Tuesday 22nd April
Read Exodus 3:4-11
“When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’
And Moses said, ‘Here I am.’
5 ‘Do not come any closer,’ God said. ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’ 6 Then he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
7 The Lord said, ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey – the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.’” (NIVUK)
Part of the dignity of our humanity, our senses, is tied up in how those same senses are used to describe God’s engagement with us. God ‘sees’ the misery of His people and ‘hears’ their cries for help. His empathy for His people is described in ways we can understand, eyes and ears.
What does this have to do with worship?
Many peoples at that time were oppressed, even by the Egyptians, but it is the Israelites that God empathises with and responds to. God acts to bring justice for them and deliver them out of Egypt (along with those who identified with His people (cf Ex 12:38)). Why them? Because their cries and their plight reminded Him of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (v6). His eyes and ears, like us, brought back memories. Memories of promises made.
Those senses act in the same way for us. What we hear and see and smell and taste and touch trigger memories and remind us of the greatness of God. Our senses give rhythm and meaning and memory to our spiritual life. Are there things you see or hear that prompt you to remember God and His goodness?
