June 7, 2009
Background Scripture: Ephesians 1:3-14
Devotional Reading: Exodus 19:1-8

Some years ago, someone commented to me that of all the sins catalogued in the New Testament, there is one no longer present in our world today. “Which is that?” I asked, and he replied, “Slavery!” I disagreed, but neither of us had any statistics to offer.

Later, reading an article, “Cry Freedom” by David Batstone in Sojourners (March, 2007), I learned there were then 27 million slaves in the world – including some in the United States.

“Girls and boys,” he wrote, “women and men of all ages are forced to toil in the rug loom sheds of Nepal, sell their bodies in the brothels of Rome, break rocks in the quarries of Pakistan and fight wars in the jungles of Africa … As many as 17,500 new victims are trafficked across our borders each year.”

In September 2003, President George W. Bush told the UN General Assembly, “Each year 800,000 to 900,000 human beings are bought, sold or forced across the world’s borders. The trade in human beings must not be allowed to thrive in our time.”
But it does: In 2005 the trade for slaves was about $32 billion annually and one million children were forced to sell their bodies to sexual exploiters.

Flight for freedom

I cite these statistics simply to indicate that the evil confronting the Israelites in Egypt is prevalent today, too. So the Exodus from Egyptian slavery 3,700 years ago is no less a reality in our world.
There seems to be no evidence that a religious consciousness existed among the Israelites in Egypt, so the reason for Exodus was not religious persecution. The Book of Exodus tells us that it was the enslavement of the Israelites that moved God to set in motion their flight for freedom.

The Exodus is a story with which all people can identify. For those who live in slavery today, that is easy, but for the rest of us who have never suffered as slaves, actually or virtually, we can celebrate the Exodus as anticipating the freedom we enjoy today as God’s will for all people – so long as we also acknowledge the holocaust that early Americans inflicted upon native peoples and the slavery imposed upon millions of Africans for more than three centuries.
As God heard the “groaning” of the Israelites, be assured that He heard and hears the cries of victims in our history and in our present.

Pulling for God

God came to Moses, a senior citizen and escaped murderer who had fled the Pharaoh’s justice, stating: “I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. And have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings. And I have come down to deliver them …” (3:7,8).

Today we might respond: “That’s good, Lord, we’re pulling for you.” Smart people today don’t get involved. We may feel that injustice to others is “unfortunate” and hope “someone will do something about it.”

Yet, although up to this point Moses had not lived up to his heritage, he came to the “burning bush” with a different attitude and, “When he turned aside to see, God called him out of the bush … And he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” ( 3:4-6).

Moses tried to desist: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” (3:11). Moses was right: He was not up to righting this terrible injustice – but God was, and is.
It may seem that we can do nothing about the appalling injustices in our world today – and, like Moses, we are right. We are not seeking to get God involved in our project, but “turn aside and see” to offer our inadequate selves to assist Him in His.

Moses did not become the father of his people until that day when he “turned aside” and said those three little words: “Here am I.” Give them a try.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.