Out Our Way: I am talking to you! - Exodus 20:1-21

Out our way, like everywhere else, there are good days and bad. For the past few years, as many of you know, I have faced a great many hard times. A common theme in this column is me getting tossed from Doc’s back and hitting Terra Firma with a vengeance. And believe me, that terra is plenty  firm! Fortunately, aside from sprained ribs on occasion and a great many bruises and aches, I have never been badly hurt. Even so, getting back up is always a challenge. The old phrase “Cowboy up” comes to mind as I crawl on my hands and knees and slowly try to stand. The pain is sometimes pretty bad, but Doc waits patiently for me to hobble over and remount. I have to get back up in the saddle at once or I fear I never will again. Very often I am tempted to just stay down. It is so much easier to just quit and lay there. I confess I am a coward and fear the hurt that will come when I get up and the reality I will likely be hurt again. But I do rise up and stagger over to Doc and swing aboard again — not because I want to, but because I have to, or I will never ride again.

Doing the right thing is not always easy — it is often scary and painful. There is a price to be paid. Look at Israel. Granted their slavery was harsh, but they had stability and some sense of purpose. Leaving all that to go out into the unknown was terrifying. The wilderness was an unknown territory for them, often harsh and filled with dangers. The reality of hunger, thirst, wild beasts and hostile tribes were new to them — and more than once, the stability and sense of structure they had known as slaves seemed more desirable than the new and frightening. If they just stayed slaves and didn’t rock the boat, they would not have to face such terrors. The freedom God had promised had a price and many thought the price was too high.

Under Pharaoh, they didn’t have to think for themselves or take responsibility for their lives or those of their neighbors. Pharaoh was god and they his slaves. He was in charge. But the Exodus changed all that — especially at Mount Sinai. 

Notice that the 10 Commandments are addressed to the individual and not to a mob. You shall do or not do thus and such, for you are accountable. Not Pharoah nor Moses, nor the elders — you. Unlike many politicians over the centuries who want to be the new pharaohs, God called Israel to become a nation of people for whom the individual was important. And each, as an individual, was responsible for their own lives and that of their neighbor.  

But liberty and freedom are difficult to attain and even harder to keep, for it requires people to think and act for themselves and not simply blindly follow the leader. God holds each of us accountable. In the New World Order of Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc., this was not the case. They sought to destroy any sense of the individual and replace it with themselves or the state as god. Don’t think for yourself — don’t challenge the master’s views — just obey. We recall how the war criminals at the Nuremberg war trials sought to excuse their actions or inaction in Hitler’s evil with this argument. We just did as we were told. We just went along with what Pharaoh and his cronies told us to think and believe. We still find that mentality today as gullible folks are seduced allow evil, immorality and wickedness to flourish in the world because celebrities, politicians and the media tell them to just obey their demands.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer — a German minister in WWII — dared to challenge that go-along-to-get-along mentality. He preached both the individual’s right andy also responsibility to think and act for themselves. Elie Weisel — a survivor of Hitler’s death camps — has called out for this nation and all nations to stop allowing a few to rule as modern day Pharaohs and start rising up to question and challenge.

Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Castro, etc depended on destroying the individual and replacing them with the state or central government. Modern-day Pharaohs who saw themselves or the state as god still flourish as they always have and always will. Yet the Exodus is not over.   

“But it shall not be so for you,” says the Lord. From Mount Sinai, through Moses, God spoke not to the “state” but to the people. Every individual is held accountable. Pharoah is not god. The Lord — whose Name translates as “ I Am!” —challenges us to be His people and not Pharaoh’s slaves.

Who is Pharaoh today? I am sure we may disagree on specific names — but Pharoah is anyone who attempts to force us to blindly accept and obey their views. They seek to silence any debate or dialogue by hurling slogans and insults at anyone who dares to question them. As in Moses’ day, many gods were worshipped and their temples and priests flourished because they served Pharaoh. But the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob created a new person — individuals — whom He demanded learn to take responsibility as individuals instead of blindly following orders from Pharaoh.

Doing the right thing is not easy. It can be painful and terrifying. You will stand out in the crowd, an individual human being made in the image of God, and not simply an invisible member of the mob. Pharaoh and his cronies will hate you for that, for in doing so you challenge Pharaoh’s authority as a god. Pharoah and his followers will bring all their worldly powers against you. They will do whatever it takes to silence you. They will scoff at you, insult you, curse you, spread lies about you, persecute you even try to destroy you. See Matthew 5: 11-12. 

Yet, in the end, Pharoah will fail once again as he has always failed over the centuries by whatever name or title he —or she — presently uses. Many will be fooled and perhaps return to Pharaoh’s slavery. It is easier to just stay down and blend in with the dirt than to rise up and climb into the saddle. If the crowds return to Egypt — if the Exodus continues with only a handful instead of the great nation God has called out of slavery — so be it. God did not call the mob, He called you. Unlike Pharoah, God does not see a faceless crowd to manipulate and dominate as their god, but as the distinct individuals who make up its members and are known to God by name. 

There may have been hundreds of thousands at Mount Sinai that day, and certainly billions since who have heard the Word of God proclaimed. But God did not and does not call out to faceless crowds. He is talking directly to me — and He is also talking directly to you.

Blessings

Brother John

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John Bruington is the former pastor at Havre Presbyterian Church and still maintains contact with all at bruingtonjohn@gmail.com]