Saturday 9 December 2017

Exodus 14:13,14 - 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. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace."

To give a little bit of context to these verses, the Egyptians are in hot pursuit chasing down the Israelites and it comes to the point where the Israelites are facing a seemingly impossible situation. They are backed up against the Red Sea and there’s nowhere else for them to run. The Israelites are so frightened, they start to cry out to God, then they turn to Moses in their panic and ask an obviously sarcastic question: “Did you take us out to the wilderness to die because there were no graves in Egypt?” Now lets take an account of what’s going on. God tells Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, and in the process of this happening Pharaoh decides to take his massive army to chase after them. The Israelites end up backed into a corner with an army nipping at their heals ready to kill them all. Now, Moses is looking at this impossible situation and to add to the problem he has the pressure of his fellow Israelites upon him. If I were in that situation, I can’t be too sure I’d react the way Moses did.“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. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” Moses remained calm and responded in faith. Moses did not panic because he knew that the Lord was going to provide a way for them. Moses fully trusted in the Lord even though all odds were against him. Moses did not shrink from the occasion because he knew that his God was bigger than any problem he could face. After Moses told the people to be still, God spoke to Moses with further instruction and through Moses’ faithfulness, God parted the Red Sea and allowed the Israelites to pass on dry ground and crushed the Egyptians behind them. That’s a picture of what God did for us through Jesus. As the Israelites passed through the Red Sea, leaving behind the old life they were living, the life of slavery, the life with the Egyptians, that’s just like us leaving behind our old life. Our lives that were once enslaved to sin are no more. Just as Moses put his faith in God, put our faith in Jesus allowing us to walk through the Red Sea and God crushes our sin behind us as we continue to walk forward in the grace that He provides. This opens my eyes to a whole new view of the extent of God’s grace. Sometimes I don’t recognize the gravity of what Jesus did on the cross, and I don’t recognize the absolute destruction that awaited me apart from God’s grace.

Application: Given that I don’t always recognize what I’ve been delivered from, I will write a note reminding me of what I’ve been delivered from and keep it in my pocket for a week.

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