When the Way is Blocked

Intro

[Thank worship team]

Good morning Bethel Church, and good morning to our network of rural churches that are joining us live on YouTube. And if you are new here, I want to extend a special welcome to you. If you would, there are “Connect” cards in the seat in front of you. If you would fill that out there or at the Welcome Center outside of the sanctuary. We even have a free gift for you if you are new to Bethel. We would love to get in touch with you and discuss how to get connected to our church family.

TRANS: Pray

Opening Hook

I normally am not big on watching the olympics, but it’s hard not to be sucked in when there is talent on display that you may never see again in your lifetime. The great swimmer Michael Phelps reached the top of the world, winning eight gold medals in Beijing in 2008.

Yet he later said he experienced serious post-Olympic depression after coming down from that high. He described a similar struggle again after later Olympic success. That makes for a powerful modern illustration: sometimes the moment everyone else calls victory is the very moment discouragement begins to creep in. 

Michael Phelps achieved what most athletes only dream about, but after the medals came a dark emotional crash. Victory does not always protect you from discouragement. Sometimes discouragement shows up right after the high point.

The Next Day

Discouragement may come after victory.

This is true with me too. I have learned to be watchful for how the Enemy begins to work after great spiritual victories, but I don’t always catch it. Last week we had two wonderful Easter services. I so enjoyed thinking through the significance of Easter from a different angle, I met some new people, we worshiped together about the salvation of our God. But the next day I took the day off and stayed at home. it was back to normal. But something was off. At one point my wife asked me, “Why are you grumpy?” And I knew. I knew right away what was happening. It was this truth. Discouragement may come after victory.

TRANS: Today we will be continuing our study of the book of Exodus called, “Forward, Trusting God in the Unknown.” If you are reading out of the Bibles in front of you, our passage can be found on page 56. If you do not have a Bible, please stop by the Welcome Center and take one. It is our gift to you. God has led the people out of Egypt, He has defeated Pharaoh, He has made good on His promise to Moses and Aaron… but they were not out of it yet.

Exodus 14:1–9 ESV

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ 4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so. 5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” 6 So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, 7 and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. 9 The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

The Red Sea

God devises an unconventional strategy.

Exodus 14:1-9

God leads Israel out of Egypt to an encampment by the Red Sea. We saw in Exodus 13 that God was leading the people by a pillar of fire by night, and a cloud by day. God was guiding them out of Egypt.

Pharaoh has second thoughts about letting his slave-labor force go free, and again we see God hardening Pharaoh’s heart. So Pharaoh gathers his greatest military force to pursue the Israelites. The text says 600 chariots, but let’s consider the context and pay careful attention to the text.

The Bible Background Commentary makes this comment:

Egypt’s army. Most chariot units of this period range between 10 and 150, so 600 is a large muster, and this represents only Pharaoh’s unit. When Rameses II fought the Hittites at the battle of Qadesh, his enemy boasted 2,500 chariots.1

1 Victor Harold Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, and John H. Walton, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, electronic ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), Ex 14:1–9.

Make sure to notice that the text says that Pharaoh gathered 600 chosen chariots, “and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.” In other words, we have no idea how many chariots, it could have been thousands. Chariots were some of the most feared military units as they provided unique battle advantages.

Baker Encyclopedia:

The carriage body was equipped with fittings for weapons such as quivers, bow cases, and sheaths, and stands for axes and spears. Obviously the manufacture of battle chariots required rich resources and an advanced technology. Consequently, only the more powerful nations could develop and sustain a chariot corps.1

1 William L. Lane, “Arms and Warfare,” in Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 176.

In essence, God led his own people into a place where they were cornered and being pursued by Egypt’s mightiest military unit.

TRANS: When the Israelites saw this, they reacted in great fear.

Exodus 14:10–18 ESV

10 When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. 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 in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” 15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

God is faithful despite the Israelite’s fear.

Exodus 14:10-18

Who is Israel looking at, and who is Moses looking at?

Notice their two different reactions, and each is predicated on where they have their focus. The Israelites are looking at everything around them except God. The Israelites were experiencing great fear.

Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology and Counseling Fear

Fear ranges from uneasiness to abject insecurity, with threats to one’s physical and/or psychological self. Intense fear constricts perception, thinking, and motor processes.

Let’s be honest for a moment, we are more like the Israelites here than we are like Moses. Fear drives all memory of God’s promises out of our minds. Fear prevents us from remembering what God may have done in our lives *yesterday.* In the case of the Israelites, they had witnessed a showdown between God, Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. And who won? But are they thinking of that now?

No, they respond in sarcasm.

Sarcasm is often fear or anger masked in humor. “Are there not enough graves in Egypt???” They are focusing on their circumstances, and are not considering the power of God (a theme that will continue).

Yet, to their credit, they cry out to Him. They know that even though they are fearful and perhaps angry at Moses, they know that their only hope is through God.

But what is God doing? Moses has his eyes on God, and tells the people not to fear, for this will be the last time they see the Egyptians. If I were in the crowd hearing Moses say this, I may have let my sarcasm continue with the thought, “yeah because it’ll be the last thing I ever see!”

Let us pay attention. Does the Israelite’s fear stop God from doing what he promised? No. God is faithful despite the Israelite’s fear. This gives us confidence that when God makes a promise, he WILL DO IT. Even if we are fearful between the promise and the fulfillment, He will do it. He is faithful. And this truth must go deep into your heart. The more you look to God in the midst of your fear, the less you are fearful of your circumstances. God gives peace.

But God instructed Moses to stretch out his hand, an image we have seen repeated throughout the story. An image that points to divine power. He stretches out his hand and his staff over the sea, and God promises he will part the sea. So that the Glory of God may be known, so the Egyptians, their evil, rebellion, their wickedness would be brought to justice.

TRANS: God’s unconventional strategy would unfold.

Exodus 14:19–31 ESV

19 Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20 coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night. 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, 25 clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.” 26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. 29 But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

God delivers Israel, and crushes Egypt.

Exodus 14:19-31

God divides the waters and dry land emerges. This should call us back to God separating the dry land from the waters in the creation. This story echos Genesis 1.

Polemic

God, like when he sent the 10 plagues, was sending a targeted attack and message to the people of Egypt. Let me show you three key ideas: the water, the parting, and the underworld.

Water: Water was believed to be representative of chaos. Who can tame water? The pharaoh’s mandate was to create order from his “strong hand,” but who could tame a sea with human might?

Parting: There is an Egyptian story in the Westcar Papyrus where the chief lector priest parted a sea while in search of a fish-shaped charm. Given that the priests/magicians of Egypt were copying the first few plagues, I (personally) would not be surprised if this actually happened. There was demonic influence behind the Egyptian priests.

The Underworld: The Egyptians believed that the underworld, their version of hell, was located under bodies of water. Again, water was the symbol of chaos, so it makes sense that the wicked would be sent to a place that was located beneath chaos.

Now put this together. God’s justice against Egypt was shown when he parted the waters (showing his power over what was “uncontrollable”), by parting the red sea, the Egyptian military (likely knowing the story from the Westcar Papyrus) would have immediately recognized they were attempting to wage war against divine power, and in pursuing Israel, they were swallowed up by chaos and sent to the underworld.

God’s justice against Egypt was complete. The people of Israel were saved, and now the work would begin to form them into His people.

You may think to yourself, man it took God a while to bring justice to Egypt. But God’s justice may seem delayed, it will never be denied.

Though justice may be delayed, it will never be denied

Human Experience: Many people can relate to memories of Mom, exasperated with our behavior, saying, “You just wait till your father gets home.” Far from being a comforting delay of punishment, this usually led to a day of dread. The reality is, unless we repent, we will be facing judgment. Our Father will make sure that no injustice will remain in eternity. The scales will be balanced.1

1 T. Desmond Alexander, Exodus, ed. John H. Walton, Teach the Text Commentary Series (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books: A Division of Baker Publishing Group, 2016), 69.

TRANS: Through God’s unconventional strategy, He shows his faithfulness despite the Israelite’s fear, and God delivers Israel and crushes Egypt.

Application

Some of the Lord’s deepest lessons happen at the wall.

The Israelites just witnessed God produce signs and wonders against Egypt… and they were already afraid. Their circumstances clouded their vision. They were too afraid to remember God was with them. They were too focused on the problem to remember God’s strength.

God often leads us to a place where we are surrounded so we must rely on Him. But when we are there, we find ourselves being confronted with our own belief system.

We are not creatures that experience difficulties and we, feeling absolutely nothing and thinking no thoughts, sit in a chair to reflect. We do not ask, “hmm, how might I react to this? Will I be fearful, or will I trust God? Well, this time I choose, based on the available evidence, to be fearful.” And then we let out a loud scream from pure reason :)

No, we react. And our reactions tell us something about our beliefs. Often times we find out what we believe when we are faced with uncertainty, new situations, or feeling like we are at the end of our rope. Our belief system, like breathing, is always operating. It’s automatic, and that automatic system is oriented toward something. The question is: “where is my heart oriented?” Or another way to put it, “What am I trusting in?” God’s work in us is to change our heart’s “reactive orientation.” If our reaction is to trust in our own wit, ability, and rationality, that will only get so far.

The Wall is the place where our wit, ability, and rationality comes to its end. We cannot think ourselves out of it. We are faced with overwhelming odds and we cannot control the outcome. There are chariots coming down the hill and an unpassable seat to our backs. What do we do?

Illustration: When I fell down the stairs, lost my sight, my brother in law walked over me, and came to a place of surrender. At that moment, my sight returned.

Step one of heart change is for us to come to the acceptance that we cannot depend on ourselves, we must depend on God. All other things we depend on must fail us before we are willing to acknowledge we were depending on them in the first place. God in His grace reveals that to us at The Wall.

TRANS: This is one of God’s deepest lessons, and we are able to see the goodness and faithfulness of God in a new way at the Wall. But God does more than lead us to the Wall…

When the way is blocked, God creates a path.

Isaiah 43:16-17

Isaiah 43:16–17 ESV

16 Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, 17 who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:

He takes us to the wall because there are fleshly things that must die there before we can continue. This is the process of maturity, the process of refinement. As gold is put under intense heat, impurities surface. They bubble away. The finished product is one where the gold is more pure. This is what our Lord does with us. He brings us to a place of immense pressure and heat, but few stay there long enough to see the result. So the Lord brings us back to that place again until we trust Him enough to allow him to do his work in us.

God leads us to the place where the way is blocked so he can teach us, form us, and then lead us on. This is trusting God in the unknown. Unknown to us, but not to him. Do you trust Him as your guide when you cannot see the way out?

Conclusion : You cannot manufacture the path, only God can create it. He turns your chaos into dry ground. He puts a door where there are only walls. Are you trusting in Him today? What is “the wall” for you? What are you trying to control, when you need to release and surrender?

Pray

Talk About It/Think About It

Why does discouragement so often come the day after victory?

When have you assumed that a difficult path meant God was no longer leading you?

What do you notice about the Israelites’ response when they see Pharaoh coming? (Exodus 14:10–18)

What stands out to you most about the way God protects His people and judges Egypt in this passage?

Why do you think God sometimes allows us to reach the end of ourselves before He shows us what He is doing?

Where in your life do you most need to remember that a blocked way is not the same as a dead end?

What would it look like for you to trust God this week before you can see the path clearly?