Nowhere to go

What do you pack for a road trip into the wilderness?

The Israelites left Egypt like a plundering army, they marched out boldly, but it didn’t last. Very soon their boldness had turned to terror as they realised that Pharaoh was following them with chariots and an army. They cried out: “Were there no graves in Egypt?”

For all those former slaves, leaving Egypt and heading off to the Promised Land meant leaving behind what they knew and entering into the unknown. For generations, slavery was their only life, and now God had stepped in, promised change and a new life, but the question remains: “Can he deliver?”

What does it take to leave Egypt?

1. It takes vision

Vision is the ability to see not only what is in front of you, but into the distance of what lies ahead, into the possibilities. Vision means being able to look beyond Egypt, through the wilderness and into the land of promise.

Vision calls us into a journey that we wouldn’t normally make. It demands of us things we feel we can’t give and it asks questions of us for which we are yet to discover answers. Vision is, as one writer put it, the ability to see the invisible. Or as another said: Some things have got to be believed to be seen.”

2. It takes courage

The generation that left Egypt would not be the generation that crossed the Jordan. Except for two, Joshua and Caleb, they lacked the courage needed to follow God all the way into the land. They reached the border, but that was it. They sent spies but the spies report worried the people, so they turned away and never entered the land.

A vision is important, but without courage, vision remains a dream.

3. It takes faith

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews understood the link between faith and vision when they wrote: Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not yet seen.

What do you need to know if you’re about to leave Egypt?

You need to know that:

1. God has a plan

It can’t have looked much like a plan: leave Egypt, camp on the bank of the river with no way to escape Pharaoh and his angry army. God's plan seemed to be to put the people in an impossible position in order for them to learn to trust him for the rest of the journey.

God’s plan is:

1. Good

for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. (Phil.2:13)

2. To our benefit

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. (Rom. 8:28)

3. Certain

Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. (He.6:17)

2. God will guide

Prov. 3:4-5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart... He will make your paths straight.

Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long. (Ps.25)

The issue rarely is whether we believe that God guides, the issue is usually “Will he guide me, at this time, in this situation?”

In order to be guided you need to be:

Willing

Committed

Patient

The key tools to use for guidance are:

The Bible: tells us everything we need

Prayer: our route into the heart of God

His Spirit: at work in us and in our circumstances.

Properly applied these three things will help you discern God’s call and direction.

A word of caution.

First do not forget that God can and does use those around us to help in the process. You do not have to walk the journey alone. But also be careful about how you interpret things. For example, if you decide to go to some foreign country to serve God as a missionary and that country rejects your visa application, does that mean God doesn’t want you to go or that he wants you to show more determination about going?

Guidance is not an exact science.

Thirdly, God is able to turn our mistakes to his glory. This is important because it means quite simply that there can never be a “God’s second best” for your life because you missed what he really wanted you to do.

3 God tests

After such an amazing turn of events, you’d have thought the Israelites would be ready to follow God anywhere, do anything to serve him and face any challenge for him. After all they had been set free from slavery, left like a conquering army and were headed for a new life in a new country. Faith must have been at an all-time high.

Then comes the first big test, and faith evaporates like the morning mist. They moan, complain, worry, panic, disobey. Nobody ever asks: What is God trying to teach us through this? No one ever asks: I wonder what God will do now?

What Moses tells them to do:

Not to be afraid (have courage)

Stand firm & be still (Have faith)

See the deliverance the Lord will bring (have vision)

In other words, facing the ongoing challenges and tests that come with following God takes the same things it takes to start the journey in the first place.

4. God comes through

God will come through for you. How many times in the Bible does God apologise for being late? Zero. He always comes through because:

He is omnipotent (He is able to do)

He is omnipresent (He is always with us)

He is omniscient (He knows it all)

Conclusion

Where are you on this journey?

Are you just about to leave Egypt? Are you looking at the sea? Are you looking at the chasing army?

Wherever you are, do you trust God? Do you believe he has your best interests at heart, that he is for you not against you?