Exodus 14 The glory of God in our tough spots

“Who has known the mind of the Lord…?” Paul asks in Romans 11. It is true that “God’s ways are not our ways” and his “paths are inscrutable.” But this doesn’t prevent us from recognizing what God has clearly revealed to us in holy history regarding what is behind the sometimes baffling circumstances that we run up against.

Those of you who know me personally know that my family is in the midst of just such a baffling circumstance which I can’t describe in detail in such a public place as the world wide web. I was very encouraged recently by the reminder in Exodus 14 that the tough spots God often allows us to find ourselves in are opportunities for his glory to be revealed.

In Exodus 14, the Israelites are escaping from their long slavery in Egypt. God had Moses lead them straight to the Red Sea.

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. 3 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.

The Israelites, just like us many times, failed to see how God would get glory from them being pinned between the hosts of Egypt and the Red Sea. In spite of God’s word that the manifestation of his glory was the purpose of their being in such a tough spot, they complain to Moses…

10 “….Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

Here is the principle I want to draw out: We have a tendency to make our personal comfort our ultimate goal. We want God to order our circumstances in ways that make sense to us. God’s glory is not something we value enough to be willing to go through tough times so that it can be displayed in our lives. But over and over in Scripture, just as we see here in Exodus 14, God’s goal is the manifestation of his glory. God is glorified when he displays his strength and his wisdom and his sufficiency in getting us through the tough spots that he often puts us in.

Even though we know this principle, we often act just like the Israelites here. Our faith is weak that God will work in a way that magnifies his glory, and we slip into the same kind of questioning that we hear from them: “Why God? What good can come out of this? I just don’t see the point of having to go through such a trial?”

Notice that God doesn’t answer their complaining questions. Moses simply says,

“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord.”

That is how we should respond in tough spots as well. “Fear not.” Don’t give in to the sinful tendency to worry and anxiety and fear. When such feelings assault you, commit them to the Lord and resolve to trust him in spite of your feelings.

“Stand firm.” Continue to make choices and live your life in a way that shows your faith and your confidence are in God. The Israelites could have bolted. They could have looked for some kind of escape route. And had they done that, they would have been robbed of the opportunity to see what has to be on God’s top ten list of the most glorious miracles of all time.

“See the salvation of the Lord.” Believe that in and through all your circumstances, tough spots included, God is working out an eternal salvation for you. This salvation is one that is 100% by his strength and initiative and 0% yours. Even if you fail to see how a particular tough spot fits into that salvation, believe that it does and that one day you will “see” it so, even if only in eternity.