In 2012 the airport in Donetsk welcomed thousands of football fans from across Europe; two years later it lay in ruins. That image opens a reflection on the moment the world collapsed for the Israelites in Egypt, when Pharaoh ordered their sons drowned (Exodus 1-2), and on how, in a passage that never once mentions God, a single child in a basket is saved. The sermon sets this beside the flight of Jesus’ family from Herod (Matthew 2) and shows a God who works so quietly that he is easy to miss. Listen if you are praying about something that looks beyond repair and wondering whether God hears you at all.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- In Exodus 1 life for the Israelites in Egypt first settles down, and then a new king who did not know Joseph begins to oppress them. According to the text, what drives Pharaoh to forced labor and then to ordering the death of the boys?
- The midwives Shiphrah and Puah defy Pharaoh because they fear God, yet in the story of Moses being rescued in Exodus 2:1-10 the word God never appears. What does that tell you about how God works in hard times?
- The speaker compared Pharaoh with Herod in Matthew 2 and showed how Jesus relives Israel's story in miniature, yet succeeds where Israel failed. What does this parallel show you about God's plan of salvation?
- At the zoo, little Julia got excited about a giraffe sticker and missed the real giraffes right next to her. What "stickers" do you tend to focus on in hard times that make it difficult to see God at work?
- The sermon does not promise that every hardship will end well here on earth, but it assures us that God is with us and leads us toward eternity. How does this truth change the way you see the war across the eastern border or your own struggles?
- Where in your life this week, when things seem to be falling apart, can you deliberately trust God and stay with Him even if He seems silent?
