Today, we’re going to look at one sentence. It’s the kind of sentence that
you might just pass by thinking that it was there as filler or the like –
but it’s not. One of the marks of a great writer is that there is no filler
in what he writes. Everything is there for a reason. How much more is that
true when it comes to what God has written. ‘All Scripture is … profitable…’
So, we’re going to look at this one sentence to see a bit of what God has
included in it for our profit.
First, let me remind you of the context. God has been speaking to Moses. And
He tells him, ‘I am Yahweh and I will bring Israel out of Egypt and lead
them into a glorious land.’ Moses goes to the people of Israel and tells
them what God has promised them. But what is their response? They didn’t
listen. The NKJV gets it right by translating it, ‘But they did not heed
Moses.’ To heed is to believe, to take to heart. They didn’t. Bear in mind
what that means. They did not believe God. They did not take His words to
heart. This is a serious sin. Consider just one other place where something
like this happened. It’s after the twelve spies gave their discouraging
report about the Promised Land and the people talk about returning to Egypt.
‘And Yahweh said to Moses, "How long will this people despise me? And how
long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done
among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and
I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they."’ [Numbers
14:11-12] We have the same situation. The people didn’t believe God. And
yet, what a difference in God’s response! In Numbers, God is ready to invoke
His justice. But here in Exodus there is nothing of that. In both cases
there was unbelief which boils down to calling God a liar – a serious sin
indeed. And yet, in our text there is nothing like the response that we see
in Numbers. The obvious question is, ‘Why?’ The rest of the verse answers
that question. ‘…but they did not heed Moses because of [their] anguish of
spirit and cruel bondage.’
Let’s step back to see what is going on. First, there is something about our
God revealed in all of this. Most people think of God as a black and white
sort of person. Either a matter is right or it’s wrong. If it’s right then
you’re blessed. If it’s wrong then you’re cursed. End of story. There are no
exceptions, no variations on that theme. But does that square with our text?
No, it does not. Do you see that our God is not like some machine or robot
or even some heartless bureaucrat who blindly follows the rules. He is a
person, a real person who understands this life. His response to us is
appropriate to the situation we are in. He takes into consideration what’s
going on around us and within us. This is simply an example of something
from the Psalms. ‘As a father shows compassion to his children, so Yahweh
shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers
that we are dust.’ [Psalm 103:13-14] Look at our text. There are no
lightning bolts, no response of a just wrath even though the people sinned.
There is a different kind of response, one that is appropriate to the
situation of the people. And lest I be misunderstood, I am not ignoring the
sin – and neither does our God. The response of the people – not heeding
what God had said – was sin. We dare not see it as anything else. And yet,
our God sees their unbelief in its context, and His response shows it. What
we have here is another example of the mercy of our God. Here, He does not
give to Israel what they so justly deserve. Here, we see that He is
merciful.
Once again we are back to seeing one of the prominent themes of this book of
Exodus. The book is about God. What is our God like? Who is He – really? How
does He think and act? What does He think about you? Our text reminds us
that He is not someone who simply applies ‘the rules’ in some cold,
‘objective’ manner. That kind of person simply asks the question, ‘Was there
sin? If there was, the only proper response is justice, stark and objective
justice.’ Sometimes the right response to sin is, in fact, a taste of
justice. But not always. Our God isn’t some flat, cardboard cutout of a
person. He is a real person, a person who knows that sometimes the right
call is something other than justice. Sometimes the right call is mercy. Our
God is someone who responds to us wisely.
Please understand that this option is available to our God only because of
Jesus. It is only because Jesus has come and suffered and died for sin –
your sin – that there is even the possibility of mercy. Without Jesus the
only possible response would be justice, a very angry justice. But because
Jesus has come, God can be merciful and not apply to us any of the
consequences of our sinful unbelief. Once again, we see the benefits of the
Gospel.
That’s something of what our text has to say about our God. There is another
lesson, though. Our text explains why Yahweh didn’t respond according to
justice. ‘…but they did not heed Moses because of [their] anguish of spirit
and cruel bondage.’ This has something to say about us. Listen to some
things from Proverbs. ‘A man's spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed
spirit who can bear?’ [Proverbs 18:14] We don’t usually speak in terms of a
‘crushed spirit’. But we do talk about depression. That word, depression,
can cover a lot of territory. It can point to someone having a bad day to
someone who has completely given up, to the point of suicide. The idea of a
‘crushed spirit’ fits in here. It’s more than just a bad day, but it doesn’t
have to be as bad as thinking of ending it all. The proverb I read asks a
good question. Who can bear a crushed spirit? The Israelites of our text
were under the burden of a crushed spirit. Do you know why? Listen to some
more from the Proverbs. ‘A glad heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow
of heart the spirit is crushed.’ [Proverbs 15:13] ‘Hope deferred makes the
heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.’ [Proverbs 13:12] Let’
s back up a little in Exodus. Moses meets with God at the burning bush. He
is, then, sent on his mission with words for Israel to hear. Do you remember
how they responded? ‘And the people believed; and when they heard that
Yahweh had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their
affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.’ [Exodus 4:31] Finally,
God was aware of their situation! He was taking action. They knew that they
were saved. They responded well. They believed and worshipped. But what
happened next? Pharaoh also hears Moses’ words, but his response quite
different. ‘No more straw!’ Instead of things getting better, they got
worse. Instead of dreams of rescue, of leaving Egypt, the house of bondage,
there were nightmares of Pharaoh’s tightening grip. So, is it any surprise
that when Moses comes the second time, ‘…they did not heed Moses because of
[their] anguish of spirit and cruel bondage’? ‘…by sorrow of heart, the
spirit is crushed.’ They had their hopes lifted when Moses first spoke. But
once hope is dashed, it is much harder to believe. ‘Moses, we tried that
once before. We believed last time, but not this time. It didn’t work then,
so why should we think that it will work now?’ ‘Hope deferred makes the
heart sick…’
Now here’s the lesson. Just as God isn’t like some machine, neither are you.
It would be nice if we believed, with great passion, every time we heard a
word from God. But that isn’t going to happen. Your response to God is
conditioned by what is happening in the rest of your life. This has so much
to say about what you should expect of yourself. You need to understand that
your walk with Jesus is affected by lots of things. Things like the level of
stress in your life. Have the kids been acting up lately? Is your boss being
a particular pain in the neck this week? Are you facing some large decision
or have you just received some troubling news? Maybe life right now is calm,
but have you just come through a really tough time? How’s your health? All
of that – and more – affects you and how you respond to your God. You are
not a machine that just hums along, day after day.
Elijah the prophet was ‘crushed in spirit’ to the point of wanting to die.
Real depression. Soon after, though, he was renewed, able to return to the
fray. What changed him? For one thing, he took a nap. Then an angel woke him
and fed him. Then, he took another nap and the angel fed him again. Then he
was ready to go. This might explain why Jesus was asleep in the stern of the
boat when the storm came. John Stott, a wise minister, was once asked by a
young minister what to do when he got discouraged about his ministry. Stott
told him to be sure to get eight hours of sleep. Sometimes the best way of
defending a quality walk with Jesus is by fasting and praying. But sometimes
the best way of defending a quality walk with Jesus is to go to bed.
You are not a machine. God does not treat you as if you were. You should not
have expectations of yourself that assume that you are. You are not a
machine. You are a person who is affected by life in this fallen world. You
have ups and downs of all sorts. This affects how you related to your God.
He understands that. You need to also. This also has something to say about
how you help one another. There are times when your brother or sister in
Christ needs to be rebuked by an appropriate verse. But there are other
times when what he needs is a hug and a good meal with a friend. Remember
the admonition, ‘Weep with those who weep.’
All of this is a matter of wisdom. We live in a world that is filled with
knowledge about a multitude of things, and it chases after more even
knowledge and calls us to join in. But it is a world that is woefully
lacking in wisdom. And what good is knowledge if you don’t know how to use
it well? Be wise. Listen to the comforting words of the Gospel as they
explain to us who we really are and who our God really is.
