So years ago, I think I was a sophomore in college, uh, somewhere around there, and it was wintertime, it was January, it was cold out, and a handful of friends, I think about 10 of us, uh, we all went up to a friend's cabin up north of Delonega.
It was cold, it was really, really cold, bitter, bitter cold, and but it was sunny out, it was crisp out.
And uh my friend's uh family's cabin was along this river uh north of Delonaga, and we went up and we went hiking along the river, and part of the river's frozen, so we spent the day throwing rocks in the river and um just just fun, outdoorsy, cold, wintry activity.
And then evening came and finally we went into the cabin, and it had never dawned on us that perhaps we should think about heating the cabin.
Like we just spent all day outside, and finally evening came, and the cabin was colder than uh outside, and we get in there and there's no heat in the cabin.
And uh we were thinking that we were gonna, you know, just start that fire, and the fireplace would just heat up this cabin all of a sudden we would all be warm.
It's gonna be wonderful.
So we start the fire, and it's this vaulted ceiling, big room, and it's just not doing anything, right?
And and and it's time to go to sleep, and it is so freezing cold, and none of us brought the right sleeping bags for this because we thought we were sleeping inside of a heated, nice, comfy cabin, and now we are all cold.
We are like every layer of clothing is on, blankets on, and we're all cold.
And so finally we get the idea, we say, okay, well now this fire's gone.
I so let's get we got all the sheets in the place, and we tied them together and we tied them to the mantle, and this is probably against fire code, I'm not sure.
We tired them, tied them to the to the mantle and then out to the couches.
So we kind of built this tent structure for all the heat to get trapped in, right?
Brilliant! And so all ten of us get huddled under this, and we're just lined up sleeping next to each other, and this is so much fun.
I mean, this is so much fun for that first hour.
This is a lot of fun.
And then the second hour, you're just sleeping next to your smelly buddy and the other guy who's snoring, you know, four guys down, and you're rolling over and you're on the floor, and your hips digging into the floor, and it's just you know, every you sleep about 30 minutes, and then you roll over and you look out the window, and it's this feeling like when will when will I see a little bit of light, right?
Like, when can I see a little bit of light outside and this will be over?
This experience will be over.
I'm warm, but I'm still miserable.
And it's this idea, this thought, this feeling, like when will this ever end?
Like maybe you've had a night like that.
Maybe you were sick and you had a night like that, which is it just wouldn't your your kid gets sick, right?
Your kid gets sick, and you're doing and then like the kid number two gets sick, and you're like, you're cleaning and you're bathing a kid, and then you're cleaning and you're bathing a kid, and you're cleaning, you're bathing a kid, and you're like, when will this ever end?
Or maybe uh more like a season of life where just nights are long and days are short, and it's just it's it's winter, and it just feels like when will this ever end?
When will this ever be over?
And this is where we catch up with Moses and Aaron, is in this type of feeling.
Because these ragamuffin leaders, the people of Israel, uh, people of Israel are in slavery in Egypt, and these are their leaders, Moses and Aaron, and and they're freaking out.
They had Moses had gone to Pharaoh and said, Hey, you know, let us go, let all of us go, and it got worse.
And that's what Brian talked about last week.
It got worse.
Like this was supposed to be the breaking point.
It'd been centuries of slavery, of making bricks.
I mean, these people's their whole lives had been to make bricks day after day after day, and finally Moses shows back up from the desert.
He comes back, he says, Hey, I got a word from the Lord, we're gonna be free.
I'm gonna go to Pharaoh, I'm gonna tell him to free us.
And he goes to Pharaoh, and he gets to Pharaoh, and he says, Hey, let us go, and it gets worse.
When will this ever be over?
And so I'm reading this Monday morning, I'm reading through chapter five, just feeling the weight of chapter five of this failed attempt where they thought they were finally getting relief and it's still not over.
Right?
And then imagine the amount of pressure Moses would have felt, of responsibility, and then the devastation.
And then we hit chapter six.
Right?
Like you have chapter five, but then you get chapter six.
Like you have the nighttime, but then you eventually get the morning.
And what we see here is we learn that the difficult, right?
Difficulty in the now, it will all it won't always be like that.
It won't always be like that.
The difficult in the now will not always be here in the way that it is now.
Chapter five does lead to chapter six.
And so two points this morning, pretty organized this morning.
Uh number one, he was there and he is here.
That'll make more sense later.
He was there and he is here.
And then number two is we cannot talk about God without talking about the saving God.
So he was there and he is here, and we cannot talk about God without talking about the saving God.
So let's look at this text.
So Exodus 6, verse 1.
But the Lord said to Moses, but the Lord, I just love that because that's the break point, right?
Like it it was it was all darkness, it was all lamenting, it was all done, it was exhaustion, and Moses, he's just finished the story.
He thinks the story is over, but it's not.
But the Lord said to Moses, Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh.
For with a strong hand I will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.
God spoke to Moses and said to him, I am the Lord.
I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord, I did not make myself known to them.
So point number one, uh He was there and He is here.
So once again He reveals Himself to Moses.
And Moses, he thinks it's over, but it's not over.
Now, I can't I can't explain all the suffering in the world.
I won't even attempt.
I mean, somebody who's gonna attempt to try to explain all the suffering in the world, I I I don't I don't know how they're even gonna I don't even know how they can do that.
I can't explain all the suffering in the world.
I definitely can't explain all the suffering in your life.
But I do know that God is with you in it, and God is doing something amidst the suffering.
Uh this week I had lunch with a friend of mine.
When he was in high school as a teenager, he lost his dad to a sudden heart attack out of nowhere.
His dad dies, and then his little sister gets strangled in a rope swing and dies.
And this is one of the kindest, most patient people I know.
See, this the story's never like, and I was hanging out with my friend in his mansion on Sea Island, and all of a sudden I became kinder, right?
I mean, it's never the story.
It's never like I got my third Porsche, and then I became patient.
Like that's what made me patient.
It was the third Porsche that made me patient.
That was it.
That was what did it.
That's never the story.
The story is always like I was hurting.
And then I was waiting.
And then.
Now there's something interesting going on here in these verses two and three.
Even when I read it, you're probably like, well, no, what was that?
Like he revealed himself to them in this way, and then to Moses in some different way.
And so Moses is getting something here.
Like he's God is saying that he's revealing himself to Moses in some deeper, different way than his forefathers.
And Moses is getting to understand God as both Lord Jehovah and also as God Almighty El Shaddai.
So these two different names of God.
Jehovah is this rich name for God, meaning self-existent, the one true God.
And we think about that, we think, no big deal.
But back then that's a big claim.
Everybody had their own different God, different tribes had different gods, everybody had a different God, and everybody's like, okay, well, that's your God, and I got my God.
And this guy's saying, no, no, no, no.
Like, I'm it.
One true, self-existent God.
And then El Shaddai, in the context of Genesis, where in the scriptural story, we're coming out of Genesis into Exodus, and all throughout Genesis, El Shaddai is this name that God reveals himself to be the one who is sufficiently powerful for our personal inadequacies.
So, in a commentary I was reading this week by J.
A.
Mortier, he says this El Shaddai is predominantly the God who is sufficient for his people's needs, for keeping his promises.
When they are at their weakest, he is at his most potent.
So Christie's granddaddy passed this week.
He was 89 years old and he was sick, and last few months has been getting worse and worse and worse, and his real answer to prayer finally for the Lord to take him home.
And I sat down Thursday morning to write his obituary, first time I've written obituary, and I just kind of sat there just to think about him for a little bit.
Quite different than my grandparents.
I come from city folks.
Like my grandparents lived in a townhouse in Atlanta and they traveled.
Like granddaddy lived out rural and he didn't leave the house and he tended the garden.
Like, I mean, very different grandparents.
And so my experience of getting to know granddaddy was so good and rich to meet just a southern granddaddy.
And you'd go over there, and as soon as I'd walk in, he knew I loved Coke, and so as soon as I walk in, he's like, Can I get you a Coke?
Can I get you a Coke?
And now he didn't, he's a Southern man, so you didn't leave your Coke, wasn't in your fridge in the kitchen.
You kept your Coke in the fridge in the shed out back, a separate refrigerator, and so you'd have to go out to the to the shed and get your Coke.
And he had been cooking all day, all day he would have been cooking for you.
I mean, southern stuff, stuff I didn't even know about until I got married to Christy.
I didn't know about this food.
And then he just roamed.
Like you'd sit at the table and you'd get your food, and then he wouldn't sit down.
He'd he just he'd pick up the serving dishes and he would just sort of circulate and he'd keep putting it on your plate.
Like as soon as he saw you were done with your cream corn, you know, on it would go.
I mean, he would just walk around.
Whatever you had finished, he put more down.
This is this is how he loved.
This is how he he would just give and give and give and give.
And no matter who came over, he was gonna have enough for them.
And not only that, but you're gonna pack some Tupperware on the way out that door.
He simply always had enough.
This is just like this little picture of El Shaddai.
See, this is the message of El Shaddai.
Hungry, fragile, lovely people.
Sit down, rest.
I will feed you.
I have enough for you.
I have enough for your personal faults, I have enough for your personal inadequacies, for your brokenness, and for your sin.
See, he was there and he is here.
Another way to say this point, maybe better, is just say, God is absolutely always with us.
Maybe you're here, you say, no, no, no, no, no, I don't believe that.
Because this thing happened.
Like this abuse happened.
Uh this wrong happened to me or to somebody I love.
No, no way.
I don't I don't believe that.
Or I was forgotten.
I was forgotten.
No way.
And I'll just say I'm sorry that happened.
But everything that we know about God through his word tells us he is always with us, and yet what we also know about God through his word is that we at times have to face what feels like his absence.
So he's always with us, and yet at times we have to face what feels like his absence.
And somehow, this is a part of our transformation.
And if he wasn't there in that tragedy, how would you ever have any hope that he might be there in the next tragedy?
Or if we're going to think about this more holistically, if he wasn't there in that tragedy, how would you ever have any assurance that he's ever there?
Jumping into verse 4 and 5.
I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners.
Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.
We talked about this a few weeks ago, but again, God's bringing it back up.
This is incredibly important, so entertain me as I review a little bit.
See, here's what a covenantal relationship said.
Well, a personal relationship, um, it could say something like this: like, like, I will be for you whatever I want to be, or I will be for you, um, I'll be this as long as you are for me what you say you're gonna be for me.
And a covenantal relationship says, no, no, no, I will be for you what I should be for you, no matter what you do.
And this is the kind of relationship we have with God, that God toward us, He says to us, I will be what I should be, whether you are what you should be or not.
And we desperately need this because we are not always what we should be.
I will be committed to you.
I will be committed to the relationship, even if it is not meeting my needs at the moment.
This is what God's screaming at us throughout the scriptures, that it's deeper than a personal relationship.
See, most of my life that's all I knew.
I knew about a personal relationship with God.
We need that.
But don't you have those days where it just doesn't feel feel personal?
Like you just feel distant?
Are you screwed up and you're just not sure?
Like, did I mess the whole thing up?
Are you numb and you know it just doesn't feel personal?
So this personal relationship with God has to be rooted in a covenantal relationship with God.
This is what God is remembering.
It should be personal, but it should be rooted in something much deeper, more profound, and that's the covenant relationship God to us, saying, I will be for you, even if you are not what you should be for me.
You can read all about that in Genesis 15, and this is what he's remembering that he covenants with us.
Now listen to verse 6, because God keeps bringing it back to him.
Listen to all this.
This is incredible.
Say therefore to the people of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out of the under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from the slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.
I mean, it's just over and over and over.
I will do this, I will do this, I will do this.
Okay, can I get a volunteer?
Can I get a volunteer?
Seth, thanks.
Just don't sit in the aisle.
I mean, that's just a lesson.
Okay, come over here.
And I won't hurt you, trust me, because you're a lot bigger than I am, and I'm pretty sure you can inflict pain.
I won't make you wear this either.
That scared you.
Alright, so I'm gonna blindfold you.
Just try not to, yeah, be honest here.
Is it holding up up there?
Okay.
I'm I'm gonna give you a couple objects to hold, and then you're just gonna tell us.
Don't tell us what the object is, tell us what the object is like, what it feels like.
So does that make sense?
And hold your hands out in front of you because I know the trick, a lot of people they look down out of the bandana, that's what we all did, you know.
So just tell us what this feel don't tell us what it is, because you're a smart guy, you'll probably be able to figure out.
But what does it feel like?
What are some adjectives?
Round.
Okay, round.
Porous.
Plastic.
Okay.
Great.
That was object number one.
Stay right there, don't do anything.
All right.
Object number two.
I'm just kidding.
Don't calm.
Just calm down.
I just a joke.
It was a joke.
I'll explain it later.
Okay.
Alright, so that's all.
It's got appendages.
Yes.
Okay, that's great.
Thank you.
Alright, you can take your blindfold off.
Thank you.
Thank you, Seth.
I I I handed you a big knife.
That was the joke.
Alright, here's my point.
We can't talk about a ball without talking about it being round.
We can't talk about a stuffed animal without it talking about it being soft.
We can't talk about God without talking about him being the saving God.
Let's backtrack the end of verse 6, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.
I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God who has brought you out of from under the burdens 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.
So that phrase, I will redeem you, that word, Gaal, is this lovely word.
Like in secular use, uh it's like back then historically, it was this word that would be used having to do with land.
So it's some land that's been in the family and it's about to go into alien use, and the only way to bring it back in is to redeem it by purchase back into the family.
And so this word is put on Moses, it's put on uh the Israelites, and it's put on us.
And it's God saying, I will pay any price to make this relationship happen.
I will pay any price to secure this relationship with you.
Now I was told by very nice people for a very long time in my life that Jesus forgives you.
And he brings you into the promised land of Canaan, but now your life is all about you getting better.
I heard it worded this way this week.
Maybe it'd make a little bit better sense.
Like I heard it like Jesus gets you in the dance, but you better learn to dance or you might not get to stay.
And it's an easy way to motivate people, this kind of threat, this insecurity.
But it pretty much makes Christian faith into like a Jesus-colored self-help methodology.
And then you just you need the next thing, you need the next list of things to do, or the next retreat, or another one, or a better service, or another book, or whatever.
Rather than He is our El Shaddai, He is our strength and weakness, He is potent for all of our weakness.
In this text, God's talking about promised land moving his people, literal land, Canaan, Israel.
But the Exodus is about something more profound.
It's a foreshadowing of what God is going to do in history for all people, all tribes, not just for the Israelites, but also for the Egyptians and for us discontent, crazy Americans.
It's for us also.
That a liberator greater than Moses will come, Jesus the true liberator, to bring any person who opens the hands of faith to Jesus to receive life, and that all of our sin could be cast upon him and his work on the cross, and all of his righteousness cast upon us, and it gets us into the dance, and we can never be kicked out.
That he carries us out of our slavery, out of our mistakes, out of sin defining us and separating us from a loving, holy God.
So in this complete work of the cross, we are forever right with God.
See, our main problem is refusing this gift or forgetting it, and just trying to in vain wash our own hearts clean.
And the gospel says Jesus' work, not yours, is enough.
Brothers and sisters, you are lovely, but you are fragile.
And you can stop those silly attempts to try to wash clean your own heart.
The great work of El Shaddai to deliver you and to free you, that work of Jesus.
It really is enough.
Let's pray together.
God, thank you that you were there in their difficulty, and you are here in our difficulty, and it is not in vain, but you are doing something.
Thank you that we cannot talk about you without talking about you saving, because you are a saving God.
And that our redemption is by your work.
Would you help us to be more enamored by your great, full, sufficient word for us?
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.