June 9 - FEAR - Exodus 14:10-11

¹⁰ As Pharaoh drew near,

the Israelites looked back,

and there were the Egyptians

advancing on them.

In great fear the Israelites

… ¹¹ said to Moses,

“Was it because there

were no graves in Egypt

that you have taken us away

to die in the wilderness?”

Exodus 14

 

Do you know the most important of the quote above? It is perhaps what I left out – see the three dots.

 

Why did I leave out a few words?

 

Because this – as I’ve presented it here – is how I’ve always heard this verse.

 

When we have “fear,” how many of us act badly?! We worry. We complain. Instead of looking up and trusting in God, we look down. We rely on self. We depend on human solutions. Yes, when we focus on whatever form of the Egyptian Army is advancing on us, we act badly.

 

Isn’t that what we see in words above? Pharaoh and his army advanced. The people were consumed with “fear.” And the people of Israel looked down, right? They complained to a human, Moses. They said that they wanted to return to the past. But the past was nothing more than the illusion of “better.” It had really been bondage. Slavery. They didn’t really want to go backward, but fear makes us say and do stupid things. (Have you ever been there? I sure have.)

 

But before they acted badly, do you know what they did first? Indeed, do you know what those three dots above represent?

 

Well, let me tell you what I intentionally left out. And we must do this by remembering our pattern …

 

·         The first step is to REALIZE that we are in trouble … and the Israelites were. The Egyptian army was bearing down of them.

 

·         The second step is to CRY OUT … and that’s exactly what the Israelites did! That’s what those three dots represent. Verse 11 admits that yes, there was “great fear,” yet “in [their] great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord.” That’s the dots. And in that cry was the beginning of freedom!

 

·         And it was after they cried out, that THE DELIVERER acted. Yes, God parted the Red Sea, but I love how Moses described what would happen. He said, “¹³ Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today ...¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”

 

I love the power and trust in those words of Moses. He’s surely looking up! But I love even more the character of Moses. The people complain against him, and because his trust is upward in the Lord (rather than downward in the opinions of man).

 

·         Finally, then, THE JOURNEY began. It wouldn’t be easy. They’d have to step first between two towering walls of water as the sea was parted. That too was scary, but their alternative was Pharaoh and death on one side of the sea, while God and freedom waited on the other.

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who needs to

quit making mental …’s

and missing God’s point