Well we find ourselves in chapter fourteen of the book of Exodus. God has worked mightily on behalf of His people and they have been completely delivered from Egypt so that they could worship God freely in the promised land. And for the most part the people recognized what God had done for them and were living in devotion to Him.
But just because they were now free to worship God as they chose, it didn’t mean there wouldn’t be any tough times ahead of them. Their journey to Canaan would be filled with trials and tests just like the journey of life is. You know on this side of Heaven that’s just part of life.
[Phoenix missions trip – 2 flats, 1 spare missing, lost van story.]
We know that life isn’t about avoiding the trials of life. (It just can’t be done.) It’s more about how we handle the trials of life – or do we let the trials of life handle us?
We don’t have to let life kick us around. We can make sure that the trials of life don’t steal our joy, our peace and our victory. We can handle the trials of life by trusting in the Almighty God who has worked wonders right before us.
[Read Isaiah 31:1.]
Woe to those people who look to the world’s ways for help when they go through tough times. Real victory comes when we trust in God to fight out battles for us. We must never forget that God’s power is sufficient for whatever we’re going through and that He loves us with His entire being. We must never forget those things as we journey through life.
This is a lesson that Israel got right at the beginning of their journey out of Egypt. Let’s see how God dramatically showed them that the battle belongs to Him.
I. God uses Pharaoh to display His power
[Read Exodus 14:1-4.]
So right at the very beginning God is doing things so that He can ultimately show the world his reality. He alters the course of the Jews so that when Pharaoh found out about it he would think that the Jews were lost. And that’s exactly what happened.
[Read Exodus 14:5-9.]
Pharaoh and his officials were obviously keeping an eye on Israel’s travels. It appeared to them that they were struggling to find their way in the wilderness so this was their opportunity to capture them and put them back to work. I mean those pyramids aren’t going to build themselves! So they decided to forget about how the God of the Jews had brought the land of Egypt incredible amounts of pain that led to the Jew’s departure form the land. They wanted their slaves back.
They probably also didn’t appreciate how the Jews left the land victorious and confident.
[Read Exodus 14:8b.]
When you couple this with how 3:18 shows them leaving in “martial array”, you see former slaves confidently leaving their masters in victory. This must have infuriated Pharaoh who was a man driven by his pride.
But the strongest influence upon Pharaoh’s decision to attempt to re-enslave the Jews was the fact that God hardened his heart. Twice in this passage it says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so He could show Egypt once again that He was real.
But lets remember, Pharaoh had plenty of chances at the beginning of the plagues to take the Lord’s warnings seriously and release the Jews. Many times he decided to harden his own heart and refuse the Jews their freedom. It seems that God has turned Pharaoh over to a reprobate, or to a depraved mind. He’s now just a tool of the Lord to show the Egyptians, and the world for that matter, that He is real.
So Pharaoh assembled his best soldiers and readied themselves for battle. They pursued the Jews and caught up to where they were camped very quickly. When the Jews realized that the Egyptians were after them they surprisingly started to complain about the situation. And the complaining was because:
II. Israel forgets about God’s power
[Read Exodus 14:10-12.]
Can you believe just how quickly the Jews turned on Moses when things got difficult. But like they said, this is nothing new. This was how they were right from the beginning.
[Read Exodus 5:20-21.]
You know Moses never told them that leaving Egypt would be easy. But he did promise them that the Lord would deliver them. The Jews seemed to be fine as long as their lifestyles weren’t affected. But when things got hard or dangerous, out came the whiners.
Now we all fall prey to a complaining spirit from time to time, don’t we? We know we shouldn’t. We know God has so blessed or lives. But we’re so spoiled in America that the minute things get a little misaligned we start to fret!
[Can’t find a good NASB vs chinaman with no bible stories.]
We are so quick to complain when things aren’t just right.
The Jews saw the armies of Pharaoh in hot pursuit and immediately started worrying and complaining and criticizing Moses’ leadership.
But oh how quick they were to forget the power and protection of Almighty God. They saw the ten plagues that the Lord had brought upon the land of Egypt. They were there. They saw the power of the Lord. They understood how the Lord watched over His people. They even saw the Lord kill all the firstborn of the Egyptians. Why were they so worried?
And you know what, all they needed to do was instead of looking back at their enemies, turn around and look at God Himself who was there in the pillar of cloud and fire! “There’s my enemies – but there’s God! I know who’s going to win this battle!”
But instead, they kept facing the enemy and forgot about the power of God that was right there in their midst.
But even when we fail and forget about God in the midst of our trials, He still loves us. The Jews were not being faithful at this point, but God remained faithful. So we now see how:
III. God displays His power by fighting for Israel
[Read Exodus 14:13-14.]
“The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent!” We should just let that sink in a little bit before we go on. The Lord will fight for us while we be silent… There are battles that we have no business entering into – but the Lord will fight for us. There are battles that we simply cannot win – but the Lord will fight for us. There are battles that are not ours – but the Lord will fight for us. Isn’t that just the most encouraging thought?! The Lord will fight for us!
We next see the Lord giving Moses some instructions on how this is going to play out and also reiterating the purpose of the coming events.
[Read Exodus 14:15-18.]
God again says that through this the Egyptians will know that He alone is God.
Then God does something really beautiful. He goes from being the Jew’s Guide to being their guardian.
[Read Exodus 14:19-20.]
The pillar of cloud now became the protective force that kept the Egyptians from overtaking the Jews in the night. God went from guide to guardian.
But the time had come for Israel to be delivered once again from the Egyptians.
[Read Exodus 14:21-28.]
Can you imagine how cool that must have been for the Jews to walk through the sea with walls of water on either side of them? It must have been scary, exciting and surreal all at the same time. God again showed Israel that nothing is impossible for Him.
So once the Jews were all safely on the shore of the sea God gave the command and Moses moved the staff once again. The waters collapsed upon the Egyptians who were still in the midst of the sea and every one of them died. There would be no doubt to the Jews, to the Egyptians back home, and even to the Egyptians who were killed that this was a supernatural act of God protecting His people. God had shown the world His reality. So now we see how:
IV. Israel sees God’s power and fears and believes
[Read Exodus 14:29-31.]
As the Jews stood safely on the seashore they would notice the dead bodies of the Egyptians washing up with the tide. No one had to explain to them the significance of what had just happened. They were again reminded in a startling way that God is all powerful.
The Bible says that they feared and believed in God and Moses.
We all should have a healthy fear of the Lord. Not the kind of fear we have for snakes or heights or criminals. But a fear that keeps us humble and obedient. The all powerful God knows what we’re doing and what we’re thinking. And He will chasten His children when they get out of line. Knowing this gives us a healthy fear and respect for the One we have to answer to some day.
We should also have a strong belief in the Lord. A belief that moves us through the trials of life by our faith in the One who can and will deliver us from our enemies. A belief that causes us to look at God for strength instead of looking at our enemies in fear.
[Cassie Bernall facing the gunman story.]
That’s how we ought to be. We’ve seen God do amazing things in our lives – things only God could do. We’ve seen God do amazing things in the lives of people around us - things only God could do. And we have the biblical record of thousands of amazing things that God has done for His people on this earth. Remember God’s power and the fact that the Lord will fight for you.
Going to God’s Word in the midst of trials helps to remind us that He is here for us.
[Read Psalm 77:11-15.]
[Read Psalm 33:13-22.]
[Read I Peter 5:6-7.]
Don’t let the trials of life handle you. Handle them with your faith and allow the Lord to fight the battles for you. Remember, He always wins!
