Day 337

Day 337

Pray (ACts)

Read - Exodus 5:2

Message - Alan Burke
Moses and Aaron came before the most powerful man in the world, Moses a fugitive from the law because he was a murder and Aaron a slave, property of pharaoh and here demanded on the Lord’s behalf the release of the entire people of God. It may have only been for a three day retreat in the wilderness but the absurdity of their question, and the absurdity of who they are shouldn’t be lost on us even though many of our past and present MLA’s make Moses look like a trusted upright member of the community who had never done anything wrong. 

Pharaoh responds by asking…

“Who is the Lord?"

Don’t imagine for a second though that this was serious question from Pharaoh. This is a response that was full of cynicism, full of distain towards Moses and Arron. 

I can imagine pharaoh laughing out loud at it all. The absurdity of who the question had come from, never mind the absurdity of the request. The reply of Pharaoh is akin to him saying; ‘what are you fellas on, are you off your head, what madness is this, there is no lord BUT ME, I am your lord.’

Pharaoh did not know their God, nor did he care, because to Pharaoh he was the god of the Israelites, he was the one that ruled over them, why would they not worship him. 

Who is the Lord?

He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he is the unchanging God, the self-existent God, the creator God the sustainer of all that exists, the eternal God in his existence, he is the Lord Yahweh, who knows and cares about the suffering of his people. This is the Lord who pharaoh was rejecting, the Lord who Pharaoh did not recognise but one day he would. 

There are many spiritual and religious, who even call themselves a Christian, yet the truth is they do not know who the Lord is. They may have heard about him, they may know stuff about him, in a normal year they may make their annual pilgrimage to sing Christmas carols with an idea of God that is more like the guy who comes down chimneys, rewarding people whether they are good or bad. 

The problem is, for those who may be spiritual, who are religious, for those who do not believe that God exists, for those who hate him, for those who don’t want to know him, they have just as it was for Pharaoh as Paul explains in Romans, are suppressing the truth in unrighteousness (Rom 1:8). There are lots of reason that people give, but ultimately it’s because they don’t want to believe, because fallen sinful people don’t like being told how to live, we don’t like it when sin is called sin, we hate when hell is talked about they don’t need a saviour because they don’t have anything to be saved from, they don’t want a God to tell them how to live because they want to be the God of their lives, and like pharaoh the heart is the issue, he doesn’t want to believe in God. 

Is that you today? Have you some excuse because you don’t want to believe? If it is then repent, because one day you shall bow the knee and with your tongue confess who the Lord is and it will either be today and you will be saved from your sin or it will be in judgement before the Lord. One day all will recognise him as the LORD. 

Pray (acTS)

Sing

WSC
Q 101 What do we pray for in the first petition?
In the first petition, (which is, Hallowed be thy name, (Matt. 6:9)) we pray, That God would enable us and others to glorify him in all that whereby he maketh himself known; (Ps. 67:2–3) and that he would dispose all things to his own glory. (Ps. 83)