Beyong Belief Week 3

When you doubt, God still offers guidance.

[INTRODUCTION]

God was on a mission to rescue the people of Israel. God wanted to end their suffering and make good on his promise to make them a set-apart people.

God recruited Moses, despite his doubts and questions, to lead the charge in setting the Israelites free.

After witnessing ten horrible plagues, God finally created a way for God's people to escape Egypt. Only once they were out, they found themselves wandering through the desert.

God continued to care for them, leading them by a smoke cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night.

Imagine being guided by clouds and fire. Would that make you feel better or worse about where God is leading you?

Although God was leading them, God's people seemed to think they were being taken the long way through. In reality, although this path was more difficult, God led them this way to protect them from the possibility of an attack from the other nations.

I can imagine many of the people Moses was leading had tough questions like "Where is God taking us?" or "Why is God taking us this way?"

God was kind and guided them away from conflict and slavery and into a new life, but the difficulty of the journey clouded that kindness for some people. They often felt lost and wondered if God had a plan for them.

[TRANSITION]

Although the people of Israel were finally free, the lingering fear of the Egyptians chasing them down was always present.

God's people knew Pharaoh's armies could chase them down and force them back into slavery. So, you can imagine the tension they must have felt as they traveled, between being grateful to be free and the fear of the unknown.

Exodus 14:5–9 (CSB)

5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about the people and said, “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.” 6 So he got his chariot ready and took his troops with him; 7 he took six hundred of the best chariots and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, with officers in each one. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out defiantly. 9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his horsemen, and his army—chased after them and caught up with them as they camped by the sea beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

Eventually, their fear became a reality: Pharaoh changed his mind.

He realized he had just released thousands of workers, which would significantly impact Egyptian society and economy, and he felt he made a huge mistake in letting them go. In a matter of days, Pharaoh's army was within earshot of the Israelites.

What would they do?

Where would they go?

They were stuck between an army and the Red Sea.

Who would guide them forward?

[TRANSITION]

Weary and anxious, God's people finally saw Pharaoh's army approaching and quickly became frustrated with Moses. They felt he and God had led them astray.

Exodus 14:10–14 (CSB)

10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians coming after them! The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord for help. 11 They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

13 But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you must be quiet.”

The Israelites were terrified and cried out to God.

Even though they had seen God do incredible things in Egypt, their circumstances overrode their memory and left them feeling trapped. They felt tricked.

But Moses reassured them, "Don't be afraid. Be still. God will fight for us."

I get a little annoyed with the Israelites when I read this story.

They just saw God intervene to release them from Egypt. Why couldn't they trust that God would take care of them again?

But then I remember that I act like that more often than I would like to admit, and I feel relieved to be able to read about people like me in Scripture.

We've already talked about how strange this path to freedom was.

It wasn't the expected or traditional path to take.

It was long and didn't make sense to the Israelites.

Understandably, the Israelites were full of doubt and frustration, but God still offered guidance and a path forward.

[TRANSITION]

Amidst their doubts and concerns, God rescued the people of Israel.

Exodus 14:26–31 (CSB)

26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the water may come back on the Egyptians, on their chariots and horsemen.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal depth. While the Egyptians were trying to escape from it, the Lord threw them into the sea. 28 The water came back and covered the chariots and horsemen, plus the entire army of Pharaoh that had gone after them into the sea. Not even one of them survived.

29 But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left. 30 That day the Lord saved Israel from the power of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 When Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and believed in him and in his servant Moses.

Moses told the people to keep moving and that God had a plan.

God had been guiding them thus far with the smoke and fire, and Moses knew God was going to continue making way for them.

When they reached the Red Sea, with the Egyptians at their back, God instructed Moses to part the waters.

Moses struck his staff on the ground at the sea's edge and watched God perform a miracle before his very eyes.

The sea opened up and split in two, and God's people were able to walk right through it on dry ground.

And just as the Egyptian army was about to close in on them, God collapsed the sea on the Egyptians.

God was protecting the people of Israel all along because God had promised to set them apart. However, it was done in a way that may give us pause. We celebrate the freedom given to God's people, but it was accomplished in a way that took many lives.

It's okay if you read that and feel uneasy. It's okay if this stirs up many questions. We've already talked about how God anticipates questions and invites us to ask them — to own them and seek wisdom.

We know that God loves all people, even these Egyptians, so how do we take this in and understand what's happening here? Why did it happen like this? There are so many questions that arise, and, in truth, we may never fully answer them.

Perhaps this passage is an invitation to understand God's heart for justice. God sides with the oppressed and brings consequences to those who exploit the vulnerable. We might never fully understand why this story happened this way, but we can trust that God is acting to bring freedom to the oppressed and is leading the people of Israel to a new life.

When we feel lost and confused, this story reminds us of the promise that God always goes before us.

There is nothing that surprises or catches God off guard. God is intentional in providing for us even when we doubt or have questions about where we are going.

[TRANSITION]

God's guidance continues this way in the life of Jesus.

Jesus knew he wasn't going to guide his followers in person forever.

So, just before he died, he did something similar to what we saw God do with the people of Israel.

Jesus promised a guide: the Holy Spirit.

John 16:7 (CSB)

7 Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send him to you.

The Holy Spirit would fill the gap that Jesus' departure would leave and serve as a guide for all his followers for all time.

The Spirit guides us, similar to what the pillar of smoke and fire did for God's people in Exodus.

When we feel lost or without direction, we can trust the Holy Spirit to lead us.

We can turn to Scripture and prayer to help us connect with God and listen to ways the Spirit might lead us through some of our difficulties.

We can talk it out with people we trust, hoping to gain a new perspective and restore our hope and trust in God.

No matter what you've been through, God is leading you, even if that's hard to see. God is with you, guiding you through your doubts and troubles. When you doubt, God still offers guidance.