Can you imagine what it must have been like to be one of the ancient Israelites being led out of a life of slavery in Egypt? They had spent their whole lives in servitude, but were finally free. They were powerless to save themselves; Egypt seemed to have all the power. But God was anything but powerless. He rescued His people, displaying more and more of His strength to the Egyptians until Pharaoh finally let God’s people go.
Perhaps some were singing and dancing. Maybe others were still a bit shell-shocked at the whole thing. But they were on their way, and it seemed like everything had changed. They had decided to trust God, and discovered that He is eminently trustworthy!
But sometimes things that seem to be going well suddenly come crashing down all around us. Trusting someone else can be hard when life is tough.
In Exodus 14, we read that God told Moses to lead the people of Israel back on their tracks, and to have them camp between Migdol and the Red Sea. And it was here that the Israelites experienced their great escape faltering and falling all around them. On the one side of them was the sea. On the other side, they saw Pharaoh and his army come to drag them back into slavery by force. There was nothing they could do. They had been willing to trust God and leave Egypt – but against a situation like this, what could be done?
We’re told that they cried to the Lord for help. But they also complained to Moses: “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Did you bring us out here in the desert to die? We could have died peacefully in Egypt; there were plenty of graves in Egypt. We told you this would happen! In Egypt we said, ‘Please don’t bother us. Let us stay and serve the Egyptians.’ It would have been better for us to stay and be slaves than to come out here and die in the desert.”
They had taken a risk in following Moses; they had taken a risk in following God. But now that danger loomed, it seemed that their fears had all been justified. Yes, life as a slave was terrible – but if they had kept their heads down, couldn’t they have at least died in something resembling peace?
The temptation right there and then was to run away. To try and protect themselves and their families. To be self-sufficient. Maybe one or two groups might escape unscathed?
In their fear, they forgot something important: God is not weak! The Israelites thought they were in trouble; but God actually had it all in hand. The start of Exodus 14 tells us that God actually arranged for this exact scenario to occur! He had it all in hand, and knew exactly what He was doing. Listen to how Moses encouraged the frightened people: “Don’t be afraid! Don’t run away! Stand where you are and watch the Lord save you today. You will never see these Egyptians again. You will not have to do anything but stay calm. The Lord will do the fighting for you.”
The Israelites had a choice to make. Would they surrender themselves into God’s hands, or would they run and try to save themselves?
Trusting God was, as it turns out, the right answer! 😄 The story continues with the parting of the Red Sea, the traversing of it on dry ground by the Israelites, and the watery demise of Pharaoh and his army.
This year at church we are working our way through the 12 steps of being apprenticed to Jesus. Step 1 is realising our weakness. Step 2 is recognising God’s strength. Step 3 is all about actually surrendering to God.
Having a theoretical understanding of our weakness and God’s strength is one thing. It’s quite another to choose to trust God when life seems tough. It’s easy to speak of God’s strength being enough when we don’t actually have to rely on it. Ironically, though, it’s when life seems hardest that we so often try and assert our control over our lives. It’s a self-defence measure; a deeply ingrained belief that we need to look out for ourselves. But what if we decided instead to trust God? What if He actually, in practice not just theory, is stronger than we are?
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