DANGEROUS GOD
Exodus 1, 2:23-25
Our God is an awesome God, and Our God is a dangerous God. Not because God is fickle or unreliable; not because God is capricious or unjust. God can be perceived as threatening because God loves us too much to allow us to remain where and as we are, even when those places may feel dangerous to us.
Times had changed. Egypt was no longer a welcoming refuge for the Hebrew people. Where once they prospered, they were now forced into poverty and slavery. Things just weren't working out for them there, but then again, maybe they were never meant to stay there forever.
Times have changed. Our culture no longer sees the church as the center of the community. Where once the pews were filled and we prospered, we are now in competition with so many other things for people's time, service and gifts. Things don't always work out if we remain as we are, doing the same things, wanting our culture to change so that we can go back to "I remember when ..."
When God responded to the groans of suffering of the Hebrew people, His answer was to bring them out of Egypt and take them on a forty-year journey to the promised land of God's covenant with Abraham. Did the Hebrew people really want to leave Egypt? There's evidence later on in the Book of Exodus that they didn't.
Yet, God loves us too much to allow us to remain where and as we are. The place for us is not always where we want to be. And that can be threatening to us -- leaving our comfort zones and letting go of our expectations so we can receive God's grace and God's future for us with open hands.
A
Christian man heard the warning and decided to stay, saying to
himself, “I will trust God and if I am in danger, then God will
send a divine miracle to save me.”
The neighbors came by his house and said to him, “We’re leaving and there is room for you in our car, please come with us!” But the man declined. “I have faith that God will save me.”
As the man stood on his porch watching the water rise up the steps, a man in a canoe paddled by and called to him, “Hurry and come into my canoe, the waters are rising quickly!” But the man again said, “No thanks, God will save me.”
The flood waters rose higher pouring water into his living room and the man had to retreat to the second floor. A police motorboat came by and saw him at the window. “We will come up and rescue you!” they shouted. But the man refused, waving them off saying, “Use your time to save someone else! I have faith that God will save me!”
The flood waters rose higher and higher and the man had to climb up to his rooftop.
A helicopter spotted him and dropped a rope ladder. A rescue officer came down the ladder and pleaded with the man, "Grab my hand and I will pull you up!" But the man STILL refused, folding his arms tightly to his body. “No thank you! God will save me!”
Shortly after, the house broke up and the flood waters swept the man away and he drowned. When in Heaven, the man stood before God and asked, “I put all of my faith in You. Why didn’t You come and save me?”
And God said, “Son, I sent you a warning. I sent you a car. I sent you a canoe. I sent you a motorboat. I sent you a helicopter. What more were you looking for?”
What are we looking for?
As the body of Christ, we are called to be people the journey, not just in our own spiritual life but in our shared life as the church. We are called not to stay where and as we but to follow Christ out into the world. We are all called to live dangerously.
Our God is an awesome God, and Our God is a dangerous God. Not because God is fickle or unreliable; not because God is capricious or unjust. God can be perceived as threatening because God loves us too much to allow us to remain where and as we are, even when those places may feel dangerous to us.
Times had changed. Egypt was no longer a welcoming refuge for the Hebrew people. Where once they prospered, they were now forced into poverty and slavery. Things just weren't working out for them there, but then again, maybe they were never meant to stay there forever.
Times have changed. Our culture no longer sees the church as the center of the community. Where once the pews were filled and we prospered, we are now in competition with so many other things for people's time, service and gifts. Things don't always work out if we remain as we are, doing the same things, wanting our culture to change so that we can go back to "I remember when ..."
When God responded to the groans of suffering of the Hebrew people, His answer was to bring them out of Egypt and take them on a forty-year journey to the promised land of God's covenant with Abraham. Did the Hebrew people really want to leave Egypt? There's evidence later on in the Book of Exodus that they didn't.
Yet, God loves us too much to allow us to remain where and as we are. The place for us is not always where we want to be. And that can be threatening to us -- leaving our comfort zones and letting go of our expectations so we can receive God's grace and God's future for us with open hands.
A terrible
storm came into a town and local officials sent out an emergency
warning that the riverbanks would soon overflow and flood the nearby
homes. They ordered everyone in the town to evacuate immediately.
The neighbors came by his house and said to him, “We’re leaving and there is room for you in our car, please come with us!” But the man declined. “I have faith that God will save me.”
As the man stood on his porch watching the water rise up the steps, a man in a canoe paddled by and called to him, “Hurry and come into my canoe, the waters are rising quickly!” But the man again said, “No thanks, God will save me.”
The flood waters rose higher pouring water into his living room and the man had to retreat to the second floor. A police motorboat came by and saw him at the window. “We will come up and rescue you!” they shouted. But the man refused, waving them off saying, “Use your time to save someone else! I have faith that God will save me!”
The flood waters rose higher and higher and the man had to climb up to his rooftop.
A helicopter spotted him and dropped a rope ladder. A rescue officer came down the ladder and pleaded with the man, "Grab my hand and I will pull you up!" But the man STILL refused, folding his arms tightly to his body. “No thank you! God will save me!”
Shortly after, the house broke up and the flood waters swept the man away and he drowned. When in Heaven, the man stood before God and asked, “I put all of my faith in You. Why didn’t You come and save me?”
And God said, “Son, I sent you a warning. I sent you a car. I sent you a canoe. I sent you a motorboat. I sent you a helicopter. What more were you looking for?”
What are we looking for?
As the body of Christ, we are called to be people the journey, not just in our own spiritual life but in our shared life as the church. We are called not to stay where and as we but to follow Christ out into the world. We are all called to live dangerously.
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