Exodus 6

Being far far from home and no church nearby, I spent my Sabbath morning yesterday in a park beside an old beautifu cathedral.  The pefect blue skies, the outburst of colours of the spring flowers, the sound of the flowing river just down the valley and the nice cool breeze just made it a a perfect setting for me to spend it reading the bible and listening to hymns on my iphone.

Just beyond where I was sitting, I could see the carvings on the cathedral, and some of them depicted several scenes from Exodus (just the very book we are reading), including the one where Moses appeared before the Pharoah with his rod changed to a serpent!

As I was reading today’s passage, one of the hymns I was listening too greatly moved me and it seemed to resonate with what I felt when I read…

Bible Passage:  Exodus 6

I’ll share the hymn at the end.  What made me reflect a lot was Exodus 6:3 …

I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them.

Here was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob telling Moses that even though they had been close to Him…. and He had established all these covenants with them… they still did not know His name…. and only now has God chosen to reveal it… to Moses!

What an honour!  What a glory!

But later, I also read this in Exodus 6:9…

So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.

Moses had told the children of Israel about God’s plans for them.  They were told that God remembers them and is working out His salvation plan for them right now.  I am sure Moses must have told them that God has revealed His name to him.  This was the confirmation… the sign… that they were all praying and waiting for….

But….. “they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.”

Does this sound like us today?

The name of God – Jesus – is known all over the world today.

The name that there is unique under heaven given among men by which mankind must be saved. (Acts 4:12).

If I were to write everything about the name of Jesus, I would probably end up going on and on.

But the point I am trying to make is this… we may know the name of Jesus… but do we ignore it because of…

Our Anguished Spirit

A few weeks ago, Pr Simon Chin spoke about the sad fact that many of those choir members whose faces we can see in the church dedication pictures in the 80s and 90s are no longer seen in church.

Being part of the choir then, I can testify that this is indeed true.  Good, active youths that served so well then are either infrequent in attending services or are no longer coming.  There are many reasons for their disappearance.  But in many cases, their spirits are anguished because of the various circumstances they are in.

Even though they knew the name of God – Jesus – they allowed this anguish to obstruct their view of Jesus… so much so they even lose sight of Him totally.

All the covenants and promises of God were forgotten.  All the miracles and graces of God before were pushed aside.  Al they could see and focus on was their sufferings before their eyes.

I know it is very easy for us to say all this… especially when we are not in their same position and may not have suffered they way they have.  And truly, even when I knew what they were gong through, I did not know how to really help them except by praying for them and encouraging them with the Word of God.

For myself, I pray that should I be in a situation of extreme anguish, I can still surround myself with brothers and sisters of great faith to encourage me so that I can lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensares us, and to be able to run with endurance the race that is set before us, always, always looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down now at the right habd of the throne of God. (Hebrew 12:1-2)

There’s no other way – read the Bible, pray everyday, pray everyday.

Cruel Bondage

Sin is a cruel master that keeps us in bondage and when we are caught in its nets, it seems that we are never ever able to escape from it.

The world is in the hands of the evil one and indeed, the whole world groans under its bondage and struggles to escape it.

In Switzerland where I am right now, from what I know, there are only 2 families from our church and they are living quite far from where I am.

So as I was looking at all the many happy faces of the many people in the park this morning, I was thinking…. they know the name of Jesus too… but they do not really know Jesus!  They have no knowledge of His truth and true salvation.  They are lost.  They are still very much in sin.

And amonst the millions of people in this country… only a mere handful of people have this true knowlegde of His name and salvation.

It is very humbling and yet at the same time… shameful.

The words of Romans 10:14 kept on ringing in my ears…

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

Moses was sent by God to deliver the people out of bondage. We have read in previous blog postings about Moses’ honest assessment of his ability and fears, about his reluctance to go even when God showed him great signs and promised to be with him.

On reflection, it does seem to be the same issue with a lot of us in evangelism.

We are called by God to go into the world and make disciples of all nations.  And yet… we struggle to even get started.  We have so many reasons…. like Moses.

But unlike Moses, we remain disobedient and not submissive.  We still do not go and be a spokesman for God.

I have a confession to make.  At the time of writing, I was supposed to meet a Singaporean couple here tomorrow.  One of our church members had met this couple in his family holiday and had tried preaching to him.  Knowing that I come to Switzrland very often, he introduced this couple to me and I met them in my last visit here.

This couple called me last week – to invite me to spend the weekend with them.  And I was grateful for this because it can get quite boring here (after you have seen the mountains and lakes for many times… and walked through pebbled streets and visit countless castles you will understand why).

Then he said… “I will bring you to meet my Chinese church friends.”

Er… I had only thought of speaking to him and his wife only.  Now to a big group of other Chinese Christians with my ‘powerful’ Mandarin?

I admit I got cold feet.  And when I am nervous, I tend to feel unwell.  And I thought of using that as an excuse to call off the invitation.

But God being God…. He knows my weaknesses.

I am not supposed to write today but in writing, I am rebuked.  And know that my attitude is all wrong.

These people do know the name of Jesus.  But unless they really know the truth, they remain in cruel bondage.  And if I choose to remain silent… then I am not much better than them.

The work of evangelism is for everyone.  And like Moses, God has called us.  We must respond like him.

This Is Love Vast As The Ocean

Finally, I mentioned about the hymn that greatly moved me when I sang it this morning.  I could not find a Youtube version by the same singer so this will have to do.

There is much I could say about this hymn but I have already written too much.  But listen to the words… I am sure it will touch you too.

If this is the love of God, how can we choose not to respond?

Just in case you need it, here are the lyrics…

Here is Love Vast As The Ocean