Sometimes we just need to be quiet if we want to understand what God is doing! We need to have the confidence and assurance that God is acting for justice and goodness. The Lord is working, even now. In times of trouble. Amidst all the challenges and chaos, amidst all our circumstances!
Those Red Sea moments we all have, when we realize that we cannot go back, and we find ourselves in fragile, if not fearful, situations. Betwixt and between! Even besides ourselves! Frustrated! In these moments, whose word will we believe – God’s or Pharaoh’s?
It is interesting that in this passage Pharaoh keeps changing his mind. Earlier, he changes his mind about if he will pursue or not pursue Moses (Exodus 14:5-6). One minute he is “on” the next he is “off.” Indeed, throughout the first part of the book of Exodus, Pharaoh does not know what to do. Plagues come and go. Warning signs are everywhere, but Pharaoh does not listen. Only after the death of the first-born does Pharaoh wake up (Exodus 12:29).
But the Israelites are not always listening and trusting either. They are just as stuck as Pharaoh is! After all, they want to go back to Egypt! So whom do you believe? Moses? Pharaoh? God? Whose your news source going to be?
Perhaps God’s response to Moses can give us a clue about whom to believe when God says to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to go forward, and let me do the rest! (Exodus 14:15).
And Moses and the people trust what God says, and where there is no way, God provides a way! God reveals God’s glory for all who have the eyes to see and ears to hear: In the struggle between good and evil, God’s word is always going to be the last word. A reminder that the Pharaohs of this world will always end up at the bottom of the sea. God’s Word remains, providing a way where there appears to be no way. It is how God works because it is who God is!
Therefore, no matter what you may be facing. No matter where you find yourself. No matter who you are! No matter how you got here. There is a Word of Truth: There is a Reality in this world that speaks to hope, love, trust, justice, righteousness. There is One who is not only for us and with us, but One who has gone before us (Exodus 14:19-20), One who will lead us – if only we will listen and follow.
The word of the Lord! No ifs, ands, or buts about it!
Pastor Andy Kinsey
Those Red Sea moments we all have, when we realize that we cannot go back, and we find ourselves in fragile, if not fearful, situations. Betwixt and between! Even besides ourselves! Frustrated! In these moments, whose word will we believe – God’s or Pharaoh’s?
It is interesting that in this passage Pharaoh keeps changing his mind. Earlier, he changes his mind about if he will pursue or not pursue Moses (Exodus 14:5-6). One minute he is “on” the next he is “off.” Indeed, throughout the first part of the book of Exodus, Pharaoh does not know what to do. Plagues come and go. Warning signs are everywhere, but Pharaoh does not listen. Only after the death of the first-born does Pharaoh wake up (Exodus 12:29).
But the Israelites are not always listening and trusting either. They are just as stuck as Pharaoh is! After all, they want to go back to Egypt! So whom do you believe? Moses? Pharaoh? God? Whose your news source going to be?
Perhaps God’s response to Moses can give us a clue about whom to believe when God says to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to go forward, and let me do the rest! (Exodus 14:15).
And Moses and the people trust what God says, and where there is no way, God provides a way! God reveals God’s glory for all who have the eyes to see and ears to hear: In the struggle between good and evil, God’s word is always going to be the last word. A reminder that the Pharaohs of this world will always end up at the bottom of the sea. God’s Word remains, providing a way where there appears to be no way. It is how God works because it is who God is!
Therefore, no matter what you may be facing. No matter where you find yourself. No matter who you are! No matter how you got here. There is a Word of Truth: There is a Reality in this world that speaks to hope, love, trust, justice, righteousness. There is One who is not only for us and with us, but One who has gone before us (Exodus 14:19-20), One who will lead us – if only we will listen and follow.
The word of the Lord! No ifs, ands, or buts about it!
Pastor Andy Kinsey
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