Friday, September 11, 2026
As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the
Egyptians coming after them! The Israelites were terrified and cried
out to the Lord for help. They said to Moses,
“Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die
in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?
Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve
the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to
die in the wilderness.” But
Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s
salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see
today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight
for you, and you must be quiet.” Exodus
4:10-14
Christians and Jews both celebrate God’s deliverance; Christians immediately
think of Calvary’s cross, while Jews default to Passover. Both are pivotal moments in our history, and
today’s reading (Exodus 4) is when God delivered the Israelites from the
murderous intentions of Pharaoh at the Red Sea. The Israelite people were over the top with
fear; Pharaoh had 600 war chariots, and an army that had conquered the known
world; that army was zeroing-in on the escaping slaves like a laser-guided
missile.
After 400 years in slavery and having just witnessed God decimating Egyptian
culture with ten plagues of pestilence, the Nile turned into blood, and frogs(ugh!),
frogs everywhere…well, you would think they’d at least have a passing thought
that the Lord would save them this time too.
But, no…their first thought was…better to live as a slave than die in
the dessert wasteland. Fear robs a lot,
but mostly your humanity and dignity.
Today is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the attacks of hijacked commercial
flights crashing on the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon, and
Flight 93, which was believed to target the U.S. Capitol Building. Those who were adults back then remember the time
following that horrific event was perhaps the most unified season in memory for
American citizens. There was something
of Moses telling the people to “hush and see what the LORD does here” about
this evil. Most public events included
singing “God Bless America”. Democrats,
Republicans, and Independents spoke to each other about a common enemy, rather
than demonizing the other parties.
Fast forward to 2026; are we more united now than ever before, or back
to bickering about whatever will grab first place on the next news cycle so we
can hit up the public’s open wallets for campaign funds? I think it is safe to say America does not
differ significantly from the ancient Israelite tribes enjoying the blessing of
God’s hand leading them out of slavery one day, and revolting at the first
sight of the whip of fear the next. We
humans just cannot help ourselves; if there’s something to quarrel about, we
will find it, examine it, nurse it, and add fuel to whatever sparks we can find
about it, as “evidence” that somebody else is at fault for everything that ails
us!
You wonder if it will ever cease, this cycle of being blessed, followed
by shooting ourselves in the foot! It’s
been roughly 35 centuries since Moses’ flock got nervous at the Red Sea. Their history with the whip of fear is proof
that faith is a narrow path compared to the wide road of “doing it my way”. And without faith, how can we ever be called
a “people of God”?
For You Today
You
chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
[1] Title and Other Images: Gordon
Johnson from Pixabay Unless noted, Scripture from Christian
Standard Bible©
