Going Forward Without All the Facts
Exodus 13:17-14:4
When Pharaoh
let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine
country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might
change their minds and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the
people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.[a] The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.
19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the
Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and
then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.”[b]
20 After
leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. 21 By
day the Lord went ahead of them in
a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire
to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither
the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in
front of the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near
Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea,
directly opposite Baal Zephon. 3 Pharaoh
will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed
in by the desert.’ 4 And I will harden
Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself
through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this.
Do you ever wonder if God knows what He is doing? Maybe there
are times that you find yourself in situations and you feel so alone. Maybe you
have even sought guidance from the Lord and felt strongly that you are to make
the very choice that you made. You take the road less travelled, press on the
path that seemed very clear to you when the decision was made. And now, you
feel like you made the wrong choice. You feel alone, maybe even scared, and you
wonder if the voice that you thought was a clear communication from God was
nothing more than a silly dream or indigestion from the chili you had eaten
before going to bed.
Maybe you fall into the category of not having asked God for
direction. Maybe you made a calculated decision based on logic, wisdom and
knowledge. You are convinced that it was very choice to be made, and now you
find yourself with your back against the wall in a seemingly hopeless
situation. You likely feel that this is God’s judgment upon you for not seeking
His will. For these and a variety of other reasons, we can find ourselves in
situations where we believe we are in peril and there is little to no hope. On
the consequences we are about to suffer are more than we can bear.
The people of Israel were in a similar situation to this.
Years before their ancestor Jacob had brought his entire family to Egypt
because of a famine. In fact, God had orchestrated the whole thing. God had
control over the weather, and could easily have prevented a famine from taking
place. But He didn’t. Rather, He brought Joseph through some very difficult
times to deliver His people from the famine. What was the end result? The
Israelites went from being a favourite group of people, living in the best part
of the land, privileged in the eyes of Pharaoh, to a group of slaves. People
feared by the succeeding Pharaoh’s and his officials because they are becoming
so numerous and prosperous. So from a status of privilege to a status of
slavery, a status of value and importance to the status of being the possession
of Pharaoh. They cry out to God for deliverance. Why does God not notice them?
Why do they feel so alone? There are probably nights they cry themselves to
sleep, wondering why they even want to wake up in the morning.
Then… Hope. A man named Moses, a Jewish person who was raised
by the Egyptian court, a man who had been exiled from Egypt and had a burning
bush experience of God arrives. He claims that God has sent him to deliver His
people out of Egypt and back to the land that they once occupied. There was
hope, there was doubt. How is God going to do such a thing? What good was one
man against the superpower Egypt? Some of the people were convinced, I suspect
most of the people doubted. Some of the people felt strong conviction from God,
as if they had heard His voice tell them that this was their time, the
deliverance is at hand. Others were listening to the voice of logic, knowledge,
wisdom, reality. This voice could lead one of two ways; either an understanding
that God is all-powerful and must be leading this man, so follow and trust is
important. The second option is the conventional wisdom, better to be living
slaves, then to anger Pharaoh and die. They have seen the wrath of Pharaoh
before. The whole reason that Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s court came out of a
time when the Pharaoh ordered baby boys to be killed upon birth. What could
bring more fear than to see an Egyptian soldier threaten the life of your
infant boy? And so, all of the mix of emotion, history, wisdom, knowledge, fear
and doubt are easily played over and over in the minds of the people. They are
at a crossroads, and they need to know where the voice of God is in their quest
for answers.
And so God proves Himself. Imagine! God, the Creator of all
who is having to prove Himself to a group of slaves! God, who delivered them
from famine, having to prove that He is real, powerful, and that He cares for
them. But this is exactly what God does. He wants to make it clear to the
people of Israel, and to the people of Egypt, that the Jewish people are His
people and that only God could deliver them from the might of the Pharaoh.
You can imagine the thoughts going through Pharaoh’s mind as
Moses approaches him and demands the release of the majority of his slave
labour. Egypt has built some incredible monuments, royal facilities, and public
works projects, largely at the hands of the Israelites. The military is allowed
to be larger because the Egyptians do not need to skilled labourers. Most
skilled labour has been deferred to the people of Israel. And now, here comes
this man calling for the release of this cheap labour. On the one hand, this
could provide relief for Pharaoh. That fear of the Israelites becoming too
large a population for Egypt to control would be alleviated. However, all of
that cheap labour would certainly be difficult part with. And can you imagine
being Pharaoh, when this man who has returned from exile for whom you have no
respect, the man from a race of slaves, standing before you and demanding that
you release these people? What an insult to your dignity! If you wanted to
release them, you would’ve done it on your own. You have no need for some slave
man to come and make such demands you. After all you are Pharaoh, you are
almost a god. And this God that Moses claims the following is no more
significant than you.
God decides to prove Himself. God hardens Pharaoh’s heart,
Pharaoh’s heart would have been hard all on its own. And so God proves Himself,
proves His ability to control nature and humanity, by sending plagues. The
plague of blood, the plague of frogs, the plague of gnats, the plague of flies,
the plague on livestock, the plague of boils, the plague of hail, the plague of
locusts, the plague of darkness, and lastly and most significantly the plague
on the firstborn. With many of these plagues, the people of Israel had been
spared these consequences. For example, the plague on livestock did not affect
a single animal in all of Israel’s region, and Pharaoh’s officials noted this.
And yet, Pharaoh kept his heart hard. Finally, after the terrible plague on
firstborn sons, where even Pharaoh’s firstborn son dies, he agrees to set the
people free.
Now if you are a member of the nation of Israel, imagine the
sense of relief and fear that you would experience. Freedom is something that
you have never known. You were born a slave, your parents were born slaves,
your grandparents were born slaves, even your great-grandparents were born
slaves. And now, freedom. Not only that, but wealth. The Hebrew people are
instructed to ask the Egyptians for items of gold and silver. The Egyptian
people give them great items of value, and so the people of Israel plundered
the Egyptians. In reality, this would’ve been a small payment for services
rendered, but far more than the people of Israel would ever have experienced in
their lives before.
Moses leads the way, and maybe even more specifically, they can
see God leading the way. He goes before you in a pillar of cloud by day and the
pillar of fire by night, and never leaves its place in front of the people.
Where is God, Moses, leading the people? Into the desert, into a place where
the Red Sea stands between them and their freedom. And to top it all off,
Pharaoh decides that he made a mistake, these people should never be free, and
that he will take him back or kill them. And when you’re in situations like
this, your mind always goes to the worst. You are convinced that Pharaoh’s army
wants to use you for a training exercise, to kill you all. Even with God in
front of you all this time, your mind turns to your woe, and you doubt your
situation. Now we can be hard on the people of Israel, because they could see
God very clearly was still with them. In fact, God moved the pillar between the
people of Israel and the people of Egypt and made one side of the pillar to be
light and the other side dark. Even then, Israel has doubts.
And so, here we are at a crossroads. The Red Sea at our back,
the most powerful military in the world bearing down on us and we feel
hopeless. What do the people of Israel do? They put their faith and trust in
God, hunker down and prepare for what He is going to do to deliver them from
this mess… Or, they complain, they turned to their leader and say some of the
most hurtful things they can think of. They accuse Moses of making decisions
for them that will cause their death. They accuse him of being motivated
falsely. They challenge everything. They panic and experience disbelief.
We are at an advantage here, we know the end of this story.
We know God provides yet another miracle, parts the Red Sea and allows people
of Israel across on dry ground. We know that God reduces the military of Egypt
by drowning most of them in the Red Sea is a pursue Israel. But looking back is
always far more clear than looking forward.
What about our struggles? What about those times that we feel
we have been led by God to situation and find that we have our backs to the Red
Sea, with the enemy coming in on all sides? This may not be a literal
situation, but it still applies. What do we do?
1. Remember: Jesus died for you. That is how much God
loves you. God loves you so much to His firstborn in the ultimate Passover
sacrifice. God did not spare His own Son, but made Him a sacrifice for you and
me. According to the Bible, you and I are joint heirs with Jesus to the
inheritance of God the Father. We are God’s children, and as Jesus says to the
crowd all the listeners, if you fallen human beings give good gifts to your
sons, how much more do you think God will give you good things, O you little
faith? Remember who you are. Remember
whose you are.
2. Seek: Isn’t
it our natural tendency to turn to God and tell Him what we need? Many times,
don’t we tell God just what we need Him to do. And then stand back and wait for
Him to do it? Maybe that should be a warning to us. God knows all that there is
to know. He is not bound by the limits of time or space. He knows what we need
in the big picture, as well as in the immediate. He knows that our lives here
on earth are brief compared to the lives we have an eternity with Him. We do
not need to go through our lives filled with fear, demands, and worry. The
Bible tells us not to worry about tomorrow, what we eat drink or wear, for each
day has enough troubles of our own. God will provide. The wise thing to do is
to seek God’s direction and guidance in our day-to-day decisions, big picture
and small picture. You will notice in the account of the Hebrew people that
there is no record that they did this.
3. Listen: Seeking God’s will is more than just
asking. Seeking is more than just
expecting the answer before you move on. Seeking is not just expecting to have
all of the answers before you take your first step, an important part of
seeking, one that extends well beyond the initial attempt of seeking, is to be
an ongoing listener. Even as God maybe has set you on the road, you have to
listen to the directions that come along the way. Men, how many times do you
attempt to put things together without consulting the instruction manual? When
you are done, how many “spare parts” remain? In reality, most of us start
consulting the instruction manual, but once we think we have the hang of it, we
try going on our own. It is the same as if we see God in the beginning, and
then do not listen as we make the journey. We need to be seeking, and
listening, every step of the way. After all, we start out on the highway for a
long trip, you have to read signs along the way. They give us hints and
directions as to how to drive safely, as well as where to drive.
4. Wait: When
it is time, be patient to wait. Sometimes this is before you take action at
all. Maybe you are graduating high school and seeking the will of God and what
to do with your life. It is not unhealthy to seek God and wait for His answer.
It is unhealthy if you don’t believe you have received an answer for three
years, and continue living in your parents basement without working or even
attempting to help, because you are “seeking the will of God.” Waiting does not
always mean inaction. Sometimes waiting involves seeking, such as the same
student who has graduated high school taking small jobs, reading up the
possibilities, searching job opportunities on the Internet, doing assessments
to determine what he or she is good at and enjoys, all the while prayerfully
seeking God’s direction along the way. This is a big step to take in life, a
long row to hoe. Waiting in this kind of circumstance means don’t start that
part of your journey, study the road, read the maps, consult the tourist
information books, gather information and seek God’s direction through it.
At other times, it is not a matter of waiting to start, it’s
a matter of taking pauses along the way. How many times do we feel that small
nudge from our God that says slow down, wait a second. It is like the stop
signs on the road of life, we cannot see what will be crossing our path, but
God can. Sometimes when we are uncertain, we need to take a pause and wait.
Sometimes we find ourselves operating under our own strength, and realize we
have not been seeking God, we need to wait.
5. Trust: This
is a hard one for some of us. We want all the answers ahead of time. We want to
study the roadmap and gather all of the information so that we can make the
most informed decision. While there is nothing wrong with that in and of
itself, what happens when God tells us to take the road that we didn’t feel was
the best choice? Maybe it is a road that takes us around the long way, and will
cost us more money, be less efficient, and take us outside of our comfort zone.
Sometimes, it is the best choice for us and we do not know it. Sometimes it is
a learning process for us, but it may be through a time of difficulty, to
prepare us for what is to come down the road. Sometimes, is for the benefit of
somebody else who will need us. Do you trust God? Life is not always going to
be easy, but when you can go through it knowing that God loves you, cares for
you, and has your eternal best interest in mind, it brings us comfort and
strength.
After all, who is this God that we trust and follow? This is
the God who created all that is, with the exception of people, simply by
speaking. This is the God who stood in the fiery furnace with the three Hebrew men who would not worship the king, and none of the four of them were even smelling smoke. This is the
God who allowed Daniel to be thrown into the lion’s den simply for taking the
time to talk to his God, and saved his life. This is the God who, when Israel
found their backs up against the Red Sea, parted the Red Sea and allow them to
walk through a dry ground. This is the God when Israel was overwhelmed by the
threat of Jericho and her thick walls, brought them down on His own accord.
This is a God who chose a small shepherd boy, and imperfect person, to lead His
people and seek after His own heart. This is the God to the same small shepherd
boy and pitted him against the giant Goliath, a mighty warrior in the land, and
winning. This is the God who used Gideon
and 300 men to action against a military threat and caused the threat to eliminate
themselves rather than fight His people. This is the God who sent His one and
only Son into this world to save the lives of all people. This is the God who
does not stand back with passive interest, “from a distance” and watch us. He
is involved. He is with you. He is there. He loves you.
This is a God who we serve. When your back is against the
wall. This is the God that we can trust.
Remember, seek, listen, wait and trust.
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