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God's Perplexing Ways
Rev. Hogan reworked this sermon in 2007. He'd like you to see how his perspective has changed (and not changed) over time. Please download the PDF version of his 2007 sermon.by William Hogan
Exodus 13:17-18; 14:1-18
The story of the Exodus is a wonderful picture of Christian experience. We were held in the grip of an evil oppressor, not Pharaoh but sin and Satan. God sent a Deliverer to set us free, not Moses but Jesus. Jesus defeated the enemy, not by sending plagues, but by dying on a cross and rising again from the dead. We are protected from the judgment of God by the blood of a lamb, not blood applied to the doorposts of our homes, but the blood of Christ, "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world," applied by faith to our hearts. And now that we have been set free, we have embarked on a pilgrimage, not to Canaan, but to Heaven.
Our pilgrim pathway, like Israel's, takes us through a wilderness where we encounter problems which have no apparent solution, circumstances which we are totally helpless to change, enemies we are powerless to overcome. Many times we aren't prepared for that. We are so aware of the goodness of God that we naively assume that He will spare us from the worst problems. But sooner or later it dawns on us that we are traveling through a place filled with harsh realities, and that God does not protect us from them all. When that happens, it often tests our faith. We are confronted with a decision: will we keep going, faithful to the Lord, with our eyes on Him and on our final destination, or will we surrender to disillusionment and despair?
The first test of Israel's faith came very early. They hadn't even crossed the border out of Egypt before they ran smack into a situation which seemed hopeless--the Red Sea. There they learned five vital lessons, lessons they would have cause to remember again and again during the next forty years, lessons we must learn, too, if we're going to endure in the wilderness. I want to say before I tell you what the lessons are, that they are tried and proven. I am not talking to you about abstractions, but about things that have been real in my own life. This past August Jane and I spent ten days on vacation in Pennsylvania. While we were there, I was meditating on this passage from which I am speaking this morning, little knowing that I would soon have opportunity to put these things into practice. When we returned from Philadelphia, we discovered that our daughter, Amy Hartman, the wife of the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Kosciusko, Mississippi, had been suffering from sudden weight loss and severe headaches. Within just a few days of our return she was admitted to the hospital, where an M.R.I. revealed a brain tumor. Further tests indicated that it is the worst kind of tumor, in probably the worst location. It is malignant and inoperable, and the doctors have been quite candid, that apart from what one of them calls "the God-factor," long-term survival is not likely. That's the kind of news that tends to take the wind out of your sails. But we are learning afresh that God is sufficient even in this kind of "wilderness experience."
Here's the first lesson I want to draw from this passage: God's ways may often be perplexing, and sometimes very painful, but they are, nevertheless, God's ways. That is to say, whatever happens to the child of God is part of God's sovereign plan. Nothing can touch our lives that does not pass through His wise and loving will before it gets to us.
It's easy to believe that when things are going well, especially at the beginning of our pilgrimage, when the joy of knowing the Lord is fresh and real. I can imagine that as the Israelites began their journey their hearts were filled with the realization of the greatness and grace of their God. They had seen the plagues that God had sent on Egypt, which had finally broken Pharaoh's resolve so that he allowed them to leave the country. They had experienced the protection of God from the devastation those plagues caused throughout the rest of the land. They could look up and see the cloud which assured them that God was with them. Their dream of liberty had come true at last, and it was more wonderful, more glorious than they ever could have imagined. I can almost picture them as they started the trip, singing, "We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God." (They didn't really sing that, of course, since it was written within the last century, but I'm sure they must have sung some ancient Hebrew equivalent).
But they had not traveled 50 miles before their singing had turned into whining. Finding themselves trapped between the Red Sea and the approaching army of Egypt, it seemed they had come to a dead-end (verse 10): "As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord." As people often do when things appear to be falling apart, they looked for a scapegoat to blame, and 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." Incredible isn't it? They're not yet across the border of Egypt and already they are telling Moses off for liberating them. "You told us we were going to a good land, flowing with milk and honey, and instead we're here between an uncrossable sea and an unbeatable enemy, with no way of escape. . . . And it's all your fault!"
We may marvel at how quick they were to complain, but are we really any different? Who among us has not responded to some "Red Sea" that blocked our path pretty much the way those Israelites did? We were puzzled and confused. We couldn't understand what had gone wrong. We may have complained, "Why have you allowed this to happen? Is this the way You treat the people You love?" Haven't you ever felt like that? I can tell you I had thoughts like that back in August: why would God allow a lovely young woman who loves the Lord, who loves being a pastor's wife and loves being the mother of four beautiful little children, to have a brain tumor which is likely to take her life? I would be very surprised if you said you had never raised such a complaint to God. Because His ways are often perplexing, and sometimes very painful!
But perplexing though our circumstances may sometimes be, we must never forget that it was God Himself who brought us to that difficult spot. That is quite clear in Israel's situation. They found themselves trapped at the Red Sea because of the direct leading of God. The text stresses that it was He who laid out every step of their route, every twist and turn of their journey. Look at 13:17: "When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, 'If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.' So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle. . . ." He did not lead them this way; He did lead them that way. The main point is plain: it was God who led them.
And there was no possibility of misreading the map, or missing a turn, for they were guided by a visible manifestation of God's presence (verse 20): "After leaving Succoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people." If you trace their route on a map you will discover that they were being led on a zig-zag path. They started moving toward the southeast, to Succoth, and then to Etham. Then God instructed them to reverse directions and head north (14:1): "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon.'" Their path was a puzzling, zig-zag route, but it was the route God laid out for them.
The Lord explained to Moses that His purpose in leading them in that round-about way was to trick Pharaoh into thinking that the Israelites were lost in the desert and wandering aimlessly, so that he would go after them to bring them back. And that's just what happened. Verse 9 says, "The Egyptians--all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, horsemen and troops-- pursued the Israelites and overtook them . . . " And notice where they overtook them: "[They] overtook them by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon"--precisely in the place where, as we read back in verse 2, God had told them to camp. Dangerous as their situation was, they could not say, "We are here out of God's hand!" Nor could they say, "There is no sense in the way the Lord has led us."
And you and I cannot say that either. No Christian can ever say that! We have no visible cloud, but we have the assurance of His providential ordering of our lives. "He knows the end from the beginning," the Bible tells us, and "He causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Wherever we find ourselves, we are there by His providence. Whatever predicament we face, it is part of God's sovereign plan. In everything, though we often cannot understand it, there is a divine purpose. Moreover, He is there with us, for He has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
Maybe some of you here today are hurting. You're facing a situation before which you feel helpless. You're tempted to ask, "Why? Why are You allowing this to happen?" It's o.k. to ask that. It's a very natural question. Even Jesus asked it. "My God, my God," He cried from the cross, "Why have you forsaken Me?" So, it's not wrong to ask the question. But we must be prepared for the fact that no answer is likely to be given. One day, in heaven, maybe the scroll will be unrolled and we will see the reasons behind His providence. But understand this: God is under no obligation to explain Himself. Certainly He is under no obligation to defend Himself to you and me. His ways are often perplexing, and sometimes they can be very painful, but I can assure you of this: He has not made a mistake. He knows what He is doing, even if we do not, and we must rest in the assurance that He does all things well.
The second lesson that emerges from Israel's Red Sea experience is this: the often perplexing, sometimes painful, ways of God are always moderated by His goodness. Look again at 13:17: "When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, 'If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.'" There were two possible routes out of Egypt. The most obvious, the shortest and nearest, was to go north and then east, hugging the Mediterranean coast. But that route was guarded by strong Egyptian border fortifications. If they had gone that way, they would have had to fight, and those recently-released slaves were not prepared for battle. So we are told that God intentionally avoided that route, and chose instead the longer and, to the human eye, far less sensible pathway between the desert and the upper reaches of the Red Sea.
I find a great comfort in the reason the Bible gives for God's policy here: "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt." God knew their limitation, you see, and His guidance took it into account. The same is true in the way He leads us. He knows exactly how much strain our faith can take, and though He may often push it to the very limit, in His providence He always guides us away from those situations where that critical limit will be exceeded.
That same truth is clearly taught in the New Testament, in I Corinthians 10. If you look at the way that chapter begins you will see that the apostle is reflecting on the Exodus experience as an example for the Christian, and in that context he makes this statement (verse 13): "God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted [or tested] beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it." There are many ways that God could guide us that would break our faith. But He knows our limitations, and He guides us accordingly. So whenever your path takes an unexpected and unwanted turn, let this story reassure you of this: the route has been carefully assessed by Him; it has been moderated by His goodness; it has been tempered to your limitations. The way He leads you may test your faith to the limit. But it won't send you back to Egypt. He will make sure of that.
The third lesson this passage is at pains to underscore for us is that the ways of God--His often perplexing, sometimes painful, ways--are designed to magnify His glory. We see that truth expressed in the words God speaks to Moses at the beginning of chapter 14, where He explains why He is leading the Israelites in that round-about way: "Pharaoh will think, 'The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord." See the same rationale expressed again in verse 18: ""The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen." To glorify Himself is, of course, God's ultimate motivation in all His providence. You know how He did it there at the Red Sea. Moses lifted his rod, and God sent a strong east wind which blew all night, driving back the waters and drying up the ground, so that the Israelites walked to freedom on dry ground. But when the Egyptians tried to follow, He released the pent-up waters and the entire Egyptian army was drowned.
In our experience, sometimes God glorifies Himself by delivering us from our problems just as miraculously as He did those Israelites. So, when you feel yourself trapped, don't grumble too quickly. Many of us remember times in our life when we seemed to be up against a dead-end, and miraculously the wall dissolved and a way opened up. God loves to open up Red Seas for His people. He delights to turn hopelessness into victory. Didn't He Joseph from a prisoner to Prime Minister? Didn't He turn David from a shepherd into a king? Didn't He turn the high walls of Jericho into a pile of rubble? And most glorious of all, didn't He turn a cross into a throne? Listen! No situation in which God is active is hopeless. We need to remember that if we're going to get across this wilderness in one piece. BUT . . . I would be less than candid if I did not add that sometimes the sea does not part. Sometimes the problem doesn't disappear. Sometimes the outcome is apparent defeat, with no release. Yet even then, God is at work to glorify Himself. He does it by being with us and sustaining us in such a way that even in apparent defeat our spirit remains victorious. He did not remove Paul's thorn in the flesh, remember, despite the apostle's repeated and earnest prayer. But He taught him that His grace is sufficient in every circumstance, and that His power is displayed through human weakness. Sometimes God gets greater glory through enabling us to endure difficulty than in removing it.
I sat on my daughter's hospital bed back in August of '95 and said, "Sweetheart, I would give anything if I could trade places with you." She said, "I wouldn't want that, Dad. This is something God has entrusted to me." On another occasion I was sitting in the waiting room in the radiology department at Baptist Hospital, waiting for Amy to get her treatment. With me were her husband, Ed, and another minister, a mutual friend. That friend said to me, "She seems so cheerful. Doesn't she ever complain?" I told him that I had not heard her complain, and Ed added, "Neither have I."
A few weeks ago Jane was in the waiting room to see Amy when she came in for her treatment. She was running a little late and so did not have time to talk when she arrived but had to hurry back to the treatment room. Jane noticed she was carrying an armload of fresh flowers, but Amy did not stop to explain why. A few minutes later a black lady, obviously another cancer patient, because all her hair was gone as the result of radiation, came out carrying the flowers. She had a big smile on her face and she danced around the waiting room saying, "Amy gave them to me! Amy gave them to me!" It turned out that it was the final day of treatment for that lady, and Amy had brought her the flowers to help her celebrate.
I look at Amy, upbeat, cheerful, more concerned about others than about herself, believing that God has entrusted her with something that may well take her life, and believing that He wants to use the experience for His glory, and I say, "Only God can sustain a person like that." Oh, I will be thrilled if the Red Sea parts and one day an M.R.I. comes up clean. But even if the sea doesn't part, I have seen the gleam of the glory of God in the face of my daughter.
The fourth thing we can learn from this narrative is that in the midst of the most perplexing and painful circumstances, we can--we must--continue to trust the Lord and move forward. This is a double-edged lesson. One part of the truth is expressed in that brief but marvelous little sermon Moses gives to the people in response to their complaint (14:13): "Do not be afraid! Stand firm [or stand still] and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." The people did not need to be reminded that from the human viewpoint their situation was hopeless and impossible. They felt that very keenly. But they did need to be reminded that nothing is impossible with God. They knew they were helpless to save themselves; they needed to be reassured that God could save them.
There is an important principle of the Christian life in that. We often face situations in which we are helpless in ourselves. How should we respond? By screwing up our determination and facing the problem in our own strength? No, no! We must turn it over to the Lord and say, "Lord, I can't handle this, but you can, so take over and do for me what I cannot do for myself." As we face each difficulty in that way, turning it over to the Lord and asking Him to do for us, and through us, what we cannot do ourselves, we discover that He delights in coming to the aid of those who are humble enough to recognize their helplessness and to ask for His assistance, those in other words who learn to "stand still and see the deliverance of the Lord."
But that is only one side of the truth. To say that God will work for us does not mean that we are to be completely passive. Apparently God was concerned lest those Israelites at the Red Sea might have reached that conclusion, that they might have thought, "Well, if we are to stand by and watch God work, then that must mean there is nothing for us to do." So we find that the exhortation of Moses is followed by a corrective word from God (verse 15): "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground." He is saying, in other words, "Don't give them the impression that they are to do nothing, Moses. Tell them to move forward. Explain to them that while they are to 'stand still' in terms of their inner attitude, realizing that deliverance is entirely in My hands, and entrusting the situation to Me, at the same time they are to be on the move. That sea is not going to evaporate while they stand looking at it. I don't work that way. The sea will open for them only as they are prepared to go forward and get their feet wet. Faith is not standing still and watching Me act; it's going forward in the expectation that I am at work. Faith goes forward with calm resolve, refusing to be panicked, despite the apparent hopelessness of the situation, actively reckoning on my grace."
So Moses lifted up his rod over the Red Sea and the people started to march. So the Israelites blew our feeble trumpet at the impenetrable walls of Jericho. So the paralytic reached out his withered hand, and the crippled man make the effort to pick up his bed and walk. And so we tell the mountain that blocks our path to be lifted up and cast into the depths. God works in response to the faith of His people as they, by faith, are prepared to go forward. That's how He vindicates our faith, always and only as we, by faith, are prepared to go forward.
We cannot know what the future holds. But we do know Who holds the future. We may not understand why He does things the way He does, but we can be persuaded that He makes no mistakes. His ways are often perplexing, and sometimes exceedingly painful, but His sustaining grace is sufficient, and we can trust Him -- whether or not the waters part.
If time permitted I would point out yet one more lesson. Let me just capsulize it by putting it like this: the ways of God, perplexing and painful though they are, will always bring us to a place of singing and praise. I take that from the fact that in chapter 15 the Israelites pause on the other side of the sea to sing the praises of God for their deliverance.
I want you to notice about that hymn: it didn't last. It was merely a rest on the way to continued hardship and difficulty. In verse 22, with scarcely a pause for breath, the story continues: "Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they want into the wilderness 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." From the amazing experience of deliverance from the impossible situation at the Red Sea, they move right back into another crisis situation. For the next forty years that will be the pattern. God will lead them from one difficulty into another, each time demonstrating what He is able to do for those who will trust in Him.
That's the way the Christian life is, too. When we get through the trial that faces us today, there will be another tomorrow. We will see God's hand at work again and again, delivering, strengthening, guiding and blessing, as the path of our pilgrimage unfolds. And each time we experience victory and deliverance, we will sing out our gratitude, only to be plunged before long into still another test.
But praise God, there is coming a day when He will bring us to a place where the singing never stops! As later generations of poets and prophets reflected on this Exodus story they saw in the rout of Pharaoh's army a picture of the final conquest by God over every form of evil in the universe. And that song which Moses composed and the people sang became the source of much of their poetic imagery in depicting that final victory. That's why the apostle John in Revelation 15 says that he sees the Christian church in heaven standing by a sea, not the Red Sea but a crystal sea. He describes them as having been victorious, not over Pharaoh but over Antichrist. And he hears them singing. Singing what? Revelation 15:3--"They . . . sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb!" They are singing about God's great victory for His people, a victory pictured in the deliverance led by Moses, and accomplished in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross.
Until that day when we join with the unending chorus of the redeemed in heaven, let us remember that we have something worth singing about here and now, a God who, through Jesus Christ, has delivered us from sin and guilt and judgment, a God who is in control of every detail of our lives and is able to intervene in our lives, if it will glorify Him to do so, a God who is leading us to a place of eternal praise, a God whose ways may sometimes be perplexing and very painful, but whose sustaining grace is always sufficient, a God whom we can trust, no matter what.
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who for refuge to Jesus have fled."Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed.
I am thy God and will still give thee aid.
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.""When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.""The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to his foes.
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no, never, no never forsake!"Prayer: Eternal God, in whom is all our hope, in life, in death, and to all eternity: grant that, rejoicing in the eternal life which is ours in Christ, we may face whatever the future holds in store for us calm and unafraid, always confident that neither death nor life nor anything in all creation can separate us from Your love in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Sermon preached by William L. Hogan,
Professor of Preaching, Reformed theological Seminary,
Jackson, MS