Daily Devotions
Exodus
"Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God (I will praise His Word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear." Psalm 56:3-4
Text: Exodus 14 : 10-12
A FORMIDABLE SIGHT
Seldom had the children of Israel seen such a sight. The mighty army of Egypt was marching on them menacingly. The chariots of Egypt were there with their powerful army! Right in front of them was the Sea! They were camping there! Suddenly fear gripped the hearts of the children of Israel!
“And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel
lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them.”
EXODUS 14:10
ENEMIES WITHOUT, FEARS WITHIN
As fear mounted, the children of Israel cried out to God. Had this great God of theirs revealed His power to them just recently?
“So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel
cried out to the LORD.”
EXODUS 14:10F
But there was no instant reply from the Lord. Where was His power? Why had He not answered their cry for help? The Egyptians were drawing nearer by the minute!
THE DEADLY POWER OF FEAR
The children of Israel could contain their fear no more! Who was the one who led them to believe that they could walk out of Egypt with such impunity? Was not that man Moses? Then let him provide an answer to their predicament, if any!
“Then they said to Moses,
‘Because there were no graves in Egypt,
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 that we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone that
we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us
to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.'”
EXODUS 14:11-12
1. Heavy with sarcasm
Veiled by thick sarcasm, the children of Israel turned on Moses! It was the combined voices of fear and unbelief speaking!
2. Illogical reasoning
Fear can do many different things to people. It can make a person highly illogical! Did the people really prefer to serve as slaves under the Egyptians? If they liked the life in Egypt so much, why did they leave it? No one coerced anybody to leave Egypt! All who went out knew that they were making their way through the wilderness to the Promised Land of Canaan! Fear seemed to prevail for the moment!