Into The Hand Of God

Scripture

Exodus 14:10–28 KJV 1900

And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians. And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them.

A careful study of the life of Moses reveals how that he had to trust God throughout the entire ordeal of leading God’s people the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. What it required was that he place himself totally and completely in God’s hands. He had to do that in order to accomplish what the Lord wanted him to do. Now, there is a lesson here for us; in order for us to accomplish what the Lord wants us to do we must be willing to place ourselves into the hand of Almighty God.

What does that mean? It means that we trust God completely, surrender our will for His will, put our faith totally in Him. It means that we take an attitude that says, "Lord, my life belongs to you; my life and all that I have are in your hands; do with me what you will and help me to do your perfect will." Psalm 103:2 says, "Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits." There are great benefits in putting ourselves in the hand of the Lord. What are some of those benefits? -Placing ourselves in God’s hands:

1. Drives out fear

2. Drives out doubt

3. Helps us to overcome worry

4. Helps us to get our priorities straight

5. Helps us to do God’s will for our lives

6. Empowers us to move forward

7. Is a requirement for the follower of Jesus Christ

Placing our lives into the hand of God is an awesome and wonderful thing for a person to do. It is what Moses had to do to accomplish the will of God.

People who are formidable inspire fear and respect thanks to their size, or special ability, or unusual qualities.

People who are formidable inspire fear and respect thanks to their size, or special ability, or unusual qualities. If you're a wildly popular celebrity, you probably don't go anywhere without a formidable bodyguard.

Formidable definition or meaning

What's interesting about formidable is that we often tend to use it about things that are simultaneously scary and impressive. A formidable opponent is almost by definition a worthy one; a formidable challenge is almost by definition one worth rising to. Not surprisingly, this word is derived from the Latin formidare, "to fear."

It is amazing to me to think that after all the people had been through with Moses in Egypt that they would panic when they came up against yet another difficult time. But that is exactly what they did. They panicked when they came to the Red Sea, saw the army of Pharaoh approaching, and did not believe that there was a way out. They went into a panic. V 10 tell us that they were sore afraid. Do you know what that means? It means that they were terrified. Sore afraid means that they believed their lives were over and that they were going to die. What is interesting about this and applicable to us is that sometimes we do the exact same thing. Despite what we have seen the Lord do in the past we come up against something new - some new problem and what do we do? Do we say, "Well, the Lord led me through this past difficulty; this new one will be no different." Is that what we say and think and do? Unfortunately it is not. All too often we do the same thing the Israelites did; despite what we have seen God do in the past we come up against some new struggle and we panic – fall apart in a big way.

They were sore afraid, and they fell apart. V 11, their backs were to the sea and the attacking army was coming at them, and they cried out to God and turned on Moses. They said, "Because there were no graves in Egypt, thou hast taken us away to die in the wilderness?" Moses, they said, were there not enough graves back in Egypt? Is that why you brought us to the seashore to die? They not only got upset, worried, fearful, and panicked, but they did something else; they got sarcastic. Great going Moses – fine job, there were not enough graves back home in Egypt where we were slaves, so you brought us out here to die.

Sometimes when I get upset I get sarcastic and believe me it is not a pretty sight. Be honest; have you ever gotten sarcastic with the Lord? Most of us have at some time or other. We face a problem and we think, great going, Lord, this is another fine mess you’ve gotten me into. Placing ourselves into the hand of God relieves the fear and worry that comes when we face a new problem or challenge.

How did Moses respond to the panic of the people? Did he lash out at them, get angry with them, and accuse them of being a people of little faith? While he would have perhaps been justified in doing any of those things, he chose not to do so. Instead he simply pointed them to God.

Survey your resources. Moses had a rod in his hand but did not know what he had. What do you have that you have not fully utilized? Moses forgot that it was not an ordinary rod. The rod that God gave him he gave for a reason. There are 15 recorded miracles done by this rod. Three times Moses used the rod to turn into a serpent and back into a rod; this rod turned water into blood; this same rod was used to create frogs; this same rod was used to create lice; this same rod hail and fire; this same rod created locust; this same rod water out of nothing twice and this rod divided the Red Sea so the Israelites could walk through on ground dry.

What did you say? You don’t have any resources; everybody has something. A little boy had a lunch, two fish and five barley loaves but God used it to feed five thousand; a widow woman had a handful of meal and a little oil in her cruse, she told the prophet after we eat this we are going to go in and die; Jesus watched as people gave their offering--woman walked to the offering plate and gave two mites ( a mite is worth one/eighth of a penny). Jesus said she gave more than every because she gave all that she had; Gideon said I have three hundred but it was enough to go against ten thousand; the prophet told the woman search your house and see what you have-she said I don’t have any food, nothing but I have a pot of oil.

Do something. God told Moses twice, verse 2 to turn and in verse 15-go forward. Most people stay stuck and don’t find their way because the don’t do anything. Tell somebody, “you’ve got to turn and go.” You have got to go forward and turn. The basic meaning of the Hebrew word for turn here has to do with physical motion and movement. But this Hebrew word, “shub-turn” adds the mental responsibility attached to turning with it. What are you turning from and what are you turning to? Hey preacher that sounds like repentance. Before you can turn your body, you have to turn your mind. If you don’t turn your thinking you are not going to do anything. The Hebrew word for “go’’ is “nawsah” and it means to start a journey, to set out. It means to pull out or break camp. The Israelites were to pull up from where the were and start a journey someplace else. In other words folks; you’ve got to go somewhere you’ve not been before. You got to pull up from where you are and start down a path you’ve not been. The reason why many of us haven’t found our way is because we aren’t willing to do something different. We go to the same ole place, talk to the same ole people, watch the same ole TV shows, complain about the same ole things, say the same ole prayers, sing the same ole songs, give the same ole dollar and wonder why we aren’t getting anywhere. Mose, tell the people to stop crying and go forward. Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel; he that believes and is baptised shall be saved.

A godly leader does that when the people get upset, disgruntled, or in this case, panicked, the spiritual leader will point them to the salvation that comes from the Lord. If we as a church go through a difficult time my number one priority as the pastor is to point us toward Jesus Christ with the reminder that He will, as long as we trust Him, guide us through the present difficulty.

The outcome of this, what happens here, ranks right up there as one of the most dramatic events in the Bible; the crossing of the Red Sea. God told Moses in v 16 that He wanted him to lift up his staff, stretch his hand out over the sea and divide it – part the water. And the people would cross over on dry ground through the midst of the sea. Vv 21-22 in ch. 14 tell us that this is just what happened; a divine miracle took place. God parted the sea in order for His people to cross over to the other side.

What strikes me here is that these same people who were in a panic only moments before were now faced with a decision; either be destroyed, or take a leap of faith and place themselves in the hand of God. I honestly believe that if I did not daily place myself in the hand of God that I would not make it through the daily pressures and troubles of life. It is a leap of faith to be sure, but one that brings life and victory.

Closing

Tap your invisible power. The mistake we make is that we underestimate the power that God has. Our God is too small. J.B. Phillips in his book, “ Your God is too Small, lays out many of the misconceptions people have about God. God is not in a box, he is not a policeman to police your every action; he is not a Santa Claus to give you what you want without you doing something in return; he is not a grand old man sitting around in heaven; He is not destructive but constructive; he is not this meek and mild passive being just allowing anything to go;

But he is God, transcendent, holy, immutable, omniscient, good, all together lovely, just, loving, omnipresent and omnipotent. You have got to know what kind of power your God has.

He tells Moses, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. I know what the Egyptians have been doing to you; you see them today but you will see them no more. I have power that no one can take from me. God was leading them, a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. The text says in 14:19,”and the Angel of the God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood behind them.” So God got between Israel and the Egyptians; Moses was out front; God told him to stretch forth his hand with the rod in it and the east winds came forth and rolled the waters up like wall paper. Israel walked in the midst of the Red Sea on dry ground. God made a way out of no way. He can make a way out of no way for you.

SONG: Old folks used to sing, Have you any rivers that you think are uncrossable; and have you any mountains you cannot tunnel through: God specializes in things that are impossible and He can do what no other power can do. Then, they’d sing

Like a ship that's tossed and driven, battered by an angry sea; when the storms of life are raging, and their fury falls on me. I wonder what I have done, that makes this race so hard to run; then I say to my soul, take courage, the Lord will make a way somehow. Chorus: The Lord will make a way somehow, when beneath the cross I bow, He will take away each sorrow, let Him have your burdens now. When the loads bears down so heavy the weight is shown upon my brow, there's a sweet relief in knowing the Lord will make a way somehow.