Rancho Bernardo Community Presbyterian Church

Genesis 6:11-14, Exodus 5:22-6:1

Last week Kate and I went to see the popular movie, “Evan Almighty.” I am intrigued by the premise: Be careful what you pray for, because God might take you seriously. The young politician prays that he can change the world and is told to build an ark. What he discovers is that God’s answers are seldom what we expect. More often than not God’s answers feel random, even ridiculous. Let’s be honest, how many of us would build an ark if God told us to do it? We expect God to be reasonable. Are God’s acts always predictable, reasonable, calculated… or might they sometimes feel pretty random?

This week we continue our summer series of messages on how God took Moses and the Israelites through a time of transition. They were slaves living under the oppression of the Pharaoh, but God called them to become the Hebrew nation living in the Promised Land. The Lord told Moses to announce to Pharaoh that God commands him to “Let my people go.” Sounds easy enough. Not so fast. God has some more teaching to do before the Israelites and Moses would be ready for their freedom.

Then Moses turned again to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, why have you mistreated this people? Why did you ever send me? Since I first came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has mistreated this people, and you have done nothing at all to deliver your people.’

Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh: Indeed, by a mighty hand he will let them go; by a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land

- Exodus 5:22-6:1

A high school football coach was frustrated with team injuries. His first string quarterback had been injured early in the game. His second string quarterback hadn’t even dressed for the game due to illness. The third string quarterback had led the team to a precarious lead, but was injured in the fourth quarter with two minutes left in the game. The coach considered his options and then called his freshman quarterback to his side. He quickly explained the situation to the boy.

“We are on our own three yard line. We can’t afford to let the other team score. So here is what I want you to do. First play, hand off the ball to Jones and let him run up the middle. Second play hand off to Jones and let him run up the middle again. Third play; take the hike from center, step back two steps and punt the ball.”

The freshman quarterback ran onto the field. First play; he handed off to Jones. Jones broke loose and ran forty-seven yards up the field. He was tackled on the fifty-yard line. Second play. The freshman quarterback handed off to Jones who ran another forty yards before being tackled. Now the home team was on the opposing team’s ten-yard line. All they had to do was run down the clock or score a field goal if not a touchdown. Third play of the freshman quarterback’s career, he took the hike from the center, stepped back two steps, and punted the ball into the stands, turning it over to the opposing team.

When the freshman came off the field, the coach was irate. “What in the world were you thinking when you called that last play?” The boy answered, “I was thinking what a dumb coach we have.”

Moses must have felt like that quarterback. The coach sent him into the game with a very simple game plan. Moses, go confront Pharaoh. The Lord gave Moses some miraculous signs to use as a way of persuading Pharaoh to let the Israelites go free. God promised to judge Pharaoh and the Egyptians if he refused to let God’s people go free. Moses ran onto the field and then everything went south.

Instead of letting the Israelites go free, Pharaoh doubled their workloads. The situation quickly deteriorated from bad to worse as Moses’ own teammates began to complain about Moses’ lack of leadership. “Hey, great game plan there Moses!” By the end of Exodus chapter 5 Moses is upset with God. I suspect many of us can resonate with Moses’ feelings when he told God, “…you have done nothing at all to deliver your people” (Exodus 5:23). Hey, God, your game plan isn’t working.

This summer it feels a little like that around our church. For our visitors, we own a piece of property down in Poway where we planned to build a second campus named The Porch. This spring we learned that the city council would not approve our plans. Like Moses, our leadership has been praying, “But Lord, we heard you clearly telling us to be a church with a Porch… We took that to mean you wanted us to build a second campus… Now that the situation has changed, we aren’t sure what you want us to do. What’s that Lord? The Porch is a concept not a piece of property? It is about carrying your love out to our neighbors? So what does that look like without a second campus down the street?”

Like Moses, we are learning that, just like any other conversation, there is a difference between what God says and what happens next. It is not that we missed what God was saying.

Rather, we grow into our relationship with God as we continue seeking the Lord in the midst of shifting circumstances. This is where communication gets so tricky. We hear the words, but we don’t always understand what they mean.

Years ago Kate called our four young children into a family meeting. She was unusually firm with the children as she laid out a new family rule for the household. She looked each child in the eye as she made her announcement. “These are my sewing scissors. You don’t use my sewing scissors to cut paper. These scissors never leave my room. They are my sewing scissors, now leave them alone!” The children agreed to the new rule.

A few weeks later Kate caught me in her sewing space cutting a piece of paper with her sewing scissors. “What are you doing?” She appeared to be upset about something, but I had no idea what. “I’m cutting some paper.” “You’re using my sewing scissors! Didn’t you hear what I told the children at the family meeting?”

Of course I had heard her clear instructions. However, I had made two faulty assumptions about what she meant. First, I assumed the main reason for the rules was that Kate was tired of looking for lost scissors. I thought I was following the rule by using them in the appropriately designated room. Second, I assumed she was concerned that our children not cut themselves with her sharp scissors. Her reference to paper meant that she wanted the children to use the safe, dull-edged paper scissors to avoid injuring themselves with her sharp scissors. Since I figured I was old enough to handle sharp scissors, I thought her rule applied to the children not me. Kate quickly cleared up the misunderstanding. “Bruce, if you cut paper with these scissors you’ll ruin them as sewing scissors. Paper dulls scissors.

Paper is a wood product. You might just as well go rub the edge of my scissors against the trunk of a tree. I need sharp scissors to cut fabric. The rule of the sewing scissors applies to you as much as to the children!”

How do we learn to interpret not only what is said but also what is meant? The truth is that relationship is the key to communication. The more we build a relationship, the better our communication becomes. This is just as true whether we are talking about a friendship, a marriage, or a relationship with God.

In the movie “Evan Almighty” there is an amazing scene where the actor portraying God is talking with a young wife and mother who feels like her prayers are never answered. The Lord says to her something like, “When someone prays for patience, do you think God gives them patience or does God give them a situation requiring them to be patient? When they pray for courage, does God give them courage or offer an opportunity for them to be courageous?” Then, reminding her of her own prayer that her family would draw closer, the Lord asks, “When they pray for their family to come together, does the family just come together, or does God provide opportunities for them to pull together through the trials?”

The coach of the local Little League team picks up the phone to hear these startling words: “Coach, this is Jimmy. Today is my birthday and I’m eight!” The coach, a bit mystified by this announcement, can hear the boy’s mother encouraging him to clarify. “Coach,” Jimmy says, “You promised me that I can be on your team when I turn eight. So. I’m eight!”

The coach doesn’t recall making such a promise, but it would have been like him to say it to an eager boy on the sidelines. He can’t picture this boy, but he chuckles as he responds. “Okay, Jimmy, here’s the deal. If you come to every practice, I’ll let you play on my team.” Jimmy is elated. The coach reminds him that their team’s next practice is Monday at 5 o’clock.

The next day Jimmy calls the coach just to be sure. “Coach, this is Jimmy. Practice is still Monday? Five o’clock?”

Sunday, Jimmy calls at six in the morning and wakes the coach. “Coach, I just wanted to be sure. You said five o’clock?”

“Yes, Jimmy.”

“We meet at the ball field?”

“Yes.”

Sunday afternoon Jimmy and his mom go shopping for his first baseball cap. They don’t have any that small in his team’s color, but Jimmy wants it so bad that his mom buys one and pins the back of it closed so it’ll stay on his head. A new baseball glove was his birthday present. Jimmy parades around the mall with that glove flopping all over his little hand. Several times he reminds his mom that coach promised he would play on the team if he comes to every practice.

Monday at one o’clock the rain clouds blow in and it starts to sprinkle. By two o’clock it turns into a downpour. The streets start to flood. Traffic is tied up. Mom is late getting home from work. She goes straight to Jimmy’s room to commiserate with him about the storm and the canceled practice. Jimmy is gone. His mom wonders where he is.

Jimmy is riding his bike through the rain to the ball field. At five o’clock the coach’s wife looks out her window and calls the coach to look at the scene. There is this little boy standing in four inches of rainwater at home base, all by himself. The coach looks over at the field and sees Jimmy hugging his new baseball glove wearing an oversized baseball cap on his head.

The coach puts on rain gear and wades through the water to get to Jimmy. When he gets there, he asks, “Are you Jimmy?” Jimmy says, “I’m here for practice, coach. You said if I made every practice, then I’d get to play. You promised!”

How does the coach respond? I see that coach putting his arm around Jimmy’s shoulder and leaning close to block the rain from the boy. The coach says, “I tell you what, Jimmy. Why don’t we go over to the house and get some hot chocolate and dry off? Practice is canceled today because of this storm. But I am proud to have you as part of my team. When you’ve been on my team for a while, you’ll get to know me better and know what I mean when I say things.” The coach is offering that boy a relationship. Isn’t it great that we have a coach who puts his arm around our shoulders and walks at our side?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

How have you felt frustrated that what you thought God wanted was not what happened?

When there is a misunderstanding how do you clarify what you heard or what you meant?

How is a relationship with the Lord similar to and different from relationships with people around us?

How is your relationship with the “Divine Coach” right now?