Week 27: Day 1
At the start of a new week of Orbit, we join Naomi Maxwell as she explores the drama of Exodus chapter 14
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, ‘What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!’ So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. The Egyptians – all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops – pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.
As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, ‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, “Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians”? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’
Intro: Hi guys, welcome to Orbit, a short reflection from the team behind Satellites. My name’s Naomi, and I’m a pastor at SAINT in East London. I’m here for the week as we open up a bit of the bible each day, pray together, and look at one practical tool that we can bring into the day ahead.
Bible: Today’s passage is taken from Exodus 14:5-12, let’s get into it!
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, ‘What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!’ So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. The Egyptians – all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops – pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.
As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, ‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, “Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians”? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’
Thoughts: So we pick up this story in Exodus, where Moses is leading the Israelites to freedom. God’s showed him that He wants to set the Israelites free from slavery, and you’d think that’d be a good thing, right? He’s leading them to freedom. But they’ve been enslaved for so long, they’ve been scared for so long, that even leaving this system that’s bad for them raises huge questions!
Will the real world be safe? Will this new thing be any better than the old thing they’re used to? Sometimes we feel like this when we take on a new challenge, or when we start something new. I don’t know if any of you have moved school or changed friendship groups, but I went to be four different schools as a kid, and that meant I was always have meet new people, make new friends, start up new relationships! And that was really challenging. Some people were great, but others were mean. They’d ice you out of their group, or treat you weird if you didn’t listen to the same music as them.
In those moments, I definitely found myself looking backwards at what I’d come from, and it looked way more appealing! I wondered why the people I trusted – my parents, would let me feel so isolated? And I wondered what God could possibly do to help? Now that I’m 30, I look back, and I can see that God put the right friends around me, the right teachers, and that it even set me up to do well at college and then university. But in the middle of it all it just felt unknown and scary. And that’s what the Israelites were feeling, especially as the Egyptians got closer and they could see all of their weapons and their strength. The passage said that Pharoah took 600 of his best chariots – if those were his best, how many did he own?! It says that he took horses, and chariots, and horsemen and troops. No wonder the Israelites were terrified!
And so as people often do when they’re scared, they hit out at Moses their leader, and they hit out at God. But even though they were scared, they still did the right thing – because they cried out to God for His help! Did you know that God is way more interested in you praying and talking to Him, than how cleverly or politely you do it? He wants to hear from you. He wants to know your thoughts and talk to you. Even if the only thing you’re thinking “is get me out of here!!” So why don’t we bring the things we’re worried about to God?
Prayer: Father God what a reassurance it is that you know our fears and worries. Would you come close and help us to be brave, especially when the things in front of us feel too big for us to overcome? Thank you that you love and look out for us. Be with us we pray. Amen.
Challenge: I’d love to encourage you to take some time today to write a letter to God. Tell him some of the things that are on your mind, or that just feel really big. And then ask him what he can do to help. So often when we come back to these things we can see how God’s been working out answers to prayers we’d long forgotten about.
Outro: Thanks so much for listening. It was great to be with you, and I’ll see you tomorrow.