Will You Do It?

Will You Do It?

Exodus 14:1-16 Luke 18:18-23 Luke 5:1-11

1/13/2018

There is a question that we have to answer probably a thousand times a day without even thinking about it. The reason is, there is always something seeking our attention saying, come follow me. How many times have you sat down to do something, and all of a sudden something else caught your attention, came to your mind, appeared on your computer screen, flashed across your phone saying come do this or pay attention to me and you have to answer the question, whether or not you are going to do it.

In can guarantee you, in 2019 there will be thousands of times you will hear, “will you do it.” There are many times when we find ourselves in situations in which we face a problem in life, and we say, “if only I knew what God wanted me to do” as though “if we knew it, we would do it.” How many of you know that it is not always the case? Part of the problem is actually choosing to do it. Most of us know enough of God’s will to carry us through a lifetime, but we are not convinced that we want to do God’s will. We automatically know its going to cost us something.

In our Old Testament Reading , God had delivered the children of Israel out of the ruthless hands of the Egyptians, who had made them slaves for 400 years, beaten them, abused them, and even murdered some of them. They were so glad when God delivered them, and the Egyptians told them get out of country and take whatever you want with you. Now that they were on their way to the promised land, God led them and Moses up to the Red Sea as part of the journey.

Once the Egyptians got over their fear of the God of Israel and reality began to sink in of everything they had lost, and, they realized their slave labor was gone and so were their possessions. They knew where their gold and silver and clothing were. They decided to go and bring the people back and make them their slaves all over again. They thought this would be easy because with the sea in front of the people, and the Egyptian army behind them, they would trap them from behind.

When God’s people realized the Egyptians were coming after them with soldiers and chariots, they panicked. They did not have swords and spears or an organized army. They knew God’s will was for them was to go to Canaan. But the Red Sea was in front of them, and the Egyptians were closing in from the rear.

They were afraid because they didn’t see a way out. How could they continue to plan to go ahead to the Promised land. Some of them wanted to form a negotiating committee and see what terms they could arrange to go back to Egypt where they had been beaten and abused. We should never be so afraid of the future that God has for us, that we go back into an abusive situation. It’s not God’s will for you to be in an abusive relationship with anyone. Don’t let your fear of the future of leaving, keep you from going forward. Here is where the church has to be the church in helping those who are willing to take a step to escape.

Moses tried to calm the people down by telling them if you stand firm, you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring to you. Standing firm does not mean doing nothing. God told Moses to tell the people to move on. They had to keep moving toward what they thought was hopeless, in order to experience the miracle.

God wanted to grow their faith just like he wants to grow ours. They had to decide if they were going to do it? Now the pragmatist wanted to negotiate with Egyptians for a settlement. Of course it would mean slavery. The revolutionaries, wanted to organize to fight. Of course it would mean a suicidal battle they would lose. The timid wanted to just hope for the best. Of course they would have stayed in fear right up to the end. The believers wanted to do what God said, and move on as Moses directed.

The thing is we serve a supernatural God, who can intervene whenever God wants to in our lives. He knows our situation. We are so afraid of the army that’s coming at us that we think we have to inform God about it. God, there is an Egyptian army coming my way. The reality is, it’s God that sent the army just so that we might be delivered and drawn closer to Him. I want us to know, an Egyptian army is headed our way, but God has it under his control.