3/7 Thursday in the Third Week of Lent

Exodus 3: 7-12

Then the LORD said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters.  Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.  The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.  So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites out of Egypt.”  But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”  He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be a sign for you that it is I who sent you:  when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”

An offering from Cheyenne Maechtle

What this passage means to me is…

A skinny country kid stands waiting in September’s dew

As roaring comes a yellow beast whose mouth snaps open all at once

To emit a thousand raucous screams of unschooled life.

A mother’s gentle push is not enough to convince him it is safe

Until a friendly voice intones… Don’t be scared, kid.  Sit Right here.

I’ll be with you all the way.

A scent born on eastern winds draws a young man to unseen shores

Where new dreams and deeds fill long days with the hum of life just begun.

Yet ancient tongues speak a code unknown while a million little quirks

Unnerve, upset, twist him around so that he faces his home of old again.

But a compatriot’s caring words can stop him short… Don’t worry, friend.

I’ll be with you through it all. 

Just who are you to step aboard an adventure?  Who am I to seek my fortune far away?  And who was Moses but a man who heard a voice?   It said, “I’ll be with you!”  We are little, but with that one simple sentence, we are linked to all the power of the universe and grow great in potential.

Prayer

May we, like Moses, hear that voice which calls out, “I’ll be with you.”  And may we be brave enough to believe these words.  Amen.