Through the Sea of Reeds

Scripture Reading:
Exodus 13-15

I am surprised at the amount of new thought that is springing forth as I read through Exodus again Lord. We just finished teaching the book to our community, and I feel as though we could go right back through and touch on completely different truths, while still being true to the narrative. When we talk about the importance of story, I see it here. As I change and grow, the story looks different even though it is written the same.

I sit here today with two main thoughts from this Scripture reading. One came up in conversation Sunday with Bryan, and that is the personal nature of Biblical worship and song. It's not all God is great and God is good, it often includes an element of what You have just done. For example, in chapter 15, the song of praise they sing is about Pharaoh's army being drowned in the sea, and how that provided deliverance, and how that shows Your glory. Too often I think we generically praise instead of seeing the deliverance and provision all around us and specifically praising for that.

The other main thought I have is about the deliverance act of parting the waters. I know the Israelite people were whiners, and they are at their best here as they sat by the waters. Did you laugh at them to, Lord, when they cried out, "Were there not enough graves in Egypt? Is that why you brought us out here in the desert to die?" It's so ridiculous of a claim.

But it's ridiculous only because I know the ending. I mean, when I stop and put myself in their sandals, it is a very different situation. You had said earlier in chapter 14 that they aren't ready to face war, so if we assume that You were right (I know it's a stretch:) then these people are going to freak and probably die if they have to fight. Well Pharaoh's army is coming right at them, there aren't any escapes by land and they have a sea to their backs. Where do they go?

I identify with their situation. It looks like a frustrating no win. "I can't do this because of this, I can't do that because of that other thing, and we can't go through the sea...because, well, it's a sea!"

Why did You bring Exodus Community to the spot that it is. Do we really look like the people that we say we are? Are we really being transformed? Is it because other churches were too filled with spiritually dying people that You brought us out together to Exodus, that we might become what we hate together, dying in our own tiny place? We can't help this person because... We can't do because they'll think...

So what? Is it time for You to take us through the Sea of Reeds? Because we seem throughly stuck, and it seems easier to talk about the problems that have us stuck than any way out. Maybe that's because we're up against a sea.

So my question then is what is hemming us in that You can lead us through? Help us to remember that we don't have to solve every problem, You are very good at that, but that many times we do need to walk through them.

What personal praises we will sing to You then, when You've taken us through this? I'm am excited and expectant to find out. Speak to us, speak through us. Amen.