I wanted to look at another story that
I have had a renewed perspective of in the last few months. There is something
in this story that I saw (with the help of a podcast), and it has really caused
me to think. When I taught this story to the students at church, I asked them a
very interesting question that I will also propose to you. We are going to be
looking at a brief moment in Moses’ and Israel’s time together. If you want to
look at Moses’ story you can find his story in Exodus 1.We are going to pick up in Exodus 14.
At the start of chapter 14, we see
Israel and Moses fleeing Egypt after the ten plagues. Moses has lead them to
freedom while back in Egypt Pharaoh has changed his mind and had begun his
pursuit of them just as God said he would. Israel sees the army of Pharaoh
coming their way and begins to panic and asks Moses why he would bring them out
here to the desert to die when they were safe in Egypt. But God instructs Moses
to lead them on and Moses does so. They arrive at the Red Sea and have nowhere
to go. God tells Moses to raise his staff over the water. The Red Sea parts and
Israel walks right across on dry land! When Pharaoh’s army tries to follow, God
instructs Moses to raise his staff again over the water and the sea crashes
back in over the Egyptians killing them all. This is where we are going to stop
with the story today. (If you want to read more of the story continue reading
the book of Exodus.)
I would now like to draw your attention
to the area of the story that renewed my look at this story. I have heard this
story many, many times throughout my life, and I have never noticed this. I am
wondering if it might be the same for you. Let’s look at Exodus 14:21.
21
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord
drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. (NIV)
Did you see it? Look again.
21
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all
that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and
turned it into dry land. (NIV)
I have never noticed those words
before. Hey, just being honest. So, then that made me ask “Why would God make
them wait all night for the waters to part?”
The Egyptians were right on their heels, yet God made them wait all
night long. God could have parted that sea just like that and the whole process
could have been done in 30 seconds. So why did He make them wait all night
long?
Courage.
Trust.
Faith.
God wanted them to wait on Him. If God
would have just parted the Red Sea with a quick snap of His fingers, Israel
would have been robbed of having to trust in Him. God was showing Israel and
Egypt who was in charge. God made Israel wait so that they would see His power
and how He alone delivered them from Egypt.
I feel sometimes that God makes us wait
in the same way. God wants us to rely on Him, but if He gives us everything
that we want when want it and ask for it, we have no reason to trust Him.
However, if you are like me, when we get in a situation that we don’t
understand and pray and pray and pray, (like Israel,) we tend to get mad and
frustrated with God. But God had everything in hand in this story, and He still
does today. There are two things that I want to point out in this chapter of
Exodus that God did for Israel.
1) He kept a promise (Exodus
14:13, NIV)
13
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the
deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will
never see again.
In the verse above, God told Moses that
he would never see those Egyptians again, and He didn’t. God wiped them out
right in front of Moses, staying true to what He had said. God then goes on to tell
Moses in verse 14
2) He fought for them (Exodus
14:14, NIV)
14
The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (NIV)
God kept His promise there, too, as He
protected Israel from Egypt with a pillar of fire (14:19-20). God also
protected them from Egypt by killing the armies of Pharaoh. He fought for them,
but they needed to be still. If they had run all over trying to get away from
the Egyptians, they would not have been where they needed to be for God to save
them. God fought for them and He fights for us as well.
We sometimes enter a season of waiting,
and in that season, we might feel that all of our prayers are just bouncing off
of the ceiling or that God’s inbox is full. We may start to feel like God isn’t
listening or that He doesn’t care. We can see that in this story. Israel got in
tough spot and immediately turned against God and forgot all that He had done
for them. God had already fought from Israel back in Egypt, and He did
miraculous things right in front of their eyes. But when they were in the desert,
how quickly they forgot.
We can find ourselves doing the same
thing. We can get so focused on the situation that we are facing and forget all
of the things that He had done for us. I don’t know what God is doing in this
season of my life. But what I do know is that God is fighting for me. He will
always fight for me.
He will fight for you as well if you
let Him.
Edited by Kay Beam