Chico Alliance Church
Pastor David Welch
"BOXED IN FOR GROWTH AND GLORY"
INTRODUCTION
This is the forth in a series of messages tracing Israel’s journey to rest. Their experience effectively illustrates the key elements involved in any walk of faith. Only a life that functions by faith can please God.
But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin. Romans 14:23
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Hebrews 11:6
Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." Galatians 3:11
The account of Israel’s journey to realize God’s promise graphically illustrates the difficulties and delights of trusting God for our life. All our life we will face paralyzing obstacles and a pursuing enemy. The disturbing difficulties we encounter in this devil-directed world serve to bring us to a greater sense of our helplessness and God’s holiness; our powerlessness and God’s power. Only when we stop trying to improve the impossible and control the uncontrollable, will we begin to realize the indispensable; a meaningful life is a life devoted to pursuing the Immortal. God must sometimes employ severe measures to get us to adjust our perspective and priorities and firmly fix our eyes on Jesus who is the Author and Finisher of our faith. Life’s trials serve to slow us down long enough to face the issues on the inside that prevent victory on the outside. Like a river boxed into a canyon and harnessed, trials block us in so that we can realize that God provides a continual source of energy and strength to meet any problem we may face. None of us like difficult situations and would not enter them if we had the choice, but God uses them to bring growth for us and glory for Him. God must sometimes force us into a canyon of complications in order that we might learn to trust Him and not our own ingenuity.
Hopefully, buy looking at Israel, we will better understand a universal spiritual principle.
God deliberately designs difficulties (in the believer's life) to display His greater glory and direct our greater growth.
God pins us in with problems to produce greater praise for Him and greater progress for us. God gains glory, recognition, credit, praise, attention as He powerfully orchestrates the events of a devil-directed world system to bring about divinely-declared purposes and fulfillment of promises. We experience growth as we learn to trust in His character in spite of our circumstances. We must not only perceive this principle but apply it. Let’s see what we can learn about this perceiving and practicing this principle by again tracking the Israelites in their journey to possess the promise of rest in God. How should we respond to the truth that God sometimes deliberately designs difficulties to display His greater glory and direct our greater growth?
BRIEF HISTORICAL REVIEW
Israel had endured 400 plus years of suffering and severe slavery at the hand of Egypt. God personally groomed a humble yet powerful leader to lead nearly three million people to God’s promised rest. God promised freedom from bondage and a land of unimaginable resources. God miraculously brought about their deliverance from Egypt through a mighty demonstration of His power over the demonic powers operating among the Egyptians and holding the Israelites captive. God also granted them favor with the Egyptian people who showered the people with supplies for their journey and abundance of resources for a new start in the Promised Land. God provided them with everything necessary for the journey. By the way, God also delivers us and supplies us with every necessary resource for our journey and the realization of our new life of faith. God even used the years of servitude and hard labor to strengthen them physically for the strenuous journey. They had plenty of provisions. They were clearly directed by God’s continual supernatural presence. (Cloud/Torch) God aware, of their fledgling faith, directed them on a route that avoided immediate warfare. Like us, their salvation experience did not bring an end to problems and struggles. God provided ample opportunities to develop their faith all along the way. We will see however that they failed to learn some very simple basic lessons about faith. This experience contains all of the elements of a victorious walk and sets the standard for victory all the rest of the way through the wilderness.
I found four distinct phases in this part of their faith walk.
I. God deliberately designed a difficult situation 1-9
A. God consciously positioned His children 1-2
After leaving Goshen, they traveled to Succoth and then to Etham. Many of these places have not been clearly identified by geographers. The exact location is not critical to the understanding of the events. They were headed out and away from Egypt and the tyrannical treatment at Pharaoh’s hand. God graphically directed their victorious Exodus. The words at the beginning of the next chapter come out of the blue.
Then the Lord said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites to turn back..."
God's deliberate positioning brought them up against the Red Sea. The identification of the specific body of water is not crucial to the story. It is certain that whatever water it was ( “Red Sea” or Reed Sea” )it became a major obstacle. It took a supernatural act of God to overcome it.
It was sufficient enough to dumbfound the Israelites and drown Pharaoh’s whole army. God instructed them to set up camp next to the very place that would trap them. God sometimes orders strange reversals to bring about supernatural results. God directed them to “turn back”.
God's actions stemmed from His deep desire for their growth and His glory. God never bring us into difficulty without eternal purpose. Not all difficulties are the direct result of His displeasure or even his discipline but for our development. He sometimes brings us difficulty to develop our trust in Him regarding more and more areas of life.
The people, as yet, were not even aware of the fact that the Red Sea was a formidable obstacle. They were "going out boldly." With the moan of the enemy still ringing in their ears and the money of the enemy jingling in their pockets, the Israelites fled Egypt with a noticeable confidence in their stride. And then God ordered a confusing reversal. Would they continue to trust Him or resist Him?
B. God carefully prepared the difficulty or need 3-4a
Pharaoh will think, `The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.' And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them.
God had a specific strategy. God knew that this most illogical escape strategy would cause Pharaoh to see it as vulnerability, aimless wandering and an opportunity to take up pursuit.
Perhaps this Yahweh is not as powerful as he previously thought. This appears to be a strategic blunder and he would take full advantage of it. God played on Pharaoh’s greed (I can get my slave labor back), planned for Israel’s growth and His glory.
C. God confidently promised a glorious outcome 4b
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 indicates that he will gain personal glory through this trial. God orchestrated this event to demonstrate His power to all of Egypt. As we will see, the Israelites will be able to focus only on their personal and urgent dilemma not God’s ultimate design. We so often get so sidetracked by the momentary gloom of the circumstance that we forget to consider the ultimate glory of the Creator or the necessary growth of the creature.
God allows difficulties and sometimes arranges difficulties to develop our faith.
God deliberately designs difficulties to display His greater glory
and direct our greater growth.
God desires the world to see His power demonstrated through His people in the midst of tribulation. He therefore allows these difficulties to assault our life in order to display his power and build our faith. In this case, God deliberately forced the Israelites to face obstacles so that they would have to depend on Him alone for deliverance and continued progress toward the promised rest.
D. God calculatingly proceeded with His plan 5-9
This was no half-hearted pursuit. Pharaoh employed his heaviest artillery and best generals.
The situation now became critical because Israel was boxed in with nowhere to go. The Red Sea became a frightening impediment to the realization of their promise and now their very life.
What is your Red Sea? What blocks your escape or impedes your progress to maturity? What do we do when we feel boxed in with no apparent means of escape? (Faith, fright or flight?)
What do you face that appears to stand in the way of God's promise? What is it that keeps you from going forward that you really didn't notice until something forces you to move now?
Age? Lack of resources financial, educational, situational? Failure? Previously missed opportunities.?
As a church there we have been up against a barrier to God’s promised growth. Aging congregation and facility - Diminishing congregation - Relational difficulties - Fading passion
Limited resources - Past failures
I am sure you can think of others that I have not.
God considers the development of our faith and the demonstration of His glory as primary over our comfort and happiness. Untested faith is always suspect faith. It is easy to believe God when things are good. God looks for the person who will believe Him no matter what. We are, at times, perfectly content to simply camp by our "Red Sea" until something or someone forces us to face it. All of a sudden, we become painfully perceptive of our personal limitations. We are no longer able to ignore our Red Sea and find ourselves with no retreat from the pursuing enemy who suddenly appears out of nowhere. From a human perspective the alternatives appear hopeless; destruction or bondage.
God deliberately designs difficulties to display His greater glory and direct our greater growth.
Our fearful minds concoct a host of possibilities limited by our doubt-narrowed perspective.
“We had it better serving the Egyptians.” “We are going to die.”
God intends to produce greater glory for Himself and propagate greater growth for us by our continual reliance upon Him. But because of a wrong view of our "Red Sea" and a faulty view of the power and passion of our God, and the faulty view of the power of the enemy, we allow a destructive spirit to arise within us.
II. The people defiantly developed a destructive spirit 10-12
We can follow a devastating cycle of consequences to unbelief.
A. They fell prey to panic 10
As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and noticed the Egyptians marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.
Fear eradicates faith. They forgot the promise of God in the face of their predicament. Aware of the impenetrable obstacle in the front of them and the invulnerable enemy behind them, the Israelites had no where to run. It was precisely where God wanted them. He wanted them to trust Him to defeat the enemy to gain greater glory for Himself. He wanted them to trust Him to deliver them to generate greater growth in them. Fear can rob our faith in the promise and purpose of God. Whenever we focus on our immediate plight instead of God’s ultimate promise, we lose perspective and sink into panic. The people cried out to God. However, this was not a cry of faith in a loving, all powerful God, but a cry of dismay, despair and even defiance. They forgot the promise of God in the face of difficulty. Unbelief turns to panic and panic and launches us into insolent self-pity.
B. They lapsed into a pity party 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?
Why Me? Not enough cemeteries in Cairo? The Israelites became paralyzed by fear of the immediate rather than propelled by faith in the eternal. This faulty perception prevent them from seeing the possibilities and purposes of God and produced a self-centered, self-pity and "poor me" mentality. Whenever we acquire a self-centered rather than a God-centered focus, progress ceases. Some have stayed at the same level in their Christian life for many years because they refuse to respond to their "Red Seas" with a God-centered attitude. “It’s just human nature" "Nobody's perfect" "Everybody struggles" Some people die at 40 and are not buried until 65 or 70.
Sometimes it requires something severe in our life to force us to deal with the issues, to face our Red Sea. Why? Because God wants us to be people of faith, able to demonstrate to the world the power of a faithful God in a failing world. God wants to produce our growth and parade His glory. As many of us do however, the Israelites continued down the slippery slope of unbelief and choose passivity over deliverance. They preferred to be comfortable rather than complete; happy rather than holy. In the face of difficulty unbelief turns to panic, panic turns to pity, pity turns to passivity.
C. They turned passive
“Didn't we say to you in Egypt, `Leave us alone..."
We were comfortable where we were. We don't want to grow. It is too painful to grow. It is too hard out here. We were better off. They forgot how horrible it was before.
“During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.” Exo 2:23
God was in the process of fulfilling their deepest longings and they spurned the process. They wanted the gain without the pain. They want the Promised Land and blessing without the necessary process. It is like aspiring to become a nuclear physicist but refuse to ever go to school or study. Once the heart lapses into this poor me, self-centered setting, it becomes very difficult to focus on God or His promises.
D. They demonstrated a perverted perception of good and evil. 12
“Let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!"
Unbelief produces Panic, which produces pity which in turn promotes passivity which in the long term becomes the basis for a perverted view of what is good and evil which in further erodes faith and enflames panic and the cycle spirals downward. Praise the Lord He has a definite escape strategy. He always has a way of escape even before the need for escape arises.
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. 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 stand up under it.” 1Co 10:13
Remember, He has deliberately designed this predicament for the display of His glory and the development of our trust by the defeat of the enemy and the overcoming of obstacles that impede our progress toward the promises.
III. God directly dictated a definite strategy for deliverance 13-18
A. Don’t despair 13a
Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid.
Get out of the panic mode. Get into the faith mode.
B. Rest and watch God work 13b-14
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."
Ignore the impasse -- ignite the impossible. Stop being afraid and STAND, STAND FIRM IN THE LORD! When facing the enemy on one side and circumstantial or personal obstacles on the other, stand in your heritage as children of the King. Remember! God is not mad at you, He is maturing you. He is gaining greater glory for Him and generating greater growth in us.
C. Renew faith and walk forward 15-18
Stop moaning and start marching! Move forward! Impossible to steer a stationary saint. So move forward! "Right! Which way is forward?" "Call a committee!" March directly toward the perceived obstacle and watch me use what you thought was an obstacle for my glory. Heb 12 urges us to lay aside every sin and every encumbrance that prevents us from running the race, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and perfecter of faith. The man with the withered hand was asked by Jesus to by faith do what he felt couldn't be done. He was asked to reach out his withered hand. Stop hiding because of fear! Stand in His strength. Stop passivity because of self-pity and move forward. Face your liabilities in light of His ability. You may find that what you perceive as an obstacle may be what God uses to defeat your enemy. We do our part -- Faith and God does His part -- Deliverance. Again, His purpose is declared. "I will be glorified through this!"
IV. God dramatically delivered a distinct solution
God never deliberately designs a difficult situation without a dramatic solution.
A. Special Protection 19-20
When we respond properly in faith to God and believe He who promises is able also to perform it, He holds back the enemy hoards to enable us to deal with our “Red Seas.” When we refuse to move forward... when we refuse to deal with the things God requires... God allows the enemy to pursue us and create even more reason to cry out to Him.
B. Supernatural Provision 21-28
Deliverance from pursuing enemies. Deliverance through paralyzing obstacles. What was once an obstacle to movement now becomes the very means God uses to defeat the enemy. God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. God can take the very thing we deem as a weakness to supernaturally defeat the enemy. What are the things you consider weakness or obstacles to God’s promised rest in your life?
C. Steady Progress and faith 29-31
Not only did God bring about a dramatic change in their circumstances… Notice the dramatic transformation in their thinking. Now they feared God instead of their enemy. Now they trusted God and His servant instead of resisting. Even though this lasted only a few days until the next trial, it was real and it once again demonstrated the faithfulness of God in the midst of paralyzing obstacles and pursuing enemies.
D. Stirring Praise Exodus 15
V. CONCLUSION
All our life we will face paralyzing obstacles and pursuing enemies. There is something we must know and something we must do.
1. Don’t be deceived but renew our thinking concerning tribulations.
God is up to something!
God deliberately designs difficulties to display His greater glory and direct our greater growth.
2. Don’t despair but rejoice and wait on God
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Jam 1:4
And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Rom 5:1-5
Panic, pity, passivity(leave me alone), perverted perspective (better off serving other purposes but kingdom purposes)
3. Don’t defect but rest and watch God work
4. Don’t delay but renew our faith and walk forward
5. Don’t doubt but rely on God’s promise and wait for God’s provision
So then, those who suffer according to God's will should entrust themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do right. 1Pe 4:19
God will bring a dramatic solution.
It may not always the way we envision it to be.
• He will defend us.
• He will defeat the enemy.
• He will deliver us through our obstacles.
Take us through it, over it, around it, or the power to live above it or with it.
• He will develop our level of trust.
• He will demonstrate His glory though out obedience.
Be assured that however God delivers it will have as its primary purpose to bring Him the greatest glory and produce in us the greatest growth.
If we desire holiness rather than happiness…
If we long for maturity rather than amusement…
If we consider relationship with God more valuable than the “treasures of this world”…
…then we will truly appreciate the fact that:
God deliberately designs difficulties to display His greater glory
and direct our greater growth.
And we won’t…
1. …Be deceived but renew our thinking concerning tribulations.
2. …Despair but rejoice and wait on God
3. …Defect but rest and watch
4. …Delay but renew our faith and walk forward
5. …Doubt but rely on God’s promise and wait for God’s provision
