Proper 19 / Pentecost 17 / OT 24
Devotional
Water From the Well
Lectionary Devotional For Cycle A
Object:
The Egyptians said, "Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt."
-- Exodus 14:25
This was the climactic moment in the story of God's liberation of the Israelites. The story is impossible, and that is the point. Like the resurrection of Jesus, the event defied the laws of nature. People will write volumes trying to explain the Exodus. Yet the story would, like the resurrection, become the critical energy that formed the faith of Israel. The theological point is clear. God can defeat the greatest military power in the world. The God who created the world remains Lord over nature as well. No matter how strong the power of evil is in the world, it can only flee in panic when it recognizes with whom it is contending. Here is the real truth in the battle between good and evil. Trust and obedience in God, which is what faith is, can overcome the laws of nature, the military force of nations, and any other force that exists. From the story of Adam to the present time, the issue has always been whether one can trust and obey God. Later, in the life of Jesus, that would become the critical issue in the Garden of Gethsemane. The story of Israel was a continual struggle for obedience against all the logic that suggested there must be a better way. The energy that drives the quest is found in this critical story of the Exodus that described when Israel once put everything in the hand of God, and God proved to be faithful. Is that not the challenge for the church as well?
-- Exodus 14:25
This was the climactic moment in the story of God's liberation of the Israelites. The story is impossible, and that is the point. Like the resurrection of Jesus, the event defied the laws of nature. People will write volumes trying to explain the Exodus. Yet the story would, like the resurrection, become the critical energy that formed the faith of Israel. The theological point is clear. God can defeat the greatest military power in the world. The God who created the world remains Lord over nature as well. No matter how strong the power of evil is in the world, it can only flee in panic when it recognizes with whom it is contending. Here is the real truth in the battle between good and evil. Trust and obedience in God, which is what faith is, can overcome the laws of nature, the military force of nations, and any other force that exists. From the story of Adam to the present time, the issue has always been whether one can trust and obey God. Later, in the life of Jesus, that would become the critical issue in the Garden of Gethsemane. The story of Israel was a continual struggle for obedience against all the logic that suggested there must be a better way. The energy that drives the quest is found in this critical story of the Exodus that described when Israel once put everything in the hand of God, and God proved to be faithful. Is that not the challenge for the church as well?
