Moses and God’s Covenant

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.

Life is just full of surprises and things unknown. I want to show this picture - that I thought to engaging and thought provoking. In this picture we see a man with a top hat and it looks to be a heavy coat or jacket. He is carrying what it looks like to be a suitcase or briefcase. But he is just dropped in the middle of nowhere, there is nothing around him besides clouds and field of grass. Everything is flat, no trees or hills or houses. It’s just this man with his briefcase. You can’t help but wonder what is going through this man’s mind - Did I take a wrong turn somewhere to get me to this point? Is he kicking himself for sleeping through his stop on the bus and now rode it all the way to the end of the line? Is he thinking to himself that he didn’t pack enough things in his suitcase for this? No matter what the situation was - or whatever he did there man finds himself on this empty road to nothing. And as he stands there did you notice where his head is - it is facing down looking at the rolled up part of the path wait for it unravel. This man is standing there staring straight into the unknown. As the path unravels what is it going to bring? Is it going to be bring more of the same that he has already experienced? Is it going to bring with it something different and exciting like trees or mountains or something else to look at? How long will it take to reveal something new for this man? How long will he have to wait? There are so many things that is man doesn’t know. But in the midst of the unknown, God is still working.

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Last week, throughout this sermon series we discuss Abraham and the promises that God gave him and ultimately his future descendants. After a little while of living in the promised land - Abraham’s people are brought down to Egypt and given in slavery. But God doesn’t leave His people - God through His servant Moses (who we heard about in our readings for today) leads His people out of slavery on course back to the Promised Land. This journey back to the Promised Land wasn’t one that was on paved roads or flat surfaces, but it was through the desert. And this is where in our last reading from Exodus 23 - we see God give this promise of what their entrance back into the Promised Land would look like. But here these people are sitting in this barren desert - I’m sure they are picturing what the Promised Land was going to like. I’m sure they were wondering what kind of peace they would finally experience as God’s People. I’m sure they were thinking through how much better this was going to be than slavery that they had just experienced in Egypt. God tells them that this land that they are waiting for is filled other people groups - like the Canaanites, and Amorites, but God says that He will drive them out little by little so they land wouldn’t go barren. In other words, God is saying to the Israelities that they will have to wait to take full possession of the land. God also says that these other people will have their other false gods and God instructs His people not to dwell with them; He instructs them not to make covenants or peace treaties with them as they will become a snare and lead them away from the truth. God says - you will get this land, I will drive those other people out - stay faithful to Me - but as we know the people of God don’t listen. Whether it was their impatience to wait until gave them the land completely, whether it was their lack of faith that God would actually do it, whatever the reason - we see that God’s people weren’t faithful to Him. They turned to other gods - in fact just a few chapters later in Exodus - where they are still in the desert we see them make golden calf to worship - because they were tired of waiting for God. The people just like Abraham last week are given this promise - but they were unfaithful.

In the midst of the unknown, God is still working. The people of God after hearing His promise to help them conquer this new land - the Promised Land - that they make take possession of it, they didn’t know exactly how they were going to respond. The people of God didn’t know what kind of snares they exactly were going to encounter with the other gods and people groups that they were going to meet. I’m sure as they heard God’s instructions not to make covenants with the other people and other gods - I’m sure they thought to themselves of course God anything you say - as You are giving us this land; they didn’t know the future or what that would like. But even in the midst of the unknown, God is still working. God knew His people was going to turn their backs on Him. God knew that they wouldn’t listen to His instructions, God knew that they would look to false gods and other people to lead them as they entered the Promised Land, but He still pours out His blessings on His people. God still showered His people with love and care - even when they didn’t deserve it. God still continues to work blessings and was faithful to promises for His people! In the midst of the unknown, God is still working.

Imagine yourself on a long roadtrip. Everyone in the car is tired, everyone in car is hungry, the kids in the back ask the standard question: “Are we there yet?” You give as even keeled answer as you can, “No!”. This pattern happens over and over again. You feel like you have seen the same landmarks over and over, you find yourselves in the middle of nowhere. But as you are driving you finally pass one of those big blue interstate signs that tells you about certain things coming up - and in the middle of that sign your eyes are drawn to the middle of sign where it shows a big, picture of a cheeseburger. And you become completely focused on that - you say to yourself we are stopping here because I don’t know whats ahead and this is what everyone needs. You don’t even bother to squint to see the other small advertisements on that sign - you just focus completely on that cheeseburger restaurant - that’s the only thing you see.

Are there moments in our spiritual lives - where we do the same thing? Do have moments where we have spiritual short sightedness - where we focus on the thing that’s right in front of us and we miss the bigger picture that God is trying to show us? Are there moments when God or His promises feel distant and instead of looking to Him - pursuing Him - we look for something that is more instant. Out of fear or out of doubt or out of the pursuit of self- gratification we tend to pursue things that promise us something in the here and now and we run the danger of missing out what our God is doing. We just like Israel continually find ourselves “stopping along the road God is leading” for the sake other things - finding ourselves unfaithful, and distant from what God has said.

But in even in the midst of unknown, God is still working. For us, not knowing what the future is going to look like can be a scary thing - especially for those type A people who need to know every detail. Or for us not knowing the way the devil can trick us and get us to fall into in snares, can be difficult. For us, knowing every exact way that God is going to answer our prayers can be hard - but even in the midst of the unknown, God is still working. For you, He sent His Son Jesus and Jesus came to reveal God’s love to you! Jesus came to this world to shower God’s blessings upon you, so that you may dwell with Him forever! God knew everything about you, past present and future, and He sent Jesus anyway to bear your sins that you may be forgiven and called apart of His family. God has chosen to be with you! And He has chosen you to be His sons and daughters - as He has claimed you through the gift of Baptism. You are His and nothing can separate you from His promises!

As we flash back, to this image - we are reminded that even in the unknown, God is still working. There may be a temptation to stand down at the unknown - wondering what will happen? Or what a certain thing may look like? Or there may be moments when we are overcome by fear - wondering what’s next. But as people of God and believers of Him - we are encouraged to fix our eyes upon Him and His promises. Because you are loved, you are His and He is still working.

Now may the grace of God the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, may it guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.