I love the story about how God rescued the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt and especially the part where he parts the Red Sea and the Israelites walk through on dry land, defeating the Egyptians.
But today as I was reading about this in Exodus 13-15, a couple passages stood out to me:
Exodus 13:17-18a - "When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, 'Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.' But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea."
So the wilderness was in the plan all along. The Israelites didn't take a wrong turn and end up in the wilderness. God specifically took them the wilderness way because he knows his people, his blessed and beloved people who are always being afraid and changing their minds. And sometimes he lets them do that, but this time God would not allow his glory to not be shown in the great way he had planned. He wanted once and for all for the Egyptians to know he is God, and even more importantly for the Israelites to know his power and that they are his people.
They did get afraid though:
Exodus 14:10-14 - "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. 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? 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.' 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. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.'"
Wow. What a great thing to remember in a time of fear. Fear not, and just watch God work.
Recently one of our pastors spoke on the topic of rest. He said that basically the seasons of life are either like day or like night. There are times when everything is going really well (job promotions, awesome relationships, etc.), and we really feel God's presence and can see him working, and all we want to do is praise him all day. But then there are the "night" times, when God feels far away, and life feels sad and like nothing is happening or maybe even scary things are happening. But the pastor's encouragement was to not lose heart during that time because it's during the night that God is working, even though we can't see him.
He compared it to Adam in Genesis, when God created woman for him. It was the first time Adam had rested. Until then, Adam had been working. That was pretty much all he knew was work (Gen. 3:15, 19-20). But when God created Eve, he put Adam to sleep so that HE could work (Gen. 3:21). And that was when he produced the most amazing thing - woman :) - to be Adam's helper and mate.
So the pastor's encouragement to us was to yes, work hard in the day when the opportunities are there and God is telling us to do things. But in the waiting, in the resting, in the "night," we shouldn't be afraid but rather know that God is working and anticipate the good to come. Just like Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today.. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent."
That is pretty powerful stuff. (And I do hope one of the things God is having me wait for while he creates it, IS a man. Ha ha, just kidding -- sort of.)
