Christ then I am content I am content I am content with weakness insults hardships persecution and calamity for I am weak yet then I am strong did you catch it I am weak then I am strong I am strong because of the power of Christ in me you are strong because of the power of Christ in you it is his power that makes your weakness perfect it is his power that took Miriam from waiting decades to lifting a tambourine in celebration it was a wilderness that shaped God's people to depend on him and through every step of the journey God said to them and he says to us he is enough so I asked you this morning Hillside what are you packing tomorrow when your feet hit the ground you gotta get packing pack fear over faith excuse me pack faith over fear pack the reminders of God over doubt or you can go on trying to carry things that you have no business trying to carry can I give you some homework tomorrow before your feet hit the ground I want you to do this all week before your feet even hit the ground before you pick up the phone while you're still lying there in bed would you say this simple prayer I wrote it for you Jesus I can't but you can I am weak but you are strong and then get moving Jesus I can't but you can I am weak but you are strong and then get moving Hillside can we practice that together can we practice together you say it ready Jesus I am now say it like your life depends on it Jesus Church when you leave here and walk into the rest of your day walk into your week and you're asking yourself what am I packing I pray that you pack faith that you pack memories of God's faithfulness that you pack patience that you pack hope and that you pack his strength because all these years later that little Sunday school song is still telling such a big truth we are weak but he is strong Lord Jesus we're grateful for your love we are grateful for your mercy we're grateful for your goodness and God I ask you to fill our hearts with courage with conviction that we would praise with expectancy that we would be faithful in the big and in the small and God we would be so committed to being weak in front of our God who is so strong thank you for meeting us right where we are we can't but you can so we put all our hope all our trust in you and all God's people said Amen