There are times when God’s work is easy to miss. We look for thunder, but God begins with a whisper. We look for power in public places, but God begins in hidden rooms, beside rivers, in the courage of ordinary people, and in the quiet faithfulness of those who choose life when the world around them chooses fear.
That is the thread running through our readings today.
God works under pressure
Exodus begins with a frightening sentence: a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. Memory has failed. Gratitude has disappeared. Fear has taken hold. Pharaoh looks at the growing population of Israelites and sees them not as neighbours, not as workers, not even as human beings made in the image of God, but as a threat that he needs to control. Fear so often does that to us to. Fear turns people into problems. Fear makes cruelty seem reasonable and fear convinces the powerful that oppression is necessary. Just think about what’s happening around the world as I speak! And so, what is the response to fear? We see how Pharaoh responds, he tightens his grip: forced labour, harsh treatment, and finally a command of death against the Hebrew boys. Not unlike what we see happening in the world today, is it?
But even there, in that dark place, God was at work. Shiphrah and Puah, the midwives, fear God more than they fear Pharaoh. What a hard lesson for us! That lesson being, do we fear God before we fear whatever is challenging us. In God’s word, the Midwives are named, while Pharaoh is not. Really important little verse to show us the respect God had for these two mighty servants. The empire may seem larger, louder, and stronger, but Scripture remembers the names of the women who protected life. Their holy resistance becomes part of God’s rescue story.
Moses is born. His mother hides him. His sister watches. Pharaoh’s daughter has compassion. One small child is placed in a basket on the river, and no one standing there can yet see the full story. They cannot see the Red Sea. They cannot see Sinai. They cannot see freedom. But God is already moving. That is often how God works in our lives too. We want the full plan, but God gives us the next faithful act. Protect life. Speak truth. Practice courage. Show compassion. Trust the small beginning. God can take what looks fragile and hidden and make it part of his deliverance.
God brings us through
Psalm 124 is a song of hindsight. The people look back and confess, “If the Lord had not been on our side,” the waters would have swept us away, the flood would have gone over us, the trap would have held us. The psalm does not pretend the danger was small. It names the teeth, the flood, and the snare. But it also names the truth that is deeper than danger. ‘Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.’
Faith is not always knowing exactly what God is doing while we are in the middle of trouble. Sometimes faith is looking back and realising, “God carried me there. God, held, me there. God made a way when I could not make one for myself.” Testimony is the practice of remembering grace. Many of us can say that in our own way. If the Lord had not been on our side in the illness, in the grief, in the uncertainty, in the family struggle, in the season when we did not know how we would keep going, where would we be?We may not have understood everything at the time, but we can still say, “Our help is in the name of the Lord.”
God forms a living body
Romans 12 begins, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God.” Paul does not begin with guilt. He begins with mercy. The Christian life is not an attempt to earn God’s love; it is a response to the mercy we have already received. Because God has rescued us, therefore we should offer ourselves to God. Not just with our songs, not just with our prayers, not just in an hour or so, on Sunday, but with our bodies, our choices, our time, our work, our homes, our gifts, and our relationships. Paul calls this “a living sacrifice.” It means our whole life and all we do with that life becomes worship.
Dr AB Simpson founder of the Christian and Missionary Alliance once prayed this prayer when told he will be dead by his early thirties as he suffered from a debilitating illness. He went for a walk in the country. Coming to a pine wood he sat down on a log to rest and pray. He asked Jesus to become his physical life until his life’s work for God was accomplished. He went on to write 3000 sermons, holding 20 meetings a week. He became a prolific author whose books are still blessing the world today. And he died at the age of seventy-six. Paul calls this “a living sacrifice.” It means our whole life and all we do with that life becomes worship.
Then Paul speaks about the body of Christ. We belong to one another. No one has every gift, God gives out, and no gift is unnecessary. Some speak, some serve, some teach, some encourage, some give, some lead, some show mercy. The church is strengthened when each person offers what God has given them, not proudly, not reluctantly, but faithfully. So, the question is not only, “What do I need from the church?” The question is also, “What gift has God placed in me for the life of the Church to thrive here in Harataunga?” When God rescues people, he also renews them. When God brings people through the doors of the church, he also sends them out to use their special gifts to serve others.
God builds on confession
In Matthew 16, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They give the answers they have heard. Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But then Jesus makes the question direct: “But who do you say that I am?” That question cannot be answered only by public opinion. It cannot be answered only by what our parents believed, what our church says, or what others think. At some point the question comes to us: “Who do you say Jesus is?”
Peter answers, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” It is a confession, but it is also a foundation. Jesus says that on this rock he will build his church. The church should not be built on fear, human cleverness, or self-importance. It is built on the revealed truth of who Jesus is. It is built on each and every one of our answers to that question Jesus asked the disciples, as followers of Christ. “But who do you say that I am?” And if we believe Peters answer is true, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” then our lives cannot remain unchanged. Our confession must become courage like the midwives, praise like the psalmist, service like Paul describes, and witness like the church Jesus sends into the world.
Closing Invitation
So, I encourage each one of you to look for the hidden places where God is already at work. Look for places where courage is needed. Look for the places where life must be protected. Look for the places where testimony needs to be spoken, where gifts need to be offered, where mercy needs to be shown, and where Christ must be confessed not only with our mouths but with our lives. And let’s always keep the faith and remember that God is at work in the hidden places even when we cannot see it materialising. He is at work before the rescue is visible. He is at work when we are under pressure. He is at work when we remember how he brought us through. He is at work forming us into a living body. And he is at work wherever people answer Jesus’ question with faith: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, open our eyes to see where you are already at work. Give us courage to protect life, humility to remember your help, faithfulness to offer our gifts, and boldness to confess you in word and deed. Renew our minds, shape us as your body, and send us into the world as witnesses of your saving love. Amen.