Go Forward

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, January 25, 2014.  The Bible verses used are Exodus 14:5-31.

            We’re in the middle of our sermon series “Holy Moses”, looking at the life and times of Moses.  As we do, we come to what may be the most famous story about Moses there is.  In fact, it’s one of the most famous stories in all of the Bible.  It’s the story of God, acting through Moses, parting the Red Sea.

            Just as an aside, some of you know that there’s some question about whether it was actually what we now call the Red Sea that was parted.  Some would say that’s a mistranslation, and that it was actually the Reed Sea, the Sea of Reeds.  I don’t know, and other than as a matter of historical interest, it really does not matter.  The point is that it was a sea, a body of water, and God, acting through Moses, parted it.

             Last week, we covered the Passover and the killing of the firstborn of Egypt.  After that, the Pharaoh of Egypt finally let the people of Israel go free and leave.  But as you heard, after the people of Israel left, Pharaoh and his people changed their minds.  They went out with the mighty army of Egypt to go after the people of Israel and bring them back.

            Imagine you’re Moses at this point.  Think of all you’ve been through.  First, you were minding your own business as a shepherd when God called you and told you to go to the Pharaoh and get the people of Israel freed.  And even though that scared you to death, you did it.  And it worked.  Against all odds, it worked.  You, little old Moses, squared off against the mighty, powerful Pharaoh and won.  God helped, of course, but still.  You did it.  The people of Israel are free.  Not only are you free, you left triumphantly.  We’re told in Exodus twelve that God made the Egyptians favorable disposed to the people of Israel, so that they gave the people of Israel silver and gold and clothing.

            So now, here you are, headed out toward the Promised Land.  And you hear some noise coming from behind you.  You turn and look.  And there’s the army of Pharaoh, charging after you.  All the chariots of Egypt.  All the army officers.  All the horses and horsemen and troops.  They’re all chasing after you, and they’re about ready to catch you.

            All your people, the people of Israel, are terrified.  They come to you and say, “What have you done to us?  Why did you bring us out here to die?  We’d have been better off to stay slaves in Egypt.  At least we’d still be alive.  Now, we’re going to die here.”

            And while we’re not told this, it would not be surprising if some of these same thoughts were crossing Moses’ mind, too.  But of course, he cannot say that.  So he tells the people not to be afraid, that God will deliver them.  Maybe he really believed that, or maybe he was trying to make himself believe it.  We don’t know.

            But if Moses did not believe it, if he was starting to doubt, we could understand why, right?  We can understand why the people of Israel were doubting, too.  Think of their position.  On one side, they have the entire might of the Egyptian army, the biggest and best army around.  On the other side, they have--water.  The Red Sea.  Or the Reed Sea.  Whatever.  It was a body of water, and it was big enough that they could not cross it without boats, which they did not have. 

They were trapped.  They had no way out.  If they were lucky, they’d be captured and taken back to Egypt.  If they were unlucky, they’d be killed.  Certainly, Moses, the ringleader, would be killed, and so would Aaron and any of the other leaders of the people of Israel.

No wonder they doubted.  I probably would, too.  Most of us probably would.  Here they were, doing their best to follow God and trust God and do what God told them to do.  And it looked like it was going to work.  But now, it looked like it had all gone wrong.  Everything had fallen apart.  They had no chance of success and no chance of rescue.  They had no hope.

I suspect some of us have felt like that at some point in our lives.  Here we are, living our lives, doing the best we can.  We’re trying to follow God and live good lives.  We’re doing our best to do exactly what God wants us to do.  And then, all of a sudden, we’re trapped.  There’s no way out.  Whichever way we turn, we’re bound to meet with disaster.  Everything has fallen apart.  We feel like we have no chance of success and no chance of rescue.  We feel like we have no hope.  We feel like we’d have been better off not to even have tried to follow God in the first place.

We cry out to God, just like Moses did.  And God says what God said to Moses.  “Why are you crying out to me?...Move on.”  God says, don’t worry about it.  I’ve got you covered.  I have a plan.   I’ll take care of you.  This is going to work out for my glory.  Just keep moving forward.

Move forward?  Move forward where?  That's what the people of Israel asked.  Moved forward where?  Toward the water?  Toward death by drowning?

Well, the people of Israel moved forward.  Maybe they trusted God, or maybe they just did not know what else to do, but they moved forward.  They came to the water.  They stopped.  The army of Egypt was right behind them.  Only a miracle could save them now.

And that’s what they got.  A miracle.  Moses stretched out his hand, and the waters parted.  And the people of Israel walked through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

And we think, well, that’s real nice.  Glad it worked out for them.  But is that what I’m supposed to do?  I’m in this trap with no hope, and I’m just supposed to sit here and wait for God to work a miracle?

No.  But we are supposed to rely on God.  And we are supposed to listen to what God’s telling us to do, even if what God’s telling us to do does not make sense to us.

God did not tell the people of Israel to sit around and wait for God to work a miracle.  God told them to trust God and move forward.  And when they did, God showed them the way out of the trap.

But you know what?  They still had to take advantage of it.  Think about what the people of Israel did.  They walked out into the middle of what just a few minutes ago had been the Red Sea.  Or the Reed Sea.  Whatever.  They walked out into it, with a wall of water on their right and a wall of water on their left.

Think about doing that.  Even though God had worked a miracle, they had to trust that God’s miracle would carry them through.  They had no guarantee that the wall of water would hold.  It could collapse at any time.  If it did, they’d drown.  No two ways about it.  If that wall of water collapsed, they’d be dead.  Period.

I wonder how long they waited before someone went out into what had been the sea.  We tend to picture Moses leading the people out, but the Bible does not say that’s what happened.  Who went first?  Was their first step really tentative?  Did they go really slowly at first, so if the water collapsed they could get back to shore?  When they got out a ways, did they hurry up, so if it collapsed they’d have a chance to get to the other side?  And what about the ones who went last?  Were they trying to get people to hurry up, before the waters collapsed again?

God worked a miracle for the people of Israel.  But the miracle would not have done them any good had they not moved forward.  And the miracle would not have done them any good if they had not trust God enough to believe that God’s miracle would carry them through.

Most of us have a time when we feel trapped.  We may feel trapped in a job.  We may feel trapped in a financial mess.  We may feel trapped by an illness.  We may feel trapped by things that have happened to our loved ones.  There are all kinds of ways to feel trapped in life.

            When that happens, we need to cry out to God, just like Moses did.  And it’s even okay to ask God for a miracle.  But we’re not supposed to sit back and do nothing and wait for God to act.  We’re supposed to move forward.  We’re supposed to move forward as far as we can, and then trust that God will show us the way out.  But even then, we cannot just sit back.  We still have to trust God enough to move forward again and trust God enough to believe the God is going to carry us through.

            Our first steps may be tentative and slow.  But that’s okay.  Just so we keep moving forward.  Just so we keep trusting God.  God understands our fear.  But if we trust God enough to keep moving forward, no matter how slowly, God will show us the way.  And God will carry us through.