A dinner date to remember

Every day we're reading or listening to part of the Bible together and sharing thoughts with you. Today it’s Bern Leckie:

What did I like about today’s passage?

Was Pharaoh incredibly dense, or just proud? It's very dramatic, but not exactly incredible, that someone opposed to God can go to such lengths to try and have their own way rather than accept that they are massively out-powered. It's a shocking and tragic story for the Egyptians, and a warning for anyone else who wants to dig in against God.

What I like is that God, with divine power and efficiency, is doing three amazing things at once with the Passover. Firstly, he is saving his people from their slavery in an unforgettable way. Secondly, he is bonding a nation around a shared story, packed with powerful symbols which represent God's greatest purposes as he works to bring people back to himself. It's a memorable, shareable story which engages all the senses, and it is not just told in words, it is acted out with a meaningful shared meal which would be celebrated many centuries later.

Finally, although this was not revealed at the time, God is setting up for his ultimate display of power through Jesus, whose blood is our sign of inclusion in God's people and of protection from his wrath. Every communion is a celebration of this, and it fulfils God's promise that his name would be proclaimed in all the earth.

What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?

God really knows us well. Telling us what to do is one thing, but showing us who we are by engaging us with stories, experiences, shared memories and food - well, that's what works for me.

What am I going to do differently as a result?

I want to get better at engaging people through stories and experiences. I also want to glorify God more by showing people where the best stuff comes from.

Who am I going to share this with?

I have been struggling to get some podcast ideas off the ground for what seems like forever now. They all involve stories of some kind, and most of them involve God too. I need to get on and make some of them! (Let me know if you’d like to chat and maybe join in!)