I heard this phrase in graduate school and it stuck with me – the way God works, Exodus always comes before Sinai. God delivers his people from impossible odds before he gives any hint of expectation or response. Often we view it the other way around – where we think God will only do for us after we do for Him.
Paul said it like this in Romans 5:6-8,
“6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
That is “exodus before Sinai” in action!
So the question for us is, what has God delivered you from?
Sin?
Death via resurrection and baptism (Rom 6)?
Specific moments in your life where God intervened on your behalf?
We all have a story and we need to learn our Exodus story…our Red Sea moment so that we can tell of the wonderful acts of God! This, like the early Hebrews on the East side of the Sea, moves us to worship! And it moves us to Sinai…to deeper, more specific response and a declaration of our allegiance to the God who liberated us from forces we were powerless to engage or overpower on our own!
I would love to hear your story…and make sure to find someone in your life to tell it to and then tell them about Jesus and invite them in!
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Which also makes clear that God has a different perspective as to who we are than what we have.
I saddens me when I hear believers refer to themselves as sinners, hear the assembly referred to as a hospital for sinner, rather than the gathering of His children…
I hear Christians say to non-Christians, “I am just like you only forgiven.”
Well, I surely hope not!