Daily Meditation: "Finding Hope"
Monday, September 7, 2020
SCRIPTURE:
“Moses told this to the Israelites; but they would not listen to Moses because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, ‘Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his land.’” - Exodus 6:9-1
REFLECTION:
Moses - he does his best. After a remarkable set of events that move him, like Paul, from the oppressor to advocating for the oppressed, he is sent by God to send a message to the Israelites: God has heard their cries, and God is going to set them free and make the God’s people. Good news, right?
Not for the Israelites. They are unable to hear the good news, unable to believe it. Their hope and their faith are gone. Many of us, at least once in our lives, may find ourselves in a similar space. Our grief, our frustration, our anger may place us in spaces where we are unable to hear or receive any good news or believe there is any hope for a brighter or better Tomorrow.
Does that stop God? Nope. For the Israelites, it meant that God then turned attention to Pharaoh and had Moses go to him and tell him to let the Israelites go. That didn’t go too well, either, but eventually, Pharaoh let them go (begrudgingly). Of course, the Israelites’ frustration follows them into the wilderness and their freedom even becomes a source of problems as they struggle to reach the Promised Land. Hope can be a difficult thing, sometimes.
God’s story throughout our scripture has been continually finding women and men who break through our hopelessness and frustrations and remind us that there is always Hope. Prophets, disciples, apostles, people on the road and in villages, Emmanuel - they all in their own way enter into history and speak to the Truth that God’s hope continues to burst forth upon the world if we are willing to listen and receive it.
It may not be an easy road to get to Hope, but it is always and ever before us.
PRAYER
God of Hope, grant that we be open to receiving the new beginnings you offer us each and every day in the face of life’s difficult realities.
Amen.
Peace,
Shawn