WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An international Sunday school lesson
commentary
For Sunday November 17, 2013
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FROM DESPAIR TO DELIVERANCE
(GOD can make a way where it seems
there’s none)
(Exodus 14:21-30)
GOD’s deliverance of the Israelites
from Egypt in the Book of Exodus is a literal depiction of HIS OWN power and
mercy to deliver all people who believe, from physical and spiritual bondage. However,
GOD’s people were not to worship among pagans (Exodus 8:25-27), but rather,
were to separate themselves from any unbelievers when they worship.
Moses’ original request to pharaoh was that he allow them to separate
themselves from the Egyptians in order that they might worship GOD in the
wilderness for three days only (Exodus 8:27).
In Exodus 14, after word reached Pharaoh that the Israelites were not
planning on returning to Egypt after three days, he called out his troops and
went after them (Exodus 14:5-9). He took with him 600 of Egypt’s best chariots,
along with several others, all manned with soldiers, and the LORD continued to
harden his heart toward the Israelites (Vs.7-8).
The Egyptians caught up with the Israelites as they were camping along
the seashore near Pihahiroth, across from Baal-zephon. As the pursuing Egyptian
Army was approaching a, seemingly trapped Israelite nation, the people turned
to their leader, Moses, and literally cursed him for taking them out of their
bondage in Egypt (Exodus 14:9-12).
In the Greek, the word used for faith is “pistis”. It means “to rely upon
with an inward certainty, and to consent to evidence of authority”. The
Israelite’s “fear” had already overcome “their inadequate faith in GOD”. They
did not comprehend that, to wait on, and trust in GOD, would often mean that
they must agonize in the process. However, the agony that one experiences always
comes from one’s attitude of inadequate trust in the LORD.
GOD will test us in many ways to get us to see just where our level of
trust in HIM is, and, to show us how we need to improve upon that inadequate
level of trust, so that we can have a successful experiential relationship with
HIM. HE wants to show us, both through HIS written word, and, through our own life
experiences that there is no problem that we could possibly encounter, that is
bigger than HIM. GOD demands a personal experiential relationship of “total
trust and reliance on HIM”.
We can also see in this passage that
GOD is more concerned with how we reach our destination, than HE is with how
quickly we get there. That is why we see HIM leading the Israelites along an
around-about path. HE felt that the Israelites, already weary from 430 years of
slavery, would not be willing to engage in a war with the Philistines so soon
after their departure from Egypt Egypt
And so, GOD led HIS people safely
around the area where the Philistines resided. This can be seen as a clear symbolic
indication that GOD wants everyone to finish the “Christian race” and make it
to the “true promised land”, which is the “kingdom of Heaven
When the Israelites reached the other
side of the “Red Sea” (“Yam sup” in the Hebrew, which is translated “Sea of
papyrus reeds”) (Exodus 14:26-31), and were out of the reach of the Egyptian
chariots that pursued them, they stood along the shores and watched, as “their
problems”, or, in this case, “their pursuers”, were quite literally, “washed
away by GOD” (v.30).
Their apparent, impending doom, at
the hands of the Egyptian soldiers, seemed inevitable as the pharaoh approached
them while their backs were against the sea. In fact, they could imagine having
no bigger problem at that time. But GOD intervened, as only HE can, and first parted
the troubled waters allowing the Israelites to cross over “on dry land”, and then,
HE washed all their problems away, and put them behind them forever.
And so we see, it is not how quickly
we get to the end of our journey, but rather, it is “how” we get to the end of
our journey. The Christian walk has always been, is now, and will forever be
about “endurance”. It is about the way we run the race under duress, more than
it is about how quickly we finish the race. It is a race that must be run by
GOD’s rules, if we hope to obtain, and retain our rewards at the finish line.
The writer of the book of Hebrews
reminds us in chapters 11 and 12 of the “cloud of witnesses” who have ran a
successful race, that was fueled by faith. And now, they wait with CHRIST, to
see how we will fare in our quests for eternal life. We too, can run and win
this Christian race, but, we can run it a lot easier, if we first take the
burdens of our problems, from off our backs, and give them to GOD. GOD is much
bigger and much more capable of carrying them than we are. When we rely on GOD
with an inward certainty, HE will always protect and deliver us into HIS OWN
glorious presence at the end of our Christian race.
A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official
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