" 'What Have We Done?' "

   

"That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him, and in Moses his servant."

 

            Today in worship we entered into the experience of Israel in crossing the Red Sea. The text led us to a time of confessing our fears and our lack of trust in the Lord. Then we followed Moses' words and were still for a time, listening to God and placing our trust in Him.
We read the instruction of the Lord to "move on" and considered our obedience. We proclaimed God's salvation and opened our hearts in faith to the victory of the Lord.

             Pharaoh lived through ten plagues, and several times told the people they could leave, only to change his mind. But in the Passover, there is no longer any doubt. He not only sends the people away, he drives them out. Yet here we find out that he was told that the people had fled. Maybe he thought they were only going away for three days to worship God, and now he is told they are going for good. But there is also something in his words, "What have we done?" It is like the news of where the Israelites have gone wakes him up, and his need to be served takes control again. His pride will not allow him to lose these slaves. In finding out where they have gone, he realizes how easy it will be to capture them and bring them back.

            When the Egyptian army gets to the Israelite camp, the people panic. They did not think that Egypt would pursue them. In seeing them approach, they thought they were dead for sure, and they began to cry out and complain. "Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us out into the desert to die?" It is irrational to think that Egypt, the land of the pyramids and the great tombs and the mummies, a nation that spent an inordinate amount of time on death, might run out of graves. It is also irrational to think that Moses had led the people into the desert to die. But fear and anxiety have a way of taking away good thinking.

            Pharaoh is also engaging in irrational thinking, charging into the sea to capture a band of slaves. So Pharaoh acts on the basis of his anxiety over losing his servants, and it leads to death for his army of chariots and horses. But Moses leads the people out of their fear, and to act on their faith, and to journey to the Promised Land.

            The people cry out to Moses with bitter complaint. Their anxiety and fear of death cause them to lose faith. And Moses tells them to be still and to trust God. The only way to stop anxiety and worry is to be still. Sometimes it takes a doctor's care to be still. Sometimes it requires time and good counsel. It always requires prayer, so that we might interrupt our racing thoughts, and be quiet. Here God tells the people to "be still." That could mean a variety of things, but it always meant "stop talking," which in their case meant to stop complaining. Sometimes that is the first step in our spiritual growth. We just need to be quiet.

I think I told you before about my experience when the contemporary music began to come into our former church. I hated it with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, and when we would sing it, my thoughts were filled with complaint and lament. One morning in worship I heard the Lord say to me, deep in my soul, "Be quiet." Sit down, and don't sing another word until you can sing with a glad heart and an attitude of worship. So I sat for a few weeks. Then there came a day when I felt like singing. Moses tells the people to be quiet. It is not very polite, but sometimes that is where we need to begin. Be still. Let go of your anxiety. It is when we are still that we can hear the Lord speak. That is what we hope to do at our prayer retreat in February. We will take time to be still, and then we will listen to God's voice.

I remember a time some years ago when I was trying to decide whether to stay at my church or take another call. Tim Fretheim and I went  to a Catholic retreat center in Mission, British Columbia. We spent a few days, going to worship with the community, taking long walks, being quiet, praying together. One morning we were directed to a little alcove in the hallway, and one of the brothers came along with a cart. He served us oatmeal, and then sat with us, and asked why we had come on retreat. When I told him my issue, he simply said, "Be aware of who might be hurt if you leave." That word guided my praying and thinking and helped me come to peace about staying a few more years. When we are still, we can hear the Lord and respond.

            Then it does not take too long until the Lord says to Moses, "Tell the Israelites to move on." The next step is obedience. They must follow God. They are called to go through the sea on dry ground. That is impossible. It is impossible unless the Lord makes a way. Go through the sea on dry ground. That is not going to work. But it did work. For God sent a wind to blow all night. It meant that they had to step into the sea and walk on its floor with the wall of water on either side. That might have been frightening. I can imagine it was. But they kept on moving.

            In a life of faith in Christ, you will always come to some places where you cannot do what God is calling you to do in your own strength. "Walk through the sea on dry ground." How do you think the charter members of this church felt? A small circle of believers began a church, where there was no church: no building, no programs, and no people. They called a pastor and rented some space and invited their neighbors and bought a piece of land. I have never done what they did, but I imagine there must have been times when it seemed like it was impossible. But they kept going and God provided.

            We can't all plant a church. But each new generation, and every individual needs to go through times when by faith we follow God and find him faithful. In Christ we always keep moving towards the promise. We quiet our fear. We obey. We keep moving.

 A building project can be that Red Sea. The one I was part of in our former church provided many instances where we saw the Lord provide, and we kept moving forward.  A missions trip can be a Red Sea. In a different culture you quickly discover what you cannot do on your own. But you keep moving because God is faithful to provide.  A new ministry program can be a Red Sea. When God shows you something that needs to be done, you feel inadequate. You don't know just how to build a team around it. You think someone else will do it. But God calls you to believe and keep moving.   

            Then the Lord said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground."

            This section concludes, "That day the Lord saved IsraelÉ and the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant."

             Israel learns in this that the Lord is God. They also learn that they can now serve God without fear of being chased by Egypt. They move on into the provision of God in the wilderness; to Sinai to receive the law, then to the Promised Land. The Egyptian army does not follow them, does not torment them.

When we come to Christ in true repentance, we are set free from the power of guilt, from the capacity of our old sins to come after us and torment us, or even to entice us. The salvation of God is rescue. We need to return to that. Rescue means separation from our sin. When you have been rescued you no longer live in the grip of that which torments you.

 In salvation we then live a new life before God.

            "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!"

            "O Hallelujah, he's my friend. He guides me to the journey's end. He walks beside me all the way, and will bestow a crown someday."

            Amen.