WEEKLY REFLECTION by Pastor Lap Dinh on Exodus 14:10-18

It is part of human nature to panic when trouble draws near and fear becomes the only thing we can think and feel. More often than not, this blinds us. We fail to see the work of God. Like the people of Israel, we are prone to complain before we comply with God’s instructions. When faith and trust are lacking, self-pity quickly surfaces.

It often begins with a sarcastic question: “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?” Then it looks for someone to blame—usually a leader: “Is this not what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” In effect, it sounds like this: “I told you. Just leave me alone. It’s better for me to live comfortably in ‘being slaves to sin’ than to live on edge with God’s presence in a place I don’t like.”

Even after Moses encouraged the people, saying, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent,” the Lord still heard the people crying out to Moses. So the Lord commanded him, “Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

There are five key elements in this command:

1. God’s people must trust the Lord and move forward.

2. God’s appointed leader must learn to lift up the authority God has vested in him over the circumstances.

3. God’s people will witness God’s miraculous intervention—He makes a way where there seems to be none.

4. The hearts of those who oppose God’s people will be hardened and, as a result, will be judged.

5. All who witness these events will know that there is a God, and that He alone is the Lord—whose glory will not be given to anyone else, no matter how powerful they may seem.

For those who are in Jesus Christ, we are called to live in the same way:

1. We must trust Jesus and move forward in life, never looking back or returning to our former sinful way of living.

2. When we are appointed to lead, we must learn to lift up God’s Word—the ultimate authority over every circumstance.

3. The Body of Christ will witness God’s mighty hand, delivering Christ’s followers from oppression and hardship.

4. Those who resist Jesus and His commands ultimately harm only themselves, hardening their hearts and refusing to be conformed to the image of Christ.

5. Born-again believers who have experienced God’s saving power will live new lives that seek to glorify Jesus above all else—even above rulers and authorities. They respect earthly authorities, but they do not fear them. They fear the Lord alone.