A Study of the Life of Moses
Sermon # 9
Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place.
Exodus 14:1-15, 21-31
by Dr. John R. Hamby
Have you ever found yourself in a predicament?
We have a lot of word pictures in the English language to describe being in a predicament. We hear phrases such as “you sure have painted yourself into a corner,” of being caught “between a rock and a hard place,” being “up against the wall” or “in a pickle. ” A least one person has defined a predicament as being , “A lawyer who specializes in suing doctors for medical malpractice finding himself in need of major surgery.”
[Charles Swindoll. Moses: A Man of Selfless Devotion. Nashville: Word Publishing, 1999). p. 211.]
Moses and the people of Israel found themselves in such a predicament. The Israelites found themselves trapped between Pharaoh’s Army and the Red Sea. I hope that after today’s message you are not like this little boy.
“Nine year old Joey was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday School that day. ‘Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind the enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his engineers build a pontoon bridge, and all the people walked across safely. He used his walkie-talkie to radio headquarters and call in an air strike. They sent in bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved.’ ‘Now, Joey, is that REALLY what your teacher taught you?’ his mother asked. ‘Well, no, Mom, but if I told it the way the teacher did, you’d never believe it!’”
After the death angel’s appearance resulted in the death of all the first born among the Egyptians, Pharaoh finally allowed the Israelites to go free. Exodus 13:18 tells us, “So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.” Moses tells us how God guided the children of Israel in Exodus 13:21, “And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. (22) He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.” The great pillar began to lead the children of Israel in their journey. The pillar took on the appearance of smoke by day and fire by night.
Today’s passage has four things to teach us about God’s Plan’s.
1. GOD’S PLANS ARE NOT ALWAYS LOGICAL
In Exodus 14:1-2, God ordered a change of direction which to many of the children of Israel must have at best seemed strange and at worst, risky and dangerous. “Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: (2) “Speak to the children of Israel, that they turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal Zephon; you shall camp before it by the sea.” The children of Israel were in effect asked to backtrack to go back in the same direction that they had just traveled. Their course was to take a direction which in a very short time would place them with the Red Sea on one side, on the other side trackless wilderness and in front an insuperable barrier of mountains. They were boxed in, there was no escape! It was like running from you life from a gang intent upon taking your life and realizing that you have just turned down a dead-end street. They can’t go back and they can’t go forward. The future looks impassible and the present seems impossible.
But you need to understand that they have been led to the place they now stand, not by Moses, not by coincidental wandering, but by God Himself.
“Often God seems to place His children in positions of profound difficulty, leading them into a wedge from which there is no escape, designing a situation that no human judgment would have permitted had it been previously consulted. The very cloud directs them there. You…, may be involved in a situation like this at this very hour. It does seem perplexing and mysterious to the last degree, but it is perfectly right. The issue will more than justify Him who has brought you there. It is a platform for the display of His almighty grace and power. Not only will He deliver you, but in doing so He will give you a lesson that you will never forget …..”
[F.B. Meyer. The Life of Moses: The Servant of God. (Lynnwood, Washington: Emerald Books, 1996.0 p. 80]
2. GOD’S PLANS ARE ALWAYS MADE IN ADVANCE.
God was not surprised, he knew how it would end before it ever began. In verse three we are told, “For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’ (4) Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD.” And they did so.”
God says to Moses “Now look, here is the plan. Pharaoh will hear that you are wonder back and forth in the desert and he will think, ‘Now is my chance. They are headed back to Baal-zephon, I’ll trap them and they will not escape.’ That, Moses is the trap but it will be a trap for Pharaoh.” God had it all arranged ahead of time, He always does. According to verses five through eight Pharaoh fell for the plan. Pharaoh pursued the children of Israel with 600 chariots. In verse nine we are told “ … and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon. (10) And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD.”
Why did the same Israelites who had just witnessed the remarkable power and deliverance of God now become fearful and begin to murmur against Him? In their defense it should be noted that.
1. Not all the company were Israelites. Exodus 12:38 revealed that a “mixed multitude came out of Egypt with Israel.”
2. Israel had not written scripture at this point in their history to turn to.
3. As slaves they had always lived at the edge of subsistence and were easily given to fear. The text says the Israelites were not just afraid, they were “very” afraid, and I believe that even that does not do justice to the terror they felt.
Israel’s response is to give in to fear. We need to notice what fear does in verses 11 and 12. “Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? (12) Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”
Israel was afraid because they had their eyes on the Egyptians and not on the LORD. Fear causes them to distort the truth, to be ruled by doubt rather than by faith. Their statement that it would have been better for them to have served the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness exhibits a remarkably short memory. But then do not we as believers sometimes act as if we regret having stepped out on faith when we see what is involved?
The Psalmist records in 106:7-8, “Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; They did not remember the multitude of Your mercies, But rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea. (8) Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake, That He might make His mighty power known.”
It is interesting to consider that Israel had trusted God for their deliverance but not for their circumstances. But this is not new. David despaired and said, “I will perish one day at the hands of Saul.” Elijah hid in a cave and asked to die (1 Kings
19:4) . If we are Christians, we have trusted him to save us from sin but all too often we will not trust him with our circumstances.
There are lots of things that cause us not to trust.
1. We are diagnosis with a disease for which there is no cure.
2. We have more month that we do money.
3. We have a child who refuses to do right.
4. We have a spouse that has rejected us.
5. We loose our job.
Illustration
“Gladys Aylward, missionary to China more than fifty years ago, was forced to flee when the Japanese invaded Yangcheng. But she could not leave her work behind. With only one assistant, she led more than a hundred orphans over the mountains toward Free China. In their book "The Hidden Price of Greatness," Ray Besson and Ranelda Mack Hunsicker tell what happened: "During Glady’s harrowing journey out of war-torn Yangcheng ... she grappled with despair as never before. After passing a sleepless night, she faced the morning with no hope of reaching safety. A 13-year-old girl in the group reminded her of their much-loved story of Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. "But I am not Moses," Gladys cried in desperation. "Of course you aren’t," the girl said, "but Jehovah is still God." When Gladys and the orphans made it through, they proved once again that no matter how inadequate we feel, God is still God, and we can trust in him. When the situation seem impossible, just remember to have a personal confidence in God, practice obedience to God, and understand that God has a purpose in all the experiences we have with Him.” [Gerald Nash. “When the Situation Seems Impossible” Sermon Central.]
3. GOD’S PLANS DO NOT NEED YOUR HELP ONLY YOUR OBEDIENCE
God’s answer through Moses to the murmuring Israelites is found beginning in verse 13, “And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. (14) The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”
God’s instructions through Moses are four-fold.
1. “Fear Not.” He instructed the people first of all not to be afraid.
2. “Stand Still” might be better understood to say, “Stand firm” – reflecting faith and confidence in the delivering power of Jehovah.
3. “Watch” – Moses says “see… what the Lord will accomplish for you today.” God does not need your help. You don’t need to fight, you need to stay out of the way. Just watch Him work.
4. Keep silent – “hold your peace.” Often the hardest for us to do is this, because we feel that we just have to tell somebody about the predicament that we are in. But the only one who can do anything about our predicament already knows, He is waiting for us to look to him and be silent. All of these instructions are directed to natural human responses to panic. First, we are afraid. Second, we run. Third, we fight. Fourth, we tell everyone who will listen.
God nows speaks to Moses and says in verse fifteen and sixteen, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. (16) But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.”
Literally God told Moses stop praying and start moving. There is a time to pray and when we have direction we need to stop praying and start moving.
4. GOD’S PLANS ARE NOT LIMITED TO WHAT IS HUMANLY POSSIBLE
In verses 21 and 22 we read, “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. (22) So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.”
Some attempt to explain away the miraculous aspect of the crossing of the Red Sea. One popular view is that the Israelites crossed in a generally shallow and marshy district which had been cleared of water and made dry by the natural action of a strong wind. The difficulty with this naturalist reasoning is if this were indeed merely shallow water, it is difficult to see how the Egyptians could have been drowned.
How wide an area was provided for the crossing is not given in the text. But here is something to think about. To get the three and one half million Israelites through the Red Sea in one night was quite a feat. “If they were to go through the Red Sea double file, that double file line would be eight hundred miles long, and it would take 35 days and night to get through. So, they had to have a space in the Red Sea that was three miles wide, so they could walk 5,000 abreast. By walking five thousand abreast they could get through in one night.” [Fabulous Facts ‘N’ Figures, Theodore H Epp.]
The conclusion of the story is told beginning verse 23;
“And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. (24) Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the LORD looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. (25) And He took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.” (26) Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.” (27) And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. (28) Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. (29) But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. (30) So the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
The return of the water brought an end to the Egyptian force that had committed itself to the pursuit and destruction of the children of Israel.
Verse 31 reveals, “Thus Israel saw the great work which the LORD had done in Egypt; so the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD and His servant Moses.”
Conclusion
What I want you to see in closing is that coming to the Red Sea is just as much a part of God’s plan as crossing it. A predicament in God’s hands is only a highway to the Promised Land.
Why does God allow these predicaments to happen in our lives? Because it often takes these tight place to get us to look up to Him for our help. “It may be that you have developed a rather materialistic lifestyle. Like Moses, and the children of Israel you have rubbed shoulders with folks in Egypt most of your life. You work with Egyptians. Think like Egyptians. Read Egyptian newspapers. Listen to Egyptian music. Do commercial battles with Egyptian entrepreneurs. You’re in the competitive world of the Egyptians, so its only natural that you react like them.” [Charles Swindoll. Moses: A Man of Selfless Devotion. Nashville: Word Publishing, 1999). p. 223.]
