Acts 7:30-40 (NRSV)
Read Acts 7:30-40 on biblegateway.com
Verse 30"Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush. Verse 31When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight; and as he approached to look, there came the voice of the Lord: Verse 32'I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Moses began to tremble and did not dare to look. Verse 33Then the Lord said to him, 'Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. Verse 34I have surely seen the mistreatment of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them. Come now, I will send you to Egypt.' Verse 35"It was this Moses whom they rejected when they said, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge?' and whom God now sent as both ruler and liberator through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. Verse 36He led them out, having performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. Verse 37This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, 'God will raise up a prophet for you from your own people as he raised me up.' Verse 38He is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living oracles to give to us. Verse 39Our ancestors were unwilling to obey him; instead, they pushed him aside, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, Verse 40saying to Aaron, 'Make gods for us who will lead the way for us; as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.'
Devotion
Atheists around the world say, “There’s no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Evangelicals counter with, “There is God. Enjoy life with Jesus Christ.” This recalls theologian Carl Braaten’s reference to Lutheran Proclamation that the modern mind seeks not the gracious God but the existence of God. I wonder sometimes if our ultimate concern in the present world is merely to enjoy life! Stephen, a bold leader in the early church, was stoned to death for preaching about a merciful God who heard the cry of the people and rescued them from slavery into freedom. The God of our ancestors rescues us from all oppression so we may let equality, justice, freedom and hope prevail for all people.
Prayer
Help us, merciful God, to be ever sober and endure suffering for the sake of the gospel. Amen.