Exodus – God’s Way Out
We are still right in the middle of a world crisis. You might be in the middle of a crisis in your home because of the affects of the virus. We all wonder WHEN will we get passed this stay at home to be safe order and way of life. We wonder when will the virus stop spreading. Will God provide a way out?Consider this…Can we stop for a moment and think about the glorious time when we will get to the other side of these overwhelming waters? As we think about what we will do, can we praise God now, right in the middle of the virus sea? Can we look away at the wall of waters of who will get it next, who will survive and who will die on each side of us and look up to God?
I’m sure the Israelites questioned the decision to walk right through the sea, until they felt the dry ground under their feet to hold them up. Many question whether it is necessary to stay home in quarantine to be delivered from this virus!HOLY PAUSE
What or Who is holding you up right now? Who is guiding you and your thoughts? What happens when we take our eyes of the One in control and look at the virus all around us?
As believers in Jesus, even if we succumb to the virus and pass from this life to life eternal with God, we have won! If we live through it here and avoid the virus affects, we win! We WILL get to the others side of this present trouble. How will we react?
What will we live to tell?
Like the Isralites who made it to the other side, will we immediately break out in praise and song to the One who got us through it all and delivered us from death?
Will the world just go back to way things were with no thought to God and what he brought us through?
Jesus died and rose again so that we can live forever with Him in glory. This is what we celebrate. Jesus is our hope. This is our story and this is our song! May our lives reflect what we believe. May this be our life song to God.
Who will write a song of deliverance from Corona virus? Mm.
Exodus 15, The Message
1-8 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to God, giving voice together,I’m singing my heart out to God—what a victory!
He pitched horse and rider into the sea.
God is my strength, God is my song,
and, yes! God is my salvation.
This is the kind of God I have
and I’m telling the world!
This is the God of my father—
I’m spreading the news far and wide!
God is a fighter,
pure God, through and through.
Pharaoh’s chariots and army he dumped in the sea,
The elite of his officers
he drowned in the Red Sea.
Wild ocean waters poured over them;
they sank like a rock in the deep blue sea.
Your strong right hand, God, shimmers with power;
your strong right hand shatters the enemy.
In your mighty majesty
you smash your upstart enemies,
You let loose your hot anger and burn them to a crisp.
At a blast from your nostrils
the waters piled up;
Tumbling streams dammed up,
wild oceans curdled into a swamp.
9 The enemy spoke,
“I’ll pursue, I’ll hunt them down,
I’ll divide up the plunder,
I’ll glut myself on them;
I’ll pull out my sword,
my fist will send them reeling.”
10-11 You blew with all your might
and the sea covered them.
They sank like a lead weight
in the majestic waters.
Who compares with you
among gods, O God?
Who compares with you in power, in holy majesty,
In awesome praises,
wonder-working God?
12-13 You stretched out your right hand
and the Earth swallowed them up.
But the people you redeemed,
you led in merciful love;
You guided them under your protection
to your holy pasture.
14-18 When people heard, they were scared;
Philistines writhed and trembled;
Yes, even the head men in Edom were shaken,
and the big bosses in Moab.
Everybody in Canaan
panicked and fell faint.
Dread and terror
sent them reeling.
Before your brandished right arm
they were struck dumb like a stone,
Until your people crossed over and entered, O God,
until the people you made crossed over and entered.
You brought them and planted them
on the mountain of your heritage,
The place where you live,
the place you made,
Your sanctuary, Master,
that you established with your own hands.
Let God rule
forever, for eternity!
19 Yes, Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and riders went into the sea and God turned the waters back on them; but the Israelites walked on dry land right through the middle of the sea.
20-21 Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine, and all the women followed her with tambourines, dancing. Miriam led them in singing,
Sing to God—
what a victory!
He pitched horse and rider
into the sea!
Traveling Through the Wilderness
22-24 Moses led Israel from the Red Sea on to the Wilderness of Shur. They traveled for three days through the wilderness without finding any water. They got to Marah, but they couldn’t drink the water at Marah; it was bitter. That’s why they called the place Marah (Bitter). And the people complained to Moses, “So what are we supposed to drink?”
25 So Moses cried out in prayer to God. God pointed him to a stick of wood. Moses threw it into the water and the water turned sweet.
26 That’s the place where God set up rules and procedures; that’s where he started testing them.
God said, “If you listen, listen obediently to how God tells you to live in his presence, obeying his commandments and keeping all his laws, then I won’t strike you with all the diseases that I inflicted on the Egyptians; I am God your healer.”
27 They came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. They set up camp there by the water.
WHAT DO WE LEARN?
An experience of the delivering power of God is frequently cause for song. The high emotions of joy and gratitude find particular expression in poetry and melody. The great burden of the first three verses is personal. God, who has been abstract and impersonal, has acted personally for them. The Maker of the universe is indeed their personal God. 
The second stanza of the song (15:4-10) emphasizes the contrast between the might of the Egyptians and the might of God. God is the dominant reality. As he promised, they now know him to be Lord. The boast of earth’s mighty is nothing in contrast with the mere breath of God!The third stanza contrasts God and the gods. As God’s unique character has been shown through delivering his people, so it will be seen in his triumph over the nations as he leads the Israelites into their inheritance.
God’s unfailing love and other words of His character like mercy, grace, kindness, and loving-kindness are used here and in other translations. The basic thought is the undeserved, passionate loyalty of a superior to an inferior. Moses is confident that God will continue the unmerited favor he has already shown. And He does!
THE WILDERNESS
The story of the wilderness wanderings is one of the people’s continued inability to trust and of God’s continued providence. This theme appears here immediately after the great song of praise.
The words grumbled and complained will occur again and again throughout the remainder of the Pentateuch. It is the opposite of faith, trust, and acceptance. Nevertheless, God leads them to the antidote to the bitter waters and mildly encourages them to believe.
Concerning “the diseases” (v.26), some believe that the function of the ceremonial and dietary laws was to preserve health. Thus if the Hebrews followed the law, they would be more healthy. But it is also possible that the plagues are referred to here. In that case the sense is merely that obedience to God’s commands will mean the Hebrews need not fear the kind of destruction visited upon the Egyptians.
The Israelites seemed unable to transfer knowledge gained in one area to another. That God had provided water is quickly forgotten when food becomes a problem.
Ah, but that is tomorrow’s passage!
Whew, so much to learn and think about as we go through the waters of our own troubles in this world.HOLY PAUSE
Be still and know God.
Be still and know
Be still
Be
In Jesus Name, Amen
And I’m singing…
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long…
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 