The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Exodus 14:30-31,
"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 mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant."
I see a couple of things "under the covers" here. This deliverance of Israel from their enslavement in Egypt was dramatic. Very dramatic. I consider it one of the most dramatic events in all of human experience to date. It had what we might call "maximum impact" on the Israelites, as well as others. It is not difficult to see this impact expressed in their experience of witnessing "the mighty hand of the Lord."
I don't read that the Israelites simply noticed the Lord had done something, but that they had just experienced a breath-taking view of the "mighty hand of the Lord." What I mean is, if, lets say, the Lord brought some illness to the Egyptians and they died from some epidemic, I'm certain the Israelite's reaction might have been much less dramatic as they walked out of Egypt - not a breath-taking event and a much more subdued one. But not this event. Not how the Lord orchestrated the way things unfolded here.
The Lord staged the events surrounding his rescue of Israel from Egypt in such a way as to provide maximum impact. He brought the Israelites to the edge of the Red Sea and he hardened Pharaoh and his court such that, following their earlier decision to allow the Israelites to go, they decided to saddle up and run down the Israelites. This left Israel with what might be best described as finding themselves between "a rock and a hard place" as they looked to the sea in front of them and the advancing Egyptians, in full war array, behind them. All this at the design and working of the Lord.
The outcome, short-lived as it was (much like America's reaction to 9/11) was such that the Israelite's "feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant." I think it instructive to note that it was only through the dramatic set of circumstances, the crisis created as much as the deliverance from it, that brought this reaction. As I have noted elsewhere, the dramatic nature of this deliverance of Israel was not just for their consumption (resulting in the reaction they had) but also to provide "legs" (both geographically and historically) to the telling of it, for the current inhabitants of the promised land the Israelites would eventually have to displace and the enemies they would encounter on their way there. All would know God was with Israel (note Rahab's comments forty years later in Joshua 2:8-11).
In any event, I see the Lord here staging things in a specific way to achieve his desired outcome. I fully believe that as the events surrounding the close of the age we live in unfold, the Lord will arrange things in certain ways to achieve the same. This may require great patience on the part of God's people, tied to an anticipation of what may take place that transcends our own expectations.
On a much smaller scale, I wonder what those things might be that the Lord engineers in our lives to bring about the outcomes he desires to see in our lives today. Something to think about. What we might consider to be difficult challenges and challenging discouragements may be the Lord preparing us for some exciting things in our own lives and possibly the lives of loved ones around us.
Something to consider...
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"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 mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant."
I see a couple of things "under the covers" here. This deliverance of Israel from their enslavement in Egypt was dramatic. Very dramatic. I consider it one of the most dramatic events in all of human experience to date. It had what we might call "maximum impact" on the Israelites, as well as others. It is not difficult to see this impact expressed in their experience of witnessing "the mighty hand of the Lord."
I don't read that the Israelites simply noticed the Lord had done something, but that they had just experienced a breath-taking view of the "mighty hand of the Lord." What I mean is, if, lets say, the Lord brought some illness to the Egyptians and they died from some epidemic, I'm certain the Israelite's reaction might have been much less dramatic as they walked out of Egypt - not a breath-taking event and a much more subdued one. But not this event. Not how the Lord orchestrated the way things unfolded here.
The Lord staged the events surrounding his rescue of Israel from Egypt in such a way as to provide maximum impact. He brought the Israelites to the edge of the Red Sea and he hardened Pharaoh and his court such that, following their earlier decision to allow the Israelites to go, they decided to saddle up and run down the Israelites. This left Israel with what might be best described as finding themselves between "a rock and a hard place" as they looked to the sea in front of them and the advancing Egyptians, in full war array, behind them. All this at the design and working of the Lord.
The outcome, short-lived as it was (much like America's reaction to 9/11) was such that the Israelite's "feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant." I think it instructive to note that it was only through the dramatic set of circumstances, the crisis created as much as the deliverance from it, that brought this reaction. As I have noted elsewhere, the dramatic nature of this deliverance of Israel was not just for their consumption (resulting in the reaction they had) but also to provide "legs" (both geographically and historically) to the telling of it, for the current inhabitants of the promised land the Israelites would eventually have to displace and the enemies they would encounter on their way there. All would know God was with Israel (note Rahab's comments forty years later in Joshua 2:8-11).
In any event, I see the Lord here staging things in a specific way to achieve his desired outcome. I fully believe that as the events surrounding the close of the age we live in unfold, the Lord will arrange things in certain ways to achieve the same. This may require great patience on the part of God's people, tied to an anticipation of what may take place that transcends our own expectations.
On a much smaller scale, I wonder what those things might be that the Lord engineers in our lives to bring about the outcomes he desires to see in our lives today. Something to think about. What we might consider to be difficult challenges and challenging discouragements may be the Lord preparing us for some exciting things in our own lives and possibly the lives of loved ones around us.
Something to consider...
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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