Monday 24 Jul 2023

July 24: Exodus 14:5-18

Key Verse: Exodus 14:14
The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.

Devotion:
This is one of those stories I remember from my days before I knew what being a Christian was all about: the pictures of Moses holding up the staff and the seas parting. You see, I remember the after effects rather than the bit in between where the people of Israel were horrified Pharaoh was marching after them because they did not want to die in the desert where nobody would remember them! They were a proud people who made a point of remembering their ancestors.

There they were as a ‘complete nation’ facing 600 of the best chariots Pharaoh had; probably akin to a city of office workers facing an army of tanks and planes nowadays. Not really a fair fight at all. But God wanted them to know just how powerful He was and how He alone could defeat their opponents without having an army Himself!

Too often when we are faced with impossible odds we fall apart and invite the bad things back into our lives to try and fight evil with evil; this is not what God was asking of them and certainly not what God was going to demonstrate to them. But He had to make Moses convince the people they should put their absolute faith in Him! That is the hard part for us sometimes – putting our faith in the unseen God when we see so many obstacles in our ways.

If we look at what Jesus went through when being faced with 40 days and nights being tempted by the evil one, we see a man who knew he should trust in God his Father but not to call God’s bluff by jumping off the high point to see if God would save him. We need to listen to what God instructs us to do rather than expecting God to do what we think He should do. When we do stop and listen, He directs us and we will be safe once again – don’t leave it until it is too late!

Points to Ponder:
How much faith do you have in God?

How much faith do you take away from God because you think you can do better?