Exodus Chapters 8-9
Remember that first time at the public pool when you jumped off the high dive?I remember looking at it from the ground with this deep kind of unavoidable will to do this logic-defying thing. It was as if I knew that one day I would, and the only question was how long could I hold out before I absolutely had to. Then, one hot summer day, I mounted the ladder to make the terrifying climb to the top. I remember how each rung of that ladder intensified my anguish inside. Then, I remember standing on that perilously high board looking out over all the people. It seemed as though all eyes were on me. Suddenly, the fear I felt from the ground, and the anguish that intensified up the ladder turned into something worse---despair. All alone on the high dive; nothing below to catch me (or so it seemed), and nothing but humiliation to pay if I climb back down. Then, in my moment of despair, I remember a kind of calm courage---then I jumped. Looking back I realize that before I came up out of the water, something had washed over me that was more refreshing than the pool, faith.
Despair is the worst. It is what fear and anguish intensify into. Despair is a state of total hopelessness. It's that moment when everything you've tried, all of your best efforts still cant overcome what you face. Its that moment when all you have left to do is pray. So, you do, possibly for the first time in a long time. Despair leads us to faith.
Remember the last time you were in despair?
Remember how your despair caused you to turn towards God and and pray Jesus' Gethsemane Prayer "Not my will, but thine be done"?
That's what is happening with these plagues in Egypt that we are working through for the next few days. Yesterday we read about the Nile turning to blood (plague 1). Today we read about frogs and gnats (plagues 2 and 3). When Moses returned to Egypt and announced to Pharaoh that God is determined to free the Israelites, and that He requests that Pharaoh let His people go, that was the moment of fear, like that of realizing you must go off the high dive. Now, the plagues are coming, and Pharaoh has begun climbing up the ladder. With each plague the anguish of Egypt will intensify as the plagues reach higher and higher into God's authority over all things. The last plague is God's power over death. This one will finally break Pharaoh's heart from anguish into despair. Then, out of despair, Pharaoh will finally find the courage---even faith---to take the jump of believing in the God of Moses and the Israelites. So, while this story is clearly one about the deliverance of God's people. Can we not also see the other side, the untold story, of when Pharaoh first came to believe? There is even a bit of historical proof of this, for there is a brief period of Egyptian history when they turned away from paganism and believed in only one great and mighty God.
On this Holy Thursday, when we remember the way in which Jesus gave himself humbly away in service and sacrifice to us as he did to his disciples, we also remember Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane after sharing his last supper. There in the garden, we remember Jesus' despair as he prayed this most faithful prayer to the Father, "Not my will, but thine be done."
Let Jesus' faith in his moment of despair be an inspiration to you this day, and in every moment of despair that comes to you.
Lord Jesus, you were there when the Israelites cried out for deliverance, and you were also there when Pharaoh was in despair. Finally, you felt despair yourself in the Garden of Gethsemane. When despair brings us to faith, you are the saving arms that catch us when we leap. Thank you! In your name. Amen
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