Is God with us or not?

This morning the pastors of the East Conference of the Northern Illinois Synod met via Zoom. As Dean of our conference, the task of leading devotions fell to me. I shared a passage of scripture from Exodus 17. In this passage, the people came to Moses and asked, “Is God with us or not?” They were being attacked by their enemy Amalek. So, Moses told Joshua to go out and fight off the attack. Moses said the next day he would stand up on a hill with the staff of God in his hand. The next day the battle began. As long as Moses held up the staff, the people of God were winning. But when he lowered his staff Amalek was winning. Moses was there all day and was growing weary and could no longer hold up his arms. So, Arron and Hur got on each side of Moses and held up his arms. The people of God then defeated Amalek.

My friends, our Amalek is COVID 19. The virus is real…it’s still out there. We must listen to the science instead of politicians and what other people and churches think is right. This virus is deadly, and it stops for no one. One more death is one too many. But just like Moses we’re getting weary. We long to be together in worship. We wonder if God is still with us. We’re so tired we can’t hold our arms up any longer.

The good news is just like Moses we have people who can come along side us and hold up our arms. And likewise, we can hold up the arms of those too weary to do it themselves. That is one way we know God is with us! In time, we will defeat this virus. But, in the meantime, we must be diligent in our fight. We can’t let our guard down just because we’re tired.  Remember, God is with us!

“See” you Sunday!

Pastor Lu