Exodus 14:10-31
“RESIGNATION”
I am hereby officially tending my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of an 8-year-old again.
I want to go to McDonalds and think it’s a four star restaurant.
I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make a pavement with rocks.
I want to think M&M’s are better than money because you can eat them.
I want to lie under a big oak tree and run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer’s day.
I want to return to a time when life was simple; when all you knew were colours, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes, but that didn’t bother you, because you didn’t know what you didn’t know and you didn’t care! All you knew was to be happy because you were blissfully unaware of the things that should make you worried or upset.
I want to think the world is fair.
That everyone is honest and good.
I want to believe that anything is possible.
I want to be oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things again.
I want to live simple again.
I don’t want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive more days in a month than there is money in the bank, doctor’s bills, gossip, illness, and loss of loved ones.
I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind, and making sandcastles in the sand.
So…
here’s my chequebook and my car keys, my credit card bills and my bank statements.
I am officially resigning from adulthood.
And it you want to discuss it any further, you’ll have to catch me first, ‘cause…
Tag! You’re it!
Have you ever found yourself in a desperate situation? Have you ever felt, as the old clichés say, that you were ‘painted into a corner?’ or that you were ‘caught between a rock and a hard place?’ Have you ever found yourself I a situation where you felt that there was no way out?
- Financial problems
- Family problems
- Health concerns
- Faltering faith
- Halted hope
- Vanished victory
In our Scripture reading this morning, we see that this seems to be just how the children of Israel were feeling. They found themselves in a desperate situation. They felt like they were trapped with no where to turn. There seemed to be no way out. They were trapped between, not a rock and a hard place, but between Pharaoh and the deep Red Sea!
They were complaining, they were afraid, and they felt like Moses had led them not to freedom as he had promised, but into this situation where they felt there was no way out.
Just like the children of Israel, there are times in our own lives when we, like the children of Israel, face our own Red Sea crossing. We find ourselves trapped by the pressures of this world, and we feel like we’re about to either be crushed from the pressures, or thrown into the Red Sea and drowned. We may even find ourselves, just like the children of Israel, whinging, complaining, doubting and why we’re in such a situation.
When we find ourselves in a similar situation to the children of Israel, there are a few things we need to remember that will enable us to cross the Red Seas in our own lives safely.
We need to let go of the past (14:12)
We need to take a faith check (14:13&14)
We need to be prepared to launch forward (14:15)
1. We need to LET GO OF THE PAST.
When Moses and God’s people arrived at the shores of The Red Sea, they could hear and see the Egyptians approaching rapidly from behind them. The children of Israel thought that this would be the end for them, and they thought they were trapped. They could see no way out- they thought either they would be killed by the impending Egyptians, or they’d face drowning in The Red Sea. They could not understand that even though this seemed like an impossible situation, an end to them, that God had a purpose.
We read in verse 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.”
During this time, they also resorted to blaming Moses for what was happening to them, saying in verse 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.” (14:12)
For each one of us, when we’re faced with The Red Seas in our own lives, it’s all very easy to be tempted to go back to our ‘Egypt’…
The problem here was that the Israelites had become accustomed to slavery, they were even comfortable in it. They thought that their lives would have been better if they had of remained in Egypt as slaves, as they knew no better and could see no way out.
Sometimes, we too have the tendency to look back when we are faced with our own Red Sea moments… But the truth is, our old ways of life will not help us. When times get tough, how often do you look back and think “If only…” or remember the ‘good old days…’ Often when we’re faced with challenges we want our own lives to go back to the way they were…
Often when we’re faced with challenges, we can find ourselves looking back on the way things used to be, and what we used to have… but this won’t always be helpful to us. There are times in our lives when it’s helpful to look back at our past and see how much we’ve grown from the way things were, and how things were, but it helps no-one to dwell on these past days. Someone once said that,
“We can never overcome what is in front of us if we keep looking backwards…”
After all, remember what happened to Lot’s wife when she looked back on what was happening behind her? In Genesis we see that as Sodom and Gomorrah were being destroyed, God gave specific instructions that Lot and his family were to move forward, not to look back, but in Genesis 19:26 we read,
“But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.”
It often amazes me that when things go wrong in life, people are so often very quick to point the finger and blame someone else. And often, we find that finger being pointed towards God himself. I think this kind of behaviour can be likened to a quote I heard about a parachute…
“A parachute will not improve your flight… it will be uncomfortable in the seat – but a parachute WILL save your life when you jump from that plane.”
In order to move on, we need to let go of the past and look towards all God has for us in the future.
Secondly, in order to safely cross those ‘Red Sea’ moment sin our lives, we need to
2. We need to TAKE A FAITH CHECK.
“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. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Moses tells the people, “Don’t be afraid…” Fear is one thing that tends to hold us back, but I want to let you know this morning that fear like this is NOT of the Lord. Fear a trick of the enemy.
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
2 Timothy 1:7
Each time you find yourself living with fear, each time you find yourself feeling afraid, stand boldly on God’s word and look to your faith.
As they were facing the Red Sea, with the Egyptians closing in on them, the children of Israel did not believe that God would deliver them. Regardless of everything that God had done for them in the past, they allowed fear instead of faith in God to take over and they could see no way out. And here’s the key verse for this morning that I want each of us to take note of: When we allow faith instead of fear to rule us, we need only “stand still” and God will fight the battle for us. (verse 14)
Each one of us, sometime in our lives are going to find ourselves going through times when we need to be rescued. We’re each going to experience times when we feel overwhelmed, when we feel enclosed, when we feel trapped by the situations of our lives… Moses looked at the Israelites and could see that fear was written all over their faces and he realised something that I think we each need to take note of in our own lives… in order for the Israelites to move forward, Moses realised that this fear thing needed to be dealt with first, so he said to the people, “Do not be afraid…” And just like the Israelite children, we have a choice. When we’re faced with our own Red Sea moments, we need to choose whether we’ll allow fear to rule us, or whether we’ll allow faith to be our guide. The children of Israel had a choice to make: whether to go back to their lives of slavery in Egypt, or to trust and obey God.
We have the same choice to make in our own lives today: we can choose to give up or we can choose to give it to God!
The next thing Moses said to the people of Israel are a key for us today: he says to the people, “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
In the same way, we too need to stand still when we’re faced with our own battles and Red Sea moments.
You’ve heard the saying, “Don’t just stand there- DO something”?
We’ll, I think we as Christians need to rearrange this statement… we need to be able to say, “Don’t just Do something, stand there.”
In order for us to learn to walk by faith, we first need to learn how to stand in faith…
“Be still and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:10
We need to learn how to stand still and let God do what He does best. We need to be able to stand still and watch God move!
We read in God’s Word that He will “Never leave us or forsake us” We need only to be still.
3. We need to be prepared to LAUNCH FORWARD (14:15)
Once we’ve learned how to be still and allow God to go ahead of us and to trust Him, then and only then can we begin to move forward.
And we not only need to move froward, but we need to move froward in God’s Presence, in His power and with His promise.
Then and only then will we be able to overcome our own Red Sea moments.
And we each need to remember that the crossing of our own Red Seas is for a purpose. The red Seas of our lives are there for us to learn how to become more dependant on God and less dependant on ourselves and those around us…. And when we cross to the other side, we may be able to look back and see that our faith is stronger, our song louder, our prayer time is more frequent, we feel closer to God and we’re find ourselves more and more on our knees before God.
Someone once said that, “the fine line that separates success from failure is 18 inches… the distance from our knees to the floor.”
I want to conclude this morning by sharing with you a story that I read recently about a farmer who’s donkey had fallen into a well and couldn’t get out.
One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.
Finally he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway, it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbours to come over and help him. They each grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. The first shovel loads of dirt got into his eyes and mouth, and went up his nose making him sneeze and bray louder and louder. Then after a few minutes, to everyone's amazement, he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer looked down the well, and was astonished at what he saw. As every shovel of dirt hit his back, the donkey did something amazing. He would shake it off and stomp his feet, causing him to rise up higher and higher.
As the farmer's neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed, as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off.
We each have different ways of dealing with the things we are faced with in life. Some people are constant whingers and complainers. They do not handle setbacks very well. Others are defeated at the slightest difficulty they are faced with. Quite a few get confused, turned around and don’t seem to know what to do. Then there are those people who seem to be unconquerable. They are like the donkey trapped in the well. Problems can hit them fair and square on the head, and can cloud their vision and make them uncomfortable, but they don’t give up. They stomp around enough until they find themselves rising above the situation and getting on top of it.
When you’re faced with your own Red Sea moments, I encourage you to look forward, not back, and trust in God. After all, it’s only by allowing God to take control, and only after we allow ourselves to stand still and place our faith in God, that we can see God winning the battles for us.
And remember that no matter what the situation, God will part the waters of The Red Seas in our own lives, and lead us through safely to the other side.
Until next time...
Stand still and allow God to lead...
Blessings,
Ainsley xxoo
