Glory to God
Opening Prayer
Heavenly Father, what does the week ahead hold for me? Please guide me and help me to seek out how I can glorify You.
Read Exodus 14:1–18
Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “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. 3 Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ 4 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.” So the Israelites did this.
5 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!” 6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. 7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. 9 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.
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. 11 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? 12 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!”
13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 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. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Are you trusting God to protect you and to fight on your behalf? How could God to be glorified in your life?Who gets the glory in our contemporary media? Football celebrities and film stars? The media is fickle and can turn on “heroes,” knocking them off their pedestals as quickly as they were elevated into the limelight.
Things are different with God. When he intervenes he gets the glory only he deserves—and it lasts. In one of the most intimate prayers recorded in the Bible, Jesus prayed about the glory of God that would be fully revealed when he went to the cross (John 17:1–5). The sinless Son of God conquered death itself. When we see what God has done we need only stand in amazement.
When the Israelites see Pharaoh pursuing them, they are terrified and wish they’d never set off. Faith can so easily evaporate at the first sign of opposition. They are grumbling, fickle and fearful, just as so many of us are when things don’t seem to be going well for us. Like them, we forget that our lives are in God’s hands.
Trusting God is the path to peace. Expect him to act and give him the glory he deserves.
Apply
Is someone you love facing situations where he or she needs God’s rescue? Using this story, how can you encourage your loved one to trust God?
Closing prayer
Thank You, God, that You see the end from the beginning. I praise You that You already have my victory laid out before me.
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