In The Nick Of Time
Sermon
There's nothing quite like a good adventure story to aid relaxation, whether in a book or a film or on television. The car chases and the rescues in the nick of time set pulses racing and drive all other thoughts from weary minds, to leave the audience feeling refreshed and energised. But adventure stories which are second rate have the reverse effect. If the timing isn't quite right or the dialogue is stilted or the plot is too obvious, they can be stultifyingly boring.
In those books or films where the hero finds himself in a tight corner from which there appears to be no escape, it can be very interesting trying to work out just what he will do. And in the top rate novels, the hero's actions are always ingenious and usually a surprise.
Perhaps this is why some of the Old Testament stories are so good and have made exciting films through the ages. The people often find themselves in a tight spot, but just in the nick of time God extricates them in a very ingenious and surprising manner.
Take today's story from Exodus, for instance, which has all the ingredients of a first-rate thriller. As in all good stories, the hero - Moses - has already faced almost insuperable difficulties in his mission to free his people from vicious slavery under Egyptian rule. The Egyptian king, the Pharoah, first refused Moses' request outright. After God sent some hideous plagues upon Egypt, the Pharoah agreed to let the Israelites go, but he procrastinated and kept changing his mind. It was only after the first-born in every Egyptian household died (while the Israelites remained untouched, being protected directly by God) that the Pharoah's opposition was finally overcome. And true to form, even at this last minute the Pharoah changed his mind yet again and sent his troops after the fleeing Israelites to bring them back.
Moses and the Israelites then find themselves in an impossible situation. In front of them is the Red Sea, deep and wide and completely impassable. Behind them are the rapidly advancing Egyptian chariots, containing soldiers with spears at the ready. There's nowhere to go and it seems like the Israelites, slowed down by the elderly and by children, are about to be massacred. The people themselves certainly thought so, for they turned on Moses and blamed him for their predicament. "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?" they said. "What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, 'Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."
It's an impossible situation full of dread and it seems there is no escape. But Moses' faith never wavers. At this point he doesn't even have time for prayer, but he supports and strengthens the people by saying, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”
The people didn't have to do anything. They simply needed to wait upon God, believing in his power to rescue them. And God immediately responded to the people's cry and to Moses' faith. God said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward.”
God didn't find some hidden escape route for the people, nor did he give in to their desire to return to where they were before. He told them to go forward into danger, trusting in him to see them through. When they trusted him enough to do that, then God managed the danger for them and it became not the impossible which prevented their moving forward, but the actual route which takes them forward and away from slavery forever.
Like the Israelites, we are so often caught between a rock and a hard place, and there doesn't seem to be any means of escape. It's so impossible to go forward that the only solution seems to be to go back to the place from which we wished to escape, for that might seem to be the lesser of two evils. But God rarely allows that to happen, and if we trust him sufficiently, will open up a new way forward for us.
This new way may be appear to be highly risky. It must have been risky for the Israelites to walk through the Red Sea with great banks of water on either side, hovering over them, threatening to descend at any moment and drown them.
Many scientists now believe that the plagues and the parting of the Red Sea were the result of a massive volcano which brought disease and a tidal wave in its aftermath. Before a tidal wave, the sea is dragged back huge distances, then finally tumbles over itself in a massive wave which drowns everything in a huge flood. So walking on the sea bed in such circumstances must have been utterly terrifying and precarious, but this is what God called the Israelites to do. And as they walked, so the very danger they faced became their way of escape and saved them from the pursuing Egyptians.
No wonder this escape across the Red Sea was seen as the first saving act of God, fore-shadowing and heralding God's second saving act through the death and resurrection of Jesus some fifteen hundred or so years later.
One of the excitements of Christianity is its riskiness. God rarely maps out a nice comfortable path for us years ahead, so that we can see exactly what we're doing and where we're going. God is much more likely to rescue us in the nick of time, exactly when we need it, but to keep our path hidden until we need to know what it is and where it is.
And God often urges us to face the danger ahead. When we face that danger, we discover a new path opening up for us, a path which we could never have discerned had we not faced the danger.
A friend of mine was trapped in an awful marriage in which she and her husband were slowly destroying each other. She agonised over what to do and felt that she was in an impossible situation. She had always believed that marriage was for life and felt that divorce was against God's laws. And she was afraid of living by herself. She was sure she wouldn't be able to cope with the demands of life by herself. On the other hand, her life was utter misery and no matter what she did, she couldn't seem to make it any better.
She prayed and prayed, but nothing happened. God didn't answer her prayers. In the end, she took the huge step of finding herself a lawyer and setting in motion the wheels of divorce. It was the scariest thing she had ever done in her life. But as soon as she took that step, her life began to improve. She began to take control of it and ceased to be a victim. And now, years later, she's happily married to a new husband and life is the best it's ever been.
Looking back, she realises that God was calling her to divorce but she couldn't hear his call because it was against her religious beliefs and her religious upbringing. As soon as she did hear, God was able to support her and she developed a new and living relationship with God.
She had to face her own Red Sea and turn her back on the Egyptians, even though in many ways it was easier to settle for the misery she'd always known rather than face the risk and danger of the tidal wave.
God is always there for us and sometimes his call is unexpected and scary. But if we walk forward trusting in him he will save us, just as he saved the Israelites so long ago and just as he saved the whole human race through Jesus Christ, that first Easter around 2000 years ago. All we have to do is wait for God, then face the danger with him and we too will find a new path opening up for us.
In those books or films where the hero finds himself in a tight corner from which there appears to be no escape, it can be very interesting trying to work out just what he will do. And in the top rate novels, the hero's actions are always ingenious and usually a surprise.
Perhaps this is why some of the Old Testament stories are so good and have made exciting films through the ages. The people often find themselves in a tight spot, but just in the nick of time God extricates them in a very ingenious and surprising manner.
Take today's story from Exodus, for instance, which has all the ingredients of a first-rate thriller. As in all good stories, the hero - Moses - has already faced almost insuperable difficulties in his mission to free his people from vicious slavery under Egyptian rule. The Egyptian king, the Pharoah, first refused Moses' request outright. After God sent some hideous plagues upon Egypt, the Pharoah agreed to let the Israelites go, but he procrastinated and kept changing his mind. It was only after the first-born in every Egyptian household died (while the Israelites remained untouched, being protected directly by God) that the Pharoah's opposition was finally overcome. And true to form, even at this last minute the Pharoah changed his mind yet again and sent his troops after the fleeing Israelites to bring them back.
Moses and the Israelites then find themselves in an impossible situation. In front of them is the Red Sea, deep and wide and completely impassable. Behind them are the rapidly advancing Egyptian chariots, containing soldiers with spears at the ready. There's nowhere to go and it seems like the Israelites, slowed down by the elderly and by children, are about to be massacred. The people themselves certainly thought so, for they turned on Moses and blamed him for their predicament. "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?" they said. "What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, 'Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."
It's an impossible situation full of dread and it seems there is no escape. But Moses' faith never wavers. At this point he doesn't even have time for prayer, but he supports and strengthens the people by saying, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”
The people didn't have to do anything. They simply needed to wait upon God, believing in his power to rescue them. And God immediately responded to the people's cry and to Moses' faith. God said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward.”
God didn't find some hidden escape route for the people, nor did he give in to their desire to return to where they were before. He told them to go forward into danger, trusting in him to see them through. When they trusted him enough to do that, then God managed the danger for them and it became not the impossible which prevented their moving forward, but the actual route which takes them forward and away from slavery forever.
Like the Israelites, we are so often caught between a rock and a hard place, and there doesn't seem to be any means of escape. It's so impossible to go forward that the only solution seems to be to go back to the place from which we wished to escape, for that might seem to be the lesser of two evils. But God rarely allows that to happen, and if we trust him sufficiently, will open up a new way forward for us.
This new way may be appear to be highly risky. It must have been risky for the Israelites to walk through the Red Sea with great banks of water on either side, hovering over them, threatening to descend at any moment and drown them.
Many scientists now believe that the plagues and the parting of the Red Sea were the result of a massive volcano which brought disease and a tidal wave in its aftermath. Before a tidal wave, the sea is dragged back huge distances, then finally tumbles over itself in a massive wave which drowns everything in a huge flood. So walking on the sea bed in such circumstances must have been utterly terrifying and precarious, but this is what God called the Israelites to do. And as they walked, so the very danger they faced became their way of escape and saved them from the pursuing Egyptians.
No wonder this escape across the Red Sea was seen as the first saving act of God, fore-shadowing and heralding God's second saving act through the death and resurrection of Jesus some fifteen hundred or so years later.
One of the excitements of Christianity is its riskiness. God rarely maps out a nice comfortable path for us years ahead, so that we can see exactly what we're doing and where we're going. God is much more likely to rescue us in the nick of time, exactly when we need it, but to keep our path hidden until we need to know what it is and where it is.
And God often urges us to face the danger ahead. When we face that danger, we discover a new path opening up for us, a path which we could never have discerned had we not faced the danger.
A friend of mine was trapped in an awful marriage in which she and her husband were slowly destroying each other. She agonised over what to do and felt that she was in an impossible situation. She had always believed that marriage was for life and felt that divorce was against God's laws. And she was afraid of living by herself. She was sure she wouldn't be able to cope with the demands of life by herself. On the other hand, her life was utter misery and no matter what she did, she couldn't seem to make it any better.
She prayed and prayed, but nothing happened. God didn't answer her prayers. In the end, she took the huge step of finding herself a lawyer and setting in motion the wheels of divorce. It was the scariest thing she had ever done in her life. But as soon as she took that step, her life began to improve. She began to take control of it and ceased to be a victim. And now, years later, she's happily married to a new husband and life is the best it's ever been.
Looking back, she realises that God was calling her to divorce but she couldn't hear his call because it was against her religious beliefs and her religious upbringing. As soon as she did hear, God was able to support her and she developed a new and living relationship with God.
She had to face her own Red Sea and turn her back on the Egyptians, even though in many ways it was easier to settle for the misery she'd always known rather than face the risk and danger of the tidal wave.
God is always there for us and sometimes his call is unexpected and scary. But if we walk forward trusting in him he will save us, just as he saved the Israelites so long ago and just as he saved the whole human race through Jesus Christ, that first Easter around 2000 years ago. All we have to do is wait for God, then face the danger with him and we too will find a new path opening up for us.
