God Shows His People the Way

Exodus 13:17-22; 15:17-22

GOLDEN TEXT: “The Lord is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation.”—Exodus 15:2

“Sometimes ’mid scenes of deepest gloom,
Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom,
By waters still, o’er troubled sea—
Still ’tis His hand that leadeth me.”

THESE beautiful lines sum up well the meaning of today’s lesson for spiritual Israelites. All who have set out to follow in the Master’s footsteps, and who put their trust fully in divine guidance will find, as our Golden Text states, that the Lord is their strength and their salvation. But, as with the Israelites of old, our “troubled seas” of Christian experience will be grievous indeed if the lack faith in the Lord, and murmur against His leadings.

The death of Egypt’s firstborn convinced Pharaoh that it was best to let the Israelites leave Egypt. The obvious route to Canaan, from the standpoint of human wisdom, was through the land of the Philistines, but God did not lead them that way. He knew their lack of full confidence in Him, and that they were not too thoroughly convinced of the wisdom of leaving Egypt anyway, so He foresaw the liability of their repenting of the undertaking if they had to face the opposition of the warring Philistines.—Exodus 13:17

How wise is our God! It doubtless seemed strange to the Israelites that they should not be allowed to take the shortest route to the promised land. But God knew that what seemed to be the easiest way would turn out to be the most trying, hence He spared His people.

At times we may feel that if God’s loadings were in another direction it would be better, that the trials would not be so severe, yet the probability is that if we were permitted to follow the course that seemed best to us, the difficulties encountered would be even greater to let us learn to trust more fully in His leadership.

God led His people by a route that brought them to the Red Sea where they were temporarily blocked from going farther. Meanwhile Pharaoh’s heart again became hardened and he determined to give chase to the Israelites and if possible to bring them back to Egypt. Exodus 24:4,8 states that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and the account shows how He did it. It was by leading the Israelites to the Red Sea, and having them encamped there in such a position as to indicate that they had become “entangled in the wilderness.”

Pharaoh learned of this seemingly hopeless plight of his former slaves, and concluded that under the circumstances there should be no serious difficulty in surrounding and capturing them. Thus, it was God’s strategy in placing Israel in this vulnerable position that tempted Pharaoh and despite the lessons of the ten plagues he again determined in his heart that he would not permit the Israelites to have their freedom.

Meanwhile God’s people themselves were severely tested. The Red Sea was before theirs and the Egyptian hosts were pursuing them. It was more than their faith could stand so they complained to Moses. It would have been better, they said, to have continued serving the Egyptians, than to die in the wilderness

And, as is still the tendency of human wisdom, they adopted an attitude of “I told you so.” No actual injury had befallen them as yet, but they were sure it would, because, had they not said themselves while in Egypt that it would be hazardous to follow Moses even though they did temporarily gain their freedom? (Exodus 14:11,12) To learn that “sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,” is an important lesson.

But Moses said to the faithless Israelites, “Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will shown to you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, ye shall see them again no more for ever.” (Exod. 14:13) It was what the Lord could do for His people that gave Moses confidence.

We today should never lose sight of the fact that the Lord is still the leader of His people. We should have faith to believe that He is too wise to err, and too loving to be unkind, hence will not permit a single trial that is not needed, and will always provide a way of escape when, in His wisdom, it becomes necessary.

When the time came the Lord made a path through the Red Sea for the Israelites, having meanwhile held their enemies back by the “pillar of darkness.” God is still performing miracles for His people. No obstacle can stand in the way of a Christian which God cannot set aside. He can still vanquish and destroy the enemies of His people no matter how formidable they may be. In this great truth may we trust!

QUESTIONS:

In what way does God deliver spiritual Israelites today?

Explain how God hardened Pharaoh’s heart.

Is there a lesson for us in the fact that God finally destroyed the Egyptian Army?

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