Exodus 14 - When Faith and Fear Collide

Hey, I'm going to invite you this morning to Exodus chapter 14 where we're going to be together today. Exodus chapter 14, thinking what is a a very significant passage of Scripture and encouraging us in our relationship with the Lord. This is the, that that moment in the chapter of Exodus where the children of Israel have been set free from slavery, from bondage in Egypt. And they've now gone on this journey of freedom with the Lord. And when you get to the very end of Exodus 13, God tells him he's going to direct them on this journey cloud by day, fire by night, and where God is leading them to go. And it's not too far into this journey that they find themselves trapped. They find themselves trapped between the Egyptian army and the sea, and they're despairing of life. And the in the midst of that fear, it starts to, to to lead them down a path that God does not intend for them to go.

And if we look at this particular chapter as Moses is writing this, one of the things I think is important for us to keep in mind that The children of Israel in Exodus chapter 14. They've lived this out, but Moses is writing this to future generations to say, learn from us as a people, as we face this, this particular circumstance, because what God, I think would desire to encourage you in, in the midst of, of a challenging moment or a challenging season of life is that it's truly for God's children, not a place to despair, but a place to see opportunity in how the lightness, the light of God can shine brightly in the midst of your circumstance. Right? It's like, as Winston Churchill said these in the darkness of days, the greatest of light can be seen. And that's true certainly in your relationship with the Lord, that we often find ourselves as people in moments where we might we might feel trapped in our circumstance and in feeling trapped. The, the, the, the emotions of fear can well up within us. And we start to despair. And the the challenges of which we find ourselves, rather than see it as a a beautiful opportunity and what God could do through our lives. And fear can often become this prevention from us, pursuing the path that God has called us on. And rather than follow after the Lord, we find ourselves going back to a life of slavery rather than freedom in Jesus.

And so what does it look like for us as followers of God? Seeing this example that that Moses lays out for us to learn from, from the path of the children of Israel in Exodus 14. And when we we feel trapped in life, how can we find freedom in Jesus? And so we're titling this when, when faith and fear collide, what can we do as, as God's people? Well, let me give you a number one in your notes and we'll dive in this together. Number one is this my battles are not a surprise to God. My battles are not a surprise to God, even though fear might encourage me or prevent me from pursuing the path that God has called me on, it is important, as we face those adverse moments, to remember this. My battles are not a surprise to God,

and you see this as he starts to lay it out for us in Exodus chapter 14, starting in verse one, he says, then the Lord said to Moses, tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pieroth between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal. Zephon you shall encamp, facing it by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, they are wandering in the land. The wilderness has shut them in. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. And I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his hosts. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And they did so.

And from the very beginning God. God is acknowledging the. The challenge that Israel is facing in the midst of the circumstance. Right. Trapped between the sea and the army. But God is. He's sharing with us three important observations. We should should recognize in what God is saying to the children of Israel. Number one, God's recognizing that he knows exactly where Israel is, right. This is not a surprise to the Lord. The circumstances that they're facing, this is this is not certainly not a surprise to what God has directed them on this path. I mean, he's the one that's called them to these particular places where they now find themselves trapped between the army and the sea. So God knows exactly where they are. It's important for us, when we face challenges in life, to remind ourselves of that, that God is sovereign, that the circumstances of which I find myself are not a surprise to him. He promises to go before me and walk with me. Right. And so for the children of Israel, God has certainly dictated the places in which they're finding themselves because God is leading them cloud by day, fire by night. So God is he's not he's not surprised by their circumstances. He knows exactly where they are.

And God already knew exactly what Pharaoh would do, And God said to the children of Israel. Pharaoh's heart is hard, and I know how he's going to respond to this moment, but I don't want you to be surprised by his response. In fact, I want you to recognize that I'm going to leverage this for his glory. You might despair in thinking that there is no way of escape, but for me, this is no shock, and I'm going to determine exactly what my will is in the midst of these moments for my glory. And this is critical for for all of us, again, to recognize, right when we face challenges. These are not beyond God's possibilities of what what he will do in the midst of our circumstance. And so for Pharaoh, in the hardness of his heart, it's not a surprise to God. God's not looking at this thinking, oh man, I thought I was good. And now Pharaoh's Pharaoh's army is too much for me, right, God? God knows exactly how Pharaoh is going to respond.

And, you know, we've we've talked about the hardness of heart as it's laid out in the book of Exodus and what this means. One of the things I think is important for us to note as as far as responding in this moment is that God's not taking an innocent heart and saying, in this poor, innocent heart, I'm going to harden this heart to do what I want. The Bible has already told us that when it comes to Pharaoh's heart, Pharaoh's heart is already hardened towards the Lord. Pharaoh's already got a guilty heart and God is saying, no matter how much someone might want to war against me, no matter how much someone might want to stand against me, that this doesn't prevent me from accomplishing my will in this world. God is sovereign above the difficulties that life might bring. And in those challenges, God's going to work out his will for his glory.

Now this becomes important for us to consider. Where am I in that scope? Because whether whether it's a heart that's for God or a heart that wants to oppose God, God is ultimately going to get his glory over all of it. And you want to make sure you're on the right side of God's grace and not in the path of the wrath, right? So. So how do I find myself under the the mercy and grace of God rather than under the wrath of God, so that I recognize, no matter what every knee will bow to the Lord, he ultimately will get his glory. And there's no enemy that might come against him, that will thwart him from his plan.

So here, here you see the children of Israel. God certainly knows where they are. God certainly knows where Pharaoh is and exactly what Pharaoh will do. And God has a purpose in their predicament. God's going to demonstrate his glory and make himself known. This is this is not some accident that Israel has just wandered into some dangerous situation. God is not surprised by their circumstance and. And even if they were to walk in disobedience like God. God would already know what they were going to do before they do it. Same for your life. Like the path that you've taken with with in this world, whether it's with God or against God. God's not been surprised by any of it, and he still chose to pursue you with his own life, to give his life for you at the cross, that you might find forgiveness and redemption in him. So? So God's not shocked by anything we might choose to do, and he's certainly not shocked by by the steps that the children of Israel are taking.

In fact, if you were to look in chapter 13 and of the book of Exodus in verse 17, we're reminded God told the children of Israel to get to the place that he was calling them to, that that there was an easier route they could have taken. Right? God could have just let him ride along the the ocean and God could have got him to the to the place that he was ultimately calling them to. But the point of the book of Exodus isn't primarily about a destination. The point of the book of Exodus is really a reminder to all of us that God's purpose for our life is not to simply get you to a place, but God's desire for your life is that you would walk with a person because God has ultimately created you for a relationship with Him And God is. He's identified for them that he's taking them on a particular journey in order for them to learn about the sufficiency of who he is, as they place their trust in him and learn what it means to entrust ourselves to him. And so God is being very intentional in the areas in which he's leading them, so that they begin to learn exactly who this God is as they're growing in their relationship with him.

Guys, we could say it's the same for us. And God and our circumstances, our circumstances aren't aren't place are places to despair, but opportunities to learn about the greatness of God in our lives. Now, now, let me just say this and be careful in in how this is portrayed. Like sometimes we might face difficult circumstances in our life, and someone might look at someone else and say, you know, the Lord did this for you because he knew that you were stronger than me. And, and that's why he brought you to this place. And I want you to know you're not God. And that is not an appropriate thing to do for someone else to determine as if you were God. Why? Why certain circumstances happen in their life. But but we do want to recognize that our God is a glorious God, capable of using that for his glory. And he will. You know, it's amazing that if you've ever been around a believer who has walked through certain challenges in life, and it seems no matter how many challenges they've gone through, the sweetness of Jesus just drips from them. Because the goodness of who God is is just made known. They've never lost sight of that. And God is helping the Israelites see this. My, my battles are not a surprise to the Lord.

But at the same time, we need to we need to learn this. Number two, when fear is followed, faith is forgotten. When fear is followed, faith is forgotten. This is what happens in the children of Israel as they. They're starting to see their predicament. Rather than recognize the God who is walking with them, cloud by day, fire by night, they start to focus on their circumstances, and they allow their circumstances to determine who their God is, rather than their God helping them think through their circumstances.

And so in verse nine, if we skipped a little bit ahead, it says like this the Egyptians pursued them all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, and his horsemen, and his army overtook them, encamped them at the sea by. And Baal zephon. And when Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes. And behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly.

Let me just say this as we move forward, I want you to know that when you look at a message like this, when we recognize the children of Israel are are in fear that it would be a farce for me to to propose some idea that, you know, if you just had enough faith, you would never have fear again. What's wrong with you? You know, let's just look at Exodus four and just cast all fear aside for the rest of our lives. That's that's not possible. That's never going to happen. We're all going to have fear and circumstances that we experience in this world. But what's important is what you do with that fear, right? Because what he's saying to us in the very end is they feared greatly. And what he's saying is they're giving a greater reverence for the circumstances they're facing in life rather than the God that they follow. And therefore, this fear is determining their path rather than the purposes for the God for which they were created, or in the God for which they were created. And so doing, they're following a path of disobedience. And any time in life you have a great fear. What

you need is an even bigger God. This is why the Bible calls us to fear the Lord. What it means is you need a greater reverence. It's not to say in life you aren't going to have challenges, you're going to have challenges. But in the midst of those challenges, we need to be reminded that we serve a sovereign God and his glory will be made known. And I belong to him.

But, but with the children of Israel, it tells us there's a couple of things they do. Here they lifted up their eyes. And it's not just saying, oh, they looked and they just noted to themselves, there's an army over here. It's saying that they became very fixated upon it. They they were beholding this army. Israel lifted up their eyes. And rather than the cloud by day, fire by night presence of God, who was with them, who is certainly demonstrated his authority and power over these false Egyptian gods by by the plagues, rather than that lead them. They're giving their attention to to something else. And this has, has, has become their their fixation, their focus in their life and their circumstances have become more prominent to them than the presence of their God.

Maybe it becomes a good place for us just to pause for a moment and reflect. Maybe ask the question in our lives, what's stressing you out right now? What's got you worried and concerned? What pressure are you feeling? Is it is it by a person? Is it by a circumstance? What's determining the course of your life? Is it is it the situation around you? Or is it a God who goes before you? For, for Israel, they're they they've been captivated by something else. And that something else is dictating the, the faith that they're placing in and the course of their action. And it says, and they, they greatly feared.

Now, let me just say I don't necessarily think their fear was irrational in the sense that they see the Egyptian army. And if you imagine what it would be like to be an Israelite in this circumstance, I think it's better to view them as tourists on the beach than anything else. And now they are finding their lives trapped between the beach and this army that is one of the greatest military powers of the day. And so there's there's certainly a place for fear in the circumstance. Their danger was real. But the problem was not they they recognized the danger. The problem was that they they evaluated the danger with. Without adequately considering the greatness of of their God, you know, and because of that, it's certainly leading them down a different road than what God intends.

In fact, the Bible reminds us over and over again, that is the tendency of all of us as people, And we face adversity. The. The challenge that we experience in adversity is to give ourselves over to the fear of the circumstance rather than the greatness of God. It's like we have to recalibrate and just reorient ourselves to to who we are in light of who God is, to be able to move forward.

In fact, in the book of of Peter, in First Peter chapter four, Peter writes to the church that's facing persecution. And in verse 12, he says it like this, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you, to test you as though something strange were happening to you. And saying to you, you should not be surprised that in a broken world full of sin, that that you're going to experience challenges in that world. So don't be shocked by that. But what's more interesting is what he says in the very next phrase he says, but rejoice in verse 13. Rejoice. You think about it. When's the last time you've done that? In the midst of a challenge in your life that you weren't surprised, but rather your reaction was to rejoice. And the reason he says this, he says he goes on further and says, because you get to share in the sufferings of Christ. Now, I don't know about you, but if there is a sign up for that in the church, I will not be the first one on that list. Right? Like. But rejoice because you, you get to partake in the sufferings of Christ.

But here's, here's what he's teaching us is that this becomes the first opportunity for you to demonstrate whether or not your faith has any substance. It's easy to say, I follow God when life is is going your way, but it's in the challenges of my circumstance that I have the opportunity to evidence the faith that I profess in a Jesus who is my ultimate hope. And so he says to us, rejoice in that. And he goes on and says this, and be glad when his glory is revealed. So he's reminding us that no matter what this world brings towards you, that you have ultimately a greater hope. And because of that, we as God's people never have to despair in any circumstance in life because we will always get the victory. Whether it's in this life or what is to come. Because this is as bad as it gets for those in Christ Jesus. And because of that, we get to live with great anticipation in all that awaits us in the Lord.

But nonetheless, as as the children of Israel, they lift up their eyes and they. They greatly fear in the midst of their circumstances. It goes on from there, and it begins to to demonstrate for us how the. Their faith when it's when it embraces this fear, it really ultimately distorts what they have in the Lord. Fear. Embrace distorts our faith. And it goes on in verse ten and it says, and the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and we may look at this and say, oh, thank goodness, they're they're exercising faith here, right? Here they are in this the circumstance. They know it's hard, but they're crying out to the Lord. But the next few verses just show us there's not a lot of substance to the faith they're expressing, because in verse 11 they said to Moses, is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you will take us out to the wilderness to die? And he goes on, what have you done to us and bring us out of Egypt? Verse 12, is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians. For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.

So in the midst of of this fear, you start to see how how they begin to distort the faith because this this fear of their circumstance is taking precedent. You see, at the beginning there they distort their understanding of God's intentions. They're saying, oh, we know really what's happening here. Moses wasn't enough just to let us die back in Egypt. You wanted to get us out into the wilderness so no one would hear from us again and just leave us here for dead. Right. They're just all worked up over the circumstances. And you just rationalize this for the children of Israel. What they would have to believe to embrace this is how how big this fear would have to be in their life that, yes, there's a God who promised that he would deliver them. He sent Moses to be his messenger for their deliverance. He declares his identity over Egypt by bringing about the ten plagues. He ultimately brings them to this place of freedom and promises to lead them cloud by day, fire by night, only to get them to the side of the sea and be like, you know what, guys? This is getting a little difficult. I'm just kind of getting tired of this. I'm going to just, you know, you do you. And I'm just going to take a step back and just kind of leave you here. So it's been fun. But peace out guys. I'm out of here. Right. That's what they're projecting this moment. It's like I know it like God is leading me. And finally, in this moment, this moment is going to be the moment.

And and we have the tendency to do the same. Like you think this is this many redemption story of Israel. But we might even in challenges we face in our life, paint our faith in a similar way, like God promised from the beginning of Scripture that he would bring a deliverer to, to, to save us and, and lead us in a path of freedom in him to find a future and a hope. And, and not only did he promise that he did it by giving his very life, and he. He suffered under the. The wrath of God and. And conquered sin, Satan and death to get to this place in life where, as I've put my trust in him, he's finally looked at me and I've got to this one circumstance where Jesus is now saying, you know what? You know what? This this is too much. I'm going to I'm just going to work with my other people and I'm just going to I'm going to leave you in this moment, right? Like we, we have the tendency, like, we may not say that we believe that, but when fear takes precedent of our life, that's what we're declaring that I know better than God. And I'm going to give more reverence to the circumstance than the greatness of who this God is and his glory declared over me

and the children of Israel start to distort in their fear, their understanding of God's intentions. And more than that, their fear distorts their memory of the past. I think in Exodus chapter two, it tells us towards the end of the chapter, they cry out to God because of where they find themselves as slaves in Egypt begging for rescue. And then in Exodus chapter three, it says, God declares to Moses that he's heard the cry of the children of Israel. And then in Exodus chapter five, it tells us that Pharaoh puts such pressure on the people. They can't even perform up to Pharaoh's expectation. But now they say, it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians, because the fear in this moment feels too overwhelming for them. They would rather be slaves trapped in the past, walking in the presence of the goodness of God. In these moments.

And not only that, fear distorts their understanding of the future. Reminds us, you know, God. God can bring us out of bondage, but it's something else to get the bondage out of us. And God can bring us to this place of freedom, but we also need to learn what it means to walk in that freedom in him. And God is intentionally leading Israel down this path for them to understand exactly who he is, so that their lives trust him by faith. And, and these moments, all they can consider is two possibilities. Death by the sea or death by the army. But all they see in the circumstances are just those two possibilities. Their faith because of fear can't possibly consider that with the Lord. There's a third possibility.

And God's. Even with us, we face challenges in life, and sometimes we despair in those challenges, and we let other people dictate the steps that we take or the circumstances we experience determine my pursuits. Rather than looking at the greatness of who our God is, and realize that this God has done so much for us, why would I ever expect he would give up on me now? Just like the children of Israel we have, we all have that that tendency to to start to follow these other paths and, and let fear dictate us rather than our freedom in the Lord. And we find ourselves imprisoned to the things of the past, despairing in our struggles, rather than trusting in the sweetness of our God trapped by the sea. We do it so easily.

And if I could just give you an example, if someone would say, well, just give me one, right? I just say, all I have to do is rewind to Tuesday, that every time there's an election, I already know what's going to happen. Like we get closer to election season. I already know if someone's going to come up to me. And don't worry, this is nobody here. Okay? Someone's going to come up to me and say to me, pastor, and I don't care if you think your side won or didn't win this week. It doesn't matter what election, what the results are. It just always happens. People start to get all worked up. Pastor, I really I need you to do a series on prophecy revelation. You know, sometimes we start thinking all about the end times. I need you, I need you to do this. And like, here's what here's what we're thinking in the state of mind typically right now. And please, please know, if you said something to me over the last few weeks, I don't even remember. Okay. I just know this is generally how elections go. Okay. If someone comes to me and says that and here's what they want, they're like, teach me how this is the end and we probably need to have some bunkers built, you know, probably need to hunker down. We just need to get ready.

And I just want you to know, we've been in the last days since the resurrection of Christ. Okay. And like when you look at when you read the book of revelation, let me just let me just tell you what we love to propagate fear for, for us as, as, as just people in general. We just, we, we, we tend to fear sells, right? Just watch the news if you don't know. Right. But fear sells. And we even take that into a book like revelation. We're like, oh, this is the end, you know? But here's what I want you to know, man, every generation that's known this book has existed has looked at that book and said to ourselves, we're the last ones, right? Like, we got 20 centuries of Christianity. This is how we've treated it. But here's, here's what I want you to know. This book is a book of victory and a book of worship. The whole theme of revelation is to tell you, you. You win, right? So rather than despair and fear, no matter what the challenge you bring in life, you walk forward and hope. And the brightness of who God is shines far greater in the midst of those challenges than anything else.

That's why the Bible tells you in First John chapter four, greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. Or second Timothy, chapter one, verse seven. God doesn't give you a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind. It's to say to you, we don't despair in darkness, but we walk with hope because we know in whom we have believed. And no matter how challenging my life might be in a moment, and I'm not telling you what you're going through in life isn't important. It definitely is. But I want you to know there is a way we can move forward and it with such confidence. It doesn't. Doesn't make my challenges unreal. It doesn't doesn't mean that it isn't hard, but it does mean I am a person always with hope. Because there is a God who goes with me and before me.

I don't know why we do this as Christians, but we have this tendency to to panic in circumstances as if like the devil's going to get you. If you belong to Jesus, you belong to Jesus. And that doesn't mean you shouldn't take spiritual things seriously. You certainly should. You, of all people, should understand the significance of what the enemy desires to do. He. He moves around. First Peter five. Like a lion seeking whom he may devour, I mean his. His purpose for your life is is to destroy you. But then there's. There's times in life we can get so fixated on things as if you forget that Jesus is still on the throne. And I'm not saying this against you, I'm obviously talking about someone else. But if we really if we really believed what God says about himself in Scripture, I can't help but think it would radically transform our homes and the place in which we live. Right? Like, it's like Christianity should be thriving around the world. If if Christians truly believed in what what God says now, it doesn't mean that we we can dictate circumstances or we can get people like Pharaoh's hearts around the world to change. But we can thrive in our relationship with Jesus where we are. We don't have to despair because of who God is.

And I give you one more example. Like I could say, you know, for my kids as a father of four, I could teach my kids all day long. Things to be afraid of. Look out for these spiritual boogeymen, right? But. But more important than that, what I really want them to see is the greatness of who their God is and thrive in that relationship with him. In the 1980s into the early 2000, there was this this period in Christianity where it's been dubbed now, as they say, as as the Satanic panic, where Christians became really obsessed about specific things and that it would get your soul. And if you weren't careful, you got to be careful with these things because they'll get you. And look, I want you to know if you if you're if you've been a Christian for years and you got swept up in the Satanic panic, I'm not I'm not trying to like cast stones at that. I mean, there were prominent Christian leaders that said things that as followers of Christ, if we just kind of Revere leaders, you could quickly get sidetracked into all kinds of just random weirdness.

And, and even I remember before I was a Christian, there was this thing called Teletubbies. And I remember seeing a prominent Christian leader get up and tell everybody you gotta be careful with these tubbies, because one of them's demon controlled. And if you watch your kids watch these tubbies devil's gonna get their soul right. Like, and I didn't even I didn't even know what a Teletubby was. I probably would have never known what a Teletubby was. But now that I saw this guy on national news saying this, I'm like, I got to investigate. So I probably embarrassed to say I watched more episodes of Teletubby than I should have because I'm like, I'm bewildered by how they're possessed by demons. And I started to watch Teletubbies just to see what this person is talking about. And, and then being demon controlled, I have not figured it out yet, but but if you want to know which one in particular could get you, it's the purple one. Okay. The purple tubby purple tubby has got you.

But but like I want you to know, it went it went much further than that. Like it wasn't just Teletubbies. There was this obsession in Christianity where people were saying, you got to be careful. And if I just gave you a picture of that real quick, like you got to look out for Smurfs. You got to look out for Carebears. Like, I don't even know how you could go against a carebear. I mean, their name literally says care, right? Like He-Man. God for, God forbid, He-Man. A guy that's a warrior for justice. You don't want to promote that in your homes, right? Like and I'm not telling you, I'm not telling you. Look, that, that it isn't important to have discernment in your life. There is, there is an importance of discernment, right? And like even Procter and Gamble, there was a time where people were like, if you looked at the logo of Procter and Gamble, I know some of you are going to do this later, but if you looked at the logo of Procter and Gamble, there was a point where the this isn't the real logo, it's just a knockoff logo. But they had at one point a guy with a beard. And if you looked at his beard, it had some curls in it. And people would look at that and be like, they wrote six, six, six and them curls, like they said, like you can't use the shampoo because it's demon shampoo and you get it on your brain. It's going to get in your soul, you know? Like you gotta look out for that stuff. And then we got obsessive even like bar codes and credit cards. It's all going to get you. Demons are in it all.

And look, I don't and I'm kind of joking about this stuff. And I don't want us to take lightly spiritual things. They are important. But but I do want you to know this, that if you get obsessive about random things, it's hard for people to take you serious when when you're talking about important things, right? And, and someone's whether or not someone uses a credit card is not as important as, does your life belong to Jesus? Whether or not you watched a cartoon and like, maybe someone can tell me. Today I watched an episode of The Smurfs and I got I got roped into demon worship. Like, if that is you, you will be the first I've ever heard of. And if that happened, I am sorry. And I'm not telling you like now. This means you can play with as many Ouija boards as you want. I'm not. You shouldn't do that. Right? I'm not. I'm not trying to promote that.

But but I can tell you, like, sometimes I'll meet some young people that want to go full time in a ministry and they want me want to ask me as a pastor, like, what's what's a piece of advice that you could give me so I can make an impact for Jesus in this world? And I generally say one at least one thing to everyone, which is this you want to follow after the Lord. You want to make a difference. One of the best things you could do moving forward is don't be weird. Just don't be weird. Like you can get obsessed about just some of the weirdest things and go down some obscene, like wormhole of stupidity. And then when you do that, people are going to listen to anything else that you have to say that might actually be consequential, consequential to the state of their soul. Right? If you got a wormhole, just keep it. Just hide it. Right. But you get what I'm saying, right? The significance of who God is is far more important in our lives, and the victory belongs to him. And there's so many things that can distract us from the sweetness of what you have in Jesus. But it's it's that that should be prominent in our lives as as we pursue him, not whether or not you play rock music backwards, right? The greatness of God made known.

So let me give you point number three then. Number three, when faith is followed, fear fails. When faith is followed, fear fails. And Moses just gives this this next few verses, verse 13 and 14. I would just say, is that that moment of reminder of just reorienting ourselves back to in the midst of a challenging moment. What is it I need to look at? Because there's so many things that want to distract me. There's so many worries. I can have so many little Smurf things in life that can pop up. Like, what is it that needs to take precedent? And Moses says it like this. And Moses said to the people, fear not. Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you only have to be silent.

I love that the battle you see today will be gone tomorrow, but what will stay is the greatness of who your God is. And sometimes it's just so easy. He can. He can even happen in the midst of of adversity and relationship tensions building. You feel like someone is challenging you and welling up within you. Is that fight or flight moment, right? Just like the Egyptians next to the sea. And God says, be silent, Don't fear. Stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord. It's a way of asking us right now, like, what's dictating me? Is that fear welling up? Do I feel the need to fight or flight in this moment? But rather than that, can I just solidify myself and and who God is and what he's already done for me? I mean, children of Israel, you've seen what God has radically done to bring you to this place by the sea. How could you think that this God would abandon you now? It's the same for us. We'd stand firm like you've seen the greatness of this God and the salvation he's brought. He's given his literal life that you can be forgiven and freed in him if you would trust him by faith. Why would we then live our lives as if it's up to us? It's not about picking yourself up by your bootstraps. It's about resting in him. Letting God be our defender.

There was a couple of decades ago, there was this moment in my life where an individual was facing some adversity, and I was in the circumstance of the adversity they were facing. And somehow in that challenge, they start to they started to see me as an enemy. And I don't I don't want to get into the details, but I didn't do anything wrong. They just they just projected some assumptions on me. And this challenge they were facing, and they, they wore it internally like they think they, they really believed inside that I had done something that was offensive to them. And emotionally they wore that. And in their anger, they started sharing with other people, just maligning me with other people. At least I thought that they were sharing this with other people. And I got upset by it. One, because this person I counted as a friend and I hadn't done anything wrong, but I was upset that I thought my friend was upset. And and then I thought, man, if my friend's upset and he's saying things to other people like now these people are going to believe something that's not true. And welling up within me was this. Want to just get on the mountaintop and shout out to everybody. That's not me. That's not what I did. Right? Like I've lived in this moment with with character. I want to continue to live my life with character. But I wanted to to defend my, my integrity. I wanted to defend my reputation.

And I remember the first couple nights I was just up all night just thinking about it. I was like, man, I don't think I'm getting ulcers by how much this is stressing me out. And then I just decided all in one night as I was, I think going to bed the third night, I just decided, you know what? I've done nothing wrong. And regardless of what people think about me or not, if I try to call everybody, people are already going to be convinced one way or another in their own mind. And so rather than try to defend my reputation, Lord, I'm, I'm just going to keep following you and godly character and just let you be my defender. And it became so much more comforting for me. I could just lay my head down at night and just not worry, because I knew that what was being stated was not true. And I just, I just wanted to walk with the Lord and let things work themselves out. And lo and behold, they did.

And this particular individual that was so worked up in months had passed. And finally they started to do the same thing in other areas. And people started to see that. And, and in seeing that, began to recognize that if there was any accusation brought against me, it just didn't hold any water because it wasn't consistent with who I was. And you started to see this person manipulate other circumstances in the same way, because I would say for all of us, we all face that temptation, right? Like someone has a thought about you or the decisions that you should make and the path that you should follow. And they might even respond in a way that's just it's not honoring, it's not good. And it certainly maybe even affront to, to your reputation, maybe even an attack on your character. But if you by faith, just follow the Lord. Walk with character. God works those things out. And the children of Israel are learning in this circumstance. Fear not, stand firm. And rather than walk in your strength, see the salvation that only the Lord will bring. All you have to do is be silent.

Now Ephesians four says it like this. Verse 27, give no opportunity to the devil. If

I gave us in this last blank here, I gotta wrap things up. The last is this. In your notes. God makes a way when you cannot see one. God makes a way when you can't see one. In verse 30 it says this. Thus the Lord saved Israel, and he saved him that day from the land of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel, verse 31, saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

That's incredible, right? Like their God continued to be faithful. You read in chapter 14 verse ten, Israel fears the Egyptians. But here you see at the end of the story that they. They needed a. They needed a greater fear. And that fear, that reverence was resting in the Lord. And in that Lord, they they learned to to believe. When I have a big problem, I need an even bigger God. And it's not to say that the problem isn't real, but the problem doesn't determine your destiny. The Lord does. And in him you're secure.

So you see the the children of Israel in this story, and you see them next to the seashore, and you see God delivering them. And we might look at that and say, that's so wonderful, but what about me in the circumstance I'm facing, where do I, where do I see that deliverance? And we would just say, well, you've got the ultimate rescue. And the answer for us is always the cross of Christ. Now here in this circumstance, that God had already done so much to get Israel to where they were by the sea, and he definitely wasn't going to give up on him at this point. And the same is true for you. You might be facing challenges in your life, but it's important to see what the precedent that God has laid for us, that we can rest our faith in him, that he's declared from the Old Testament, what he's going to do for you and being your rescuer. He became flesh and gave his life by by taking the wrath of the father on the cross, that you could be forgiven in Jesus and walk in freedom in the newness of life in him. You literally get the righteousness of Christ and the temporal circumstances you find yourself in today can't thwart that God, that God loves you to the point he became sacrificial for you, that you could find freedom in him.

When you look at the difficulties in front of you, are you interpreting God through your circumstances or are you interpreting your circumstances through what God has revealed about himself? You know,

there was this moment for General Patton in World War Two, where I believe he was in Italy and another military leader came to visit him, and they doted all over him in an awkward way. And, and talked about what a great leader he was. And he was a he was a powerful individual and he could do so much. And he he moved without fear. And, and General Patton said this. I am not a person that moves without fear. In fact, I'm a coward. He said there's never been a gunshot that I haven't heard in battle or a battle that I've seen where I didn't become afraid and my palms began to sweat. But. But later on in his autobiography, he said it like this. I learned early in life never to take counsel from my fears. It's not to say fears aren't important and that we won't have them, but there is something greater.

You look at a story like this. It should be a reminder to all of us about how fragile we we really are as people, and how much I need to really keep my eyes on Jesus, even when the Lord's right beside me and promises to to go before me. My attention is so easily diverted away from the greatness of of my God. And I can lose sight of of the power that I have in him as I rest in him. And he even makes me prayerful to. To the Lord God, please let my eyes rest on you.

And maybe you're here this morning and you've allowed other people to dictate the path you follow. Maybe circumstances are weighing heavy on your shoulder and you're looking at the sea or the army more than you're looking to the to your God, maybe, maybe that that's played so much into your life, whether it's people or circumstances. You've never taken a moment to look at Jesus, who's given his life for you and saying, Jesus, you are my hope. You are my salvation. God forgive me of my sin. God be my great deliverer. Rescue my soul wherever you're at in life. Exodus 14 is that beautiful passage that reminds you. Do not let anything but God alone determine your course.