God will fight for you
This week is on Exodus 14:10-18:
When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, they apparently thought they had an easy ride ahead of them. God had told them that Pharaoh would let them leave. But yet here was Pharaoh's army breathing down their necks in the desert. The most powerful army in the world, the one they were led to believe would leave them alone, was in hot pursuit. What just happened?
Imagine being one of those Israelites. You're new to the whole "God performs miracles and keeps his word" thing. Everything you've been told seems like nonsense, and the risk you took seems to have blown up in your face. And now you're doomed! So what do you do? You start freaking out!
They start yelling at Moses. "Liar! You took us here to kill us! We told you this would happen! How could we have trusted you?! Look at how messed up this is now!" Six hundred thousand men with their families were panicking. Have you ever seen a riot? Imagine the combined populations of Buffalo and Rochester rioting! Imagine fifty packed football stadiums spilling out into the desert, unarmed, screaming in terror as a giant army bears down on them to slaughter them. This problem was getting out of control.
God was looking like a huge disappointment to the Israelites. They wanted to quit, but there was no place to escape to. Moses called out to them and reminded them of God's promises. The story wasn't over yet. There was still time for God to pull through. This wasn't a problem the Israelites could solve on their own. I like the words Moses uses: "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
As it turns out, God was not a disappointment at all. It was one of the most spectacular miracles in recorded history. God parted the Red Sea, blocked the Egyptian army with his holy cloud, and then when they followed the Israelites through the parted sea, he stopped parting it and the waters swept them away. What modern weapon could perform a feat like that? And what modern technology is going to defend against a directed tidal wave coming from all directions? Watch the tsunami videos from Japan if you think there's a chance. Imagine the effect on the ancient Egyptian army. Total deliverance for the people who followed God, and total devastation for the problem that they were facing.
I've heard people say "If you complain, God won't help you. He doesn't honor a lack of faith." If that was always true, the Israelites would have been slaughtered on the shores of the Red Sea and we wouldn't have heard about any of this, except for maybe a footnote on some hieroglyphic tablet mentioning how in Pharaoh's day they had to put down hundreds of thousands of uppity slaves before they escaped with people's gold.
God knows when we're out of our league. Sometimes people freak out and say stupid things when they're scared. As we get to know God, we learn that he has us covered. We also learn our limitations and recognize when we're outclassed by a problem. Realistically, what could the Israelites have done to save themselves? They were right to acknowledge that they had no control over things at that point. The wrong bit was that they also assumed God had no control either, or that he wasn't coming to help. God came. It was just as he promised.
We do that sometimes. We freak out and think that God has left us to die, or that we have to solve every problem ourselves. He hasn't, and we don't. God will fight for us. We need only to be still. Don't run away. Don't become a prostitute to pay the bills. Just wait and see what he does.
As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
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. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”
When Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, they apparently thought they had an easy ride ahead of them. God had told them that Pharaoh would let them leave. But yet here was Pharaoh's army breathing down their necks in the desert. The most powerful army in the world, the one they were led to believe would leave them alone, was in hot pursuit. What just happened?
Imagine being one of those Israelites. You're new to the whole "God performs miracles and keeps his word" thing. Everything you've been told seems like nonsense, and the risk you took seems to have blown up in your face. And now you're doomed! So what do you do? You start freaking out!
They start yelling at Moses. "Liar! You took us here to kill us! We told you this would happen! How could we have trusted you?! Look at how messed up this is now!" Six hundred thousand men with their families were panicking. Have you ever seen a riot? Imagine the combined populations of Buffalo and Rochester rioting! Imagine fifty packed football stadiums spilling out into the desert, unarmed, screaming in terror as a giant army bears down on them to slaughter them. This problem was getting out of control.
God was looking like a huge disappointment to the Israelites. They wanted to quit, but there was no place to escape to. Moses called out to them and reminded them of God's promises. The story wasn't over yet. There was still time for God to pull through. This wasn't a problem the Israelites could solve on their own. I like the words Moses uses: "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
As it turns out, God was not a disappointment at all. It was one of the most spectacular miracles in recorded history. God parted the Red Sea, blocked the Egyptian army with his holy cloud, and then when they followed the Israelites through the parted sea, he stopped parting it and the waters swept them away. What modern weapon could perform a feat like that? And what modern technology is going to defend against a directed tidal wave coming from all directions? Watch the tsunami videos from Japan if you think there's a chance. Imagine the effect on the ancient Egyptian army. Total deliverance for the people who followed God, and total devastation for the problem that they were facing.
I've heard people say "If you complain, God won't help you. He doesn't honor a lack of faith." If that was always true, the Israelites would have been slaughtered on the shores of the Red Sea and we wouldn't have heard about any of this, except for maybe a footnote on some hieroglyphic tablet mentioning how in Pharaoh's day they had to put down hundreds of thousands of uppity slaves before they escaped with people's gold.
God knows when we're out of our league. Sometimes people freak out and say stupid things when they're scared. As we get to know God, we learn that he has us covered. We also learn our limitations and recognize when we're outclassed by a problem. Realistically, what could the Israelites have done to save themselves? They were right to acknowledge that they had no control over things at that point. The wrong bit was that they also assumed God had no control either, or that he wasn't coming to help. God came. It was just as he promised.
We do that sometimes. We freak out and think that God has left us to die, or that we have to solve every problem ourselves. He hasn't, and we don't. God will fight for us. We need only to be still. Don't run away. Don't become a prostitute to pay the bills. Just wait and see what he does.
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