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The Partnership of God
Brian Mashburn
January 20, 2008
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The Partnership of God
I really, really want to go back to Hawaii. But not by myself. I really, really prefer to go with someone.
I think I would go with just about anyone. Okay, well, honestly, not anyone. If I'm going to go to Hawaii, I will most definitely be going on multiple "adventures" while I'm there. Swimming, hiking, climbing, snorkeling, searching, discovering...these are all mandatory activities for me if I'm going to invest in a trip to Hawaii. So while I really, really prefer to go with "someone," I would insist on that someone being willing to participate with me in at least some of that.
In a word, I would want a partner. I could list the multiple reasons why, but whatever the reasons, I would insist that whoever accompanies me at least have a modest desire to participate with me.
It is present throughout the book of Exodus up to this point, but in the two stories we look at today in chapters 17-18, it becomes painfully obvious...God really, really, really prefers (if not demands) that whoever would accompany Him, participate with Him. He insists.
The Exodus story is clearly God's work, but the human Moses is indispensable as an agent of transformation and movement from "slavery" to "freedom". God will hear the slaves of Egypt, but not until they "cry out". God will speak through the burning bush, but not until Moses "goes over and sees this strange sight." God will rescue his people from Egypt, but He insists on Moses' dangerous participation. God will do the status-quo shaking "wonders" against Pharoah, but not without Moses' faith-filled involvement in announcing them.
And in today's text, we come to the place where God, for the first time, expects them to risk themselves, organize themselves, and fight for themselves in their identity as free people without the miraculous intervention of God.
I don't have to go to Hawaii with a partner in order to go on adventures. I just choose to. God, it seems, does too.