Exodus 14:13-15
New Year’s Eve
Grace—Tucson, AZ
December 31, 2024
You hear what sounds like thunder, and the ground is rumbling hard under your feet. You look back and see massive clouds of dust rising from the ground. An enormous fleet of chariots, pulled by snorting warhorses with rippling muscles is chasing you, along with thousands of armed soldiers, warriors of a nation feeling that it had been fooled and tricked into losing its slave workforce—your people—who added insult to injury by plundering their wealth on your way out. Imagine the crush of this furious, global power bearing down on you and your friends and your family as you race along over desert terrain! All of the sudden you hit a dead end! There’s nowhere to go! This intimidating fighting force is bearing down on you from behind and there is an expanse of water in front of you. You’re stuck—afraid of what is behind you and afraid about what’s up ahead! Though not quite as dramatic for most, many times, people feel kind of pressed like that when they are at the brink of a new year—not completely recovered from the pressures of the past year or the weeks just gone by and maybe even feeling like they are piled up right behind—and some of them still pressing hard. And often it is overwhelming to think about what needs to be done soon. Or tough to think about what you might encounter in the weeks and months ahead. In some cases, knowing the difficulties that are coming. Maybe in some way, you feel a little hemmed in by things. God was freeing the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Despite the confusion and fear as it was happening, there was a man who saw clearly—Moses. He showed faith in the face of danger. He listened when God spoke to him. And he followed the Lord’s direction. To the people who stood there looking back at what was behind them, Moses said: IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON! Looking Back This is one of those cases where, if it wasn’t so sad, it would be funny. God was rescuing his people. He was freeing them after over 400 years of oppression and servitude in Egypt! Yet, at the first sign of trouble, they cry out to their leader, Moses: “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Wasn’t this what we said to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” (v.11-12) Sarcasm, fear, lack of trust in God, content to be slaves, blame-laying—it’s all there! This is why Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm, and see the salvation from the LORD, which he will perform for you today. For the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you. You must wait quietly.” The LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to set out.