Well, welcome back to another podcast of Struggling Well, and we're coming to the end of what is another school year. year. And what amazes me is that when school is out, I think kids sometimes think learning stops. I'm also kind of amazed, let's say that tongue and cheek, that we graduate from everything now. We have grandkids who are leaving fifth grade going to middle school. That's a it's a graduation.
They're going from 8th grade to 9th grade. It's a graduation. For me, it was when you graduated high school. I mean, other times you just went from one grade to the next grade. Anyway,
wait, here's the other thing. While we're You know, I'm ranting here is I wish that I had grown up in the era of that if you were in seventh or eighth place, you got a trophy. That's now. And I mean, we I didn't get a I got a tro one trophy for ping pong once years ago. That was it. There were other things I was not good at, but I should have gotten a trophy.
Yes.
So, I'm still living.
I'm not bitter because last week we talked about getting rid of it. So, I'm putting on just happiness over the fact that I got a trophy.
Well, and the reason I said all that to start with was because we have found you have found recently you've learned some things that you know we've we both have known Jesus for a long time. We've studied God's word for a long time. But there were some things that you discovered recently about Moses and the children of Israel that I think is a great point that we never are at a place where we stop learning.
that's true. Now let me caveat this by saying that I do a lot of reading.
Yes.
And I listen I don't listen to a ton. But I listen to a few things like I love Leo 365 for those of you that have never used that in the mornings or the evenings. It's excellent. so and whenever I write in my journal something that has been profound to me and if it's not written if it wasn't me I put it in quotes. Oftenimes I forget to notate it as to where it was from. But if you could see my little journals you could see quote marks. So if I'm doing air quotes right now. I don't know if you can see them but you can't. can't. But this is straight from scripture. And this just astounded me. I just love the way when you really look, you see God's you see God's compassion and mercy all throughout scripture. But as we were talking about this morning with Tim is that there's also a bit of humor and a bit of like God is not just this bland black and white. So let me get to the passage because it's really good and it's in Exodus 13 and I'm going to read 17 to through 22 and I'm going to actually read it I think I'll read it in the NLT cuz it's really fascinating and hopefully we'll tie this up so you'll know where we're going. Here goes. When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through the Philistine territory even though that was the shortest route to the promised land. We got to stop there for a minute. They wandered in the desert for 40 years and the short route to get there was through Philistine and he was like, "Nah, we're going to go. We're going to wander around."
Well, yeah, but some of that wandering was because of their sinfulness.
Okay. All right. Let's go. Cuz God said if the people are faced with a battle, remember they had just left Egypt and they thought, you know, when they're outside of Egypt, all of a sudden Egypt was like their promised land. But if the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt. So God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea. Thus, the Israelites left Egypt like an army ready for battle. So, we go a little further in the passage and we'll get there in just a minute, but so they're in the wilderness. They're away from Egypt. They have been promised a place for them, a land filled with milk and honey. But the interesting thing was even though the land of the Philistines was near, I mean, that just grabs me. God was like, "Nope, nope. There's stuff that you have to learn. And so as I have been contemplating things in our lives in the last months, I've been thinking, "Yeah, but the land of the Philistines, God, do you not see it? It's right there. The end of this story is right there. Can't we get there?" And it looks like he's saying, "No, you need some more time in the desert." And it's been humbling to see that God did that with Israelites. But here's the cool thing. Okay, so it says the Israelites left Sukath and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness. The Lord went ahead of them and that this is really important. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire that allowed them to travel both day and night. And the Lord did not remove the pillar of cloud or pillar of fire from its place in front of the people. So where this has my mind And heart churning is when we and that's universal you and me. When we're in that hard place, we get so entangled in the hard place that we forget to see that there is a cloud, a pillar of cloud or a pillar of fire at night. In other words, God's presence leading us day and night, but we don't see it because we're in such a state of flux and hurt and pain and agony and crying out to God, where are you? And he is he's right there and he hasn't led us immediately to the end because there's a lot more that has to happen within me.
Yeah. Well, yeah. I and I think that, you know, again, if I put this in the context of this of the biblical story, they had been 400 years in Egypt in a foreign land. So, they had been 400 years out of the direct understanding of what God wanted from them as a people. So you go all the way to Sinai which is further in that story from where you read Suz he has to teach his people how to live as his people.
and so if I take that and bring that to us today there are times when God brings things into my life I think to teach me how to be a follower of Jesus.
Yeah. Well if you go further in the passage this is fascinating. I You know, I've read this passage so many times, but what I love about the word of God is that it's alive and it's it hits our hearts at different times. You can read the same book, the same verse, the same word, and depending on where your heart is and what God is doing, it's alive in a new way. And that's what's happened to me. So, further on in Exodus 14, it says as Pharaoh approached because they could see the Egyptians approaching and God now had led them to the Red Sea.
Right?
The people of Israel looked up and panicked. Oh, I love this. This is like my life story. When they saw the Egyptians overtaking them, and they cried out to the Lord and said to Moses, "Why did you bring us here to die in the wilderness?" I mean, is that not what we do? We're in a bad place. Things are rough. and I sound kind of like giddy today because I feel like this has been this massive light turned on in my heart to see something that I had never seen before. you know, weren't there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? didn't we tell you this would happen when we were still in Egypt? Didn't we tell us to leave you alone? To leave us alone? But Moses said, "Don't be afraid." And then this is fascinating. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. My problem is standing still is not exactly one of my virtues. So when things now, I can get lazy. That's one thing I do well. But standing still and waiting is not a virtue that I possess in great abundance. So when there's stuff going on, I go immediately into this. How can I fix it? What can I do? We've got to be moving. And so when Moses says to them, just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. Ha. What does that do to you?
Yeah. I mean, it reminds me of when the Psalms where it says, "Be still and know that I am God." I don't know that's something that comes naturally or easily done. and yet that seems to be repetitive in scripture. So if it repeats itself in scripture, it has not just it's not just descriptive of something that took place back in the book of Exodus, but it's prescriptive for all of life.
Yeah.
And I think There are times when we would do best in a situation to stand still, to be still, and to listen and watch and see what God wants from us, but what more importantly, what he's going to do in the situation to bring us through.
I've got to picture the scene because according to scripture, it was nighttime, right?
Okay.
Their back is up against the Red Sea. The Egyptians are coming. They are panicking. And nighttime is always hard in the sense that you know I mean I love the sun and sometimes at night you can get scared or you get panicky because there are things that happen that go bump in the night but Moses says to them be calm. But here's what God does. This is so cool. So the angel of God who had been leading the people of Israel moved to the rear of the camp. So he had been leading the camp but now he moved to the rear. The pillar of cloud also moved from the front and stood behind them. The cloud settled between the Egyptian and Israelite camps. And as darkness fell, the cloud turned to fire, lighting up the night. And the Egyptians and Israelites didn't approach each other all night. Another fascinating thing. Then God says, I want to Moses, open up your hand and you're going to part the sea. So the people walk through and we know this story. They walk through on dry ground and then the Egyptians all got, you know, t taken away by the water, etc. Couple of things. their backs are to the Red Sea and God says through Moses, "Be still and watch as God rescues you." And then he tells them this absurd thing, "Part the Red Sea." And we've seen all sorts of illustrations of it, but I don't want to be the guy in the front, nor do I want to be the guy in the middle or the guy in the end. I want to just fly over the whole thing. Maybe the guy in front. I don't know. But he's the one stepping out on the first piece of dry ground. The guy in the middle is wishing the people in front would hurry up. And the guy at the end is going, "-oh." I mean, what if it closes over me? So, these people, what kind of emotional state were they in? I don't know. I'm going to say possibly a little panicky. And there's a bunch of them. And they're walking through this. The water is raging on either side of them. The Egyptians are trying to figure out whether they're going to go, which they end up going to pursue them. and God says through Moses, "Tell the people to be calm and I'm going to bring them through onto the other side." Again, let's go back to the early part of chapter 13. The land of the Philistines was near. They could have walked through there and been in the promised land lickety split. And God says, "No, because there's so much more I'm going to develop in you and show myself, show my glory so that you will see that I am the one and only God. You guys, we have the Holy Spirit in us. We have God's presence with us. He promises he will never leave us or forsake us. We got to do something with that. I'm not trying to tell you something to do. I just know that sitting with this, all that Jimmy and I can do in this podcast is point. That's all we can do. We can't whatever happens in my heart between me and the Lord, I want you to we want you guys to have moments of clarity with him, but we can't bring you there. We can just point to it and encourage you to go. So, I'm not sure what exactly God's going to do this morning in your heart. but I pray that as you are in the midst of struggle or confusion, wondering what God's purpose is, wondering like David said so often, how long, that you will be still and let and watch how God rescues you.
So take that with you this week. Have a great week.