when your back is to the sea

This past Wednesday night, I was teaching as part of our church's weekly Lenten devotions. The main text was Exodus 13:17-14:14. The Israelites had just celebrated the first Passover, and were in the process of leaving Egypt. The LORD sends them on a particular path, avoiding Philistia, going down toward the Red Sea. Interestingly, the LORD tells Moses his reasoning is to turn Pharaoh's heart hard once more - that he will think the Israelites are confused, and will be drawn into pursuing them with plans to force them to return to enslavement. Then, God would show the Egyptians that He is the LORD.

The Israelites get to the shores of the Red Sea, and realize that Pharoah's army - 600 of his best chariots, and all the rest - are coming for them. What a site that must've been! Their reaction was a crying out against Moses - "were there no graves in Egypt that you brought us out here to die?"; "didn't we say to you leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians?" (vv. 14:11-12) - in spite of all that they had seen by the hand of the LORD. I brought this up to the folks in attendance. The Israelites had (seemingly) forgotten each of the ten plagues they had witnessed, and been protected from. They forgot that when they left Egypt, the LORD was with them, as a pillar of smoke by day, and a pillar of fire at night. In spite of these things, they panicked, and cried out against Moses.

But rather than tell them to shut up and have faith, Moses responded to their fears by pointing them back to the LORD and His plan for them - "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." (vv. 13-14). I purposely stopped there, because I wanted to juxtapose and compare our own perspectives (as 21st century Christians) with the people of Israel some thirty-five hundred years ago.

It is interesting that often, when we feel that our proverbial backs are to the sea, we tend to panic. We, like Israel, forget all that the LORD has done for us. We think, speak, and act as if the pressure has been on us the whole time. We give into our fears, and we forget not only about God, but who God is. There were four basic points I underscored:

1) God has a reason for leading us down the path He calls us to follow.

2) God's ways are not our ways.

3) God is sovereign - even when it doesn't look like it.

4) God calls us to be like Jesus.

The Lenten journey serves several purposes. It reminds us of and prepares us for the pain and suffering Jesus went through on His way to the Cross, and the true cost of our Easter celebration. Christians today (at least in the West) are too "me" focused. Too absorbed with living the life they want, or think they deserve. They forget that we have been bought at a price, and do not understand that we cannot truly appreciate, let alone live as Easter people without understanding the whole story.

It also reminds us that we are follow, and be like, our master, Jesus. Our Lord told his disciples that no servant is greater than his master (Jn. 13:16). If Jesus suffered on our account, should we not expect to suffer for Him? This is not necessarily a given; however, Christians in the West can afford to be more than dismissive of this point, and live in such a way that we are desensitized the pains and problems around us. We can rationalize suffering away as something that happens to people b/c of their bad choices. We can turn away from suffering by writing checks. And yet, Jesus was God incarnate. Emmanuel, God with us, was sent by the Father to show us the love of the Father, and to defeat sin and death so that we might become like Jesus. But we have to embrace and accept this calling. Many places in Scripture point to who Jesus is, but it is in the beatitudes that we discover that the way Jesus calls us to live (the beatitudes themselves), is who Jesus already is, and who Jesus is, is who He is calling us to be.

What is necessary for us to understand all of this, however, is that we cannot even understand, let alone live out this divine ideal without the Holy Spirit empowering, encouraging, and equipping us by speaking to us first through Holy Scripture, and secondly through the Church. We cannot truly appreciate the road to Golgotha, or to the empty garden tomb, let alone we cannot become like Jesus, all without the transforming power of the Spirit of the Living God. It is the Spirit who first opens our hearts and minds to receive the reality and truth of God as contained and communicated to us through the dramatic stories of Scripture. It is the Spirit of God who invites and empowers us to take our part and participate in the reality of the body of Christ, the Church. It is the reality of the Spirit in our lives, individually and personally, who transforms us from the inside out, beginning with the renewing of our minds, allowing us to become like Jesus Christ.

When your back is to the sea, do you react or respond? I was able to share with the folks gathered with me last Wednesday night, that I struggled with reacting in fear, rather than responding in faith. I know whom I have believed, whom I have trusted with all my life. And yet, too easily have I found myself fearful of what will happen if this happens or this doesn't happen. Do I trust God? Has not God shown Himself to be my protector, defender, provider on enough occasions? How many times does the LORD have to deliver me before I trust Him enough to not panic?

The journey takes us to all different places, and along the way, God shows His love for us by inviting us to walk the path with Him. How glorious this journey is. Through His Holy Spirit, through His Scriptures, through His people, God speaks, invites, and leads us, not for the purposes of our betterment (though that may be a result of that particular part), but to teach us faithfulness and obedience to Him that we might give Him all glory.

With this in mind, the next time I have my back to the sea, I want to trust God. I want to cry out to Him in faith. I want to give God the praise and the glory.

How about you?