The River Nile. The great river of Egypt, a historic stream that rises in the heart of Africa and flows northward for hundreds and hundreds of miles, bringing life to Egypt. Langston Hughes says, "I’ve known rivers; I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I’ve known rivers; ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”
Something happened on the banks of the River Nile well over three thousand years ago. Something terrible, and something wonderful, all wrapped up together. Let’s listen to the story in the Book of Exodus.
Exodus 1: 8-2:10
God grant that today our souls may grow deep like the rivers.
Turn to the Letter to the Romans, Chapter 8, verse 28. Let’s read it together and then let’s recite it, let’s memorize it.
"We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.”
One of the ironies of history is that the same systems which oppress people also provide the opportunity for their redemption. The same set of hatreds and prejudices and hardships which put people down and make life so burdensome … that very set of circumstances also has within it the possibility of giving birth to greatness. The difference is a God who is at work in all things for good, a God who calls those who love Him according to His purpose.
For example, would you agree that war is oppressive? The militarism of the twentieth century has taken countless lives and worked enormous hardships on literally millions of families around the world. Nobody in his right mind can say a good thing for warfare. War is an oppressive system.
But because this nation had to prepare a defense to protect ourselves in such a world, because we thought we had to spend billions upon billions of dollars to defend ourselves, and put money and energy into military research, we ended up with lots of creative things we would not otherwise have. I think of everything from satellite communications to interstate highways to countless medical advances.
You computer whizzes win know that only just a few months ago they buried in Arlington cemetery a woman nicknamed "Amazing Grace". She was at the time of her retirement the oldest officer on duty and the highest-ranking woman in the armed services. She invented COBOL, one of the most important computer languages you work with. And she invented it originally for military applications, but it ended up revolutionizing the emerging computer industry.
Out of something that came into being as a necessary part of defending ourselves against the oppression of warfare, we got a gift. The difference is made by the God who is at work in all things for good, the God who calls those who love Him to serve his purposes.
In fact, this God has always reached down among those oppressed so hard they could not stand, and has found Himself there a leader, a freedom-fighter. The very system that held people back, when God got involved in it, would always give birth to somebody who would lead the people to freedom.
That’s what you will discover standing on the banks of the River Nile, way down in Egypt land.
I
Gather at the River Nile a few generations after the children of Israel came to live there, and we will see where oppression comes from. Oppression comes from the fear and dread in the hearts of those who would be oppressors … the fear and dread that somebody else is getting too strong. If you want a quick and easy formula to explain race hatred, class hatred, then here it is, thirty-three hundred years ago, on the banks of the River Nile:
You see, the only reason anyone wants to oppress somebody else is to take something that he has. There is something that the intended victim has that is desirable, and so somebody else wants it and chooses to take it. Now you know that history: you know that economics, greed was at the root of the slave system. Whether it was the rival chieftain who captured other West Africans in the first place, or whether it was the slave ship owner, or the purchaser, or whoever it was... a whole lot of people made a whole bunch of money out of trading in human flesh.
Just remember that it never would have worked if they had not seen qualities which were valuable. There would not have been any point in forcing into servitude people who had no skills, no culture, no value. Oppression begins because the oppressor sees value in. the victim, but then becomes afraid that his victims will become stronger than he is. And so though slavery was abolished, the same sick mentality, the fear of some created ghettos and segregation and a whole host of ways to deny the power of African-Americans.
My point is that it was fear that did it. Jealousy did it. And just as on the banks of the River Nile in ancient Egypt the Egyptians created a system of oppression because they feared the children of Israel, just so on the banks of the Mississippi and the Chattahoochee and the Brazos some Americans, fearing other Americans, designed a demonic system.
You see, the system of segregation was actually a kind of backhanded compliment. When African-Americans were segregated against in the past and when they are discriminated against now, it is because others are afraid of what they have to offer. Afraid! Why else would the KKK do their thing hiding behind sheets? They are afraid!
But now remember my premise: the same system which oppresses also gives birth to the leaders of a new freedom. And remember that "we know that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose." Say it with me …
II
Gather again at the banks of the River Nile, and we’ll see something else. Gather at the banks of the River Nile, and we’ll see that a demonic system, when it attacks a people, will attack those with the greatest potential for leadership. The powers that would oppress, in their fear and in their jealousy, determine that the way to put a people down is to mount a direct attack, designed to destroy those who could provide leadership for that people. Listen to how evil works.
We are hearing and thinking a great deal today about the plight of young African-American men. We are reading and experiencing all too much about murder and drug abuse and what some choose to call irresponsibility.
But, friends, are you aware that many observers today are speaking about a conspiracy to destroy young manhood? Are you aware that some of the most astute and perceptive voices of our time are beginning to cry out that there is something sinister afoot that is aimed at destroying a generation of young men?
Now I am not knowledgeable enough to speak in great detail about conspiracy theories. I do not· know that I could tell you that in some board room in Wall Street the rich and powerful sat down one day and said, "Let’s make our money off of the bodies of young men in the inner cities." I don’t know that I could convince you that anybody cynically targeted a particular population for destruction.
But I do know what I see. I see drugs being pumped into the corridors of the inner city so that young men, young African-American men, can be tempted not so much to use them, but to sell them … to whom? To callous suburbanites who do not care who gets hurt in the process.
I do know what I see. I see guns, and not just BB rifles either, but heavy assault weapons being run into the District from other places. Unless you are fighting off Sherman tanks in the streets, there is no point to carrying an assault weapon in the streets of the city. But somebody has decided to make an awful lot of money out of this, and never mind what happens to human lives.
I do not think these things are coincidences. I do not think they are accidents. I believe that they are the results of a merciless, callous attack on the generation that could become leaders. And just as old Pharaoh, with his fury rising and his fear out of control, ordered the baby boys of the Hebrew children to be pitched into the waters of the Nile, so it would seem there are now some who would not think twice before eliminating an entire generation.
Yes, we are in perilous times. Certain folks today are an endangered species. Young men, potential leaders, those who could some day bring strength and stability and creativity to our society … somebody wants to eliminate them.
And the thing is that it is difficult to identify who is at fault. Some would blame these men themselves, saying that they are just no good. Some would blame women, some would say that the feminist movement has emasculated our men. Some would blame the schools for being dominated by women, so that boys have no role models. Others would blame the churches, where too often the only masculine models are men who want power and influence over others.
All I know is that it is a whole complex of things. It is a system of things. And if there was no Wall Street boardroom decision, then I do know there was a decision in the Council chambers of hell itself. Nothing else explains the monstrosity of this evil we face.
But don’t give up. Do not give up. Remember, remember. The very system which produces such monstrous oppression can give birth also to leaders who will make a difference. The very problems we face today can be the seedbed out of which freedom can come. Why? Because we cannot count God out, that’s why! For, "we know that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose."
III
And so return and gather with me once again at the River Nile, and we will see what God will do. Stand with me by those waters which have witnessed so much oppression, and we will see what God is about to do.
Here is this poor little Hebrew boy. By all rights, he should have been tossed away with all the other baby boys. The odds were definitely stacked against him. No reason on earth why he should not have been drowned and destroyed like all the other little boys. But Pharaoh’s daughter came walking that way, and took pity on him, and raised him as her own.
Coincidence? By no means! Accident? Certainly not! For just as the powers of evil conspired to destroy a whole race of people, at the same time God, in His own way and in His own· time, is reaching down into the waters of the Nile to lift up just one little baby boy … to make him a leader and a savior for the people.
Don’t you see? No matter how bad it is, God does not leave Himself without a witness. God does not abandon His own, but He provides for their future.
Don’t you see? At the waters of the River Nile, even where a whole race of young men are being destroyed, God is going to put His hand on somebody in order to make a way for them all, someday.
Moses went to live in the palace. In the very heart of evil’s citadel, Moses learned and grew and became sophisticated in the ways of the world. Moses studied hard and learned well his lessons. But Moses also never forgot who he was. He never forgot who his people were. He identified with them in their need. He defended them when he could and responded to God’s call when it came.
Well, God has done it before and God will do it again. Why? We know. "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose."
Somebody here today just might be God’s Moses for this generation. Somebody here today could be listening to God’s call according to His purpose.
It was not quite two generations ago that W. E. B. Dubois was calling for the "talented tenth" to come forward and lead a people. Somebody here today is in that talented tenth and needs to affirm God’s calling.
It was just a single generation ago that some preachers named King and Abernathy and Walker, and some lawyers named Houston and Branton, and a worker named Randolph and a teacher named Bethune and so many others … just a single generation ago that these men and women responded to the call of God and came out of poverty and segregation to lead a people. Somebody here today could be headed for that kind of leadership.
And it is just in the last months that within this church a woman in the community brought her dream of Saving Our Youth and began tutoring and shepherding some kids at risk. It is in the last weeks that within this church four young adult men have begun to talk about reaching out to the Youth of the Future and making a difference. Somebody else here today ought to be inspired by that, somebody else here ought to sense the call of God for this day, this need.
Why? Well, we are on the banks of the River Nile, even though Pharaoh has told you you don’t matter much. But now you know that Pharaoh is afraid, you know that evil is on the run before God, and you "know that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.”
And if on the banks of the River Nile, it seems as though "this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us." Not even Satan’s armies, blasting young men away, can stand up to the power of one committed Moses, called of God according to His purpose and drawn out of the waters.
Somebody here today could be drawn up out of the waters. Somebody here today could be saved from drowning in sin.
Somebody here today could be saved from destruction. Somebody here today could be drawn up out of the waters of ignorance and become a disciple. Somebody could become a leader for freedom.
Somebody might have been cast into the waters of the Nile, left to perish; but "we know … we know ... we know that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.”
And we shall overcome. We shall overcome someday. Deep in my heart I do believe we shall overcome someday.
