A little more than 10 years ago (2011), comedian Steve Martin introduced the entire atheist hymnal (on one page of paper). He called it, “Atheists Don’t Have No Songs.” Take a look (show Atheists Don't Have No Songs—Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers).
Christians have their hymns and pages,
Hava Nagila’s for the Jews,
Baptists have the rock of ages,
Atheists just sing the blues.
Romantics play Claire de Lune,
Born agains sing “He is risen,”
But no one ever wrote a tune,
For godless existentialism.
For Atheists there’s no good news.
They’ll never sing a song of faith.
In their songs they have one rule:
The “he” is always lowercase.
(Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmwAD7nHqaY)
Atheists don’t have no songs, because they have nothing to sing about. On the other hand, believers have lots of songs, because they have a lot to sing about even when they face uncertain days.
If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Exodus 15, Exodus 15, where we have the first recorded song in the Bible. God’s people sang it after their escape from Egypt and before they began their long and perilous journey to the Promised Land. It’s the song of the redeemed of any age. And it can be your song through uncertain days as you make your way to heaven.
Exodus 15:1 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, “I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea (ESV).
God had just drowned the entire Egyptian army in the Red Sea after the people of Israel walked on dry ground through that same sea (Exodus 14:27-30). God had defeated Israel’s enemy, and Israel was free for the first time in over 400 years. Do you long to be free? Then listen to this song of the redeemed.
Exodus 15:2-3 The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name (ESV).
The Lord is a Mighty Warrior, worthy of praise.
Exodus 15:4-7 “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea. The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy. In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble (ESV).
The Egyptians had forced the Israelites to scramble about for the “stubble” of straw to make bricks. Now, God reduced the Egyptians to “stubble” as He delivers the people of Israel from their oppressors (Coover-Cox, CSB Study Bible).
Exodus 15:8-10 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’ You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters (ESV).
The wind was not a natural phenomenon. It was the very breath of God, which opened a way of escape for the people of Israel and then blew the sea shut over her enemies. Try as they might, the people of Israel could not free themselves. They had to depend on the power of God to set them free. And that’s what you must do to be free.
RELY ON GOD’S SURPASSING POWER.
Depend on the Mighty Warrior Himself. Trust the strong arm of the Almighty to deliver you.
When our kids were little, I’d often grab their hand especially when crossing the street or walking into an area where the potential for danger lurked. Their fingers might clutch my hand, as well, but their safety did not depend on their feeble grasp of my hand. Oh no! Their safety depended on the strong grasp of my hand on theirs.
In the same way, you may hold onto God in tough times, but your well-being does not depend on your feeble grasp of Him. It depends on His strong hand grasping you and never letting go. If you want to be truly free, don’t depend so much on your own strength; depend on God’s mighty hand. When you do that, your fear just evaporates.
Just a few years ago (April 2019), the Washington County Sherriff’s Office responded to a 911 call from a woman who reported hearing a burglar locked in her bathroom. She saw shadows shifting under the door, and after officers appeared on scene, they heard a persistent rustling under the same door.
They issued several commands to come out and brought in a K-9 unit for backup. After a while, when there was no response, deputies opened the door with guns drawn, to encounter the suspect… an automated robot vacuum. Washington County Sheriff's Deputy Brian Rogers said, “We entered the bathroom and saw a very thorough vacuuming job being done by a Roomba vacuum cleaner.”
They did not take the suspect into custody, but I suppose its owner sentenced it to several months of continuous domestic servitude (Julia Reinstein, “A Burglar Hiding In An Oregon Bathroom Turned Out To Be … A Trapped Roomba,” Buzzfeed.Com, 4-10-19; www.PreachingToday.com).
So much of what you fear is like that Roomba, because everything is under God’s control, and His enemies are powerless in comparison. So, if you want to be truly free from your fears or anything else, 1st, rely on God’s surpassing power. Then 2nd…
RECOGNIZE GOD’S SPLENDED HOLINESS.
Acknowledge that God far surpasses anything or anyone in all His creation. Appreciate the fact that there is no god like the Lord, your God.
Exodus 15:11-12 “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them (ESV).
Again, by God’s right hand the earth swallowed Israel’s enemies. No other God has done (or could do) such wonders. God is holy, unique among anything on which we might depend for our own security.
The most common question visitors to Brooklyn Museum's Egyptian art galleries ask is, “Why are the statues’ noses broken?”
The question surprised Edward Bleiberg the first few times he heard it. He oversees the museum's Egyptian art and had taken for granted that the sculptures were damaged. Certainly, after thousands of years, an ancient artifact should show wear and tear. But the broken noses led Bleiberg to uncover a widespread pattern of deliberate destruction. He noted, “The consistency of the patterns… of damage found in sculpture suggests that it's purposeful.” A protruding nose on a three-dimensional statue is easily broken, he conceded, but the plot thickens when flat reliefs also have smashed noses.
The ancient Egyptians believed that the essence of a deity could inhabit an image of that deity. These campaigns of vandalism were therefore intended to “deactivate an image's strength… The damaged part of the body is no longer able to do its job.” Without a nose, the statue-spirit ceases to breathe, so that the vandal is effectively “killing” it. To hammer the ears off a statue of a god would make it unable to hear a prayer. Pharaohs regularly issued decrees with terrible punishments for anyone who would dare threaten their likeness.
Bleiberg noted the skill evidenced by the iconoclasts. “They were not vandals recklessly and randomly striking out works of art.” In fact, the targeted precision of their chisels suggests that they were skilled laborers, trained and hired for this exact purpose (Julia Wolkoff, “Why do so many Egyptian statues have broken noses?” CNN Arts, 3-20-19; www.PreachingToday.com).
God is not like any idol, whose nose can be cut off. No! In fact, any idol is absolutely powerless to help you, even if you try to preserve its nose. Whatever you turn to for security or a sense of significance will eventually fail you no matter what you do to prop it up.
Later, in Israel’s history, God showed his utter contempt for the idol of Dagon in its temple when He threw it down and decapitated it (1 Samuel 5:1-5). And that’s the way it is with any other idol people raise up in the place of the one true and living God. God regards them with utter contempt, “cutting off their noses” (so to speak), demonstrating that He, and He alone has the power to save.
So turn from your idols. Stop looking to your money to save you, or to your popularity on social media, or to anything or anyone else. Instead, cry out to the Living Lord, who alone can save. For the Bible says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).
If you want to be truly free, 1st, rely on God’s surpassing power; 2nd, recognize God’s splendid holiness; and 3rd…
FOLLOW GOD’ S SOVEREIGN GUIDANCE.
Take direction from the Lord, who alone can safely lead you through the wilderness. Obey the One, the only One, who can securely navigate you through the perils of this life into the next.
Exodus 15:13 “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode (ESV).
God leads His redeemed people to His holy home, which in this context is the Promised Land, but ultimately, it’s the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21. And though it is a perilous journey, God guides His people with love and power. His steadfast love guarantees that He will remain committed to you no matter what. And His strength guarantees that he will overpower any enemy that tries to stop you.
Exodus 15:14-16 The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O LORD, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased (ESV).
The peoples in or near the Promised Land (Philistia, Edom, Moab, and Canaan) will tremble in fear, making them as “still as a stone” until Israel arrives home. They will be powerless to stop the Lord as He leads His people right past them into the land they once occupied.
Exodus 15:17-18 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O LORD, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established. The LORD will reign forever and ever” (ESV).
God’s sovereign power will establish His people in His home forever! And His sovereign power will establish you in His Home, as well. All you have to do is trust Him to guide you and follow His lead.
On Tuesday, May 10, 2022, a passenger with no flight experience called Air Traffic Control in a Florida airport in Fort Pierce and said, “I’ve got a serious situation here. My pilot has gone incoherent. I have no idea how to fly the airplane.”
Around noon an air traffic controller named Robert Morgan was outside the tower reading a book on a break when his co-worker yelled, “There’s a passenger flying a plane that’s not a pilot and the pilot is incapacitated so they said you need to help them try and land the plane.”
Morgan was the man for the job. In addition to his 20 years in tower control, he is also a flight instructor with around 1,200 hours under his belt.
Morgan told reporters, “I knew the plane was flying, I just knew I had to keep him calm, point him to the runway and tell him how to reduce the power so he could descend to land.” Then Morgan proceeded to walk the first-time pilot step-by-step through the landing procedure for the Cessna Grand Caravan. Morgan even ran out to the tarmac and joyfully embraced his student.
Morgan said, “It felt really good to help somebody and he told me that he couldn’t wait to get home and hug his pregnant wife” (James Freeman, “Untrained Passenger Lands Airplane,” The Wall Street Journal, 5-11-22; www.PreachingToday.com).
How like our Heavenly Father, the Sovereign Controller of the universe. Dear believer, He walks every one of you step by step through life until He brings you safely home. Then, He will joyfully embrace you when you arrive. All you have to do is trust Him enough to follow His lead. Believe Him enough to obey the guidance of His Holy Spirit through His Word.
If you want to be truly free, 1st, rely on God’s surpassing power, 2nd, recognize God’s splendid holiness, and 3rd, follow God’s sovereign guidance. Then you will…
EXPERIENCE GOD’S GLORIOUS TRIUMPH.
You will participate in the Lord’s great victory over evil. You will enjoy His conquest over all your enemies. That’s what happened to the people of Israel…
Exodus 15:19 For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea (ESV).
God brought them safely through the sea before He drowned their enemies in that same sea. The sea was a fearful place for ancient Israel—sea monsters lived there; people died there; and the sea was a trap for Israel. With the sea at their backs and the enemy in front, there was no place to run, but God delivered them. God delivered them through the sea they feared so much! And He will deliver you from all your fears, as well.
The psalmist testified, “I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears” (Psalm 34:4). And that can be your testimony, as well.
Exodus 15:20-21 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea” (ESV).
It was an ancient practice for women to meet the warriors returning from battle with timbrel, dance, and song (J. K. Hoffmeier, Evangelical Commentary on the Bible). Well here, the women led by Miriam sing and dance before the Lord, the mighty warrior of verse 3. And Miriam, with a word from God as a prophetess, commands every believer to “sing to the Lord…” In verse 1, Moses and the people of Israel say, “I will sing to the Lord.” It’s their testimony. But here in verse 21, that testimony of a few becomes a command for all believers—“sing to the Lord.” So, sing to the Lord, because He has triumphed over all your fears, as well.
Bryan Stephenson is author of Just Mercy and founder of an organization that tries to help those unjustly convicted of crimes. He was trying to free a man who was clearly innocent, because about a dozen people had seen him when he allegedly committed the crime. However, none of his alibies were allowed in the courtroom because they were black. So Stephenson complained to the judge, who reluctantly allowed Stephenson to admit a few of the eyewitnesses.
He chose Mrs. Williams, an older black woman, to represent this group. But there was another big problem: a huge German shepherd stood guard outside the courtroom. When Mrs. Williams, who was deathly afraid of dogs, saw the dog she froze and then her body began to shake. Tears started running down her face before she turned around and ran out of the courtroom.
Later she said, “Mr. Stevenson, I feel so badly. I let you down today. I was meant to be in that courtroom. I should have been in that courtroom.” And she started to cry. She told Mr. Stevenson, “I wanted to be in there so bad. But when I saw that dog all I could think about was Selma, Alabama 1965. I remember how they beat us, and I remember the dogs. I wanted to move and I tried to move but I just couldn't do it.” Then she walked away with tears running down her face.
The next day her sister told Stevenson that Mrs. Williams didn't eat or talk to anybody all night. They just heard her praying all night long the same prayer: “Lord, I can't be scared of no dog. Lord, I can't be scared of no dog.” The next morning, she walked up to Stevenson and said, “I ain't scared of no dog. I ain't scared of no dog” and then she walked right past that huge German shepherd into the courtroom.
The courtroom was packed when the judge walked in and everybody rose and sat down—except Mrs. Williams. She told the entire courtroom in a loud, firm voice: “I'm here!” And her testimony turned the tide for the whole case (Lauren Spohrer, Phoebe Judge, and Eric Mennel, “Just Mercy, Episode 45,” Criminal Podcast, 6-17-16; www.PreachingToday.com).
God delivered her from all her fears, and He will do the same for you if you look to Him.
If you want to be truly free, 1st, rely on God’s surpassing power, 2nd, recognize God’s splendid holiness, and 3rd, follow God’s sovereign guidance. Then you will experience God’s glorious triumph. Then you will have something to sing about!
Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
