Proclaim and Hope that We Will Listen

Friday March 4, 2022

Created by Lauren Cubberley

Exodus 6:1–13 (NIV)

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”

2 God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord[b] I did not make myself fully known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.

6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’”

9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.

10 Then the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.”

12 But Moses said to the Lord, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?”

13 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

Devotion

As I reflect on what the past year looks like since I last wrote for the Center of Faith and Learning devotional, I ask myself, “What has changed?” I feel like 2020 and 2021 have run together; it is hard for me to remember what events occurred in 2020 and what events occurred in 2021. It’s as if all of the significant events happened in 2020: the presidential election, the resurfacing of the Black Lives Matter movement, the beginning of the pandemic. In 2021 these historical events did not go away, but I also did not see any drastic change. We had a new president sworn into office, more workplaces are reinventing their diversity and inclusion statements, vaccines are readily available around the world, sure, yet there is still so much pain in this world.

I think of where we are at presently as kind of like when God is explaining to Moses what he needs to say to free the Israelites. I imagine Moses there listening to God saying, “Yeah, I get what God wants me to do, but the people of Israel will not listen.” And, Moses is right; they do not listen. It takes God giving Moses a little more information and direction after this trial and error for the freedom of the Israelites to actually take place. So, how do we use our voice to bring awareness to the injustices still occurring in our country like racism and poverty so that the people in power listen? Will it take the right person saying the right thing? I hope not, because that will never be good enough for everyone. I do think, though, if we proclaim what we feel needs to happen, just as Moses did to the Israelites and Pharaoh, that cannot hurt anyone. Because the worst that will happen is others do not listen, we go back to God, and God gives us more guidance.

Prayer

God of Transformation, change our hearts, our words, and our deeds, that we might reflect your love throughout our lives from the inside out. Amen.