Let’s begin today with God’s word to us from Exodus 14, as we continue on with the Red Sea Rules…
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had escaped, he and his officials changed their minds and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites escape, and we have lost them as our slaves! [over 600,000 men]” 6 The king got his war chariot and his army ready. 7 He set out with all his chariots [over 600], including the six hundred finest, commanded by their officers. 8 The LORD made the king stubborn, and he pursued the Israelites, who were leaving triumphantly. 9 The Egyptian army, with all the horses, chariots, and drivers, pursued them and caught up with them where they were camped by the Red Sea near Pi Hahiroth and Baal Zephon. 10 When the Israelites saw the king and his army marching against them, they were terrified and cried out to the LORD for help. – Exodus 14:5-10 (TEV)
The Egyptians, after the task of burying their dead [due to plagues, etc.], finally realized what they had lost—their entire work force! How in the world could the Pharaoh’s great building projects go on without this slave force? So, what did the enemy do? He pursued God’s people! And, he’s been at it ever since…
Folks, don’t forget where we’ve come from—our first two Red Sea Rules from last week; each week I’ll remind you of where we’ve been, then build on the past rules, as we introduce new ones… Here’s your reminder of our first week:
- RULE #1: REALIZE THAT GOD MEANS FOR YOU TO BE WHERE YOU ARE!
- RULE #2: BE MORE CONCERNED FOR GOD’S GLORY THAN FOR YOUR RELIEF!
Today, we move to the next two…
RULE #3: ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR ENEMY, BUT KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE LORD! Sometimes in life, we might feel pursued (and so the order of this rule is very important)! Our spiritual lives should be just as real to us as our physical lives … and our emotional or cognitive lives! And, my experience has shown me that our spiritual lives will be just as real as the rest of our lives … when we’re walking with God consistently, and trusting in his guidance daily!
The truth is that the devil usually works in a couple of different ways: Sometimes, he launches direct, frontal attacks. I can remember one time in particular, when I was in high school, that a classmate of mine and her family had moved into a house in town (from the country). My classmate and her mother were active in the church in town. One day, my father got a call from the mom saying that ‘they were having trouble with the new house they’d moved into.’ Now, you may be thinking, ‘why call a pastor?’ If it’s a plumbing problem, you call a plumber. If it’s a structural problem, you might call a good carpenter. But, if it’s a spiritual problem, you call your pastor! My father asked me to go with him that day. I did. And, it left a life-long impression on me. You can call this a ghost story if you want to, but I know that it was much more than that… They were having trouble sleeping at night … due to noises and other things going on in the house. They sensed it was a spiritual problem with the house. In investigating the history of the home, my father found out that the previous owners were not Christians (Jehovah Witnesses), but had been into some kind of anti-Christian religion or practices, if you will. There were spirits in that house that did not like the new owners … who were Christians. We ended up, IN JESUS NAME, praying through that whole house … and allowing—through prayer—the Spirit of God to cleanse that place. In speaking to my classmate after that, she told me that after we’d prayed through the house … there were no more noises or happenings during the night. And they lived there for quite some time in peace after that…
Well, that was very unusual; I will admit that. More common is for the devil to be much more conniving and sinister; Satan has a way of tempting us and working to wear us down … in our areas of greatest weakness! Did you know that? And, the Enemy can be very, very sneaky when it comes to this. Even before we know it, we’ll be off of God’s path and onto some other path … and not even realize that this change in our lives has taken place. That’s why it’s so important to walk with God DAILY! This is also why in Ephesians 6:11(NIV) Paul tells us to, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes [italics mine].”
This is not something ‘make-believe,’ folks. The Enemy [of Christ and all who follow him] is very real … and we need to acknowledge him … while keeping our eyes fixed on Christ! The Apostle John (8:36, TEV) reminds us of our victory in this: “If the Son sets you free, then you will be really free.” There’s our promise from God… Acknowledge your Enemy, but keep your eyes on the promises of God!
Sometimes in life, we need to call our Enemy by name! If you’re ever struggling in an area of your life, sometimes it helps to NAME what it is you’re struggling with—to go ahead and NAME who or what the Enemy is in your life! For Moses and the people of Israel, it was PHARAOH; he was the Enemy whom they named… How many times do you hear that name in the book of Exodus?
A British newspaper (Sun) once called the Enemy by name in this headline: VICAR SAVAGED BY DOG CALLED SATAN (‘Vicar’ is an English word for what we would call a ‘Pastor,’ so this caught my attention!) The article read this way:
“A vicar,” reported the paper, “is recovering from being savaged by an Alsatian called Satan. Alan Elwood, 45, was bitten all over his body and his trousers and shirt were ripped to shreds in the farmyard attack in Westport, Somerset. ‘It was terrifying. I was lucky to get out of it,’ Mr. Elwood told the Sun.”
Rev. Elwood is neither the first nor the last Christian to be attacked by “Satan.” And we often underestimate the extent to which the enemy seeks to disrupt our lives, don’t we? Yes, sometimes Satan gets blamed for things that are really our doing; but, many times, the Enemy is at work in our lives and we refuse to acknowledge that there are spiritual forces at work in our world… We can’t do that; we have to learn to acknowledge the Enemy, but keep our eyes on Christ! And, sometimes NAMING our Enemy is just the ticket to being able to acknowledge what’s really going on…
- When the Apostle Paul encountered people trying to hinder his ministry and dissuade his hearers, he saw the hand of Satan (Acts 13:10)…
- When Paul encountered troublemakers in the church, he discerned the crafty hand of Satan (Rom. 16:17-20)…
- When Paul found Christians harboring bitter or unforgiving attitudes toward others, he saw the hand of Satan (Eph. 4:26-27)…
Even Jesus occasionally NAMED the Enemy, didn’t he? Do you remember what Jesus told Peter one day, when he was ‘off of God’s path’ and onto the world’s? Here it is from Matthew 16:23 (NIV)…
“Jesus turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.’”
Robert Morgan reminds us of how we can really honor God by remembering to acknowledge our Enemy, but by keeping our eyes on Christ! He says,
“Remember, every time we resist the slightest temptation, we honor God. Every time we overcome even the smallest problem by trusting and obeying our Lord Jesus, God is glorified in our lives. Whenever we choose character over convenience, faithfulness over ease, or honesty over deceit, we bring honor to the Lord Himself. When we serve Him with watertight obedience even in small things, God is glorified, just as at the Red Sea.”
“These things,” wrote the Apostle Paul about the events of the Exodus (1 Cor. 10:6, NCV), “happened as examples for us.” ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR ENEMY, BUT KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE LORD! That’s Rule #3; now…
RULE #4: PRAY (….pray with an exclamation point)! Verse 10, again, tells us, “When the Israelites saw the king and his army marching against them, they were terrified and cried out [italics mine] to the LORD for help.”
Sometimes in life, we need to pray like we mean it! When was the last time you cried out to God and meant it? Situations that we find ourselves in in life usually offer us one of two options: panic or pray…
My tendency in the past has been to panic (even now, sometimes), just like the Israelites backed up to the Red Sea … or the disciples in the storm out on the Sea of Galilee. But God has been patient with me—has loved me … and has spent years and years of my life trying to teach me that prayer is the means by which I can (if I so choose) stay even-tempered, cool-headed, & strong-spirited even in the midst of crisis!
So, which one of the two options do you choose … when your back’s up against a wall, life has taken you into a cul-de-sac, with no visible way out … except the same ol’ way that you came in? Remember, RULE #4 … is PRAY—with an exclamation point! Pray like you mean it; there are times in life where we need to learn to cry out … just like the Israelites did! Then…
Sometimes in life, we need to learn to pray with others! There’s strength in numbers that cannot be discounted… Have you ever had something going on in your life that was so important that you just had to share it with someone else who understood? That’s what praying with others is all about… It’s true that God doesn’t always say YES to all our prayer requests, but He listens very closely when 2 or 3 gather in united prayer…
The prayer of the Israelites was not only UNITED, but also AUTHENTIC! They had never been more earnest; it wasn’t just a ritual they were going through! They were panicked, and their outburst of prayer was real and it was raw…
In the NT book of James (5:16, NLT), it reminds us: “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.” Sometimes in life, we need to learn to pray like we mean it … and join others in the process!
Folks, in the coming days, when you face what seem like impossible tasks or situations, remember that there is an Enemy (Satan)! We need to acknowledge him … WHILE keeping our focus on Christ! And, we can do that by always turning to God in prayer—united and authentic prayer, just like the Israelites did…
There are Rules #3 & #4… The next time we’re together, we’ll be on to Rules #5 & #6… Stay tuned!