Qm (Quiet Mode)

Title: QM (Quiet Mode)

Text: Exodus 1:8-2:10

Thesis: Faith trusts God when God is quiet… especially in a noisy world.

Back Story

This is the story of the enslavement of the Israelites and the birth of Moses. Exodus 12:40-41 states: “The people of Israel lived in Egypt for 430 years. In fact it was the last day of the 430th year that all the Lord’s forces left the land.” In his address to the Council in Acts Stephen summarized the hand of hand at work in Israelite history from Abraham to Jesus Christ at which point the Jewish leaders drug him out and stoned him to death. But in Acts 7:6 Stephen reaffirmed the historical record that the people of Israel had been oppressed and enslaved for 400 years.

On July 4th we celebrated the birth of our nation… this year we are 238 years old. It has been 238 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That is a long time. But 150 plus years before that things were astir.

Transition: Today we are living in the year 2014… 400 years ago it was 1614. These are some things that happened 400 years ago in what we now call The United States of America.

Slide 3

1607 - English found Jamestown, Virginia

1608 - French found Quebec

1609 - Spanish found Santa Fe

1613 - A Dutch trading post is set up on lower Manhattan Island.

1619 – Dutch delivered the first slaves to Virginia

1620 - November 9, the Mayflower ship lands at Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with 101 colonists.

1620’s - Puritans settle in Massachusetts

400 hundred years is a long time in the United States and it is a long time in Egypt. One might wonder where was God for all those long, long years of oppression and enslavement?

Introduction

My first smart phone was a Motorola Android or Droid. My second phone was a Droid. I loved my Droids. My current phone is a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 which is built on an Android platform so it is essentially a Droid. I think what I like most about my phone is the screen size and clarity. The thing I like least about my phone is that it does not say, “DROID!” when I get a notification.

The smart phone has changed my life in many ways… mostly good ways but not all. It simplifies my life but also complicates my life. It is not only good for calling, I can text and email on my phone. I Google. I can check the weather on WeatherBug. I keep my clock and calendar in the palm of my hand or my pocket. I have apps to read The Week and USA Today as well as newspapers from around the world every day with a touch on the screen. I have GPS. Facebook. My phone keeps my list of contacts. I have YouTube, Note pad, A Tools app with a calculator and Polaris Office and a bunch of other stuff I don’t know anything about. It is a Camera and photo Gallery. At a touch I access Goodreads. I have the Kindle app so I can read from my library on my phone. I use the Amazon app. I can bank and pay bills on my phone. And a bunch of other stuff too…

The up side is if I keep my phone charged it works 24/7/365. It is tireless. It is working all the time. And as it works it lets me know what it is doing. It rings, it dings, and vibrates. It also does a little trill thing. Whenever I receive any input it notifies me… 24/7/365. The downside… consequently the more people who have my number or email address can reach me at will… an amazing number of people seem to wait until bed time to get in touch so I can take whatever they have on their mind to bed with me. The more notifications I wish to be made aware of, like late breaking news on CNN or Covnet… the more noise it makes. And sometimes it makes noise at the most inopportune times, like 3 a.m. or during a meeting or when I am trying to get some work done.

Fortunately I do not have to either have my phone on or off… the device has “Quiet Mode.” On Quiet Mode the thing does not move or make so much as a peep. But… despite its silence the phone is busily doing what it does. It receives calls and texts and email. It receives notifications. It keeps time. It keeps my calendar. It maintains all the stuff I will need when I go to Settings and turn off the Quiet Mode.

Keep that in mind.

The question that initially comes to mind as I read this text is to ask, “Where is God when life happens?”