God Will Give the Victory—

But You Must Fight the Battle

The life and legacy of Moses

Dr. Jim Denison

Exodus 14-15

A commitment to the cause of freedom was made by those we will remember in this study. They risked their lives, their families, their entire nation and its survival. And our Judeo-Christian faith heritage is the result.

Where has God rewarded your faith commitment in the past? Think of the last time you trusted his word with your time, finances, ambitions, or relationships. Did he prove himself faithful to you? Where is he asking you to trust him with significant faith today? Even when Pharaoh is behind you and the Red Sea before you, the Lord of the universe is beside you. He may be all we have, but he is all we need.

When you can’t see his hand, trust his heart (Exodus 14:1-20)

There are times when we don’t understand why we’re where we are. We’ve been faithful to God as we knew his will, but hard times have come anyway. A pastor friend of mine looked forward to years of travel and study after his retirement, but died just a few months after beginning this much-anticipated chapter of his life. His widow still wonders why God led them as he did.

Another pastor friend has struggled greatly in a church he knows the Father called him to lead. His previous ministry was filled with joy and success, and he wonders why God has directed him to this place of struggle.

We sometimes find ourselves between an army and a sea, and wonder why. One of my favorite Christian songs includes the words, “When you can’t see his hand, and you don’t understand, trust his heart.” The children of Israel learned its truth, the hard way.

An unlikely route

When God led his people out of Egypt, he did not take them down any of the established roads of the day. He could have selected the “way of the land of the Philistines,” the short route along the Mediterranean coast to Canaan. However, this route was usually used by armies invading Egypt, and thus was heavily guarded.

The Lord could have led his people down the route further south, “the way of Shur” (Genesis 16:7). But this was a caravan route which ran to central Canaan, and would have been heavily guarded as well. Had the Israelites made their exodus down either of these roads, they would have encountered not only the military strength of Egyptian frontier outposts but also fierce opposition from Canaanite armies in the southern part of that land.

And so the Lord led his people in a way none before or after would choose: a road which ended at the western shore of the Red Sea. The exact spot is unknown to us, but the events which occurred at this location would change the course of Western history.

A feared enemy

Not long after the Hebrews left the land of their slavery, the mightiest army known to man came after them (Exodus 14:5-9). Pharaoh understandably interpreted their unusual direction to mean that they had lost their way and failed to find the roads eastward to Canaan (v. 5). Seeing a quick opportunity to regain his slave labor force, he dispatched his soldiers for what he assumed would be an easy military campaign against an unarmed foe.

The chariots he sent after Israel were drawn by two horses; one soldier drove the chariot and held the shield, while the other fought with arms. Their horses were bred for just this purpose. These armed chariots enabled the army to run down any infantry or people on foot. There was no place to hide, and no way to defend themselves. Imagine tanks against unarmed civilians, a Tienamen Square with predictable results.

The Hebrews were understandably terrified (vs. 10-12). They mocked Moses: “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?” (v. 11). “No graves” is the double negative in the Hebrew, literally translated “no graves at all.” The charge was ironic, given the Egyptian propensity for pyramids and tombs.

Then they claimed that they had earlier asked to be left in Egypt (v. 12). There is no biblical record that they said this to Moses when their freedom was close and welcome. Critics always emerge when times are hard.

A trusted friend

In contrast to the fearful terror of the Hebrews, their leader evidenced remarkable faith in their Father and provider. He urged his people to make three decisions, each of them valuable in any crisis. First, “do not be afraid” (v. 13a). Choose not to be paralyzed with fear. Second, “stand firm” (v. 13b). Choose not to retreat from the crisis at hand. Third, “be still” (v. 14) and wait for the power and protection of God.

He promises his “deliverance” (v. 13), a word sometimes translated “salvation”—here it is meant in the literal sense of saving their lives. Later God’s people would come to understand that this deliverance is also spiritual and eternal.

And so the Lord protected the nation until he was ready to provide his final and total victory (vs. 15-19). The pillar of cloud may have used a desert whirlwind, but obviously acted in supernatural ways. Likewise with the pillar of fire, sometimes explained as volcanic activity but also inexplicable apart from supernatural agency.

God’s will never leads where his grace cannot sustain. In a crisis, be sure that you are where God wants you to be. And trust that he will stand at your side.

Stake your life on his word (Exodus 14:21-31)

Now, with the future of the nation in the balance, Moses made a fateful decision. He would not flee from the Egyptian army in retreat, disgrace, and defeat. Nor would he engage in military assault and certain annihilation. Instead, he would choose faith in the God who had brought them this far.

And the Lord proved himself worthy of such trust. The “strong east wind” which came over the Red Sea was no accident, as it appeared the precise moment when Moses “stretched out his hand over the sea” (v. 21). God had already proven his control of this wind with the plague of locusts (Ex. 10:13). Now he would show this power on an even greater scale.

Then the people staked their lives on their commitment to this God (v. 22). The parting of the Red Sea may have utilized some sort of seismic event, but is not explainable only as such. No earthquake in history has ever enabled two million people to cross a body of water to dry ground on the other side. The wall of water on the right and the left also kept the Egyptians from going around them or attacking from their flanks. The Egyptian soldiers had no choice but to follow the Israelites into the Sea.

Having saved his people from the sea, God now saved them from the soldiers. Their chariots bogged down in the same ground which the Israelites had covered with ease (v. 23-25), causing the Egyptians to finally recognize that the Hebrew God was fighting and winning for his people. Then he sent the sea back over the Egyptian army.

A skeptic once claimed that the Red Sea was a marsh only two feet deep, requiring no miracle for the Jews to cross. A believer replied, “Hallelujah! God drowned the entire Egyptian army in two feet of water!”

With this result: all of Israel was saved, while all of the army pursuing them was destroyed. Never in military campaigns does such a victory occur. Finally Israel recognized the greatness of her God and “put their trust in him and in Moses his servant” (v. 31).

Years later, the children of Israel would again be required to demonstrate this kind of faith. The crossing of the Jordan into Canaan illustrates the same faith which was needed on this day of Exodus and deliverance.

As the people broke camp on the eastern edge of the Jordan, they found the river “at flood stage all during harvest” (Joshua 3:15a). The river flows north to south, over 200 miles from Mt. Hermon to the Dead Sea. It plunges nearly 2000 feet down across its journey, but typically flows in a peaceful, meandering stream. However, every year the spring rains and melted snow from Mt. Hermon combined to turn the stream into a raging torrent. The harvest period was roughly between Easter and Pentecost; this event most likely occurred in early April.

Now the people stood before a river which was a mile wide, 12-15 feet deep, rushing by so swiftly that it promised to drown any who stepped into it. The cattle and possessions of the nation would be lost. The children would have no chance to survive. Few adults could expect to live through this flood.

Picture the scene in your mind. The priests take up the Ark, grasping the poles which support its weight. They lift these poles to their shoulders. They march toward the river. They stop. No one speaks. You can hear only the pounding of the water as it rushes by, crashing against the shore. You can feel its spray against your face and smell the mist as it rises.

They don’t have to do this. They can stay where they are, secure and at ease. But they’ll never inherit the promises and power of God. They can try to find their own way across the river, but they’ll likely fail and drown. Or they can step out in faith. And they do.

Instantly, the pounding waters stop. The foam ceases, the spray dies. The river’s roar falls silent. All is quiet and still. And where only moments before there had been a deep, torrential river, now there lies before them a dry bed anyone can cross.

Now the people were required to demonstrate their own faith (v. 17). Would the flood stay blocked? Was it safe to step into the river bed? It would take the nation half a day to cross. Imagine parents with children in hand, all their worldly possessions at their side. What would your response have been?

Theirs was unanimous—the entire nation followed God by faith. They stepped into the miracle. And only when they did, could they see its power and experience its provision. It is still the same with us today.

A group of botanists spotted a rare specimen growing down the side of a dangerous cliff. They asked a local boy if he would climb down and retrieve the flower for a reward. He left for a moment, then returned with a large man at his side. He told the botanists, “I’ll go down, so long as my father holds the rope.” We can make the same decision today.

Give him the glory he deserves (Exodus 15:1-2, 20-21)

A basic leadership principle is: you can do anything so long as you don’t care who gets the credit. In spiritual context we should amend the maxim to read, you can do anything which God wills so long as he gets the glory. He will not share his glory with us.

Somehow Moses and Miriam knew the truth of this principle. The song they led the people to offer God admitted that the victory was not theirs but his. While their faith made it possible to receive his power, they did not earn it. Their deliverance was the gift of his grace alone.

Their praise is instructive for our worship today. First, we offer our song “to the Lord” (Exodus 15:1). Worship is not about us but him. Its success is not defined by whether or not we liked the music or the message, but whether he did. He is the audience of One. When did he last receive your praise?

Second, we remember all he has done for us (vs. 1b, 21). We think of his deliverance past, and trust him for his protection to come. Praise leads to thanksgiving. For what should you be grateful today?

Third, we offer him our lives in personal commitment. Note the personal pronouns: “The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him (v. 2, emphasis added). Martin Luther claimed that the most important word of the 23rd Psalm is the little word “my”: “The Lord is my shepherd.” When we worship him not just as the God or our God, but my God, we have given him our hearts. When last did you place him on the throne of your life?

You and I have experienced an exodus no less real than that of ancient Israel. We have been led from slavery to sin, defeating the armies of Satan and his demons, stepping from death into life eternal. We have been delivered. Give your God the glory he deserves.

Conclusion

Is there a Pharaoh in your life today? An army surrounding you? A Red Sea before you? A complaining multitude coming against you?

At my son’s recent baccalaureate ceremony last spring, the speaker made a telling point: even a dead fish can float downstream. Anyone can go with the crowd, back off when times are hard, give up when opposition comes. It takes courage and character to go against the flow, to trust God when you cannot see him, to stake your life on his word and will, to give him the glory he deserves. But such commitments make possible an exodus from night to day, from death to life.

Are you with Moses today?

God Will Lead—But We Must Follow

The life and legacy of Moses

Dr. Jim Denison

Exodus 11-13

Ronald Reagan’s death was a national event, as it should have been. What was it about him which made such an obvious and enduring impact on our country and people? His role in ending the Cold War and Soviet Communism is well known and appreciated, of course. His leadership in simplifying government and standing for moral decency was significant and inspiring.

But his optimistic charisma may be the first impression people recall from his presidency. Remember the eloquence of his words and spirit, the kind and gracious way he comforted the bereaved, and the confidence with which he challenged the nation and her leaders. Commentators and historians speak often of Mr. Reagan’s connection with the American people. He was someone we felt we could trust.

We all need people whose character we trust and whose leadership we can follow. Those who feel they cannot trust anyone are often subject to emotional distress and significant depression. At a formative time in her history, the nation of Israel found such a Person they could trust with their lives, families, and futures.

The Passover event was to them what the crucifixion and resurrection are to us—the pivot-point of God’s history with humanity. Lessons learned from this event would make and mold the Jewish mind and spirit, and the Western worldview through them.

Where in your life do you need someone to trust this week? What decision requires more wisdom than you possess? What problem is larger than your resources? Where do you need to know God’s protection and providence? The One who freed his enslaved people from the mightiest power on earth now stands on your side. Are you on his?

Passover and the people of God

The Passover event culminated nine other judgments brought by the hand of God against Pharaoh and his people. At each point, it teaches God’s people valuable spiritual lessons as we learn to trust this God as our Lord.

Trust the timing and power of God (Exodus 11:1)

As our text opens, the Lord makes clear the fact that what will transpire comes directly from his hand: “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt” (Exodus 11:1a). The Passover plague was no accident of nature or environment—it was the direct work of the Sovereign Lord of the universe.

This event would reveal not only his power but also his providence: “After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely” (v. 1b). God knew exactly what Pharaoh would do, for the future is the present with him. And he was right: “During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, ‘Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites!'” (Exodus 12:31). We can trust the timing and power of God, for they are always for his glory and our good.

Ask for what you need (Exodus 11:2-3)

When the Lord first called Moses to lead his people from Egypt, he promised that the Egyptians would provide all that the nation would need (Exodus 3:21-22). He kept his side of the arrangement, favorably disposing the Egyptians toward the Hebrews and Pharaoh’s officials and people toward Moses. Now Moses must do his part in leading his followers to ask for all that God meant to provide for them (Exodus 11:2).

These articles would provide economic resource for the nation, but primarily serve as means of worship. (Tragically, they later used some of this plunder to make and worship Aaron’s golden calf; cf. Exodus 32:2). James chastised his readers: “You do not have, because you do not ask God” (James 4:2). John Wesley was convinced that God does nothing except in answer to prayer. So it was that his people were to trust him to provide for them through their Egyptians neighbors. So it is that God still meets all our needs in his own will and way (Philippians 4:19). But we must ask and receive in faith (Matthew 7:7-11).

Follow God as he directs (Exodus 11:4-10)

Next, Moses and Aaron were to go before Pharaoh with the message and warning of this impending judgment. He could not be a God of both justice and mercy unless he gave the Egyptians opportunity to repent of their rebellion. He used Moses to describe precisely what would happen if they refused his will. Only then could he act according to that purpose.

It has been said, “Don’t get ahead of God—he may not follow.” But it is equally true that we must not get behind him. And the latter is more our tendency than the former. So often God must wait on his people to step out by faith, so he can act in power. How many times I have hindered his effectiveness through my life by my own lack of trust in his will. Is there a faith step which God is asking of you this week?

Prepare to see the hand of God (Exodus 12:1-28)

Pharaoh has been warned—now God’s people must be prepared. With some of previous plagues Pharaoh at first relented, then refused to allow the people to leave. He might (and in fact did) do the same with this last plague. So the people must be ready to leave Egypt immediately.

With the Passover, the Lord inaugurated a new calendar for his people. Its first month would be this Passover month. This was the spring time, March-April to us; the Jews would call this month Abib and later, Nisan. Their year would begin with this event, as did their nation.

The people were to find a lamb for the sacrifice, year-old males without defect (Exodus 12:5), then slaughter them at twilight. They next used a hyssop branch to place some of the lamb’s blood on the sides and tops of their doorframes. Absent this preparation, the death angel would take their firstborn as well as the Egyptians’ (v. 13).

They would then prepare a special Passover meal of lamb and bitter herbs (v. 8), and eat it annually to remind their children and grandchildren of this event. As they spent generations in the bitterness of Egyptian bondage, so they would revisit their travails and thank God for their deliverance.

Without these faith preparations, the Hebrews would have experienced the terrors of the Passover deaths, and been marked forever as a disobedient and rebellious nation. But fortunately, “The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron” (v. 28). And their obedience to the word of God positioned them to receive all that his grace intended to give.

What must you do to receive the help and guidance of God? Such faith does not merit his help—it positions us to receive his mercy. You cannot read these words unless you are willing to sit before your computer; your class cannot participate in your presentation this Sunday unless they are present; God cannot give what we will not take. A clenched fist can receive no gifts.

Expect God to keep his promises (Exodus 12:29-31)

Finally the climactic moment came. At midnight the Lord struck down every firstborn in Egypt. Pharaoh’s own son died, proving the mortality and humanity of his family and his weakness before the Hebrew God. The “prisoner who was in the dungeon” (v. 29) represents the other end of Egyptian society; the loss of his son showed that none would be spared but the people of God. Only when the Lord’s power was manifested with such terrible consequence did Pharaoh finally relent and release his people (but note that his stubborn spirit would soon send his armies after them to their doom; cf. Exodus 14:5ff.).

Note his parting words to Moses: “And also bless me” (v. 32). Pharaoh’s first response to Moses’ message was quite the opposite: “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go” (Exodus 5:2). Now this man has seen the Hebrew God in all his power, and finally recognized his own mortality.

In the Passover event, God kept every promise he made to Moses and his people. He had promised that he would use Moses to win the nation’s freedom (Exodus 3:19-20); that he would speak words of power through his lips (Exodus 4:12); that the Egyptians would give them all they might need and more (Exodus 3:21-22); and that his people would “worship God on this mountain” (Exodus 3:12). Now they are on their way to that very place and purpose.

Passover and the love of God

The Passover event presents most readers with a troubling question: how could a God of love command his death angel to kill so many innocent people? Pharaoh and his court knew Moses personally, and made an intentional decision not to surrender to God’s will expressed through his message. However, their first-born sons presumably had no such information or choice. Why would a God of love and justice seek their deaths as the consequence of sins they had not committed?

This problem was not unique to the Egyptians. Remember that the Canaanites had lived in their land for centuries before Joshua and his people came to claim it for themselves. While some in Canaan fought against God’s people and were destroyed as a result (cf. the battle of Ai, Joshua 8:14ff), others mounted no armed aggression against Israel.

The people of Jericho, in fact, retreated inside their city walls and mounted no attack against the Jews. Nonetheless, following divine orders, the Israeli soldiers “destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys” (Joshua 6:21).

The God of Joshua also required a similar kind of wrathful judgment against his own people when they sinned. Following the battle of Jericho, a soldier named Achan took in plunder “a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels” (7:21).

This in direct disobedience to the divine command that “All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury” (6.19). For this sin, the Israeli army was defeated in the first battle of Ai. When Achan admitted his disobedience, he and his family were taken to the Valley of Achor where they were stoned to death and then burned (7:25).

Such vengeance sounds very little like the God who is love (1 John 4:8), the One who would send his own Son to die on a cross in place of our disobedient race. How are we to reconcile the God of the Passover with the Father of our Savior? Five facts may help..

First, the tenth plague was less severe for Egypt than Pharaoh’s edicts had been for Israel. While Pharaoh ordered the death of every male child (Exodus 1:22), the Lord’s decision affected only the first-born children. The Passover was of course disastrous for families across Egypt, but it did not decimate their nation completely. Given Pharaoh’s complete refusal to allow the children of Israel to leave their bondage, this measure was the only means left for God to use.

Second, the Egyptians and Canaanites lived in rebellion against the will and purposes of God. The Egyptians worshiped a pantheon of gods, and made the Pharaoh divine as well. Their idolatry was organized theologically: the Sun God emerged from Nun (the abyss), and created Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture), who in turn produced Geb (earth) and Nut (sky); from them came forth Osiris and Isis, and Seth and Nephthys. These and other gods were worshiped through a variety of pagan rituals. Such idolatry was in direct conflict with the Second Commandment and the holiness of the one true God.

Likewise, the Lord had predicted that Abraham’s descendants would claim the land when “the sin of the Amorites” reached its “full measure” (Genesis 15:16b). This “full measure” of sin was attained by the Canaanites in the generation leading to the Jewish conquest.

Moses warned his people about these sins they would encounter upon entering the Promised Land: “Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead” (Deuteronomy 18:10-11). He stated that anyone who practices such sins is “detestable to the Lord,” and explained that “because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you” (v. 12).

Those who were conquered by Joshua and his armies were not innocent victims, but sinners who received the judgment their transgressions had warranted.

Third, the Promised Land belonged to God before the Jews left Egypt to claim it or the Canaanites established temporary residency there. It had always been his plan to give this land to the descendants of Abraham: “In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here” (Genesis 15:16a).

The Lord did not take from Canaanites that which was “theirs”—he reclaimed that which was his according to his foreordained purposes. And he brought his people from Egyptian slavery as part of his larger plan for their lives and ours.

Fourth, the blood retribution practiced by ancient tribal culture required the Jewish armies to destroy the sons and soldiers of their enemies. Otherwise, the son was obligated to seek vengeance for the death of his father. This fact pertained more to the Canaanites than the Egyptians, but it related to both cultures. Such unrest and hostility would have persisted throughout the nation’s history, with no possibility of peace in the land. What appears to be genocide was actually the typical way wars were prosecuted.

And fifth, in these formative early years of Israel’s history it was imperative that the people be kept from the influence of sinners without or within their nation. The holy God who gave them their land would uproot them from it if they rebelled against him (Deuteronomy 28:63-68). This warning came to pass centuries later at the hands of Assyria and then Babylon, and ultimately in the national destruction wrought by Rome in the first century after Christ.

God had to bring severe judgment against Pharaoh and his family and nation, so that he might free his people from their slavery and idolatry.

The Passover not only showed the Egyptians that they must bow to the Hebrew God—it also showed the Hebrews that theirs is the one true Lord. The death of animals sacred to the Egyptian gods as well as sons showed all people that only God is God. Given the Egyptian fixation with death, and the promise of its priests that they alone could guarantee the dead a safe passage to the next life, the tenth plague proclaimed in the strongest possible terms that all must make the Hebrew God their Lord.

Likewise, God had to judge the sin of Achan, lest he and his family spread the cancer of their disobedience within the nation. And he ordered his people to destroy all they found within Canaanite civilization, lest it continue to tempt them to disobedience and eventual destruction. We find similar severity during the formative years of the Christian movement in God’s judgment against Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11).

God does not change. But his purposes are fulfilled in different ways at different times in redemptive history. Justice required retribution against a sinful Pharaoh and his people, and against the sinful Canaanite civilization. And his salvation plan required a purified nation through whom he could bring the Messiah of all mankind. When Christ came, Moses’ and Joshua’s leadership of conflict and conquest was fulfilled.

Now we are taught to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors (Matthew 5:44). Not because God has changed, for such love proves that we are “sons of your Father in heaven” (v. 45). Rather, because such love expresses his grace toward us and all mankind.

Conclusion

The Passover lessons we have discussed today would become crucial to the children of Israel in coming years. Again and again they would have to learn to trust God’s timing and power, to ask for all they would need, to prepare to see his hand of might, and to expect him to keep his promises. When they forgot these lessons, they fell into idolatry and sin. When they remembered them, they followed God into his purpose and grace.

It is the same with us. Where do these Passover lessons speak to your problem and need today? What will you do to make God your Lord this week?

God Will Meet Your Needs—But First You Must Ask

The life and legacy of Moses

Dr. Jim Denison

Exodus 16-18

As I write this commentary from my study in Dallas, Texas, I have just been to church in England. The Methodist Church of Great Britain has started the Internet’s first virtual church: churchoffools.com. I was able to slip electronically into a worship service, sit in a pew, listen to a sermon, and participate in conversation.

The “church” still has some problems to work out—one user named himself “Satan” and began cursing at the pulpit, and the first “live” sermon was interrupted when the minister’s computer crashed. But organizers believe their effort has enormous potential. Only seven percent of Brits regularly attend church services, but 68,000 visited the Church of Fools in its first two days.

Churches these days are more intentional about meeting the needs of their members and communities than ever. According to recent surveys, the number of Americans who claim no religion has doubled in the last ten years. More and more congregations are trying new strategies to interest and attract unchurched people.

D. L. Moody was right: the message must never change, but the method must always stay relevant. Entrepreneurial, creative ministries and worship services have a significant role to play in reaching the unreached.

The problem with need-centered innovation, however, is that we can learn to rely on our methods more than the message. We can trust our creativity, our new programs and strategies, our buildings and resources. But only the Holy Spirit can change a life, convict of sin, convert sinners, transform homes, or do anything else which is eternal. Only God can meet the deepest needs of our hearts and lives.

What needs are most obvious in your life this week? In the hearts of those you will teach this Sunday? Are you tempted to bring your hurts to God only after you have been everywhere else? To ask him to bless your solutions rather than seeking his? To seek his guidance only after yours has failed?

Even the omnipotent God of the universe cannot give his children that which they will not receive. The Hebrews learned faith lessons we still need to remember today, if we would welcome by faith the help and hope our Father longs to give. For each event there is the complaint of the people, the provision of God, and the principle for our lives today.

Turning bitter water sweet (Exodus 15:22-27)

Four principles will guide God’s people to trust his provision for our needs. The first teaches us how to find God’s help in transforming pain to promise, making bitter waters better. It may be that you are dealing with a painful family conflict, a dead-end work environment, or a debilitating physical challenge. How can God transform and use our present frustrations for his glory and our good?

The complaint

The Desert of Shur (also known as the Desert of Etham, Numbers 33:8) was located in the northwestern part of the Sinai peninsula, just east of the Red Sea. It was not unusual for a travel to wander for days there without finding water. For this reason, travelers typically kept to the road by the Mediterranean Sea, or used trade caravan route to the south.

But as we saw in the last study, such a travel route would have led the Israelites into organized opposition from the Egyptian military outposts and Canaanite guards. And so the Hebrews began their travels across an arid region where water was difficult if not impossible to find.

There may have been two million people in this exodus. After three days, their stores of portable water have run dry. And three days is the longest our bodies can typically survive without water. Their families and livestock are in danger of dying from dehydration in the hot sun and arid climate.

So the people “grumbled” (the word means to murmur or complain) against Moses: “What are we to drink?” They found a spring (known as ‘Ain Hawarah today), but its waters were too bitter to drink. And so their spirits turned as bitter as their water.

The provision

God knew their need before they did. He did not bring them this far to leave them. He knew precisely how he would give them the water they must have. And he showed his provision in a miraculous way.

“Moses cried out to the Lord” (v. 25), which is exactly what we must each do when the need arises. Moses didn’t try to solve the problem himself, or ask God to bless his decision. He went to the Father first, as his consistent response to trouble (cf. Exodus 15:25; 32:30; 33:8; Numbers 11:2, 11; 12:13; 14:13-19).

And God gave him a divine answer: “the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet” (v. 25). This may have been a barberry tree, often used by modern Arabs to cover the mineral taste of the bitter spring at ‘Ain Hawarah and make its water palatable. Whatever means he used, God provided for their need by his grace.

The principle

Here is the lesson God wanted his people to learn: “If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you” (v. 26).

The Lord further proved his provision by leading the people to Elim (called Wadi Gharandel today, seven miles to the south of ‘Ain Harawah), where they could camp near abundant water. He could have brought them to Elim first, meeting their need in this natural way. Instead, he chose to turn the bitter water sweet to demonstrate his provisional power to his people.

Jesus made the same point to his disciples: “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:31-33).

So long as we follow God by faith, he will meet all our needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). But we must follow by faith. No shepherd can lead his sheep where they will not go. Even God cannot give what we will not receive.

Where do your circumstances need the transforming grace of God? What bitter waters must become sweet? Give your problem to God first, and do what he says. There will always be a log at hand, and a spring nearby. With God, Marah leads to Elim.

Giving this day our daily bread (Exodus 16:1-7)

Sometimes our problem is that our present circumstances need to be transformed. Our marriage needs to be healed, our job made better, our health improved. But sometimes we are in places where we have nothing to transform. No job to make better, no family to encourage. The Greeks had a word we translate “poverty” which meant to have nothing extra. But they also had a word for “poverty” which meant to have nothing at all. Some of us know how the latter word feels.

The complaint

Now the people have moved on to the Desert of Sin (v. 1), in the southwestern area of Sinai. “Sin” is most likely derived from “Sinai” (and does not refer to moral failure, despite generations of preaching against the “wilderness of sin”). Now the problem is not water but food. Again the people “grumbled” against Moses and Aaron (v. 2), wishing they were enslaved but fed in Egypt.

A year later the people would again complain about their lack of food, and remember fondly their Egyptian diet: “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic” (Numbers 11:4-5). In contrast to such abundance, they are now in an arid climate where no food appears to exist.

The provision

The people were looking down and around, when God wanted them to look up. The Lord promised Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you” (v. 4). And he did—quail in the evening, and bread in the morning (v. 13). The bread took the form of “thick flakes like frost on the ground” (v. 14). The Israelites had never seen anything like this, and so they asked, “What is it?” “Manna” is the name they therefore gave the bread, for the word means literally “What is it?”

Speculation has centered on the nature of this substance. Some point to the granular honeydew which results from insect secretions on the desert floor. Others suggest that the Tarfa, a species of tamarisk, produces a juice which could become granular and gain the appearance of this substance.

But the “manna” was heretofore unknown to the Israelites, suggesting that it was a new and unusual substance. The fact that it would appear when they needed it, and in twice the daily amount in preparation for the Sabbath, suggests that the manna was divine in origin as well as provision. They were given this food for the forty years of their wilderness wandering, until they reached the ample resources of Canaan (v. 35).

The principle

God intended a spiritual result from his physical provision: “In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions” (v. 4). He could have provided all they would need for months to come, but chose to give them their “daily bread” (cf. Mt. 6:11). He intended to give them enough on Friday to last through Saturday, so they would not be required to work on the Sabbath. And he wanted to see if they would trust him each day for their needs that day.

Unfortunately, many failed the test. They kept provisions longer than God instructed (vs. 19-20); and some went out on the Sabbath to gather bread, but found none available (vs. 27-30).

God still wants his people to learn the same lesson: we must trust our Father for each day as each day comes. “Tomorrow” does not exist. It is just a word, an expectation, but not a reality. Even God cannot help us with what does not exist. We should plan for the future but live in the present. And trust God for our needs as they arise, day by day.

All the while, remember the lesson of the manna: when you are so far down you can’t look anywhere but up, you’re ready to see the hand and hope of God.

Finding hope in hard places (Exodus 17:1-7)

There are times when we find ourselves in circumstances which need to be transformed, and times when we have nothing to transform but must receive all we need from God. And there are places in our journey where the answer to our need is found in an act of obedience which transcends all logic.

When God asks us to risk it all with a step of faith which seems foolish in the extreme. As strange as it was to throw a log into the water, or to collect manna and quail provided providentially by God, what came next required a level of faith which Israel would long remember.

The complaint

The people continued their pilgrimage through the Sinai peninsula, camping at Dophkah, then Alush, then Rephidim (Numbers 33:12-14). Again they found themselves without water. Again they complained (the word this time is “faulted” in the Hebrew) against Moses. Now they were almost ready to stone him, the last step in rejecting a Hebrew leader (v. 4). And again Moses brought their complaint to God.

The provision

The Lord instructed Moses to take an action which no one had ever attempted, for obvious reasons. He was to stand before the entire nation, with some of the elders of Israel at his side. Taking his staff in his hand, he was to strike the “rock of Horeb.” God promised that “water will come out of it for the people to drink” (v. 6).

If it did not, Moses would play the fool before all of Israel. And a people on the edge of mutiny would likely cross the line into anarchy and revolt. The very future of the nation, and of Moses’ leadership and even his life, hung in the balance.

Of course, God kept his word. Some have attempted naturalistic explanations such as a hidden spring now exposed by Moses’ blow against the rock. But note that the water was sufficient for millions of Hebrews and their livestock. Such a rushing torrent would not likely have been held by a rock a man could break with a single blow.

After the nation was given water to survive, it was led to military victory which ensured its continued future. The same rod which turned the Nile to blood, parted the Red Sea, and struck the rock to bring forth water, was now held over the battle with the Amalekites (vs. 8-16). So long as Moses held the rod high, the Hebrews prevailed; when his arms dropped, they did not. So Aaron and Hur helped hold his arms aloft until the people were given complete victory. The God who can turn bitter waters sweet and give manna in the wilderness, can defeat any foe—natural or human.

The principle

Israel would long remember the miracle at the rock of Horeb. Some five centuries later, Asaph would record the event in poetry:

He split the rocks in the desert

and gave them water as abundant as the seas;

he brought streams out of a rocky crag

and made water flow down like rivers

(Psalm 78:15-16; cf. Psalm 105:41; 114:8; Isaiah 48:21).

Moses and the nation learned again that their God could use human instruments to do divine work. This One who could bring water from a rock would also part the flooded Jordan river, lower the towering walls of Jericho, and defeat the mightiest of Canaanite armies. He would defeat a giant with a stone’s throw, and a lion’s den with prayer.

But only when we trust his power. Moses had to strike the rock before God would bring forth water. The rod was no more necessary to the rock than it was to the Amalekites. It was God’s way of showing his people that the power was his, not theirs. That faith receives all that God wants to give. That his provision is available by grace to all who will trust his love.

What rod is God asking you to grasp? What rock is he calling you to strike?

Learning to trust God in his people (Exodus 18)

One last episode in our text is worthy of brief consideration. As the people multiplied into the millions, a system of laws and courts was required. Moses is the trial, judge, and jury for their every problem and need. They do not yet possess written Scriptures to guide their decisions, and so turn to Moses for God’s word on every subject.

Just then Moses’ father-in-law Jethro provided timeless help for all who seek to lead effectively: “You must be the people’s representative before God, and bring their disputes to him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people…[to] serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you” (Exodus 18:19-22).

Consider five keys to spiritual leadership, each as essential today as it was when Jethro first suggested it.

First, represent God. Live in such a way that they can trust the God they see in us. We cannot lead people farther than we are willing to go, or give what we do not possess.

Second, intercede for them. Bring their disputes to God. Do not seek to solve their problems in your wisdom but his.

Third, teach them to know God personally. Teach the decrees and laws of God. Don’t give spiritual fish—make spiritual fishermen.

Fourth, model what you teach. Show them the way to live, by the way you live.

And last, delegate to capable servants of God. Find those men and women who have proven by their faithfulness that they can be used effectively by God. Delegate responsibility and authority as God directs.

Such administrative structure was as crucial to the nation’s survival and health as the physical provisions God gave through manna, quail, and water. Our Father cares about our emotional health as much as our physical needs. We can trust him for both.

However, his answer is often found in his people. We are the body of Christ, his hands and feet. When we give God our need, we must be humble enough to allow him to meet it with other people. To be open to their guidance as his, to their provision as his providence. We who teach and lead others spiritually are typically more comfortable giving than receiving.

If Moses had refused to receive Jethro’s advice and the people’s help, it is likely that he and the nation would have slid into chaos and perished in the desert. Lest the same happen to us, let us learn to trust God in his people.

Conclusion

What needs would you trust to God today? Would you ask him to transform your circumstances, or to give you something from nothing? Would you trust him to use your human frailty to bring miraculous provision? Would you be humble enough to allow him to use his people to help your hurting heart?

This week’s lesson is all about trusting God to meet our needs in his way, by his timing and means. It is about receiving in faith all that he wants to give in grace. It is about waiting on the Lord and trusting him to keep his promises. And waiting can be the hardest spiritual discipline of all.

The Catholic priest and theologian Henri Nouwen was one of the spiritual mentors of this generation. Not long before he died in 1996, he described the kind of faith we are considering today.

He had become good friends with some trapeze artists, who explained to him the very special relationship between the flyer and the catcher. That’s a relationship the flyer would want to be very good, I would think.

As the flyer is swinging high above the crowd, the moment must come when he releases the trapeze and arcs out into the air. He is suspended in nothingness. He cannot reach back for the trapeze. There is no going back. But it is too soon to be grasped by the one who will catch him. He cannot accelerate the catch. In that moment, it is his job to be as still and motionless as he can.

“The flyer must never try to catch the catcher,” the trapeze artist told Nouwen. “He must wait in absolute trust. The catcher will catch him. But he must wait. His job is not to flail about in anxiety. In fact, if he does, it could kill him. His job is to be still. To wait. And to wait is the hardest work of all.”

Are you waiting on God? Or is he waiting on you?