Ep 131 | Cover to Cover 10 | Pastor Ryan Clark | March 8, 2026

Hello, this is Pastor Ryan Clark.

You are listening to a message from St.

John's Lutheran Church in Buffalo, Minnesota.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

There's an old story about a pastor who had prayerfully decided to take a call and was leaving a church that he had been at for some time.

At his farewell dinner, he saw a woman member who looked absolutely distraught and moved by her sadness.

He went over to encourage her.

He said, please don't be sad.

Who knows? The next pastor might be even better than me.

Through tears, she replied, well, that's what they said last time, but it keeps getting worse.

Does it ever feel like things in your life sometimes go from bad to worse? Hopefully not your pastors, but maybe other things in your life, you say, when is it gonna get better and it just keeps on getting worse and worse.

Well, as we continue our walkthrough the Bible over two years in our sermon series Cover to Cover, we have now entered into the second book of the Bible, the Book of Exodus.

And as we're going to see in our message here today, before it got better, it seemed to go from bad to worse, to even worse than that, and all of us can relate to that in some way in our lives.

And when that happens, especially when we're praying about something to get better and it seems to go the opposite direction, how do we deal with that? Well, that's what we're going to be talking about here today.

So as we left off last week, we were finishing up the Book of Genesis and it actually finished up on a very high note.

Joseph, Jacob's son was made second in command of all of Egypt.

He had all this power and prestige, and so he invited his family, his father, his brothers, and their whole family to come and join him in Egypt, the only place where there was food.

And they came into the land of Goshen and it seemed like they were happy, they were reunited and they began to grow and grow and grow as a people.

A real high note.

Well, then we get into Exodus, and in the first chapter of Exodus, it tells us then a new king, a new Pharaoh, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.

Look, he said to his people, the Israelites have become too numerous for us when they had come from the land of Canaan into Egypt.

The Bible says that there were only about 70 men, not including the women and children.

By this time.

There were now about 600,000 men, not counting women and children.

And that was a scary thing for the leader of Egypt.

He says, they become too numerous for us.

We've gotta do something to these people.

And so what did he do? He put them under harsh slave labor and they were working from sunup to sundown and were treated very badly.

And then if that wasn't enough, then he also, it says then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people.

Every Hebrew boy that is born, you must thrown into the Nile River, but let every girl live.

This is an intensity of persecution that God's people were going through.

And it says in Exodus 2, the Israelites groaned in their slavery and they cried out in their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.

God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.

So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.

So things had gotten so bad that the Israelite people all called out to God.

And the beautiful thing is, is that their prayers did not go unheard.

I love the verbs that are used in this passage.

And by the way, if you're looking for a passage that you can highlight, I would say highlight this passage here today.

Because it says God heard their groaning, he remembered his covenant with their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he looked on them and was concerned about them.

Now, I wonder if these Israelites thought we're calling out to God and we know what God has done in the past, and so I'm sure that he's coming any minute.

But it didn't quite happen that way, did it? The very next verse after this was Exodus 2:1, that says, now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son.

Exodus 2:1

When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.

But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch and placed the child in it.

We know that child as Moses, right? Moses.

So Moses was born and put into that basket right after the people started calling out.

Well, we know the following chapters of what happened.

So Moses was put into that basket and sent down the river.

But as God would have it, he was found by none other than the daughter of Pharaoh who took a liking to the child and adopted him as her very own.

And then after he was weaned, he grew up in the Palace of Pharaoh and got all the rights and privileges of royalty there in the palace.

And then when he became an adult, one day, he went out to go and see his people and how they were doing in their harsh slave labor.

And he saw an Egyptian beating one of his people, and he couldn't take it, and so he went and killed that Egyptian.

Now, here's a question.

How old was Moses when he killed that Egyptian? It tells us in Acts 7, When Moses was 40 years old, he saw an Israelite being mistreated by an Egyptian.

So he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian, are you catching this? The Israelites call out to God, help us.

And at that time, Moses was born and put into that basket.

And when he killed that Egyptian, it was 40 years later.

That's a long time from when the Israelites started calling out to God for help.

And then Moses' story continues, maybe.

After he killed the Egyptian, then what happens? But Pharaoh finds out and Moses knows that Pharaoh's gonna try to kill him, and so he runs away from Egypt into the land of Midian.

When he gets to Midian, he comes into contact with a woman and her sisters.

He helps them out and they invite him back for supper.

What happens? Well, that woman that he met, Zipporah becomes his wife and he has a whole family with her and begins to live with her family there in Midian.

And it was during that time that he was in Midian that he was watching over the sheep that one day he looked up and he saw a strange sight.

He saw a bush that was burning, but it wasn't being consumed.

When he came up close to that bush, he found out that God himself was in the bush.

And the Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.

I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.

So I have come down to rescue them.

Then Moses and Aaron went back to Egypt and brought together all the elders of Israel, and they believed and when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped God.

So now they're thinking finally.

Finally, we're going to be taken out of this harsh slave labor under this horrible king.

Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, this is what the Lord the God of Israel says, let my people go.

From the time that Moses was born and put into that papyrus basket, until the time that Moses went back to Egypt and said, let my people go.

How long of a time was it? In Exodus 7, it says Moses was 80 years old and Aaron 83 when they spoke to Pharaoh.

How much time was it? 80 years.

That is a really, really long time.

My issue with God is not that I don't think he can do amazing things.

After all, we had a healing service last night.

I know that he can do an amazing thing.

I wrote a whole book on the fact that God does amazing, miraculous things.

My issue with God oftentimes is that I always think he's too late.

He's taken his own sweet time, and I think you could do this a lot quicker.

Well, in God's perfect timing, this morning I got up to make coffee and I put on worship music.

And you know what, the first song that came on was a song called, Always On Time, about how God is always on time.

And it's such a reminder that a lot of times in our life we feel like God is going too slow, but it's not that God is going too slow.

He's always on time.

It's that we're going too fast and God is never in a rush and he's got things that he's accomplishing in his perfect timing.

But it always seems to us like it's just taking too long.

Well, there's a whole lot in the Bible regarding waiting on the Lord, because God knew that there would be many times in every one of our lives when we would have to wait on him and we would be looking at our watch thinking, are you coming? Where are you? I love this one from Psalm 130.

It says, I wait for the Lord my whole being waits and maybe you've been there.

And in his word, I put my hope.

When you call out to God and it seems like nothing's happening, the first thing that the Psalmist tells us to do is put your hope in his word.

Go back, remind yourself of the promises of God that he is made to you, and hold onto those.

It's not that he didn't listen, it's not that he's ignoring your pleas.

He's made you promises that he will come to your rescue.

Go back and put your hope in those promises as you wait for his perfect timing.

And then in Isaiah 30 it says, yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore, he will rise up to show you compassion.

For the Lord is the God of justice, and blessed are those who wait for him.

So put your hope in his word.

Put your hope and his promises.

Secondly, as you wait for him, put your Sure and certain hope in his character.

Who is he? He's a God that longs to be gracious to you.

He's a God that, just like he did with the Israelites, he heard their pleas, he was concerned about them.

And when you are going through difficult things in your life, same thing with you.

He hears you and he's concerned about you, and he's putting into his plan a way to come and to help you.

Put your hope in his word.

Put your hope in his character.

In Psalm 5, it says In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning, I lay my request before you.

And because I put my hope in your word, because I put your hope, my hope and your character, I will wait expectantly for you.

That's how we are to go about waiting in our lives when it seems like he's taken forever.

He's got a good plan, and in his perfect timing, he's coming.

Now, what does it mean to wait upon the Lord? I asked this question just a couple of weeks ago, and I've been thinking about it ever since.

And I felt like the Lord led me to Psalm 119, where it says, I wait for your salvation, Lord, and I follow your commands.

So you call out to God and you say, Lord, I really need your help with this aspect of my life.

Maybe it's your health, maybe it's a job thing, maybe it's a family thing, whatever it may be.

But you call out to him and then if it doesn't happen right away, we all love it when it's instantaneous, right? But most of the time it's not gonna be that way.

Most of the time we're gonna have to wait on him, but as we wait on him, we remind ourself of his promises.

We remind ourself of his character.

And then having put it at his feet for him to do it on our behalf.

Then what do we do? We just say, Lord, what would you have me to do in the meantime? And then whatever you believe that the Lord is telling you to do, just do it.

The problem is, is that sometimes when we don't believe the Lord's coming.

Instead of spending all of our time doing what he wants us to do, we start thinking, I gotta fight for myself.

And then we waste all of that time that God would have us doing things that are on his agenda.

But when we remember who he is and what he's promised, then we can say, God, you're gonna take care of that for me.

What would you have me to do In the meantime? So back to Exodus, Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and they say, let my people go, and Pharaoh let them go right away, right? No.

That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people you are to no longer supply the people with straw for making bricks, but don't reduce the quota.

In other words.

It didn't get better, it got worse, and the people were none too happy about it.

They say to Moses and Aaron, may the Lord look on you and judge you.

You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.

And so Moses returns to the Lord and says, why, Lord? Why have you brought trouble on your people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people.

And you have not rescued your people at all.

Have you ever complained like that to the Lord? God, I am praying, and it seems like just the opposite is happening.

It seems like I'm getting farther away from the answer to my prayer instead of closer to it.

Our very important point of the day is this and this.

I cannot emphasize how important this is: Oftentimes, when you seek the Lord for help with your situation, it will get worse before it gets better.

There will almost always be a challenge to your faith when you decide to put your trust in God.

I have found this in my life.

Every time that I have said, I'm not gonna worry about this, I am gonna hand this over to the Lord and I am going to be about his business.

Every single time I do it, the bells in hell go off.

And they say, let's make this situation worse, and it seems like God isn't listening.

It seems like your prayers are accomplishing nothing.

Why does Satan do that? To get you to stop.

When this happens, don't give up hope and don't think God isn't listening.

That is the time to double down in faithfully seeking him and trusting him.

I find this at work in my life all the time, and I think, how many times, Ryan, have you given up because it's gotten worse, and you say, well, that doesn't work.

And then you go back to trying to fix it yourself, missing all the God-given opportunities to be a blessing to this world.

And here we go again.

So don't give up, double down whenever it seems to get worse.

That's just hell, trying to dissuade you from following the Lord and putting your trust in him.

Well, maybe the issue that you're dealing with is this.

Okay, so I understand that that, you know, sometimes you gotta wait on the Lord, but how do I know that God's gonna help me? After all, he knows everything that I've done.

He knows that I'm a sinner.

He knows that I have failed him over and over and over again.

And so maybe your expectancy is very low because you think, why would God do anything for me? I haven't done anything for him.

Well, if that's your issue, then we need to keep going in the story of Moses.

Because after this happens and things seem to get worse, God begins to come through and he begins to send these 10 terrible plagues on Egypt.

And it climaxes with a, the worst of all the plagues, the death of the firstborn.

And when that happens, God has something that he says to his Israelites.

He says The Israelites are to take some of a lamb's blood and put it on the sides and the tops of the doorframes of their houses where they eat the lambs.

So they were to find a perfect lamb.

One that didn't have any deficiencies in it.

They were to slaughter the lamb.

They were to drain the blood and then put the blood over the sides and the top of the doorframes of their house.

And then God said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you.

Passover.

No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

God says, I wanna make a differentiation between the people of this world and my people, and the differentiation is going to happen by blood.

You're gonna have all of the Egyptian people that are going to be harmed greatly with the death of a firstborn in every house, including Pharaohs.

But if you put the blood over the doorframes of your homes, it's not gonna touch you.

And in 1 Corinthians 5, it says, for Christ Jesus is our Passover lamb and has been sacrificed.

When we read the story of the Passover, you can't help but notice how it all points forward to Jesus, the Lamb of God without any deficiencies, who hanging upon that cross shed his blood for you and for me so that there would be a differentiation between us and the rest of the world.

So that through faith in him and through baptism, God would say.

All of that, that you're expecting, all of that wrath that you're expecting from me because of your sin.

It's not coming because Jesus took your wrath for you already, that perfect lamb of God.

In Romans 5, it says, Since we now have been justified by the blood of that lamb, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him for if while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his son? How much more having been reconciled should we be saved now through his life? That's the blessing that we have, family of God.

We have a perfect Lamb of God who shed his blood for you and for me so that now our sins do not count against us.

And we can be expectant knowing that when we pray in his perfect timing, he is coming to help us because our sins have been washed away by the Lamb of God.

Jesus, your Passover Lamb, has saved you from God's wrath.

He has washed you clean of all of your sins.

He has brought you back to God so that he could be your heavenly helper.

So don't give up when you have to wait or when it seems like it gets worse, press in.

He's faithful and he's coming.

All glory to him, Amen.

You've been listening to a sermon from St.

John's Lutheran Church in Buffalo, Minnesota.

If you would like more information about St.

John's and any of our ministries to our community and beyond, you can go to our website, www.

stjohnsbuffalo.

org.

Thank you and God bless you.