The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1943-07-30
GOD DELIVERS HIS PEOPLE

permission.
GOD DELIVERS HIS PEOPLE
LESSON TExr-Exodus s;22' %; SIT:
GOLDEN TExT-call upon me in the day
of trouble: / will deliver thee. and thou
shalt glorify me.-Psalm SOILS.
Why doesn't God do something?
People are quick to ask such ques-
ton in time of crisis. Today they
want to know why God permits the
war to 60 on. In the day of our
lesson Moses wanted to know why
God did not deliver His people from
Egypt. He and Aaron had been ap-
pointed of God to lead them out, but
their first efforts only met with fail
ure and increased persecution.
The complaint of Moses, and the
response of God make an instruc-
tive story for our consideration and
guidance. It will answer our ques-
tons.
L. Moses Said, sThou Hast Not
Delivered Thy People" (Exod. 5:22,
23).
When the efforts of Moses brought
heavier burdens on the people they
blamed him and Aaron for making
their situation worse. This sorrow
and shame made them doubt Gods
calling and commission. How quick
ly men are discouraged in their pur-
pose to serve God.
The people were wrong in their
attitude. They should have been
patient. They ought not to have as
sumed that the loss of the first
skirmish meant the loss of the whole
campaign.
Are we not just like them? The
new minister or the recently elected
Sunday school superintendent makes
a mistake and instead of helping
him to pick up the pieces and start
over, we decide that he just will
not do, that we must have a change.
Even though the people were
wrong, however, the man of God
should not have lost his faith and
accused God of failure to keep His
promise. He was supposed to have
learned the lesson of patience in the
long years on the backside of the
desert. Had he forgotten the expe-
rience of the burning bush?
III. God Said, 81 Am Jehovah,
Thou Shalt See What will Do"
(Exod. Slid.
In other words, Moses was to re-
member that he was dealing with
the Eternal One, Interchangeable, and
always true to His word and able
to make His will come to pass.
So often men in dealing with God
think of Him in terms of their own
weakness and failure. What we need
is to have a Godlike conception of
God, not a manlike idea of Him.
God is the infinite and Eternal One
with whom we have no right to
quarrel, and whose dealings with us
are too high for US to judge FPS.
1916.
Gods covenant with His people
was established ". A.. He had heard
their cry ". 81 and His deliverance
was sure ". 81. The only thing
Moses had to do was to wait and
see God work.
That word "wait" is a little one.
II seems to call for no effort, to be
easy of fulfillment; yet it seems to
be the hardest thing for a human
being to do. Men who carry the
burden of active warfare with ease
and with honor become discouraged
and sick when they must sit in a
prisoners concentration camp and
wait for deliverance.
Christians who can speak and
work for God when things are ac-
tive and moving become querulous
and Respondent when they have to
wait for something to happen, or
when they are laid aside for a time.
His promise is sure. That is not
just religious sentiment. 1t is a
fact, and it is proved by history.
Note that in the case of Moses
iii. History Said, "It Came to
Pass the Selfsame Day" (Exod. IL:
sly.
Moses had to take Gods word,
for ''the selfsame day." which we
read here came later. It came in
Gods own time, after He had,
through Moses, Inundated and bro
ken the hard will of Pharaoh. Then
He gave His people the great me-
mortal feast of the Passover, teach
ing them the needed lesson that re-
demption is by the shedding of blood.
In that night Jehovah did bring
the children of Israel out of the
land of Egypt. That deliverance
was as certain the day He made the
first promise to Abraham ". 3, and
Gen. 1919 hundreds of years be-
fore, as it was now that it had been
accomplished.
History is really Gods story, re-
vealing His outworking of His plan
for mankind. The torn and blotted
pages are mans handiwork. Sin
and unbelief have caused him to