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The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians… (Exodus 3:7-8a).

When Elijah traveled to Mount Horeb, he discovered that “the Lord was not in the fire.”  Years earlier when Moses traveled to Mount Horeb though, that’s exactly where God was!

It was on Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God where Moses encountered the burning bush—ever aflame, but never consumed.  It’s out of that bush, which stood in the wilderness, on a deserted desert mountain, that Moses first met the God of his ancestors. 

God had been active in Moses’ life, but Moses probably hadn’t paid much attention to God.  He certainly hadn’t had an experience of standing in God’s presence.  But now in the wilderness, Moses had his sandals off and his face hidden, because God had shown up!

But God hadn’t only shown up for Moses’ sake.  God had come because of the misery and the suffering of his people.  They had cried out to God, and God was concerned for them.  So he set out to rescue them from their slavery. 

This story has an important echo in the scripture passage from Romans we’ll explore this Sunday.  When Paul writes that “we cry Abba, Father” he’s echoing the same language of the cries of God’s enslaved people in Egypt.  And as Moses discovered in the desert: those are cries that God listens to.  Cries that God responds to when, like a good Father, he comes down and scoops us up in his arms to comfort us in the midst of our suffering.

We are incredibly tired of this pandemic we’re slogging though.  We’re itching for any way to claw back some normalcy.  We’d really rather focus on anything else.  But we cannot let that stop us taking account of our suffering and that of our neighbours.  As this thing drags on: jobs are being lost, anxieties are rising, the days are growing darker, and our collective capacity to deal with it all is growing thin. 

It’s at just such times that God’s people have cried out to him for mercy for themselves and for their neighbours.  And, it may be in wilderness places just like these where God suddenly shows up in a burning bush to say: “I’ve seen the misery of my people and heard their cries, so I have come…”

On my ornament today, I’m going to write “I’ve seen, I’ve heard, I’ve come” to remind me that Jesus is always present in the midst of suffering, shouldering the cross with me, even when I’m not aware of it.  And, to go with that phrase, maybe I’ll draw a cross, maybe a burning bush in the desert, or maybe a good Father.  I haven’t decided yet—what will you draw?    

I’d also like to invite you to be with others today as God is with us.  I wonder if there’s someone you know who may be facing some particular suffering during this pandemic time.  Cry out to God for them in prayer, then go and offer one tangible form of support to them as the hands and feet of Jesus (a card, a call, a gift card, a meal, etc).