Led by God Exodus 13:17-22

-God Guides His People to the Promised Land

How do you know where to go?

Walter Knight told of an old Scottish woman who went from home to home across the countryside selling thread, buttons, and shoestrings. When she came to an unmarked crossroad, she would toss a stick into the air and go in the direction the stick pointed when it landed. 

One day, however, she was seen tossing the stick up several times. "Why do you toss the stick more than once?" someone asked. "Because," replied the woman, "it keeps pointing to the left, and I want to take the road on the right." She then dutifully kept throwing the stick into the air until it pointed the way she wanted to go! 

I. God Knows His People vv. 17-18

In our passage this morning, we are going to see the children of Israel make their way out of Egypt and begin their travels to the Promised Land

We find out immediately that they are led by God

God does not lead them on the most obvious path

The pathway through the land of the Philistines was a more direct path. It was an established route for trade and the most natural way to go

It was a way through developed lands rather than the wilderness

Why would God send them a different way?

He knew the people, their readiness and their hearts

He knew the road ahead and all that it would hold for them

There’s a huge contrast that we see in v. 18

The people are equipped for battle, just as the Lord commanded them

They may even think that they are ready for battle

The Lord, however, knew the truth

They will be warriors one day

But, on this day, they were not quite ready; it was better to take a longer wilderness pathway, because it was what they were able to take on

We can trust God’s why because He knows us!

When we follow God’s leadership, we can trust Him when He leads us on an unexpected pathway

He knows us, the truth of us, and what we are prepared to face

He knows the road perfectly and will guide us wisely

Uncle Oscar was apprehensive about his first airplane ride. His friends, eager to hear how it went, asked if he enjoyed the flight. "Well," commented Uncle Oscar, "it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, but I'll tell you this. I never did put all my weight down!"

II. God Remembers His People vv. 19-20

Next, we get a little bit of an odd sidebar

Joseph is not forgotten!

Many years earlier, Joseph foretold the Exodus and made his family promise that they would not bury him in Egypt (See Genesis 50:25-26)

Now, the time has come and the promise is fulfilled

There were so many things that God did not give the Israelites time for:

There was no time to let the bread leaven

They had to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice

However, God gave them the space to gather the bones of Joseph

Why does this matter?

It reminds us that we are never forgotten; Even Joseph’s bones mattered 430 or so years after his death

It means that we are all the part of a much bigger story; There is a connection between Joseph all those years earlier and the children of Israel.

It means that God is on a rescue mission

He rescued Joseph from slavery, from the prison, and from Egypt

In the same way, He rescued His people from slavery

Now, we can trust Him for the ultimate rescue from slavery to sin and death

We can trust where God is sending us because He remembers His promise of rescue

Romans 8:28

[28] And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (ESV)

When the World Trade Center crumbled to the ground on that dreadful day of September 11, 2001, more than three thousand people died. But a few of those who were buried beneath the rubble miraculously survived the toppling of the towers. Two of these individuals were Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin, a pair of Port Authority employees who responded to the attacks and were on the bottom floor when the south tower began to fall. They raced to an elevator shaft and amazingly survived the one-hundred-story collapse around them, but were buried dozens of feet down in the midst of an array of rubble. Trapped without water, breathing smoke-filled air, both Will and John had little hope of survival.

Yet as they lay there, pinned under a mountain of debris, something was stirring inside an accountant in Connecticut they had never met.

Dave Karnes, who had spent twenty-three years active duty in the Marine Corps, was watching the scene play out on television just like the rest of us. But more than allowing it merely to trouble him, he decided to do something about it. He went to his boss and told him he wouldn’t be back for a while. Dave went to a barber shop, asked for a high-and-tight haircut, then stopped by his home to put on his military fatigues, hoping the uniform would allow him access into the blocked-off area surrounding Ground Zero. He drove to Manhattan at speeds of 120 miles an hour and arrived by late afternoon. While rescue workers were being called off the wreckage pile because of danger, Dave was able to stay because of the clout and credential that came with his military uniform. Finding another Marine nearby, the two men walked the pile together, seeking to save the lost.

After an hour of searching, they heard the faint sound of tapping pipes and yelling. Will and John had been trapped for nine hours by that time, completely incapable of working themselves free. Yet in the midst of all the rubble, a Marine who earlier in the morning had been working a spreadsheet in Connecticut found them. Of the twenty people pulled from the heaped-up remains of the World Trade Center, Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin were numbers eighteen and nineteen. And all because Dave Karnes took off his suit, put on rescue fatigues, and stepped into the despair and darkness of Ground Zero.

III. God Leads His People vv. 21-22

Finally, we see how God is going to lead His people

God is personally engaged with the children of Israel and is present with them in a very practical way

He leads them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night

God wants them to know His will!

James 1:5

[5] If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. (ESV)

I think there are two important considerations here:

God guides His people by leading them. He does not drive them out but invites them to follow Him

God is consistently present with them. He is constantly reminding them of His presence through the cloud

Wouldn’t it be much easier if we had a pillar to follow today? How does God lead His people?

Through the Bible

Through Prayer

Through Wise Council

Through Circumstances

However, there is a critical component to all four of these:

In each one, God is speaking through the Holy Spirit

He is our helper to know and do the will of God

He is consistent: His voice in prayer, council, and circumstance, will not contradict His voice through the Word

We cannot receive the Holy Spirit unless we have received new life from the Son:

Jesus calls us out of Egypt

Jesus takes us to the Promised Land

Jesus leads us by His Holy Spirit

Elizabeth Elliot tells of two adventurers who stopped by to see her, all loaded with equipment for the rain forest east of the Andes. They sought no advice, just a few phrases to converse with the Indians. She writes: "Sometimes we come to God as the two adventurers came to me -- confident and, we think, well-informed and well equipped. But has it occurred to us that with all our accumulation of stuff, something is missing?

She suggests that we often ask God for too little. We know what we need--a yes or no answer, please, to a simple question. Or perhaps a road sign. Something quick and easy to point the way. What we really ought to have is the Guide himself. Maps, road signs, a few useful phrases are things, but infinitely better is someone who has been there before and knows the way.

You will never know the will of God until you have believed in the Son of God, but if you are following the Son of God you can be certain of the Promise of God

John 14:5–6

[5] Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” [6] Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (ESV)