Cast Adrift

The Life of Moses – Act 1, Scene 3:
Exodus 2:1-4
Rev. Clark Lynn Callender, 5/2/10

How well do you handle difficulties – life when it goes all wrong? Christian author Greg Allison writes:
“In April 1997, residents of Grand Forks, North Dakota abandoned their possessions to the rising Red River. Record snowfalls had melted into record spring floods. The city was swamped. Weeks later, the flood slowly receded and Grand Forks was waterlogged - the air filled with a peculiar, rank river smell. Homeless and hungry, possessions lost and ruined, the city began the daunting task of cleaning up the mess and getting back on with life.
“Needless to say, many people had great difficulty with this. Most residents were deeply disheartened and despairing. But then a local newspaper ran a photograph that caught everyone’s attention and turned the whole mood of the city around.
“It seems that one local homeowner was approaching his loss from a different perspective – not with sorrow but with humor. For on his muddy front yard this person had posted a hand-written sign that read: “BASEMENT APARTMENT FOR RENT, ONLY $10 A MONTH... WITH INDOOR POOL!”
We all have those times when everything seems to be falling apart. How well do you handle difficulties – life when it goes all wrong? It has been said: “Faith is not a shelter against life’s difficulties; it is a light showing us the path through them.”
This is something of what I’d like to talk about this morning: Through faith, finding the path through life’s difficulties.

In our reading today (in our on-going look at the beginnings of the story of Moses), the threats against the people of Israel, the danger in which they exist every day as foreigners in the land of Egypt, has taken an even more ominous turn (if that’s possible)...
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, in his paranoid obsession to control and contain the Hebrews, has first made them slaves, then ordered the midwives to control the birthrate; and now, having failed in these first two attacks, moves to all-out, state-sanctioned GENOCIDE. Everyone is ordered: If you see a Hebrew baby boy, you are to take him and throw him into the Nile River, drowning him.
This is the horrific reality which the people of Israel exist every day. And into this terrible reality, a Hebrew couple gives birth to a baby boy...
His mother tries to keep him hidden as long as she can. Can you imagine the terror she lived with every moment of the day? Just one cry too loud may mean his discovery – his death (and hers for failing to obey the law).
But the months are passing... He’s growing too big, too active, too noisy to be kept hidden anymore. What is she to do? She does the only thing she can think of: she needs to get him away from this situation. Yes, a parent would normally wait for this until their child is grown; but there’s no time for that. Sometimes life has its own schedule!
She puts her three month old in a basket and sets him off down the Nile. Imagine that! The desperation! The heartbreak!
It seems that her world is spinning totally out of control, the situation is hopeless, desperate... Yet what happens?
Well, without getting too much ahead of our reading for next week: This child, as yet unnamed, is MOSES. And his mother, here unnamed, but later identified as JOCHEBED, will see him grow to adulthood, eventually to rescue the people of Israel out of captivity!
That is, what we suddenly discover is that, in this situation that seems to be spinning totally out of control; in reality God has close hold of things – is working his power and love. And this desperate mother, in faith, hoping against hope, risking all, reaches into this, takes hold of it, and finds her way through. Thus helping us to do the same – as one author writes:
“What were you thinking Jochebed? Did you weep as you wove the little basket? Did you pray as you covered the little ark with pitch? Did your other children pry you with questions? Did you tell them the story of Noah and the ark that God used to save his life? Did your faith waver? Did you feel hollow from hopelessness? Did you dare sing to your baby as you wove the little ark? Did you brush his cheek one last time and kiss his little forehead before you closed the lid? Did you dare to hope that the God to whom you so desperately clung had some sort of plan? Did you dare to hope your child would see another day? Or was it all you could do just to pray?
“Have you been there before? To the edge of hopelessness, the verge of panic, the border of despair?
“Have you sat in the hospital emergency room just trying to breathe?
“Has your heart broken as your child cries because of some bully at school?
“Have you kissed your child good-bye and watched them walk through the kindergarten door, or out the door for high-school, college or a year abroad?
“Maybe your turmoil is different. Maybe it’s not apprehension at what might happen, but sorrow over what has already occurred.
“The police call to say your child is in custody.
“The doctor calls with the test results... you’d better come in so we can talk.
“The hospital telephones to say your spouse was just in an accident.
“Your boss calls you in to tell you your job is being eliminated.
“Perhaps you, like Jochebed, have found your hands trembling and your eyes blurred with tears by what life has placed before you. But when you find yourself with Jochebed, follow her lead.”
In faith, Jochebed finds a way through a desperate, most difficult time. What do we learn from her? When everything is going wrong and the situation before you seems hopeless and overwhelming... Two thoughts:
(I)
First: Realize that YOU HAVE A CHOICE TO MAKE.
As mentioned, Moses’ mother takes a rather bizarre course of action here. I mean, I know that nowadays we have these “mommy and me” teach your infant how to swim classes; but this is ridiculous! Sending your son river rafting at 3 months of age?! It’s crazy; but think about her options:
She could just give in to the law and hand her son over to be killed. She could cast him into the river herself. She could try to keep hiding him – eventually to be found out. She could try to make a run for it – invariably to be caught. She could put up a fight – to no avail against far superior forces. Or, she could send him off on his own. It’s a bizarre action; but of her options, it’s the best choice.
And that’s the first point here: She has a CHOICE. I mean, yeah, none of the options before her may be what she likes; but she has a choice. And notice, basically, how she chooses – or better, WHAT she chooses:
She chooses to HOPE, to believe in GOOD in a very bad situation. Her action shows that she is hoping against hope that God will find a way through this, that even in a situation where God seems totally absent and uncaring that a loving God is looking after her and her son; that in the evil world around her there is some good person out there who will have pity on her son and rescue him.
She chooses to believe in GOOD. And this is the first lesson for us all here:
Every day we have choice. Most of all, whenever life turns wrong we have a CHOICE. Will we choose to give in, to give up; or will we choose to HOPE? To believe (in what we are not seeing) that GOD IS GOOD, is REACHING OUT to help us - that LIFE IS GOOD?
Yes, sometimes (as with Jochebed before us) the options life presents us with are all lousy... but still we have a choice – and this choice decides our lives! Will we choose to just sit and wallow in our troubles? Will we choose to play the victim? Will we choose to blame or to deny? Will we choose to give up, to become angry, bitter, cynical? Or will we choose to HOPE – to say: “I’m going to be joyful today. I’m going to trust that a loving God is reaching out to help me. I’m going to believe that life is good and seek out each day’s blessing”?
Understand: No matter what we choose, in the end, we get whatever we choose! As it has been said: “Our lives ultimately consist of the choices we make every single day.” People who choose to hope in a loving God and a hopeful future discover it. People who choose otherwise never discover this!
Now don’t get me wrong: I’m sure that Jochebed had many sleepless nights, many tearful morning. Many moments when she shook any angry first at heaven. Many hours when it all seemed pointless and she just wanted to give up. But in the end, as we see, she chose to believe that life was still good, that God is still good. And this was crucial for her making any movement forward. Having God help us in our times of trouble, finding a path through life’s desperate moments begins with our choices. If your life is going wrong, the situation overwhelming, hopeless; what are you choosing?
Recently, I read this article in which preacher Russell Howe of Oklahoma tells about growing up with his parents on a farm in the country. Well, when he was 15 years old, the house caught on fire. The family escaped with only the clothes on their backs. There were no close neighbors to help so he and his father walked to a distant town to get supplies.
As they returned they saw something that stayed with Russell all the years after. Beside the charred remains of what had been their house, his mother had laid out lunch for them on a log. And on the log, in the middle of the food, she had placed a beat-up tin can filled with wildflowers she had obviously just picked. In all the devastation, she took the time to set a beautiful table. Says Russell, ‘It was so moving. A symbol of hope in the midst of tragedy. Yes, things were bad; but my mother was choosing to remember – and to remind us all - that there is, and will be, good. And truly there was.’”
Suggestion #1 when everything is going wrong and the situation before you seems hopeless and overwhelming: realize that YOU HAVE A CHOICE TO MAKE. Ask God to help you make it. And then...
(I)
Suggestion #2: MEET GOD HALF WAY.
Obviously, this scene is sort-of the ultimate embodiment of the old saying “Let go and let God.” Not seeing any other course of action, Moses’ mother surrenders control of the outcome of her son’s life, of what exactly will happen to him.
But notice: She doesn’t just leave him by the side of the road, hoping that something good will occur. No! She does as much as she is able to do to help her son make it to something better, to help something good happen – to give God time and a chance to work. She places her son in a basket which she taken time and effort to waterproof. She then carefully sets this into the river. Yes, she’s “letting go and letting God”; but she’s doing as much as she can to help things along
And this is the second key point here: When life is overwhelming us, the situation seemingly hopeless; know that God is working to help us through; but to reach this we have to MEET GOD HALF WAY – do what we can to give God the opportunity to work. And this has two components to it:
The first is doing what WE ARE ABLE to do to help our own situation. For instance: If you’re facing health problems and praying to God for help - Are you going to the doctor, taking your medicine, doing your physical therapy and exercise? If you’re struggling with desperate relationship problems – Are you sitting down to talk with the person you’re struggling with, listening, apologizing, forgiving?
So often we want God to do everything and we won’t do anything for ourselves. For God to help us through tough times we have to be willing to do what we can. The problem’s simple but we’re making it all complicated! One author writes:
“Mensa is an organization whose members have an IQ of 140 or higher. A few years ago, there was a Mensa convention in San Francisco, and several members lunched at a local café. While dining, they discovered that their saltshaker contained pepper and their peppershaker was full of salt. How could they swap the contents of the bottles without spilling, and using only the implements at hand? Clearly this was a job for Mensa! The group debated and presented ideas, and finally came up with a brilliant solution involving a napkin, a straw, and an empty saucer. They called the waitress over to dazzle her with their solution.
“’Ma’am,’ they said, ‘we couldn’t help but notice that the peppershaker contains salt and the saltshaker contains...’
“’Oh,’ the waitress interrupted. ‘Sorry about that.’ And with that, she unscrewed the caps of both bottles and switched them.”
Are we making everything all complicated or are we doing the obvious? MEETING GOD HALF-WAY first means DOING WHAT I AM ABLE TO DO. And then, secondly, it means GETTING IN A POSITION WHERE BLESSING CAN HAPPEN.
Returning to the story, notice again that Moses’ mother doesn’t just stick him on a piece of wood and send him down the river. No, as the text describes, she carefully waterproofs the little straw boat. She’s trying to make sure he has a chance to get to somewhere different, to a new situation. She’s trying to get him in a location where something better can happen. And this is the final point for us all here:
When life falls apart, do what you can to get yourself (spiritually, physically) to a location where something can happen, where God can work blessing. Not that God (obviously) isn’t everywhere; but only that, sometimes where we find ourselves it is hard for God to help us – we are “God-resistant” and we have to resolve to meet God where he can help us!
Basically: When life falls apart, have your tears, have your self-pity; but don’t let yourself settle into an existence of only this. Don’t just sit in a room saying, “Lord, how could this happen? How could you let this happen? Make this go away! Fix this!” Instead, get up and go out to help someone else, get involved in service, give your abilities to the Lord. Get yourself in a position where blessing can happen! Most especially, as with Jochebed here: Center your actions around helping to make life for someone else. Resolve to MEET GOD HALF-WAY. In an illustration of this idea, contemporary singer-songwriter Jennifer Rothschild shares her story in Decision magazine:
“As a little girl, I was captivated by colors. I loved to get the biggest box possible and read the titles of each crayon. I would study the differences between garnet, scarlet, maroon, and burgundy. My dream was to be a commercial artist. I remember taking a crisp white paper from my dad’s office, and with a black felt-tip pen, learning to draw caricatures.
“When I was about 12, I began to have some difficulties with my sight, but they were subtle and I didn’t immediately associate the struggles with vision problems. As my junior-high years unfolded, things that most students in my grade could do so easily - like opening the combination locks on their lockers, reading from the chalkboard, or catching a ball on the softball field—were becoming really hard for me.
“I remember sitting in class and feeling a wave of anxiety when the final bell rang because I had to navigate the crowded hallways. I would constantly run into students, and that was so embarrassing. I couldn’t understand what was happening; no one else seemed so clumsy! It took me forever to realize it was because I couldn’t see the students, and my classmates could see much better than I.
“I’ll never forget the night my mom and I were visiting a friend who lived in an upstairs apartment. I was probably 13 or 14, and as we were walking up in the dark, I was stumbling. My mom asked, ‘Jennifer, can’t you see the stairs?’ I asked her with just as much curiosity, ‘What do you mean? Can you see the stairs?’
“By ninth grade, my eyesight had worsened. The glasses I had worn since I was a little girl were no longer compensating for my sight loss. After several visits to the eye doctor, he told my parents and me that there was something seriously wrong and recommended we go to an eye hospital. I had no idea what I was about to discover.
“At the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Miami, the doctors told us that I had retinitis pigmentosa, which essentially meant my retinas were deteriorating. The prognosis was total blindness. I don’t remember the exact words that were used that day, but I do remember the word ‘blindness,’ because that’s not a word I expected to hear. My parents and I had the same response: silence. We knew something was wrong with my eyes, but even so, we were shocked.
“In the silence of that difficult ride home from the hospital, my mind was racing. I thought, I’m not going to be able to drive a car. I’m not going to be able to be an artist. I remember the disappointment of that. And I questioned, Are boys going to want to date me? How am I going to finish high school? Will I be able to go off to college? Sitting in the back seat of our family car, I felt my fingertips and wondered if I would have to read Braille someday – I wondered if I would be able to.
“Finally, we arrived home. I walked into the living room and sat down on the bench of our old upright piano, dejected. My mind racing with all the hardships that were before me, I began to just plink away at the keys on the piano. I had taken a few years of piano lessons and could sight-read in simple keys. But on this day I could no longer see the sheet music. Instead, just noodling, I played by ear for the very first time. The song that filled my living room that day, the first song that came to mind, the first song I had every learned ironically was that beloved hymn ‘It Is Well with My Soul.’
“It was a miracle that on that very dark day, God gave me hope and light through the gift of playing by ear. But the greatest miracle wasn’t that I played ‘It Is Well with My Soul;’ the greatest miracle was that, because I was a Christian, it really was well with my soul. In a dramatic way, God gave new color to my life. That day I discovered a new way to find life: through music. And that day I resolved to give my life to it, to serve the Lord through this, to help others struggling like me, and it has brought me through. Blindness has remained with me. It’s still not well with my circumstance, but God has made it very well with my soul.”

“Faith is not a shelter against life’s difficulties; it is a light showing us the path through them.”
This week, when life goes wrong, if everything seems to be falling apart, life hopeless and overwhelming – find your way through. Remember: YOU HAVE A CHOICE TO MAKE. And MEET GOD HALF-WAY.