Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Exodus

Exodus 13:17-14-31 02/01/04

Message Title: ‘When you are in over your head’                   Text: Exodus 13:17-14:31

Review: When God brought the 10th plague upon the first born of Egypt perhaps as many as ¼ of a million Egyptians died that unforgettable night. The grief caused Pharaoh to demand that all the Hebrews leave Egypt. So about 2 million Israelites, with Moses as their leader, left Egypt that unforgettable night for the Promised Land.

Transition: And that leads us to our text this morning. And what a text it is. But first, a story.

Introduction: A boy returned from Sunday School and his mom asked him what he had learned that morning. ‘Well, we learned that Moses went behind enemy lines and freed the Israelites. Then he took the army engineers and built a pontoon bridge across the Red Sea. Then when the Egyptian tank division started to cross the bridge Moses called in the dive bombers and blew them to bits.’ His mother was outraged and said, ‘Is that what your Sunday School teacher is teaching you?’ the little boy looked down for a moment and finally said, ‘Well, no mom. But if I told you what she taught us this morning there’s no way you would believe it!’

There are many things we don’t want to believe.

We get a diagnosis for a disease that has no cure
We realize that there is no way we are going to be able to pay all our bills this month.
We have a spouse who is slowly pulling away from us.
We lose our job.

When things like this happen, we often feel like the world is crashing in around us, like we are in way over our heads. We don’t want to believe this is happening, not to us…I’m a Christian, I believe in God, I pray and go to church, I give as generously as I can and I serve in ministry.

If you have ever felt like this, perhaps you feel like this now, well you know how the Israelites felt after they left Egypt that unforgettable night. They were God’s people, he had just saved them from death and had delivered them from oppression and slavery. God said there were his people and he was going to be their God.

But they can’t believe what he is doing, where he is leading them.
They get backed into a corner and realize that they are in way over their head, they now want to return to Egypt rather than die in the dessert. But I get ahead of myself.

Transition: Turn in your Bibles to Ex. 13:17 where we will see thatGod leads his people.

Exodus 13:17-22    God leads

There are three things we need to see in this text.

1. God’s does not always lead us the easiest way.

The way through the land of the Philistines was the short cut to the Promised Land. Think about it…
    -There were 2 million people plus animals.
    -They were inexperienced travelers.
    -There were no hotels or motels along the way.

It made perfect sense to take the short cut. But God knew better. If the Philistines saw them coming they would think they were coming  to attack them. And Israel was not prepared for war. God knew what was ahead and he knew them better then they knew themselves. So God chose to lead his people the long way through the wilderness, through the dessert.

We like short cuts, don’t we? We like, prefer to take the easy way, the path of least resistance. Am I right? But should we consider the long way, the hard path, if that is where we sense God leading? Perhaps there are dangers in the short cut, temptations in the easy way that we are not aware of and not prepared for? When we sense God’s leading, shouldn’t we trust his way is best? Even if He leads us through a dessert?

2. God’s people remember and keep their promises.

Try to get inside the Israelites head. Joseph had been dead about 400yrs. The promise that God will deliver them and when he does, Josephs bones were to be taken from Egypt..well, it’s been 400 yrs. To many this promise is just empty words. Perhaps this promise is not real or at least not for me. Can you imagine their frustration? Can you appreciate their doubt?

Christian, do you ever doubt? Have the promises of God become just empty words to you?
You know what the Bible says, but has it become mere myth and therefore doesn’t truly affect the way you live today?

Moses remembered the promise made to Joseph and the promise God made to his people and he acted upon it in faith. Josephs bones were taken with the Israelites as they left Egypt that unforgettable night.

In faith, we too need to cling to God’s promises and act upon them. Like sensing God’s call to seminary in another state believing that God wants you there and trusting that God will match your physician wife with the hospital in the same town. That’s faith in God’s promise that where he leads he will provide.

3. God’s presence accompanies God’s leading.

A pillar of cloud during the day led them each step of the way and a pillar of fire each night watched over them as they rested.

Read: Ps 121

Both the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire were  miracles. Both were the physical manifestation of God’s presence with them. And both show us that God always makes clear his leading to those who are willing to follow. Up to this point in their journey, the Israelites were willing to follow.

So let me ask, when you clearly see God leading, do you follow?

Transition: God leads his people, not always the way they expect or desire. But, we can be certain of one thing, when God leads, God has a plan.

Read: Exodus 14:1-9        God has a plan

Can you imagine the Israelite leaders coming to Moses and saying.. ‘Moses, wouldn’t it be good to stop and ask for directions if you don’t know where you are going?’ God told Moses to head in another direction, to turn back. Why? God had a plan.

Pharaoh is now fuming because he let his slave population go. He wants them back. His scouts report that the Israelites are lost wandering aimlessly in the dessert so Pharaoh gathers his army and sets out to bring the Israelites back by force. Within a short time, the Egyptians have the Israelites in sight and it is just where they want them, with their backs up against the sea, totally vulnerable and with no where to run. Little did Pharaoh or the Israelites know, this is just where God wanted them as well.

We don’t like to be made vulnerable do we? Our instincts tell us to do whatever it takes to keep us from getting hurt. But have you ever thought that God, knowing that conflict develops character, calls us to an undefendable position, to be vulnerable?

It is easy to take what may look like the safe way. But the only true safe way…is God’s way. Take the chance, open yourself up and see what great things God wants to do in and through you.

Transition: Who ever said the OT was boring?

Read: Exodus 14:10-12    God’s people don’t like God’s plan

The Israelites see the Egyptian war machine heading their way and they are terrified. They do the right thing, they cry out to God, they pour their hearts out to him.
God help us, please, help us. Ever been there?

But then they do the wrong thing…they lash out at Moses. They blame him for their predicament. It seems that their cry to God lacked the confidence that he could or would do anything about their dilemma. As they faced their greatest moment of deliverance, the people of God really didn’t believe God cared for or was able to help them. Ever been there?

Transition: Man, this is getting good. What happens next? Is God found faithful? Let’s see.

Read: Exodus 14:13-20    God protects his people

Here we see Moses the man.

First Moses  tells the Israelites not to be afraid, to wait, to stand still and watch what God will do. To trust him, he will not disappoint you. What confidence…what faith!

Then Moses runs to God, perhaps to make sure he got the message straight. God tells him ‘stop stalling, you heard me right, go forward.’
Often there is a gap between knowing what God is calling us to do and actually doing it. We pray and pray again, we talk to others to get their opinion, we search the Bible to confirm what we already know. Sometimes, this is just a lack of faith, not a demonstration of it. When God’s leading is clear…go.

As Moses and the Israelites prepare to cross through the Red Sea, the pillar of cloud moves between them and the Egyptians so Pharaoh and his army could not attack the Israelites as they escaped. God protected them as they were following his leading.

Think about hits for a moment. We really don’t know just how much God is protecting us when we are going through a difficult time. We think we are overwhelmed, in over our heads, but what would it be like if God pulled back his protection?

Christian, where God leads, God protects!

Read: Exodus 14:21-29    God provides a way for his people

It is interesting that some would say that the water was really only a few inches deep, that’s why it was easy for the Israelites to cross over.
I don’t believe that, but that means God miraculously drowned the Egyptian army, in just a few inches of water.

People try to rationalize away the miraculous, even Christians because science tells us something is impossible. Well, I believe God’s Word when it says ‘Nothing is impossible with God’.

Read: Exodus 14:30-31    God’s people believe

Israel, the people of God, individuals, just like you and me, saw God at work. They saw God keep his promises to them. God helped them through what seemed to them to be an impossible situation…and once again… they believed.

Conclusion

Before we leave the text, I believe God wants us to be assured of a few things.

1.    It was God who saved the people of Israel.
2.    It was God who came up with the plan.
3.    It was God who led them.
4.    It was God who protected them.
5.    It was God who defeated their enemy.
6.    It was God who provided for them on their journey.
7.    It was God who forgave their unbelief and complaining.
8.    It was God who was always there for them.
9.    It was God who kept his promises to them.
10.   It was God…and He is the same God today.

Christian
    You have no problem God can’t solve.    You have no enemy God can’t defeat.
   
God took care of the Israelites one day at a time…trust him, he will do the same for you.

In my private worship time this week, I was reading Mk. 5:36. I thought it appropriate.

Mk 5:36  Jesus told a synagogue leader whose daughter had just died, ‘Don’t be afraid, only believe.’

Beloved of God, your heavenly Father is saying the same thing to you this morning. When you feel like you are in over your head ‘Don’t be afraid, only believe