You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. – Exodus 7:2

Today's Scripture Reading (November 7, 2024): Exodus 7

As God speaks to Moses and Aaron, one of the first things he needs to do is to focus their attention on the future. The focus of Moses and Aaron couldn't be allowed to take a nostalgic turn to what used to be; their focus had to be firmly on what God was going to do in Egypt. The King James Version in the Book of Proverbs says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Proverbs 29:18). In the NIV, the word vision is translated as "revelation." Both terms are future-oriented and precisely what Israel needed; the people needed to be sold a vision of what the future could look like if they were brave enough to step into it. Providing this vision would become the main task of Moses and Aaron. The brothers had to be men of the future.

One of Satan's favorite tricks is to keep the Christian Community focused on the past. Whether it is the sins we have committed or our successes, both will handicap what God wants to do in the future. We are being called to a specific vision of the future, a future that God sponsors. Let the past rest; it is gone, and we can do nothing about it. But the future has yet to be written. Could you imagine Moses coming home after the first day of plagues and saying, "Ah yes, the Nile River was turned to blood. That will give them pause to think about what they are doing. That was a success. There is no need for us to go any further." But that would not have been a commitment to the future that God had in mind.

One day, Jesus was traveling in Samaria when he met up with a Samaritan woman. Jesus had sent the disciples off to get some food, and he was sitting alone by a well when this woman came up to draw some water for her family. Jesus was focused on the future as he talked to the woman, but she was focused on the past. One of the first things that she said to Jesus was, "I am a Samaritan; you are a Jew. How could you ask me for water?" Her comments are focused on the past relationship between Israel and Samaria and not on the plan Jesus was introducing for the future, where Israel and Samaria would exist as equals. The Apostle Paul would later write, "You are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28). Jesus's reply is that if the woman knew who was asking her for water, she would ask him for Living Water. Jesus's comment looks toward the future. The woman questions Jesus: Is your water greater than Jacob's water? The question and the reference to Jacob focuses on the past. Jesus's response is if you drink my water, you will never thirst again, focusing on the future. The give-and-take continues with the same focus; her questions focus on the past, while Jesus's responses focus on the future.

The conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman echoes God's conversation with Moses and Aaron. Moses came to God discouraged by the rejection of both his ancient past in Egypt and his more recent past in the wilderness. In response, God points to his ministry partner, Aaron, and the future, instructing Moses to "Go because everything is under control." It isn't your failures in the past that matters; it is the future that I want t

We still can't change what is past, but God invites us to leave the past and step into his future. Despite whatever you see, God still controls what is yet to come.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 8