Broken
This week our sermon text is Exodus 6:1-13. I'm especially struck by the description of the Israelites having a broken spirit. I think when it comes to describing our feelings, the word broken is an incredibly powerful descriptor. Brokenness not in the cool sense of "not having it all together" but brokenness in the raw sense of busted and ruined. There's only a couple of times in my life I can remember being broken or having my spirit broken and they're so personal that I won't share them on an internet blog in case someone didn't treat them with respect. What happens when the cause of your brokenness is God? In last week's passage we saw that Moses felt that God had failed him. His brokenness leaked out all over the place. "O Lord, why have you mistreated this people?" Moses blamed Pharaoh's mistreatment of the Israelites squarely on God not Pharaoh. God promised to deliver them but he hasn't come through on his promises. God had failed them. "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." I'm struck this week by the words "Moses told this (God's message of redemption) to the Israelites; but they would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery." Broken is a powerful descriptor.