Stand Firm- Camp 2026 Night 2

Introduction

Example of handling a difficult time.

Main Point: We Stand Firm Because God is Fighting For Us.

3 Responses that We see to Hard Times

Pharaoh tries to control the situation

The Israelites try to Run from Suffering while blaming someone else

Moses listens to God and STANDS FIRM, obeying God

Context

God’s people have been in Egypt for 400 years

God has just sent 10 plagues culminating in the death of the firstborn of EVERY EGYPTIAN- and their livestock!

FINALLY the Egyptian Pharaoh relents and let’s the Israelites go.

The Israelites are marching out of Egypt and God brings them to the edge of the Red Sea. God designs this to SHOW THE ISRAELITES HIS POWER AND HIS GOODNESS.

Exodus 14:1–4 CSB

1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you must camp in front of Baal-zephon, facing it by the sea. 3 Pharaoh will say of the Israelites: They are wandering around the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in. 4 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this.

This is the setting for what we’re about to see. I want us to understand that GOD IS TESTING THE ISRAELITES AT THE SAME TIME THAT GOD IS SHOWING THEM HIS GLORY!

THAT’S WHY GOD IS GOING TO HARDEN PHARAOH- their king’s- HEART!

Body

Jump into this first section with me. From verses 5-9 we are going to see how Pharaoh responds to hardship. Exodus 14:5-9

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.

Here’s Pharaoh’s response to the Israelites leaving. He changes his mind, just as God said would happen. Before we go any further, let me just challenge us with something- God has sent 10 plagues on Egypt. Do you know why God now changes Pharaoh’s mind again? It’s because despite ALL THE WARNINGS, PHARAOH HAS NOT REPENTED!

Pharaoh is ASLEEP TO GOD! HE’S SEEN SO MUCH AND YET HE IGNORES GOD TIME AND TIME AGAIN! OVER AND OVER AND OVER HE IGNORES GOD!

And so God lets Pharaoh do what Pharaoh’s heart longs to do. God let’s Pharaoh ATTACK THE ISRAELITES! GOD IS GOING TO TAKE THE SIN OF PHARAOH AND USE IT FOR GOOD!

Pharaoh is in deep distress. He’s saying, “WHAT HAVE WE DONE!”

He’s in disbelief! He can’t believe the decision that he made!

He’s got TOTAL REMORSE!

And so Pharaoh looks at his hardship and decides to take action. He’s going to rely on HIMSELF TO FIX THIS!

Pharaoh gets his chariot and his officers and his men and goes out and chases the Israelites!

Understand- in verse 7 wehn it says, “He took six hundred of the best chariots” it is referring to HIS MOST ELITE SOLDIERS!

THESE 600 men alone would have struck fear into anyone’s hearts! These were not the type of people you would outrun. They were going to catch you!

This is the Night Riders from LOTR if you’re tracking. These guys are unbeatable.

In addition to these elite soldiers, the entire EGYPTIAN ARMY IS MOBILIZED AND CHARGES AFTER THE ISRAELITES!

THE FOOT SOLDIERS, THE CAVALRY, THE REST OF THE CHARIOTS; EVERYONE IS CHARGING AFTER THE ISRAELITES!

Now, I have a degree in history, so let me apply it for a minute. This isn’t going to end well. The Israelites are going to be killed if the Egyptians catch up to them; and the Egyptians WILL CATCH UP TO THEM!

This isn’t some dreamy underdog situation. This is just a disaster! The Israelites are poorly armed, largely untrained, and they have their families with them while the MOST DOMINANT MILITARY IN THE WORLD AT THIS TIME IS CHARGING STRAIGHT AT THEM!

This just isn’t going to end well.

And then it happens in verse 9. The Egyptians catch up to the Israelites.

For Pharaoh it seems like his plan worked.

Pharaoh faced a difficult time and he responded by trying to POWER THROUGH IT ON HIS OWN!

He wants to fix the problem and be his OWN SOLUTION! HE WANTS TO ASSERT HIS OWN POWER ON THE SITUATION!

Now, let me make this applicable to us. You’re not a pharaoh. But, we do this all the time!

We choose not to go to God and instead we choose to try and fix our hard times on our own. We think that we don’t need God; we just need to work harder, or smarter, or figure it out, or try something else. WE think that if we just get that next achievement in life then everything will be ok!

We think that if we just get that person’s attention it will work! That’s a response to difficult times that we can take.

Let’s see how the Israelites respond to a difficult time.

Check out verses 10-12 with me. Exodus 14:10-12

Exodus 14:10–12 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.”

The Israelites respond to their situation with PANIC!

They cry out to God for help, but mostly, they go to Moses and complain!

They give two complaints.

First; aren’t there graves in Egypt for them to die in?

They think that Moses has BROUGHT THEM OUT TO KILL THEM!

They see no hope at all!

And then secondly, they say that they wish Moses had left them alone! They claim now that they never wanted to be free!

This just isn’t true. Exodus 4:5

Exodus 4:5 CSB

5 “This will take place,” he continued, “so that they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

Exodus 3:7–10 CSB

7 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the territory of the Canaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 9 So because the Israelites’ cry for help has come to me, and I have also seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them, 10 therefore, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

The Israelites had been calling out to the LORD FOR YEARS!

THEY WERE ASKING GOD FOR SOMETHING, BUT THEY WEREN’T AWAKE ENOUGH TO SEE THAT GOD WAS GOING TO DELIVER THEM, EVEN FROM THIS SITUAITON!

Understand this- the Israelites are on the precipice of seeing God move in an INCREDIBLE WAY!

All they have to do is hold on for just a little longer! They just have to be a LITTLE MORE PATIENT AND THEY’LL SEE GOD DO SOMETHING INCREDIBLE!

But instead, they see hardship and they panic.

It’s easy for us to point a finger at the Israelites about stuff like this. BUT, WE DO THE SAME THING!

WE SEE HARDSHIP AND WE PANIC! WE SEE DIFFICULTY AND WE RUN FROM IT! WE SAY, “GOD, THIS ISN’T WHAT I ASKED FOR! GOD, THIS ISN’T FAIR!”

Hey, guess what! It’s not fair from a limited HUMAN PERSPECTIVE! BUT GUESS WHAT? SUFFERING IS GOOD FOR US! HARDSHIP IS GOOD FOR US!

James 1:2–4 CSB

2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

HARDSHIP GIVES US THE OPPORTUNITY TO GROW! IT GIVES US THE CHANCE TO STAND FIRM!

To stand firm we have to face some form of a test or a difficulty. It’s not standing firm if everything is always easy. But the Israelites? Well, their true colors are showing! They face a difficult time and they don’t stand firm at all!

But this passage isn’t over. God’s not done. We still need to see Moses’ response!

Check out what Moses does in verses 13-14. Exodus 14:13-14

Exodus 14:13–14 CSB

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.”

Moses responds by telling the Israelites not to be afraid!

Instead of getting angry, or trying to fix it on his own, or even panicking, Moses tells them to calm down by reminding them of the LORD’S PROMISE!

HE POINTS THEM BACK TO GOD’S PROMISE OF SALVATION!

Then Moses tells them that they are going to see God do something incredible. They don’t need to be afraid, they just need to trust God!

Look at what he says is about to happen! The Egyptians that have caught up to them? They’ll never see them again. Why? BECAUSE GOD WILL FIGHT FOR THE ISRAELITES!

Moses is telling them that God is going to KILL THE EGYPTIANS!

GOD IS GOING TO FIGHT THE BATTLE!

All that the Israelites have to do is, “be quiet.”

That’s Moses response to hardship and to waht seems like a sure defeat!

Moses doesn’t lean on himself, or in fear; instead, Moses LEANS INTO GOD! HE RELIES ON GOD!

But here’s the hardest part! BEING QUIET! BEING QUIET IS HARD! BECAUSE LET’S JUST BE HONEST, SUFFERING AND FACING DIFFICULT THINGS ISN’T FAIR!

We feel like we shoudl be able to complain, to tell everyone, to be upset! We feel ENTITLED to that!

But look again at what Moses says. It’s not, “Please be quiet.” Moses says, “YOU MUST BE QUIET!”

Listen, does it strike anyone else as strange that Moses tells the Israelites that they MUST BE QUIET?

It struck me as odd! But the more that I studied this passage, the more I am sure that there are really three things that Moses is telling the Israelites when he says, “YOU MUST BE QUIET!”

And these three things are the foundation for how we can STAND FIRM IN THE FACE OF ANY DIFFICULTY!

IF YOU ARE TAKING NOTES- which I hope you are; then these should GO IN YOUR NOTES!

Takeaways

Moses 3 Instructions

I mentioned that Moses is telling the Israelites to do three things. Here they are:

First, they need to HUMBLE THEMSELVES BEFORE GOD!

The Israelites need to recognize that they can’t solve this problem on their own.

Second, they need to RELY ON GOD!

They need to recognize that they are POWERLESS!

Third, they need to TRUST GOD!

They need to recognize that God is giving them EVERYTHING THAT THEY NEED!

Those are three really hard things. They don’t sound hard, but they are hard!

Because what the Israelites actually have to do is confess that THEY ARE NOT ENOUGH, THEY WILL NOT BE ENOUGH, AND THAT THEY CANNOT BE ENOUGH!

THAT’S SO CONTRADICTORY TO WHAT OUR FLESH TELLS US! Just think about what we’ve seen tonight!

Pharaoh would respond to that by saying, “I don’t need to humble myself! I’ve got the right position; I’m the KING! I don’t need to rely on God; I’ve got the strongest military in the world! I don’t need to TRUST God; WHO IS GOD ANYWAYS!”

The Israelites without Moses’ leadership would have said, “I don’t need to humble myself! Humbling myself means that I’m trusting God and God hasn’t earned my trust! I don’t need to rely on God, I need to come up with a solution! I need to PROTECT MYSELF AND JUST THINK THIS THROUGH A DIFFERENT WAY! I don’t need to TRUST GOD, GOD DOESN’T CARE ABOUT ME! If God cared about me, then THIS SITUATION NEVER WOULD HAVE HAPPENED!”

I just want to be honest. This isn’t just the Israelites and Pharaoh who have these objections. We do the exact same thing.

We don’t need God to fix our situation! We don’t need to rely on God because we can handle it. We don’t need to trust God because look at all the hard things that we’ve seen.

We don’t need to trust God because God doesn’t seem to care!

Well tonight, I’m here to challenge us that that’s not true!

WE ABSOLUTELY NEED TO TRUST GOD!

That’s the ONLY RIGHT RESPONSE TO DIFFICULTY!

And listen, either you’re currently facing difficulty, or you will be.

Example

And the only way through it is to HUMBLE OURSELVES BEFORE GOD, RELY ON GOD, AND TRUST GOD!

THE ONLY WAY THROUGH IT TO QUOTE MOSES IS TO “BE QUIET!”

Let me be quite clear- bring your emotions, your thoughts, your feelings to GOD- although, we better be ready to OBEY WHEN GOD TELLS US TO! BUT BE QUIET! BE HUMBLE! RELY ON GOD! TRUST GOD! GIVE YOUR BURDENS AND YOUR PAIN TO GOD AND LET GOD HANDLE IT!

This is really what we could call a “framework” for suffering! This is how we should handle suffering.

And here’s the reminder- we can live like this because we know that GOD WILL HANDLE IT! GOD DOES HAVE THIS UNDER CONTROL!

Let me read you what happens as the ISRAELITES QUIETLY WAIT!

Exodus 14:21–28 CSB

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back with a powerful east wind all that night and turned the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left. 23 The Egyptians set out in pursuit—all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen—and went into the sea after them. 24 During the morning watch, the Lord looked down at the Egyptian forces from the pillar of fire and cloud, and threw the Egyptian forces into confusion. 25 He caused their chariot wheels to swerve and made them drive with difficulty. “Let’s get away from Israel,” the Egyptians said, “because the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt!” 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.

So does God have all of this under control? ABSOLUTELY!

If God can handle that, then how much more can God handle what we are facing? It’s INCOMPARABLE! OF COURSE GOD CAN HANDLE WHAT WE ARE FACING AND TRYING TO NAVIGATE THROUGH!

So let me give you 2 things to do tonight; 2 challenges.

First, WRITE DOWN THIS EXAMPLE OF GOD’S FAITHFULNESS!

THE NEXT TIME THAT YOU FACE A DIFFICULTY AND YOU’RE TEMPTED TO THINK THAT YOU’RE ALONE, TURN TO THIS EXAMPLE IN EXODUS 14!

And listen- it’s ok to struggle with this! Did you know that over 52% of our generation struggles with this? When they were asked by a researcher over 52% of people from our generation were honest that they struggle to remember that God is with them when they are facing hardship.

there’s no SHAME IN IT!

Maybe that’s you here tonight! If it is, then I want to encourage you to look at this example of Exodus 14 to see how God CAN MOVE IN YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW!

Second, WHERE ARE YOU RIGHT NOW?

WHAT ARE YOU FACING? WHAT ARE YOU WRESTLING WITH? Which of these three responses to difficulty do you take?

Listen, STANDING FIRM starts with us being HONEST ABOUT WHERE WE ARE! AND WE EACH TEND TOWARDS ONE OF THESE RESPONSES IN DIFFICULTY!

WE EITHER TEND TOWARDS BEING MORE LIKE THE PHARAOH AND WANTING TO FIX EVERYTHING ON OUR OWN STRENGTH, OR WE TEND TO BE MORE LIKE THE ISRAELITES AND RUN TO ANXIETY!

BUT HERE’S WHAT WE NEED- WE NEED TO LEAVE THOSE TWO BEHIND AND RUN TOWARDS THE GOD-HONORING RESPONSE! WE NEED TO RUN TOWARDS TRUSTING GOD!

But for us to get there, we have to start with understanding WHERE WE ARE!

So, WHERE ARE YOU?

As we sing these response songs, I just want to encourage you, I’m going to have Abdo play some quiet music first. Just go to God right now. Where are you? How do you respond to hard times? And here’s the big thing- which of these three parts about being quiet is hardest for you?

Do you find it hardest to HUMBLE YOURSELF? TO RELY ON GOD? OR TO TRUST GOD?

And listen- there’s no shame. But I do want to challenge you- tonight we change. Tonight we stop running on our own strength. Tonight we stop living in anxiety. Tonight we stop trying to avoid difficulty. TONIGHT WE HUMBLE OURSELVES BEFORE GOD, TONIGHT WE RELY ON GOD! TONIGHT WE TRUST GOD! TONIGHT WE STAND FIRM IN THE FACE OF DIFFICULT SITUATIONS!

TONIGHT WE ARE SET FREE AND WE ARE QUIET; RELYING ON GOD!

PRAY!