Hello everyone.
Big things in the Hughes family this week. Both of our boys are graduating from something and moving on to something else. Our youngest, Aaron graduated from middle school and going to Passaic County Tech to study graphic arts, and is also entering the Teen Ministry. Our oldest, Caleb is graduating from high school and is entering the campus ministry. He will be going to William Paterson University. The time goes by quickly.
Any way, I wanted to continue to share some of the things I have learned while looking at God's anatomy. This time looking at God's arm. We would naturally associate God's arm with his power, and truly God's arm is powerful, but it is not the only attribute that we can see from it. We are going to look at Moses as he led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery for a little bit. A story where God flexes his muscles considerably.
In Exodus 6:1-8, there is a conversation between God and Moses that I would like to look at. By this point, Moses has returned to Egypt and appeared before Pharaoh. Pharaoh has added to the burden of the Israelites by no longer giving them straw to make bricks. The people have complained to Moses, so Moses is now complaining to the Lord, saying in Ex. 5:23, "You have not rescued your people at all." Doesn't it seem like that some times? That God is not working at all on our behalf. We can be assured however, that God knows something that we don't know, and that He is at work whether it seems that way or not.
God responds in Ex. 6:1-5 by telling Moses a few interesting things. First, that because of God's mighty hand, Pharaoh would let them go. Second, God says that he would reveal himself to Moses in a new way. He says that He had revealed himself to Moses' ancestors as El-Shaddai, or God Almighty, but He would make himself known to Moses by his name, as Yahweh (I AM) or Lord. Pretty cool for Moses. Third, God said that He had heard the groaning of the Israelites, showing us that God has ears as well.
It is verse 6 - 7 that I want to focus. God says "I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God." God says that he is going to stretch out his arm and do two things, redeem and judge. God is going to reach down into their situation and make it better. In fact, He is going to make their situation awesome. How fortunate we are when He does that for us. So God is going to stretch out his arm and liberate the Israelites and make them his people and judge the Egyptians. God can use his arm to liberate or to judge. Of the two, I prefer liberation. That freedom comes with being one of God's people. I see also that God is using his outstretched arm to make himself known to the Israelites. So the pattern I see is that God's outstretched arm is really good for those how are his people (freedom and knowledge of God) and not so good for those who are not his people (judgment.)
Soon Moses and the Israelites would get to see God's outstretched arm in action. They will see plagues and miracles. The Egyptians would be judged and they would be be free. A story that begins with discouragement, ends with great victory because of God's outstretched arm.
Tom
