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Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 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. 17 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. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.’

While it is good to pray, if God shows you something you need to do, it’s important to get on with it.

As we saw last time, in the words of Tom Hale: ‘…action will sometimes be required on our part, but we must take action only under God’s direction.’ Hale goes on to say, ‘God did direct the Israelites to act. After they had been told to be still (verse 14), God then told them to move on (verse 15). ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.229.

God gave Moses something to say (15b), and something to do (16). He didn’t give him that staff as an ornament! We must use what the Lord has put in our hands.

I read this morning that Frank Laubach, an American missionary, said that he had ‘two burning passions. First, to be like Jesus. Second, to respond to God as a violin responds to the bow of the master.’

PRAYER: Lord, when you show me the next step, help me to take it.

As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 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? 12 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!’

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. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.’

You can no doubt identify with this scenario. Like the Israelites, you are “marching out boldly” (8). You’re going well. Then, without warning, trouble looms, and you crumble before it. You see the Egyptians heading your way, and Pharaoh has his “best chariots” to boot (7).

God’s people spoke out of a mixture of fear, unbelief, sarcasm…yet also faith – they did pray, a desperate prayer, after all (10).

It was Moses – a ‘non-anxious presence’ in the face of the brewing storm – who brought the prophetic word they needed to hear (13,14).

‘This is a powerful message for any believer engaged in any type of struggle or conflict. Most of us react in one of two ways: either we complain and give up like the Israelites did, or we take things into our own hands and fight in our own strength. Both choices are equally wrong. We need simply to stand firm and have faith in God. Yes, action will sometimes be required on our part, but we must take action only under God’s direction.’ Tom Hale: ‘Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.229.

PRAYER: Lord God, although I see storm clouds gathering, enable me, please, to trust in you, and to wait to hear your instructions.

Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to camp 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.

5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, ‘What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!’ 6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. 7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. 9 The Egyptians – all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops – pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.

‘Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone?’ So says a well-known song. After the Israelites had left Egypt, Pharaoh bitterly regretted the loss of all the free labour (5), so he and his armies went after them. No doubt they thought the people of Israel were trapped, but it was the Egyptians themselves who were walking into a trap.

As we saw yesterday – the Lord knows what He is doing! Pharaoh proposed and God disposed!

Someone observed that making moves against God is like playing a chess grand-master. Even the moves you make against him he will use to defeat you. The greatest example of this is seen at the Cross where the devil and the powers of darkness thought they had put Jesus in ‘check’ – only to find themselves checkmated!

“In a sermon entitled “God’s Providence,” C. H. Spurgeon said, “Napoleon once heard it said, that man proposes and God disposes. ‘Ah,’ said Napoleon, ‘but I propose and dispose too.’ How do you think he proposed and disposed? He proposed to go and take Russia; he proposed to make all Europe his. He proposed to destroy that power, and how did he come back again? How had he disposed it? He came back solitary and alone, his mighty army perished and wasted, having well-nigh eaten and devoured one another through hunger. Man proposes and God disposes.” Jerry Bridges

Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to camp 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.

God knows what He intends to do.

He also knows how to achieve His purposes.

To that end, He will direct His people, and He always knows the best way to get us to where He wants us.

Let’s remember that God’s ultimate intention is to glorify His Name, and the movements of His people can be part of that.

As I look back on my life, I can’t say that my ministry has followed a conventional path, but I have been so aware of the Lord directing various moves from one location to another. There is no better place to pitch your tent than at a ‘camp site’ of the Lord’s choosing (2).

I seem to remember reading an article written by someone who knew the evangelist, Smith Wigglesworth. This person visited him one day, and they went up for a walk on Ilkley Moor. As I recall it, they were sitting on a bench when Smith suddenly excused himself. When he eventually returned he told how he had met a man on the moor and led him to Christ. But he had known beforehand, by God’s Spirit, that there was someone he was to meet. As he said himself: ‘If you seek nothing but the will of God, He will always put you in the right place at the right time.’

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.

One missionary, when asked the key to his success, answered in this way, ‘I just watch what God is doing, and I go and join Him!’

If we are to ‘watch what God is doing’, we mustn’t get ahead of Him.

It seems to me that a key principle of guidance found here is to be able to see where God is going, and what He is doing, and for this to be the case we mustn’t get out in front of Him.

We may feel that it would, at times, be easier to know what to do if we also could see “a pillar of cloud” and “pillar of fire”. Yet God has His ways of making His will clear to His people today.

Thought: ‘Do not ask God to guide your footsteps if you’re not willing to move your feet.’

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.’

3 simple things!

1. God’s Word must be passed on from one generation to another. Moses had not known Joseph personally, but what Joseph said was not lost to him.
2. God’s Word must be obeyed by each succeeding generation. Joseph was faithful in his day; and Moses had to be faithful in his.
3. God’s Word can be trusted by each new generation. God will (“surely”) do what He has promised.

PRAYER: Lord, the simple truths are not necessarily easy to put into practice. I find they are often opposed, and that thief, the devil, tries to steal them from my grasp. But with your help I will prevail, and be faithful in my generation as Joseph and Moses were in their’s.

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 towards the Red Sea.The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.

How do we reconcile the statement that the Israelites were battle-ready (18) with God’s words in 17b: “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt”? The answer seems to be that although the Israelites were armed, the Philstines had superior weaponry (not to mention plenty of experience in war).

God knows His people well. I believe there are times when He permits us to experience hard stuff because He knows we will grow through the ordeal. But perhaps, on other occasions, He is aware we will be likely to fail the test, so He doesn’t ‘enter us for the examination’ at that point.

These words seem relevant:

“No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful, he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it”  (1 Cor.10:13).

The people of Israel were not led by the shortest route, but as someone pointed out, the shortest route is not always the best.

‘If you permit the Lord to direct your steps (Prov.3:5-6), except to be led occasionally on paths that may seem unusually long and circuitous. Remind yourself that God knows what He’s doing. He isn’t in a hurry, and as long as you follow Him, you’re safe and in the place of blessing. He may close some doors and suddenly open others, and we must be alert.’ Warren W. Wiersbe: OT Commentary, p.166.

PRAYER: “Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me…” (Psalm 25:4,5a).

And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.’

“…the LORD has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes” (Psalm 118:23).

It may be stating the obvious but I still want to highlight it. There is no sense here of, ‘Look what I did son.’

Nor is it a case of, ‘See how we busted our way out of Egypt and showed those tyrants a thing or two!’

No, listen…

“…the Lord brought us out…”

When I became assistant pastor in one church, I was also given the job of being youth leader. The youth group had fallen on hard times. They were without a leader, and I suppose what I did was to love them, feed them, and keep bringing them together. Over a period of a little more than two years I think something good began to be built. But it was after I left that significant growth occurred. Some dear friends, Dave and Ruth, a godly married couple, took on the leadership mantle. They were kind enough to invite me back to speak to the group on several occasions. The first time I witnessed what was happening, I  told Dave how thrilled I was. He just looked at me with a beaming smile, and said so sincerely, ‘It is the Lord’s doing and it is marvellous in our eyes.’

In that one sentence, in which there was not a trace of mock modesty, he gave a lesson in humility I’ve never forgotten. He and Ruth were two of the finest Christian youth leaders I have ever known. They were in it heart and soul. But they gave all the glory to God. They were highly successful, but they knew who gives the growth.

“So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow” (1 Corinthians 3:7).

Lee Eclov, a retired pastor writing to other pastors, said this in a recent article:

“The grain farmers I grew up among would stand outside church on Sundays and say things like, “If we don’t get some rain the corn’s really going to be in trouble.” Or “A couple more weeks and the oats will be ready.” But no matter how hard they worked, I never once heard them take credit for their crops. No sensible farmer waits at the grain elevator while his harvest is weighed and thinks, “I did an amazing job this year.” What he does is marvel again at the miracle of land and seed and harvest, and give thanks.

Do your job, but remember, it’s God who makes his grain grow.”

After the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your ancestors, 12 you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord. 13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.

14 ‘In days to come when your son asks you, “What does this mean?” say to him, “With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.” 16 And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.’

“Curiosity killed the cat”

– Agent Vega.

“It also cured polio.”

– Simon, The Mentalist

Much of this chapter repeats material we have seen before, but…

‘What is new here is the emphasis on teaching one’s children the meaning of the feast; it is necessary for each new generation not only to remember and understand God’s past acts but also to “appropriate them” – that is, be encouraged and instructed and motivated by them. Teaching one’s children about the greatness and mercy of God and the need to obey His commands remains the solemn duty of parents right up to our own day.’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied Old Testament Commentary’, p.228.

Children are naturally curious. They ask lots of questions. If they see the evidence, the emblems, the example of our faith at home they will want to know about more. Christian parents should be always ready to give a reason for their hope in Christ.

(By the way, Mary presented Jesus, her firstborn, to the Lord, in accordance with God’s command: Luke 2:22,23; see Ex.13;2, 12).