How Who is the Answer to How in Times of Trouble
by John Eiselt
When we encounter circumstances or journey through a difficult season of life, we may experience stress, anxiety, fear and even suffering. Suffering can cause us to feel enslaved emotionally, spiritually and even physically. Often times, this feeling of enslavement leaves us feeling abandoned, or forgotten. It is times such as these that most commonly lead us to doubt and wonder if God is there, if he hears us, sees our situation and even whether he cares enough to help, guide, or save us.
In our humanity, and frankly even more so in our Americanism, we tend to look first to ourselves, our internal and external resources for the answer. We may wonder what the best way forward may be, or how things will resolve or work themselves out, and we may even be able to derive that we can fix it ourselves. Yet even if we can, we’ve still answered these questions incompletely.
The story of the relationship between God and his people in the book of Exodus remind us that ‘Who’ is the answer to ‘How’. God is the “Who” and the “How”.
The Israelites' circumstances were not just an opportunity for God to do miracles in the midst of an incredible rescue. It was an opportunity for him to draw his people closer to himself, to reveal himself, his character, his promises, and his deep resolve for his people, driven by his un-ending love. In fact, Moses and even Pharaoh receive the same invitation. A command and an invitation to obey God, to come know him more deeply, to walk with him personally, to recognize our part in a bigger story.
In every circumstance, we too receive the same invitation and command to obey God as the “Who and the “How” in our lives. Not as a distant, impersonal god, but as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God makes good on his promises, the God who rescues, the God who ultimately comes to dwell with his people Christ Jesus.
