what the old can teach the new
” Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.” – Exodus 1:8
Over the past several months, the Old Testament has been speaking loudly. Not just in terms of learning or academic knowledge, but speaking life to an overworked mind and heart. There have been revelations about certain stories that have been read hundreds of times. There are have been new thoughts about how stories are connected within the context of scripture that were never thought about before. There is a fresh view of why some of these stories are even written down and told and read and taught throughout human history.
Something struck deep however when reading a commentary book on the last book of the bible. Revelation is one of the most hard and, probably, misunderstood books of the bible. It is a masterpiece of images, analogies, and hyperbole that makes anyone question what they are reading. When you dive into the text and you have some guidance, there begins to be a revelation of your own when reading the confusing stories of the great beast or the Scarlett beast or great whore who is torn apart and burned. What was fascinating about a portion of a book I was reading was this:
” This clear link with Egypt reinforces St. John’s emphasis on WORSHIP, for we recall that the ten plagues were not visited on the Egyptians because they were an extraordinary evil people, but for a single reason which had no apparent moral content to it at all: they were determined to prevent Israel from WORSHIPPING God.” – Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder pg. 143
Can you let that sink in for a second…….the ten plagues of Egypt happened solely because Pharaoh wouldn’t let the Israelite people worship God the Creator.
Peterson goes on to talk about the concept of worship and how it is central to the life of a Christian because without worship, there is no way we can stay attune to what God is doing and as Christians we should be praying and looking to where God is active to be able to move towards him.
There are a few things here to point out. Firstly, God is a jealous God. Not because other things that he created are bad, but because God created you to BE WITH Him. Think about a time when you felt dried up or burnt out or maybe you were so busy that you hadn’t been able to get to church to worship with others for a while. How did life feel? What were the the feelings and emotions like that ran through your body? What were your thoughts like? When we are not able to spend time in worship being with God, it becomes easier and easier to miss the point of worship, being connected to the God that is jealous for our attention.
Secondly, God will go to no boundary to bring his people to him. Reading through the ten plagues, some of them are crazy! Frogs, millions of frogs. Locusts…..turning water into blood, which would kill anything in the water…darkness…..death of the firstborn. These are some intense plagues that barely changed Pharaoh’s mind about letting the Israelites go. God shows in this situation, as well as in Revelation 17. & 18, that He will do what he must to bring his people to a place of worship. When there are things standing in the way, God will put something into motion that will change the course back to Him.
Lastly, God always provides a way through the darkness. In the case of people of Israel, they were enslaved for hundreds of years and Egypt became accustomed to having such a large force of slaves to build their buildings and take care of their lands. What Egypt didn’t do was realize that the God who brought forth creation, would bring about a way for His people to leave and worship him. Personally, this was something experienced when in a transition period of my life. Darkness overshadowed everything that happened. Whether good or bad, it was clearly a moment of darkness in life that could not be avoided. For some reason though, as God continued to pave a way, the hard part was putting one foot in front of the other each day to continue moving in the direction of God’s call on my life. There is a lot more to say about that season of my life, but to turn it back to scripture, the plague of Darkness was an interesting one, because as the Egyptians were cased in a darkness that they could not see –
” The the Lord said to Moses, ‘ stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness to be felt.’ So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven , and there was pitch darkness in ALL the land of Egypt three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days, BUT ALL the people of Israel HAD LIGHT where they lived.” Exodus 10:21-23
For those of you that might be going through a time of darkness where it paralyzes you with fear and makes you stay right where you are, know this, that the old can teach the new. Know this, that God is the light that you are looking for. When you come to Him in worship, the light begins to be brighter. It may be dim at first, but as time goes and worship happens and our actions and heart continue to grow closer to our creator and savior, the light begins to brighten.