Taking the Hard Road
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The Hard Road
The Hard Road
Pharaoh had experienced the worst that God could throw at him.
God had given Pharaoh the opportunity to “Let my people go” in every instance Pharaoh had said “No”
These plagues that were given attacked Pharaoh where Pharaoh thought he was safe..
Nile - Water is turned “blood red”
Frogs - Millions of Frogs in opposition to the frog-goddess Heqt
Gnats - “Mosquitoes” probably a better translation. The dust of the earth became mosquitoes.
Sorcerers failed to explain this one...
They know that Moses and Aaron are not performing magic tricks or sleight of hand…this is real.
Flies (4th Plague) - Flies will attack all of the Egyptian land, except Goshen where Israel walks
Egyptian Livestock Die (5th Plague) as a punishment for the rampant animal sacrifice. All the animals died...
Boils (6th Plague) -
Hail (7th Plague) -
Locusts (8th Plague)
Darkness (9th Plague)
When is enough, enough?
Of the first born...
7 Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the Lord their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?”
Mark a time in your life when God was trying to get your attention...
How many times, how many circumstances, how much heartache, how many trials, how many failures, how far can we go away from God’s love, God’s guidance, God’s perfect standard.
Never so far that we are out of the reach of the Grace and Mercy of Christ. Again…Never so far that we are out of the Grace and Mercy that is provided by God to the people who call on his name. Never so far that we are away from His loving arms.
BUT HE WILL DRIVE US TO OUR KNEES!
WE WILL COME TO THE POINT WHERE WE HAVE NOWHERE ELSE TO TURN BUT TO GOD.
Our lives may be in a ruin… but got will not leave us wallowing in our own mess
__________________________
I never planned on being a Christian, I mocked them, I plied them. I was on my way to being happy, successful and wealthy. I toyed with God, used him when it suited my needs but rarely, to never in a situation that would be called “honoring.”
I was hit, right between the eyes with the reality of God…There is no denying when you have been hit, there is no escape when you are face-to-face with Jesus.
What is the result of that…death, cast into the pit of fire, annihilated and our very existence wipe out of the memory of everyone… hardley
What waits in Jesus, not as judge, jury and executioner but as Savior, Redeemer, Justifier.
Like I’ve said before we serve a Jealous God that demands all of us…not 90% but all of us!
16 The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Mt 26
19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
God
God demands righteousness and gives us the pathway to that righteousness.
Finally and not without great fanfare did God finally impress enough on Pharaoh that he let the Hebrew go! And then changed his mind and wanted them all back...
So then after all of this...
17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”
God heard the mumbling… he knew how much the people could bear. He knew not press them to hard to quickly.
18 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.
God began to run the people of Israel through a series of “Confidence Building Exercises”
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.
This was a test…the Egyptians were so close they could see the Jews.
Because the Jews were so close to the enemy, so vulnerable (in human terms). The Egyptians thought they could recapture them…they thought they could recapture.
After my epic fails, and there have been more than one epic fail, I have been at my weak-est, my most vulnerable… satan or one his minions were lurching about waiting to pounce on me. I figuratively looked up and saw the Egyptians bearing down upon me.
I knew that I was toast...
ex 14
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.
FINALLY, FINALLY THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL GOT IT!!!
10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.
OR NOT!!!
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?
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!”
Moses… the one raised as a member of the King’s own family, the one who murdered a fellow Egyptian, the one who fled to Midian, the one who was called back into God’s service, but “couldn’t” because he couldn’t speak clearly, the who listened to God and lead his people out of captivity.
That guy had baggage, lots of baggage he had not a single solitary reason that the Jews should follow him…except that God was with him.
13 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.”
ex
Who are the “Egyptians” in your life? Who or what has held you captive for far to long?
Who or what makes you miserable every time that you look up. Whose image do you see in place of God’s in your life?
What area of your life do you NOT trust to God?
What is that image in your life to blocks access to God
… Is it a bottle of alcohol?
… Is it a bottle of pills?
… Is it an addiction to porn
… Is it a relationship that is not God honoring
… Is it a relationship that is toxic
What strikes you today that stops your complete devotion to the Lord.
I’ll tell you what it is for me… it’s me!
… I can do it
… I don’t need anyone else
… I am stronger, I have a will that is unbeatable
… I can work any problem and have a solution
18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”