Culture Study

Exodus 14:1-4 - Focus on the Person
* When we follow the Lord, He’ll sometimes take us the opposite direction we think we should go.
* God has His reasons for doing so - we just need to trust Him.
* EX: Jesus - born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth, but moved to Egypt in between.
* Our job is to focus on the Person (God) and not the path.
* BACKSTORY - The Israelites made it out of Egypt.
* Now Pharaoh pursued them.
* Vs 1-2 - “Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea.”
* God told the Israelites to turn around and go back toward them!
* This was the opposite thing you’d wanna do in this situation.
* But God was doing something.
* Vs 3-4 - “For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ 4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.”
* When you’re moving in the opposite direction, don’t think “how” think “who.”
* The Red Sea parted - they walked through on dry ground.
* Pharaoh followed and God killed them all!
* God didn’t tell them that’s how it would work out.
* Vs 30 - “Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.”
* God saw this, but the people didn’t.
* God knows how things will work out - we don’t.
* Vs 31 - “Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”
* They put their faith in God …and MOSES!
* Moses was rewarded for leading people by faith!

Exodus 15:27 - Place of Abundance
* God has a place marked out for each one of us and it’s a place of abundance.
* But in order to get there He brings us through the dessert.
* Backstory - the Israelites wandered in the dessert and couldn’t find water.
* Then they found some they couldn’t drink.
* Vs 22-23 - “Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter.”
* God brought them to water, but they couldn’t drink it.
* They finally got what they needed, but it didn’t fulfill them.
* Have you been there? You get where you wanted to be but it’s not what you thought it was?
* Vs 24-25a - “So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.”
* Wood = the Cross (Jesus).
* The presence of Jesus changes everything.
* To have the promise w/out the presence doesn’t give you peace.
* Your place of abundance is not a destination, it’s a state of being!
* Vs 25b-26 - “There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test. He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”
* God still uses “If/Then” statements.
* God tests us on our way to our place of abundance.
* Vs 27 - “Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.”
* Springs = nourishment / Trees = comfort.
* 12 springs - one spring for each of the tribes.
* 70 palm trees - God’s perfect number times 10!
* Palm branches were considered symbols of victory and triumph at the time.
* Think about Jesus entering Jerusalem before He was crucified!
* This was a place of extraordinary abundance for them.
* God often brings us through the bitter before He leads us to His blessing.
* Why? So we can become the people who can handle the blessing.
* Strength comes through strain.
* Our true place of abundance is not a physical, temporal place…
* It’s a spiritual place where we’re feeding on Him, the living water, and resting in His shade, taking comfort in His shelter.