Perhaps you have heard one of the following expressions or maybe you have used one of them personally. “Up the creek,” “in a jam,” “in a pickle,” “painted into a corner” or “between a rock and a hard place.” Each of these phrases sends the same message, someone is in a mess, and they find themselves in a situation that the chances of getting out of it are slim to none. When you find yourself in this type of situation, your anxiety level is through the roof and hope quickly begins to fade. In our text the Israelites find themselves in such situation. God’s miraculous display of power in Egypt has caused the Egyptians to throw them out of the country. With a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, God has led His people to the banks of the Red Sea. It seems like the plan is coming together beautifully. However, there is one slight glitch, Pharaoh and his officials have begun to weigh the ramifications of their hasty decision. They realize that if they do not get the Hebrew people back, they will be forced to do manual labor, that thought is definitely not too appealing. So Pharaoh decides to send the army out in hot pursuit. Despite witnessing firsthand the power of their God earlier in Egypt, when they see the approaching army coming up the rear and the Red Sea in front of them, they panic. Human logic tells us that they are in a hopeless situation. However, when God is involved there is no such thing as a hopeless situation. Today, we are going to examine the Hebrews’ Red Sea experience and discover some principles we can apply to our lives.
I. Time to pack them up and move them out.
A. The people have been hoping for this day to come for the last four centuries.
1. On the 430th anniversary of Jacob entering Egypt more than two million Hebrew people pack up and leave Egypt.
2. The people moved out of Egypt in an orderly military fashion and we learned they were also armed.
3. Apparently the Hebrew people got some weapons as well in Egypt to protect them against any resistance they might encounter.
4. As Yahweh leads His people out of Egypt it is a time of great celebration as the people leave the bonds of slavery behind them.
5. The people also took with them the bones of Joseph on this journey to the Promised Land.
B. The people still will have a lot to learn about their God and the new life that He has called them to.
1. The people have lived in Egypt for more than four centuries so undoubtedly they picked up some the Egyptian customs and moral standards which would prove to be problematic as the Hebrews began their new life.
2. God had called His people to be different, to live a lifestyle that reflected His righteousness.
3. When the people arrived at Succoth God taught His people by giving four sets of instructions through Moses.
a. The people received additional instruction regarding the celebration of the Passover.
b. The people received instructions in regard to the celebration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
c. The people received instructions in regard to the firstborn of men and animals.
d. God gave them the directions in regard to their journey.
4. God made sure that the people in the Hebrew camp would know that He was always with them by providing them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar fire by night to guide them.
II. More than just another day at the beach.
A. God has a very surprising wrinkle in His plan to deliver the Hebrew people.
1. God chooses to take His people to Sinai via the long away around rather than the shorter more direct route.
2. Too further complicate matters God tells the people to turn back and the reason was to make Pharaoh think that the Hebrews were lost and wandering around aimlessly.
3. This change of direction took them right back into the heart of Egyptian controlled territory.
4. God told Moses that Pharaoh would pursue them at that point and that He would use this event to bring Himself the glory once again.
5. The Hebrew people without a doubt were probably trying to make sense out of this latest set of directions.
B. The Egyptians realized that it wasn’t such a good idea to send the Hebrew people packing.
1. The Egyptians reconsidered their decision realizing that it was a bad idea to let the majority of the nation’s workforce leave the country.
2. Pharaoh receives word that Hebrew people’s divine help had run out and they were sitting ducks in the desert. With that news God had set His trap for Pharaoh.
3. Once again Pharaoh’s heart hardens and He sends a formidable military force to bring the Hebrews back to Egypt.
4. The force was led by 600 of Pharaoh’s best chariots. Each chariot would have been manned by a driver, an archer and an officer.
5. Pharaoh obviously is not taking the situation lightly and he fully intends to retrieve his nation’s labor force.
C. When everything seemed to be falling apart the Hebrew people choose the normal course of action, they panic.
1. The question at this point is simple, “Did God have a reason for putting His people in such a bad situation.
2. The Hebrew people would face battle conditions in their conquest of the Promised Land. This divine victory over Egypt’s military would let the people know that God would be with them in all the military encounters that they would face.
3. The problem is that when the Hebrew people surveyed the situation and saw the Red Sea in front of them and the Egyptian army coming up the rear they assumed that there was no way out.
4. Moses receives the brunt of the Hebrew’s fear as they lash out at him for getting them into such a mess.
D. God once again steps in and shows that He has the situation well under control.
1. With the criticism flying Moses remains calm and gives the people three simple directives.
a. Do not be afraid!
b. Stand firm and you will see the Lord’s deliverance.
c. Stop, relax and let the Lord do His thing.
2. This is the high point of the Exodus story as Moses’ stretches His staff out over the sea and God begins to work. The Hebrew people were about to be delivered from the Egyptians once and for all.
3. No one would have seen this coming…God parts the waters of the sea and provides His people with an unbelievable escape.
4. The Egyptians believed if the Hebrews can do it, we can do it. So they enter the sea in pursuit.
5. After all the Hebrew people had crossed the sea, Moses turns around and stretches out his staff and the walls of water come crashing down on the Egyptians.
6. The Hebrew people witness their God striking one final blow to send the Egyptians down in defeat.
E. God delivering His people results in His people worshiping.
1. God delivering His people this day had to be an incredible sight, especially since nobody expected it.
2. The bodies of their Egyptian pursuers began to wash up on the shore. More than likely this served two purposes.
a. To reinforce the faith of the Hebrew people in their God.
b. Josephus writes that the Hebrew people collected armor and weapons from the dead Egyptians.
3. As the people surveyed the situation and the results of their God’s protection they feared Him and put their trust fully in Him.
4. The best way to summarize all this is to simply say, “Because of all the God had done they worshiped Him.
III. Four important principles we can take from the Hebrews’ Red Sea experience.
A. God uses these “between a rock and a hard place” experiences to help us rid ourselves of old habits.
1. Over the course of our lives we develop spiritual blind spots in our lives.
2. These often come in to form of habits, attitudes and behaviors that we develop that hinder our walk with God and often we are completely unaware of them.
3. God often helps us to deal with them by bringing them to the surface, pointing them out and forcing us to deal with them.
4. Although dealing with them is quite uncomfortable, it is necessary for our continued growth.
B. When we find ourselves in a situation where there is no way out, we must always look up.
1. We often have the habit of relying on ourselves, especially when everything is running smoothly.
2. When we find ourselves in an impossible situation that we cannot do anything about we turn to God.
3. God allows us to find ourselves in these situations to help us learn to fully depend upon Him.
C. The Lord always receives the glory when He rescues His people from those hopeless situations.
1. When we are able to get ourselves out of a difficult situation the temptation is to pat ourselves on the back and say look at what I have done.
2. When God comes through in a situation that left us powerless to do anything, we give Him the glory.
3. The only way for us to fully give God the credit that He deserves is to turn the situation over to Him and trust Him to take care of it.
4. When God works in these impossible situations, we need to understand that He will use the experience to grow us.
D. God rescues His people when He knows the timing is right, not before or after.
1. God is not boxed in by our schedules or circumstances.
2. He sees the whole picture and He knows when the proper time is to act.
3. We can count on the fact that God will deliver us from these impossible situations but not before we have learned the lessons that He is trying to teach us.
Closing:
Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States, was born in 1809. A well-known writer says: "The worldwide interest in President Lincoln, from the time he left his home in Springfield, Illinois to take the presidential chair at Washington in 1861, and the universal and real sorrow for his untimely death on the 15th of April, 1865, are very pronounced. Even to this present day there exists among the different nationalities of the earth a great interest in this wise and benevolent ruler. President Lincoln had endeared himself to the hearts of millions by his human sympathy, great wisdom, and kindly acts toward friend and foe alike in the most critical and difficult periods of the history of the United States, and after his death this was more fully realized and appreciated by all."
When Lincoln left Springfield, in 1861, on his way to Washington to take the Presidency of the United States to which he was elected, he made the following farewell address: "My friends, no one not in my position can appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. Here I have lived for a quarter of a century, here my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. A duty devolves upon me which is greater perhaps than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded except for the aid of Divine providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same Divine aid which sustained him, and on the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support. Again I bid you all an affectionate farewell." These simple words, addressed to his friends and neighbors, plainly show reliance upon God, and indicate a work of God in his soul at that time.
