OUT OUR WAY:

"Before the harvest"

  Out our way we know that a good harvest doesn't just happen. It is not just luck or coincidence that the crops are planted, grown and reaped when they are mature. Ask any farmers about the process and they will tell you it takes planning and hard work, and there is vastly more to it than just tossing seed onto the ground. Fields and equipment have to be prepared and maintained. The seed has to be planted at the right time and watched over until the crop is ready. It doesn't just happen.

When we read the scripture about God's work to create the kingdom, we see that same reality that every farmer knows. Recall in Genesis that God revealed a three-point plan to Abraham for the redemption of the world. The plan would begin with him and Sarah, and through them a nation would be born. The land of Canaan would become the land of Israel, and from all of this would come God's blessing to the entire human race (Genesis 12:1-3). This is the blueprint that God shared with Abraham, and the rest of the Bible is the record of each phase being fulfilled according to plan.

  Now in Genesis we first began to see the formation of a special and unique people who would be called Israel. We saw how God prepared the way for the people to flourish and grow by allowing one of the 12 sons, Joseph, to be sold by his brothers into slavery in Egypt. But we also saw how that was part of the bigger plan.

Within a few years the slave, Joseph, had become the right-hand man of Pharaoh, second only to the king in power and importance. Because of his position, when famine hit the Middle East, he was able to bring his family into the lush pastures of Goshen in northern Egypt. Here they could live in peace, protected by the mightiest nation on earth at that time. And flourish and grow they did.

But years later there was a change in power and a new pharaoh arose who saw the Israelites as potential enemies. The northern frontier was largely unprotected, so a building plan of new fortified cities and military posts was needed; Pharaoh saw the Israelites as the labor force he needed. He enslaved them as a people. As slaves they could be controlled, and because they were already there in large numbers, he need not worry about importing them.

Now the result was not merely that the people became slaves, but they also became unified, for they shared the same history and now the same fate. This bound the 12 separate tribes into a single people. This was part of the plan and when the time was right, God prepared the next step: A baby named Moses.

Fearful of the number of Israelites, Pharaoh ordered all male babies to be killed, thus not only destroying the likelihood of an armed force rising in rebellion down the road but also ending the existence of the Israelites as a people. The girls would have to marry outside the nation and then soon the nation would be no more.

But God had other plans. When Moses was born, his mother hid him for 3 months. But then she had to do something because she could not hide him forever. Pharaoh had ordered all male children to be thrown into the Nile to drown. Well, that is what she would do, except Moses would be cradled in a waterproof basket that would float. Further, she chose a very special place to place that craft. Crocodiles and hippos and other critters were dangerous, but in some inlets - especially where the royals bathed and swam - the river was guarded and the swimmers protected. It was here at the royal "beach" that the basket was launched.

It was also a matter of timing, for as it happens, one of Pharaoh's daughters, who was childless, always came down to the water at a certain time. Just before she got there, Moses and the basket were placed near the beach, and Moses' elder sister Miriam stood guard. When the princess saw the basket and found the baby inside, Miriam, on cue, raced up and asked if the princess would like her to find a Hebrew woman to care for the baby, since she did not have the means to feed him and would need a "wet nurse." Naturally that woman was none other than Moses' mom, and she cared for him over the next few years.

During that time, Moses would have learned of his heritage as an Israelite and of his people, while growing up as an Egyptian child. When he was older and sent to the palace, he was raised as a prince. He was educated as such, and among other things he learned how to lead and wield authority, something he would need in God's plan for him.

Even though raised as a prince of Egypt, he never forgot he was an Israelite. When, as a grown man, he saw Israelite slave being brutally abused, he came to their aid. He killed an Egyptian, becoming an outlaw and a wanted man. But even this was to God's purpose, for in the wilderness to which he fled, he became the son-in-law of a priest of God, and a shepherd who became familiar with the desert where he would eventually lead his people for 40 years.

No farmer believes his harvest just "happens" or that it is mere coincidence and blind luck that causes his fields to prosper, grow and give their yield. It takes careful planning, and each phase is part of the overall process. As we read the Bible and see the various steps of preparation, planting, nurturing and eventual harvest, we begin to understand that someone is in charge - he has a plan, and that plan is being fulfilled.

--

John Bruington and Goliath serve the Kingdom at First Presbyterian Church, Havre, Montana.