FBC Morning Light (2/1/2025)

Good Saturday morning, people of faith. This weekend's reading is in Exodus chapters 13 through 16. And here we have the account of the Exodus. And I'm going to pick things up in chapter 14 and verse 3.

Says for Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, they are bewildered by the land. The wilderness has closed them in. Then I will harden Pharaoh's heart so that he will pursue them. And I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.

And they did so. So the plagues have happened, including the very last plague of the death of the firstborn. And Pharaoh has told Moses and Aaron to take your people and depart, leave. And that is what they're doing.

And now Pharaoh is having a change of heart as he says, now, why am I letting these people.

Leave?

They, you know, they were our servants. And so it says that the Lord will harden Pharaoh's heart here. And other places, Pharaoh hardens his own heart. Know that that, first of all, is not contradictory things.

There's one person you will never hear complain in Scripture about Pharaoh's heart being hardened. And that's Pharaoh. He doesn't seem to mind at all that his heart has been hardened. So verse five, it says, now it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people.

And they said, well, first of all, to be turned against it must have been, it was four. If you think back to chapter 12, in chapter 12, at the death of the firstborn, that last plague says, and the Egyptians urged the people that they might send them out to the land of the land in haste, for they said, we shall all be dead.

That's a response to the, all of the plagues that they've had. So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. Now that in verse 35, now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses.

And they had asked from the Egyptians, articles of silver, articles of gold and clothing. And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. So they granted them what they had, what they requested, thus they plundered the Egyptians.

So the Lord here, it says, had made the Israelites favorable in the sight of the Egyptians so that when they had asked, so when it says that their heart was turned against the people, that meant that that had changed.

And now they're in pursuit of the people that they had oppressed and perhaps their belongings as well. So as the account goes on, they catch up to the people of Israel or the Israelites at the Red Sea.

And as nightfall is about to happen, the Egyptian army is pressing in and the pillar of cloud or the, yeah, the pillar of cloud goes in between the Egyptian army and the Israelites to protect them that night.

And here we pick it up again. And it says in verse 11 of chapter 14, they said to Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt, have you, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us to bring us up out of Egypt?

Is this not the word we told you in Egypt saying, let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians. All right, for it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.

The complaining starts very early. And so the idea here is that even though they have seen these plagues and they have seen what they've done to the Egyptians and how God has used those different plagues to free them and give them their freedom, they wanted that security of being under the authority of the Egyptians rather than being free to worship the one true God.

And so as the narrative completes here for this section, that cloud is protecting them from the attack of the Egyptians and Moses raises the staff and the wind blows and dries out that stretch of the sea so that they can walk across on dry land.

They walk across on dry land. The Egyptian army pursues, their wheels get stuck in the mud. And then when the Israelites are to the other side, Moses raises his staff again and the sea closes up and drowns the Egyptians.

And this is what God has done. So in this narrative, let us remember a couple of things here. That one is, it is the Lord ultimately who's responsible for changing a heart. If you have someone who is in conflict with you, start by praying and do what you can to make things right on your end.

But ultimately, the Lord is the one that turns the heart for and against. And at the same time, step back and see all that God has done before you turn in complaining about what God has done. Let's pray.

Lord, thank you for your word and what you have done. Let the example here be for us, inspiration for the great and mighty God that you are. Help us to worship you in spirit and truth as we recount what you have done and what you are going to continue to do.

It's in your son's name, Jesus, we pray, amen. Have an excellent day, people of faith.