Rameses – First steps to Freedom
The Story……
The slow slipping of the worship of Yahweh was probably imperceptible to the Hebrews at the start. The comfort and ease of a fertile land. The influences of the Egyptians who did remember to worship their own gods. There seemed little need or urgency for Yahweh, and brick by brick, little by little the riches replaced the Hebrews God and little by little their freedom was replaced by bondage.
Nothing draws us back and awake so sharply as suffering or discomfort. I wondered how bad it had to be before the Hebrews remembered their God and began to cry out to Him. I wonder how bad it has to be before you and I call out to the Lord, re awakened to our poverty and utter need and dependency upon him.
Rameses is where they first regather as Gods chosen people. I wonder did they look around themselves at the walls built by their own hands and wonder how did we get to here? How did we get to a place where we had no choice but to keep building our own prison? I wonder how high those walls had been built before they recalled they belonged, not to Pharaoh but to Yahweh.
What’s going on with Moses?
I can almost hear the heart of Moses thumping in his chest, still the words ‘why me?’ being stifled as he obeyed the next request. Moses was still searching for his identity.
Moses has been raised by two mothers, his birth mother a Hebrew slave woman, and Pharaoh’s daughter who rescued him from the Nile. He has been brought up with the riches and opulence of the palace, with power and authority and in need of nothing. Yet in his core he knows he is an outsider, that it’s Israelite blood that courses through his veins and yet here too he is an outsider.
Moses searches for his identity, for the place he belongs even if he isn’t accepted, even if he is a cultural hybrid. A slave raised and educated in the courts of a king. His yearning to return and belong to his real family had led him to commit murder and then to flee Egypt all together. Maybe its in the stripping of all the cultural choices a space is made to rebuild his identity. The formation for Moses begins at his birth, but his formation for ministry starts here in Midian, stripped, humbled and leading first, just sheep. For forty years Moses tends the sheep, I would imagine the days of being a Prince seemed a lifetime before, I imagine the desire to connect with his people seemed like a lifetime before. But in all this time the question still remained. When the Lord speaks to Moses from the burning bush. His first response to Yahweh is, who am I?
He is led to the answer and a call on his heart for his people that will cost him, more than he feels he has to give and more than he can imagine. But all the while the Lord is answering that first question as he moulds him into his likeness.
What’s happening to the Israelites?
Rameses is the first step in a journey to the unknown, with a largely unknown God. Perhaps some old stories and legends remained but only this man Moses knew His character or whether this chance at change was a good bet. They have seen his might now, He has proved it time and again in the sight of 1000’s which is the side to be on, but I wondered how much fear overtook each thumping heart as they gathered to leave.
The Hebrews would have been shaped by the last four hundred years, but not one experience would have been wasted, they would have learnt to support one another, they would have the deepest understanding of slavery that would instil compassion in them for others. The deliverance would have filled their hearts with hope and with gratitude for a God who owed them nothing yet still comes to liberate them. Imagine the healing that comes from being seen and chosen when your only experience of life is one with no dignity or identity.
Here in this place the song sang from their hearts is one of seeing the Lord’s victory over those they thought undefeatable. A celebration of the Justice wielded by their God. The victory it seems bears more importance at this point than the freedom won for them, I guess because they are yet to know what freedom really is. We can only imagine what we have never experienced.
What are we learning about God?
Some of the Israelites would have no idea who their God was, they had merely a cultural connection or idea of Yahweh. We see here that God wanted more, God wanted to give them more. It was never His plan for anyone to be an acquaintance. But while the Lord was ready for intimacy with his people, He knew that it would take a journey before His people were ready for that intimacy with him.
What cannot be missed is that the Lord didn’t rescue his people because of their faithfulness, it wasn’t their devotions that saved them, it wasn’t because of their good deeds that He heard their cry. No it was because of love, a promise and the blood of a lamb that called them out amongst the nations.
What are we to learn from this?
I think we too can build our own Jails, brick by brick and that we too can miss that we have swapped ‘Masters’ somewhere along the way. With no real way out, we keep building because it’s all we know. Whilst every hand is held out to us, every door to freedom opened we have to make the choice to grasp it.
Many don’t.
Like the world today some of the Israelites would have no idea who their God was, they had merely a cultural connection or an idea of Yahweh, a remote and disinterested God. They left Rameses ready for battle we are told. They would not have withstood a battle, and like the Israelites we too can think the success of the journey is down to us. It is only in our failures do we learn that we will never be enough to withstand opposition whilst we fight in our own strength. The Israelites knew so little of the Lord that it was the most natural response but we, well we should know more of what He’s about.
Have you ever asked, “who am I?” Have you ever questioned why you exist, what your purpose is? Perhaps you too will discover your answer as you journey with the Lord.
Spiritual journey connection…
The first call on our hearts to follow is often heard in the places of struggle and trial. God’s grace speaks over the noise and the anguish and offers a way out. It is right here that we make the first tentative steps of faith, with more fear and scepticism than trust. At this place it is grace repelling the will and all our own faculties fighting the seemingly ridiculous nature of a response.
But it’s the Lord who is calling, and that’s compelling and appealing, a ‘what if?’ Becomes a little mantra, along with a little awe that the God of the universe could actually be calling you!
Questions from Rameses
Who are you?
- Was there a moment in your faith journey where you faced a choice to follow or not?
- Has there been a time when you could take a new but potentially terrifying path?
- What gave you the courage to take it?
- What part of you wanted to stay put?
- How did your knowledge of Gods character inform your choice?
- Where may you be building walls of slavery in your life now?
- How much fear does the unknown hold for you?
- If you have ever felt the need to escape, how did the freedom you were running to measure up to your expectations?
- How do you look upon others still trapped in destructive lives?
- What from your own experiences can you offer to help them “cry out to the Lord”?
- How much more courage do you find if you are walking to freedom with a community or church alongside you?
- Who around you needs to feel that support right now?
