Trust the Process

Trust the Process Exodus 32:1-33:6

Announce Scripture Please turn with me in your Bibles to Exodus 32. We will be starting at verse 1 and continuing to verse 6.

Scripture Introduction We are continuing with the study of Exodus. So far God has led the Israelites out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, into the wilderness, to the foot of mount Sinai, where God provided for them and where God invites the nation of Israel into a covenant relationship. Thru Moses God gives the people of Israel commands to follow, laws from worship to social justice, and laws about the Sabbath and other festivals. Another important part of the covenant is that God wants to have his holy presence come and dwell among the people. God lays out detailed instructions for how the tabernacle is supposed to be made, right down to the details of what the priests are to wear when they enter the sacred tent.

As we pick up today, we see the restlessness of Israel. Moses has just received the commandments on the two tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. And as Moses is on the mountain receiving the instructions from God, the Israelites break the covenant they made with God.

Re-Announce Scripture

With that’s lets start reading from Exodus 32:1-6.

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.

Prayer for Illumination

Let’s pray as we ask God to lead us and guide us as we study his Word. Lord thank you for allowing us to meet here today. Thank you for your Word you have given us, and I pray for blessed understanding of your scriptures, that we may not only be hearers of your word but also doers. In your name I pray, Amen.

[Pause]

[SERMON INTRODUCTION] A very old man lay dying in his bed. In death’s doorway, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite chocolate chip cookie wafting up the stairs. He gathered his remaining strength and lifted himself from the bed. Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and with even greater effort forced himself down the stairs, gripping the railing with both hands.

With labored breath, he leaned against the door frame, gazing into the kitchen. Were it not for death’s agony, he would have thought himself already in heaven. There, spread out on newspapers on the kitchen table were literally hundreds of his favorite chocolate chip cookies.

Was it heaven? Or was it one final act of heroic love from his devoted wife seeing to it that he left this world a happy man? Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself toward the table. The aged and withered hand, shaking, made its way to a cookie at the edge of the table, when he was suddenly smacked with a spatula by his wife.

“Stay out of those,” she said. “They’re for the funeral.”

[Pause]

[TRANSITION TO MAIN POINT 1] While that is a light-hearted and fictional story, we can to some degree all relate to the struggle of waiting for something with eager anticipation. The idea of waiting patiently seems almost like a contradiction in itself. Especially when we have to wait for someone else. Trusting in someone’s else plan rather than our own immediate choice is not an enjoyable thing to do. It can be easy to become impatient and angry when we are not in control. You may think that you have it all figured out and don’t require any help resulting in more anger and frustration when our plans ultimately fail. Life presents us with many difficult circumstances and at times we may even feel like giving up.

[PROPOSITION] But as we look at Exodus 32 today, we see the dangers of being impatient and more specifically the consequences of following our own desires. Instead, we need to trust in God’s plan.

[BILLBOARD] As we read further, we see the Israelites failure to trust in God’s plan and from that we can learn to avoid the pitfalls that caused them severe consequences. From the passage we will see that we need to trust in God’s plan when we are impatient, when we face difficult situations, and when we seek forgiveness. Let’s take a look at the first occasion.

[MAIN POINT 1]

We need to trust in God’s plan when we are impatient

As Christians, we are called to surrender our lives to the glory of Christ, but impatience leads to selfish desires and creates poor leaders.

[SUB POINT 1.1] We see how in this passage of Exodus

Impatience led the Israelites to selfish desires

In verse one the Israelites become annoyed and frustrated with the amount of time Moses is on the mountain. Important to note that Moses wasn’t up there taking a leisurely walk on the mountain, he was communicating with God on behalf of the people. The very people that are now impatient with him and want Aaron to do something about it. They approach Aaron as a group and demand that he makes them gods to go before them. Leaving Egypt, God had gone before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. But now they are quickly forgetting the God that brought them out of Egypt and are asking Aaron to make other “gods” (lower case ‘g’) that will lead them.

They quickly forget the God who rescued them from slavery, who provided a way for them to cross the sea on dry land and the God who gave them manna as food in the desert.

They also give up on Moses. As soon as their eyes could no longer see him, they looked for a different leader and lose trust in the plan God had for them.

The same fault of the Israelites back then is present in the lives of many today as well. How many times have we heard friends, family or co-workers say something along the lines of “I would believe in God if he just showed himself.” Or “I need to see specific signs first to believe.” We have an example here in Exodus of a people who are literally be led by God, have seen the miraculous signs he has performed thus far and yet when their leader is gone for a short time, they revert back and forget about the one true God, and the covenant they made with him just a little while ago.

I heard a speaker this week say that “even if unbelievers were to get a sign from God, they would probably forget about it in a month.” Signs and miracles may seem like they would be concrete proof and undeniable, but we see multiple times in the Bible how that is not the case. Even when they were leaving Egypt, it took ten signs, or rather ten plaques, before Pharoh would let the Hebrews go. And now the Israelites are seemingly turning back to what they were familiar with.

They came from Egypt where the worship of many gods was not only familiar but common practice. And so, at this moment when Moses goes up on the mountain and they can no longer see Moses, they lose trust in Him, and they lose trust in God’s plan.

We see this pattern of losing trust in the New Testament as well. In Matthew 14 Jesus goes up on the mountain to pray and the disciples that go out on the boat become terrified. Then in Matthew 26 Jesus goes to Gethsemane to pray and when he returns, he finds his disciples had fallen asleep.

The Israelites in this case could not wait for Moses and had no trust in God. A German philosopher once said that “when God dies, things become weightless.” Meaning that without God, there is nothing to keep one from following whatever they want. For the Israelites, with Moses not present, and what seemed to them as God not present, they turned to follow their selfish desires and demanded a god be made for them to see and worship.

[SUB POINT 1.2] Which shows another effect of impatience, and that is that

Impatience creates poor leaders

In walks Aaron. Aaron was the number two next to Moses and has been along side him this whole journey. Verse 2-5 describe how Aaron collects the gold from jewelry and creates a golden calf for the Israelites to worship. In verse 4 Aaron says, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” Using the plural ‘these’ and ‘gods’ could be a sign that Aaron and the Israelites considered the calf to be another god alongside the Lord but regardless they were in violation of the first and second commandment, which they had just previously received.

The first two commandments read “You shall have no other gods before me” and “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” By building this calf for the people Aaron demonstrates poor leadership. Aaron subjected himself to the urges of the people rather than doing the right thing. At the end of verse 5 Aaron says, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” Aaron is leading the Israelites in a feast to the Lord while worshipping other gods. Paul mentions this in his first letter to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 10:7, “Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”

Simply being a part of God’s people is not enough; God’s people are called to trust in Him and Him alone and get rid of any other gods or idols. Aaron had the guide, he would have known what the commandments were but ultimately, Aaron chose to listen to the people rather than trusting in God’s plan.

[TRANSITION TO ILLUSTRATION] Like the Israelites we too have the commandments, we have the Bible as our guide but often we let our impatience lead us to idols rather than trusting and obeying God’s plan.

[ILLUSTRATION 1] It was the height of World War two and General McArthur and his American troops needed to cross a certain river. General McArthur went to the engineer in charge of building and asked how long it would take to build a bridge over the river. “About three days,” was the response from the engineer. Satisfied with that answer McArthur told the engineer to go ahead and draw up the plans. Three days later McArthur came back and asked for the plans. The engineer looked at the General and seemed rather surprised at the question. The engineer responded “Oh, the bridge is ready. You can cross it now. If you want plans, you’ll have to wait a little longer, we haven’t finished those yet.”

[Pause]

[APPLICATION 1] Many people often claim they are waiting for God to reveal their life's purpose as a way of avoiding acting. These engineers knew a bridge needed to be made and having made many bridges before they got right to work. Our own plans are important, but they only take us so far, eventually we need action. Have you ever felt God calling you to watch television, go on vacation, or engage in morning exercise? Most likely not, but we still go ahead with these activities anyway. The focus here isn't to criticize leisure activities or physical well-being but to point out how quickly we rationalize our personal priorities, while hesitating to fully commit ourselves to serving God. The Israelites were quick to become impatient and build another god to worship but slow and hesitant to follow God’s plan.

Out of selfish desires we too create idols that we begin to worship, whether we realize it or not. As beings created by God, we are created to worship. As it has been said, if you worship beauty, you will never be beautiful enough. If you worship money, you will never have enough. If you worship shiny things, there will always be another object to go get.

The Israelites created an idol to worship and offer sacrifices to but ironically, the very things they used to build the idol should have been offered as a sacrifice to God. Their money and time were something they could have given to the Lord for Him to use but instead of sacrificing it to God, they worshipped it instead. They worshiped what they should have sacrificed.

What are the selfish desires in our lives that threaten for our attention, time, and devotion? What idol do we need to sacrifice? An idol can be a physical man-made creation, but it can also be our jobs, social media, or our hobbies. Hobbies may seem like a leisurely way to spend an evening but can soon take up the majority of our time. From one evening a week to 3-4 evenings, to the whole day Saturday and then Sunday. Quickly, what we do becomes who we are. It becomes what we spend most our money on and what we talk about most. It overshadows all areas of our life, and we develop a reliance on our hobbies and the people that go with it to make us feel good rather than Jesus and fellow Christians.

Idols can be many things but anything in our lives that gets in between our worship to God is an idol that we need to flee from. They are selfish desires and they will cause us to become impatient with God.

[MAIN POINT 2] Not only do we need to trust in God’s plan when we are impatient, but

We need to trust in God’s plan when we face difficult situations

In this passage we can compare and contrast the difference between the righteous anger of God, Moses’ response, and Moses’ anger.

[SUB POINT 2.1] Picking up at Exodus 32:7 we read of the Lord’s anger in response to the sins of the Israelites.

God’s anger

And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” 9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.” The Lord tells Moses what is going on in the camp below and how the people have turned to other gods. He specifically tells Moses their actions of creating a golden calf. It shows what we all know to be true; that no matter where or what the sin is, it cannot be hidden God. The Lord may have been hidden to the Israelites by the cloud, but their sins were clearly visible to Him. And the Lord has seen enough and tells Moses that he will destroy the nation with his wrath. He will do to this to create a great nation out of Moses.

God, speaking to Moses, also refers to the Israelites as “your people.” God suggests to Moses that he has or was about to disown and punish the Israelites.

And God was acting consistently with his justice. The Israelites had made a covenant with God, but they had broken it by worshipping other gods. Sin exposes us to the wrath of God. God doesn’t ask for Moses’ opinion here, he says to Moses “let me alone” implying that if Moses had done nothing, God would have carried out with his plan to destroy the people. And God would have been just in doing so.

[SUB POINT 2.2] But we read that Moses did not do nothing but rather in response to God’s anger Moses pleads with God to relent of his anger.

Moses’ response

Continuing on in verse 11: But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

In response to God’s anger Moses flips it back to God when he refers to Israel as “your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt.” Moses gives back the people to God, saying that he doesn’t want to be a god over them. Moses demonstrates maturity and holiness by not taking an opportunity to exalt himself.

God has given him the opportunity to start over with a new people and to be made into a great nation but instead of taking this opportunity for himself he goes to bat for the people he is leading. Had Moses been a selfish person, he would have accepted that offer but he prefers the salvation of Israel over the advancement of himself and his family.

Moses appeals to God’s character, specifically His grace. Moses is repeating that it was God who brought them out of Egypt, and it was God who had kept them thus far. The people did not deserve it then, and they don’t deserve to be saved now, but the appeal to God is to not stop providing grace for Israel.

Moses then appeals to God’s reputation. In verse 12 Moses asks the Lord what the Egyptians will think if they see Him destroy the nation that he did all this work to get to this point. Moses was concerned with the honor of the name of God and did not want other nations to think of Him as a cruel God.

Lastly, Moses appeals to God’s goodness by bringing up the promises He has made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (also called Israel). Moses wasn’t looking out selfishly for his own name to be made great but instead wanted God to keep his promises with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and make them into a great nation.

After Moses’ appeals to God’s character and his reputation, verse 14 says that “the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.” God was ready to destroy all the people of Israel because of their sin. But Moses pleaded for mercy, and God spared them, at least from total destruction. God did not change his mind the same way that we may change our mind on how to react to a wrongdoing against ourselves. Instead, God changed his behaviour to remain consistent with his nature. When God wanted to destroy Israel, he was acting consistently with his justice. When Moses interceded for the people, God relented in order to act consistently with his mercy. Moses did not change the heart of God but rather displayed it by showing how deep in mercy God truly is.

Alan R Cole in his commentary of Exodus writes, “We are not to think of Moses as altering God’s purpose towards Israel by this prayer, but as carrying it out: Moses was never more like God than in such moments, for he shared God’s mind and loving purpose.”

[SUB POINT 2.3] Moses shared God’s love for the people but he also shared in the righteous anger that God displayed.

Moses’ anger

Moses was about to head down the mountain to witness the sin firsthand.

Continuing at verse 19: “And as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses' anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20 He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it. 21 And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” 22 And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. 23 For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.””

Upon hearing the sound of singing from the camp and seeing the golden calf and the people dancing, Moses throws the two tablets to the foot of the mountain and breaks them. These were the tablets that God himself has inscribed the commandments on. Bible commentator David Guzik writes “Israel broke the covenant by their idolatry and immorality with the golden calf. There was something appropriate about Moses breaking the stone tablets of the covenant at Israel’s breaking of the covenant.” As mentioned, Israel broke the first and second commandments to have no other gods and to not make any idols. But by breaking even one command Israel was guilty of breaking them all. And James reiterates this in the New Testament in James 2:10 by saying “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” Israel was guilty of breaking the whole law and the covenant and just as they would need new tablets, they would require a new covenant as well. And we see another difficulty for Moses in verse 21. When he goes to Aaron to ask him what happened, Aaron gives him a lame excuse. If it wasn’t such a serious matter, it could even be a humorous answer. Aaron essentially tells Moses, “Hey look, you know these people, they’re bad people. So, I just collected some gold, threw it in the fire and to my shock and surprise...out came this calf!”

The response has the same type of feeling as the one Adam gave to God when asked why he had eaten the fruit from the forbidden tree. Adam tries to push the blame over to Eve and rid himself of any guilt. And here Aaron is also trying to push the blame and remove the guilt from himself.

It highlights the differences between Moses and Aaron. When Moses was faced with God’s anger, he steps up for his people. To the point where he is depriving himself of great things just so that his people can have a second chance. But when Aaron is confronted by Moses’ anger, he immediately implodes and attempts to push the blame elsewhere.

Moses has gone through a lot with the people thus far and now his second-hand man, his own brother fails him. Moses’ whole life up to this point had difficulties and this moment was no exception. But in the face of those difficulties, instead of choosing to throw in the towel and quit Moses kept going, trusting in God’s plan and not his own. When faced with the destruction of the people he was leading, Moses trusted in God’s character to show mercy and grace and he trusted in God’s goodness to lead them even after Israel’s sin. It was Moses’ trust in God’s plan amid the difficulties that prevented Israel’s destruction and would ultimately display God’s glory.

[ILLUSTRATION 2] Over the last couple years, I have become very interested in the sport of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. The simplified objective of the sport is to find a way to submit your opponent before they can submit you. It requires a great amount of knowledge and determination to become successful. I started going to classes and we were taught and new move or two each time and then we would have the opportunity to try it out. After only a few weeks when challenged with one of the better competitors at the gym, I was feeling rather confident. I had a whole plan in my head; if he did this then I would do that. And if he moved here well, I would move there. The match started and as good as I thought my plan was, it went out the window in ten seconds. I was just guessing and trying to make it up as I went along. He had much more experience than me and it showed how ill-prepared I was against someone who had been there before time and time again. When faced with that difficult situation my plan failed, and as a result I lost that match.

[TRANSITION TO APPLICATION] When Moses was faced with the difficult situation of the Israelites worshipping other gods, he didn’t fail because he was trusting in a plan greater than his own. God’s plan had brought him to this point, and he was experienced with following what God commanded and seeking him for guidance. So, when faced with yet another obstacle, he had a plan he could trust.

[APPLICATION] But how does that apply to us? We need to develop habits into our lives that bring us closer to God and not further away. Specifically, we need to read our Bibles everyday. And I say that as someone who has often fallen short of that. But we need to be in God’s word every day to know what he requires of us. So that when difficult situations arise in our own lives, we don’t need to guess at what the right thing is. From there we learn how to pray, how to be proper spouses, how to be Godly parents, and how to form God honouring relationships. We cannot make it up as we go. As the saying goes “a person with experience is never at the mercy of a person with an opinion.”

[TRANSITION] So, through Moses’ anger and his response to God’s anger we can see the importance of trusting in God’s plan when we face difficult situations.

[MAIN POINT 3] Trusting in God’s plan will bring us to the realization of our sins. Sin causes us to stray further away from God and his will. And so,

We need to trust in God’s plan when we seek forgiveness

We don’t get to come to a bargaining table when confessing our sin. We are called to acknowledge our sin and repent. Trust in the sacrifice. And hold on to the assurances.

[SUB POINT 3.1]

We are called to acknowledge our sin and repent

When Israel sinned, they didn’t get to escape the consequences. Even though God wasn’t going to destroy the whole nation, he had to deal with the sin. And Israel had a decision to make; were they going to keep worshipping idols or turn from their sin. Picking up at verse 25 “And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), 26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord's side? Come to me.” Moses was calling for them to recognize their sin and turn from it. The people had broken loose and did whatever they pleased.

Proverbs 14:12 says that “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” The Israelites had done what was right to them and the consequences were severe. The Bible says that about three thousand men died that day. It is a glaring example of how serious the Lord takes sin and the effects of sin. Sin brings death.

[SUB POINT 3.2]

Trust in the sacrifice

But Israel wasn’t going to remain there, Moses was once again going to intercede on behalf of the people. Going to verse 30, “The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.”

Moses points out their sin. He doesn’t hold back or sugar coat it but instead tells them directly and plainly. Moses then says that perhaps he can make atonement for their sin. He knew the penalty for idolatry was death but as the leader he goes to the Lord to intercede on their behalf. Moses confesses the sin of the people to God, again not hiding it, but clearly defining the sin.

Then, in a bold request, Moses asks God to forgive Israel. He knew how big the sin was but again he appealed to the mercy and grace of God. And along with his appeal he does so by offering to sacrifice himself on behalf of the people. The Lord doesn’t accept Moses’ sacrifice but chooses to spare the nation of Israel as a whole. He then tells Moses to continue to lead the people to the place he had promised them.

[SUB POINT 3.3]

Hold on to the assurances

God’s mercy and grace are fully on display here, even though the people sinned, God kept his promises to them. In chapter 33 verse 1 the Lord speaks to Moses, “The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’

Moses and Israel could hold on to the assurance that the Lord was still leading them to the land that he swore to their ancestors, and the land he promises to give to their descendants. But as a result of their sin, he could not be in their presence as he had been thus far.

Upon hearing this the people of Israel mourned and repented. In verse 4 it says, “When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments.” This was bad news to the people, and they mourned that fact that they had lost their close relationship with God. They showed their repentance by removing their ornaments as a sign of humility.

[ILLUSTRATION] The trust displayed by Moses through this event is something to take notice of. Moses was an early glimpse of what was to come in the New Testament. As Moses interceded on behalf of the Israelites, Jesus now intercedes on behalf of all people. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 reads “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.” Moses offered to sacrifice himself on behalf of Israel, but God did not accept his sacrifice. Moses was not able to offer himself as a sacrifice because he to was sinful but Christ Jesus, who knew no sin, came down to earth and died on the cross as the one and final sacrifice for all people. Moses brought the law that condemns us, but Jesus fulfills it and offers us life.

[APPLICATION] What does that mean for us? Just like the Israelites deserved death for their sin of idolatry, so we deserve death for our sins. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” What then shall we do? We need to repent of our sin. Turn away from everything that hinders our walk with Christ. Cast away the idols that we worship instead of Jesus.

In his Exodus commentary Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes “To be given every other blessing is of no value if God is not with you. What is the value of Canaan? What is the value of milk and honey? What is the value of having possessions if God [is not with you]?”

And so we need to turn away from sin and turn toward God. Believing and trusting in Christ Jesus and Him alone. We can’t trust our own plans. Proverbs 28:26 says, “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.” And then lastly, we need to hold on to the assurance that as God led Israel to the promised land, he is leading us, and sanctifying us to one day raise us in glory.

[Pause]

[CONCLUSION] On January 15, 2009, Casey Jones boarded US Airways flight 1549. As far as he was concerned this was just another ordinary flight. As the plane took off from LaGuardia Airport, everything seemed normal until about ninety seconds in, a sudden jolt and a loud thud filled the cabin. A sound he had never heard before in his hundreds of previous flights. The passengers exchanged alarmed glances, and Casey felt his heart race.

He immediately felt that they had lost all acceleration and at the moment the captain’s voice echoed through the intercom; “Brace for impact.” Casey desperately pulled his phone out and attempted to call his wife and eight- year-old son to tell them “I love you” one last time. But because of his extreme nervousness his hands were shaking too much to enter his phone’s password so he put the phone back in his pocket and prayed his family would know how much he loved them.

Flight attendants were going up and down the aisles trying to prepare the passengers, they were shouting, “get prepared, head down!” Casey and the rest of the passengers onboard had no idea what was about to happen. They were dropping at three times the rate of normal descent and there wasn’t a thing Casey could do about it.

The plane hit the freezing cold water in the Hudson Bay at 150 miles per hour and miraculously skimmed across the water perfectly as to not completely destroy the plane or immediately sink it. The event became know as the “Miracle on the Hudson” as all 155 souls onboard that plane made it safely to land.

[Pause]

We may never be put in a situation like these passengers were on that day, but one thing we do have in common is that one day our life will be required of us. We may not have 90 seconds to call loved ones but just like Casey could do nothing to stop the plane from crashing, we can do nothing to prevent our own death. Yes, we can maybe delay it by being healthy and avoiding risky adventures but like those passengers we too need to brace for impact.

No plan of our own will be able to save us on that day but instead we need to trust in God’s plan. As the flight attendants instructed, “Get prepared, head down!” We get prepared by putting our full trust in Jesus and his saving work on the cross. By confession and repenting of ours sins we humbly approach the throne of God. Keeping our head down and focused on Jesus, not looking to idols and the things of this world, not putting our trust in our own goodness, but instead embracing Jesus and the life he gives. Patiently waiting for the glorious day of his return.

Let’s pray. Thank you, Lord, for your words and the instructions we can take from them. We were created for your glory, and we are not our own, but we were purchased with a price. Thank you, Jesus, for your sacrifice on the cross that made it possible for us to have eternal life. But while we are here on this earth, I pray that we trust the plan you have for us, grant us the courage to trust in you alone and help us to walk daily in your Spirit. In your name we pray, Amen.