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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.
The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He had said, "God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place."
After leaving Succoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
Exodus 13:17-22
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
When we left off in yesterday’s message, the Israelites are leaving Egypt, on their way to Canaan, the land God had promised to their forefathers, the land He said would be a blessed place to settle as it was flowing with milk and honey.
As they set out on this journey, we know it had been a very long time since they had truly been free, having been held in captivity by Pharaoh and the Egyptians for the better part of 430 years. And so, we can know with confidence that this generation of Israelites was far disposed from the remnant of 70 people, led by Jacob and his sons, who first entered Egypt to escape the hardship of famine in the land this group of more than 600 hundred thousand would now inhabit, the land of Canaan.
Now, today, we have the luxury of using GPS (global positioning systems) to get us from place to place. All we need to do is punch in the location we wish to drive to and the GPS provides the directions to our destination.
But the Israelites back in the days of Moses had no such technology but they had something even better and more reliable. For as we see in our passage for today, they had God who would be their guide. Look again at verses 17 through 22 of Exodus, chapter 13:
When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.
The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle. Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He had said, "God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place."
After leaving Succoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
Think about what could have happened if the Israelites had relied on their own judgment regarding direction of travel to Canaan. I’m pretty sure they would have taken the shortest route which the scriptures tell us would have taken them “through the Philistine country.
We probably would have done the same thing because after all, aren’t we taught from a very young age that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line? It simply seems like common sense to do this but what if the path we would take took us through someplace dangerous? It wouldn’t seem to be as sensible anymore, right? I mean, what good is it to travel a shorter distance if you never make it to your destination?
This is the key point as we head back to our passage for today. For the Israelite people certainly would have walked right into peril if they had traveled had chosen the shorter path via the Philistine territory.
But here’s the thing. They didn’t realize this on their own. They needed God to intervene and save them from themselves.
And so He did. He brings an alternate plan to His people, one that would steer them clear of jeopardy, leading them “around by the desert road toward the Red Sea".
Speaking about steerage, how did the Lord show the Israelites where to walk?
We go back to the scriptures where we read how He “went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way" by day and "in a pillar of fire to give them light" by night. In other words, the Israelites were able to "travel by day or night" with the Lord’s help and "neither the pillar of cloud by day” nor “the pillar of fire by night” ever “left its place in front of the people."
In other words, God was always with them to guide them and see them through.
Brothers and sisters, we need to know and remember that this same God is ready to guide us through life today. All we need to do is walk in the way He sets forth day after day after day, knowing and trusting that He never leads any of His faithful ones astray. He will never lead us to where we are lost and if we are lost, we are never where He can’t find us and lead us back to where we need to be so we can then allow Him to be our guide.
Friends, does this not hold good news for us as we seek to navigate through this thing called life. For the very same Lord who led Israel from Egypt to Canaan by controlling the clouds and bringing fire into the night sky is the same Lord who wants to lead us today, ever working to guide us to our own personal promised land, the Kingdom of Heaven where we will live with Him and Jesus, our Savior, for all eternity.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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