The Lord Is a Warrior

Prayer

What Have You Done?

So, it’s wonderful to be back, worshipping together with God’s people, seeking after Jesus together, pursuing our mission of helping to lead others into the abundant life of Jesus Christ. I’m thankful to both Jean and Terry, Chad and Eric, for helping to lead in my absence. I spoke with Terry, I know he very much enjoyed his time with all of you - so, thanks.

Since it’s been a couple of weeks, I want to spend a few moments recapping the story of the book of Exodus

Exodus begins with Jacob’s extended family in Egypt due to the famine - and as the decades pass, their numbers increase, the Egyptians become increasingly concerned, so they begin to oppress the Israelites by enslaving them and working toward killing newborn Hebrew boys.

One of those boys is Moses, who escapes death, and years later, is called by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. And this begins a showdown with Pharaoh, who stubbornly refuses to let the Israelites go and so God inflicts plagues on the Egyptians - the tenth and final plague being the death of the firstborn son of every Egyptians household, what we know as the Passover.

Pharaoh finally relents and allows Moses and the Israelites to leave Egypt. So, after 430 years in Egypt, they are finally leaving. But the Israelite’s exodus out of Egypt isn’t quite done yet - which is what we’re going to look at this morning.

Today, we’re going to be in Exodus 14 & first part of Exodus 15: In a vulnerable position

As God leads them out of Egypt, he doesn’t lead them by the most obvious, simplest way out (along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea) out of concern that they would encounter a battle and would turn back. God leads them around the desert road toward the Sea of Reeds. Let me stop here for a moment - the Hebrew for the sea mentioned here is yam suph, translated, it means “sea of reeds” - most often referred to as the Red Sea, but most commentators, based on clues in the Bible and the geography of the area, believe it most likely was another body of water - there are several possibilities.

When I say that God is leading, he is literally leading them - God appears as a pillar of cloud by day and by night, a pillar of fire. So, God’s presence is with them continually, leading them as they make their way through Egypt.

But then this…Exodus 14:1-4...Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. 3 Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ 4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this.

God is commanding Moses to have the Israelites turn back from the direction they were going. Then they are to camp out in the desert, right next to the sea. And he’s doing this because he wants to prompt a response in Pharaoh - who will think the Israelites are confused, they can’t figure where they are going - so he’ll get the bright idea of going to get them back as his slaves. That’s exactly what happens.

Exodus 14:5-9...When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” 6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. 7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. 9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.

So Pharaoh comes after the Israelites and he does not come alone - he’s got his army with him, 600 of his best chariots, as well as horsemen and troops. The Egyptian army is bearing down on the Israelites as they are camped out by the sea. Imagine for a moment that you are one of those Israelites. You’ve just experienced the euphoria of freedom - finally, after years and years of slavery, that’s all you’ve ever known, all your parents knew, their parents, and so on. Not only that, you plundered the Egyptians, got gold and silver from them. It’d be a party, everyone rejoicing.

And then you see this cloud of dust as this massive army comes racing after you - Pharaoh’s elite troops. You’re a ragtag group - you’re no army, no formal military training, just a mass of people of all ages. And to top it off, you’re trapped, there’s no where to go. You’re sitting in the desert with an army coming towards you and the sea behind you.

Not surprising to see their response, Exodus 14:10-12...As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”

They are terrified. They cry out to God. And did you notice how they respond to Moses, a little bit of bitter sarcasm here, “was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?” And then a little revisionist history - “Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone, let us serve the Egyptians’?” We were happy being slaves - or, it was better than dying in the desert.

Consider for a moment what’s happening here - more specifically, what God is doing here, and why he’s doing it. God is very intentionally leading his people into an extremely vulnerable position - they are trapped and real danger is coming and coming fast.

The Israelites are feeling it - they want to be anywhere else other than here. Their response reveals that they long for security. In fact, slavery with security would be better than this.

But clearly, God doesn’t think that this would be better for them. He’s led them into this place of great risk. They might lose their lives here. What does this teach us? What is he doing here?

Revealed in Moses’ answer to the people, listen carefully to this, Exodus 14:13-14, Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

The Vulnerability of Trust

Listen to what God is asking them to do - be still. Do nothing. Just stand firm right where you are. I will fight for you. I will deliver you. You’re going to see me do great things, if you’re willing to trust me.

In this moment God is asking them to depend on him to deliver them from a situation that, from all appearances, seems like certain pain and punishment. Either death or a very harsh and punishing re-enslavement. If God does not come through, it’s going to be a terrible outcome for them.

And they’re just supposed to stand there. Talk about easy pickin’s - they are completely vulnerable.

Which is exactly what trusting, depending on another, requires. Vulnerability is integral to trust. That’s the whole idea behind the “trust fall” exercise - I’m going to just let myself fall backwards, trusting you to catch. And it’a vulnerable position, if you prove to be untrustworthy, that fall is going to hurt!

Relationships, genuine relationships - including ours with God - are based on trust. There’s a dependence in relationships - If I express love to you in some way, a desire to befriend you - I’m depending on you to respond well to that. Will you love me in return? Or will you spur or reject me, keep me at arm’s length distance?

If I reveal more of myself to you, share my heart, my weaknesses or struggles, my story - how will you respond? Will you listen, with interest and a desire to know more? Will you respond with kindness? A willingness to share of yourself? Expression of compassion?

Or will you perhaps indicate that you have no interest. You turn away, listen halfheartedly - or quit listening altogether? Or worse, will you mock me? Betray my confidence? Dismiss me? This is the risk, the vulnerability part of trusting others - because in relationship we offer ourselves, who we are to others - and the question is what they will do with that.

Remember way back when we started our journey in the Old Testament, story of Adam and Eve, and the description of their relationship before sin entered in, before the Fall? Genesis 2:25, “Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.” They were completely open and vulnerable to each other - no secrets, no hiding, no pretending. They could love each other fully, they could give themselves over to each other completely because there was no fear - no concern of being treated poorly. Absolute vulnerability based on absolute trust. It’s a picture of how God made us to be in relationship. How God wants to be in relationship with us.

But because we’ve experienced pain and disappointment in life, we respond like Adam & Eve did after they sinned - like the Israelites do in this story, we seek safety, security.

Like Adam and Eve covering themselves and then hiding from God - we do the same. We cover, we hide, we avoid. Only reveal bits of ourselves, and only then to a small group of people. Hide behind humor or busyness or by keeping conversations on a surface level.

We won’t show weakness. We tend to rely on ourselves, won’t allow ourselves to be dependent on others. We don’t think this consciously, but the thought in our mind is, I’m the only one I can trust.

Israelites do the same - they prefer slavery with security, that’s how much they long for safety, avoiding vulnerability, risk. Even after all God has done for them, the miracles they’ve seen, they will not depend on him. “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than die in the desert.” God, we cannot trust you with our lives.

We’re no different - in a very real sense we enslave ourselves by clinging to our habits, our ways of coping, our defensive strategies, rather than seeking change, moving towards seeking to obey God in everything, surrendering ourselves to him, depending on him, his way.

But God knows we need to learn to trust in him - who else is worthy of our trust? That’s why God put the Israelites in this exceedingly vulnerable position - so they would learn that they really could trust him to fight for them, they could be still. God’s whole point here is, watch and learn, fellas. I’m about to fight for you. And boy, does God ever fight for them.

Exodus 14:19-25…shows God in action, fighting for the Israelites

His presence, that pillar of cloud that was in front of them, guiding them, moves to their rear, behind them to become a wall of protection between them and Pharaoh and his army. God moves from guidance to guardian.

Then Moses, per God’s instructions, stretches out his arms, and a powerful wind separates the waters of the sea of reeds by which they were camped, dry land appears and the Israelites walk right on through. An entire nation of people, all their belongings, their livestock walking through the middle of a sea - there’s literally a wall of water on either side of them.

Now this takes a while - there’s a lot of them, and they’re on foot - so God gives them time by throwing the Egyptians into confusion, he jams the wheels of their chariots. What’s fascinating is that even the Egyptians recognize that God is working against them - listen to this, Exodus 14:25, And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”

But Pharaoh’s heart is hardened - in spite of the pillar of fire and cloud blocking the way, the confusion God has thrown them into, his jamming the wheels of the chariots - Pharaoh pursues the Israelites with his mighty army through the dry land created by God by separating the waters.

But it doesn’t stay dry - God commands Moses to once again stretch out his hands over the sea “so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” So Moses does so, and the waters flow back into place and cover over the entire Egyptian army, Pharaoh included. We find this somber note here at the end, “Not one of them survived.” God wasn’t kidding when he told them that he would fight for them.

So the Israelites find themselves safe on the other side of the sea of reeds, Pharaoh and his might army destroyed. They are truly free. God has saved them. He delivered them - from enslavement, from impending death. They stood still and God fought for them. And they erupt in a song of praise, Exodus 15:1-3...

Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea. 2 “The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. 3 The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.

The Lord is my strength and my defense. He has become my salvation. The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is his name.

They learned the lesson. They learned that God was everything he had been promising - and more - that he is our strength. He is our defense, our sure salvation. He is a warrior. We can trust him. As we’ll see in the weeks to come, it’s a lesson they’ll quickly forget. We do not trust easily. It’s so hard for us to put ourselves in that vulnerable position, even with God. Which is why we need to put it into practice.

Spiritual Disciplines

Discipline of silence. “The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still.” This is taking time to be still before God. Start with a minute, two minutes, perhaps five minutes. You come before God in stillness. Begin by inviting the Holy Spirit to come over you. Then the breathing - inhaling through the nose, exhaling through the mouth - slow, relaxing breaths. Helpful to have a word or phrase to bring you back to just being before God when you mind wanders - and it will wander, over and over and over again.

Why? Why would you we engage in stillness? The primary reason is just to be with God, to be attentive to his presence (Psalm 46:10, Be still and know that I am God).

But here’s the difficult part about it (beyond the part that we aren’t used to just being still) - reveals how difficult it is for us to be still, to be vulnerable and open with God. Stillness is just you, yourself, no deeds, no - “I’ve got to be praying or thinking spiritual thoughts”, no great contrition, no need to prove yourself - just a willingness to open yourself to let God embrace you as you are, to receive whatever it is God may have for you.

Listen to how Jesus explains what it means to be a disciple, a follower, in Luke 9:23-25 (most common way Jesus describes what being a disciple entails): Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?

I want you to think for a moment about Jesus, his trusting the Father in taking up the cross - it was an act of absolute vulnerability, allowing himself to be arrested, imprisoned, beaten, nailed to a cross…He never defended himself, fought back, avoided capture, pled for mercy…he was still. He was determined to let the Father fight for him. And the Father did, raising him up, from the dead.

Jesus is saying here that we are to do the same - you cannot save your life by hanging on to it. By trusting the world and what it offers (our wealth, our comforts). Or by self preservation, seeking to protect ourselves at all costs.

Instead, we are to deny ourselves, pick up our crosses daily, and follow Jesus. Make ourselves vulnerable, trust Jesus over ourselves, our strategies, our wisdom - I know what’s best for me. We surrender all that.

We do that by intentionally being obedient to Jesus, putting his teaching in to practice…what’s one thing you can seek to grow in obedience to Jesus?

For some of you…stop, to be with God.

Trust God over Mammon.

Let go of anger, seeking vengeance, return good for evil

Quit trying to hard to be good (or appearing to be good), let those walls down…trust his grace over his goodness.

To let Jesus into our pain, bring healing into our wounded hearts

All these things scare us because they make us vulnerable…which is exactly the point. We want to learn that we can truly trust God in all things. He will fight for us, we need only be still.