Preached at Yarralumla Uniting Church, Canberra, ACT
Exodus 14:19-31
Some years ago, my family and I were on a holiday trip in outback Australia. We were traveling later in the day. The topography as many of you will know in far western New South Wales is quite flat, so much so that one may in places almost see the horizon. The sun was lower in the sky, up ahead there was a storm brewing. The storm clouds ranging from their fluffy white, to the dark indigo were like a formidable wall with the occasional lightning bolts several Kilometres ahead of us. As we travelled at our 100 Km/h towards the storm front it seemed as if it was travelling ahead of us. I am sure that many of you would have had such an experience in your travels.
As I sat behind the steering wheel listening to the rhythmic sound of the turbo diesel engine, the noise of the hybrid on and off-road tyres, the line from verse two of the wonderful Welsh hymn “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” sprung into my mind. The line that came to my mind was “Let the fiery, cloudy pillar lead me all my journey through…”.
William Williams (1717-91) the author of that wonderful hymn originally wrote the hymn in his native Welsh tongue. The also Welsh tune with which we generally associate this beautiful hymn is of course Cwm Rhondda. Some may be aware that tune was composed much later (1905). Nevertheless, both the Welsh and English-speaking churches have inherited a truly beautiful hymn which has much to say about our lives and faith journeys.
I return to my reverie of driving into a Western NSW Storm… The storm in itself was menacing, yet there was a certain beauty of the “cloudy pillar” with its colossal amount of electrical and kinetic energy. I felt as if this phenomenon of weather was guiding us on our trip, we were heading to the next waypoint in our holiday where would find the shelter of caravan park to have a meal, sleep, and leave refreshed the next morning. We had no one in pursuit of us in this vast wilderness and we know that the road ahead was open and without any obstructions. Yet the “cloudy pillar” did give me a certain comfort, security, and confidence as a driver on one of our outback highways.
How different it would have been for the Israelite travellers fleeing the cold and hard tyranny of the Egyptian Pharaoh. We know from our reading that this Pharaoh had a hardened heart when it came to the Israelites. We know that The Lord God had demonstrated his sovereignty over all the human made gods of Egypt, as well as people both Egyptian and Israelite. Yet despite these demonstrations hard-hearted Pharaoh was in pursuit of the people of Israel being led by Moses out of Egypt in the direction of the promised land where the Israelites would find rest, security, freedom, and peace.
Today’s reading gives us a few clues of Pharaoh’s arrogance and pride. Note in verses 6-7:
So, he [Pharaoh] 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.
Historians tell us that in that time Egypt prided itself on their chariots and the military capability which they provided. Egypt had become a powerful nation and well controlled the region.
From today’s passage one could imagine Pharaoh and his captains holding what today we in the military call an “Orders Group” or “O-Group” for short. In this O-Group would be the satisfaction that their quarry, the Israelites are all but defeated – trapped by the Red Sea. They had their military might and those troublesome Israelites would be brought to their knees once and for all. My military tactical imagination extends to the point that may be in this O-Group, Pharaoh would have been already planning how to get all these people back to the land of Egypt, back to work on one of his self-promoting projects and servitude.
We know what happened next! Just when all logic stated the Israelites are trapped and defeat was forthcoming. God was not yet finished with Pharaoh, his hardness of heart, or in fact God’s love for the Israelites. Here we have Moses the reluctant leader, the man who had a speech impediment being used by the Lord God to fulfil his plan for not just for the Israelites, but the whole of humankind back then and into the future.
One may look at this narrative from what may be the simple “Sunday School Lesson.” A spectacular miracle, God gives Moses the power to part the waters of the Red Sea. It is not my intention to burst that particular bubble for you if that is what you may see. May I suggest that this view is perfectly fine and honours what God did that day. However, May I suggest that there is much more to this narrative than the beautiful Sunday School view. May I suggest that we take a more reflective pathway. What can this amazing narrative teach us as God’s people here today in a small portion of Canberra known as Yarralumla?
One of the first things that a deeper reflection may bring us to is that God has a plan for us all. This plan is for us individually and as God’s community. Even when we have gone our own way, maybe even diametrically against God’s plan, God still loves us and plans for us. Even when we may have spoiled the path before us God does not give up on us. God heard the cries of his people in Goshen in the Land of Egypt. God heard the cries, complaints, and lack of trust in God of, and by, the people on the shores of the Red Sea. God had a plan to take his people, the Israelites, away from their oppressive tormentors. God too hears our sighs and cries of hurt and distress. We may at times fail to see what God is doing in our aid, nevertheless, the Scriptures are full of the promises of God to come to our aid. As the Scriptures are also generous of permission for us to call out to God in our distress. For example, Psalm 22:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
and by night, but find no rest.
3 Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our ancestors trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried, and were saved;
in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.
The second thing that this narrative gives us is expect the unexpected when it comes to how God may come to our aid. I believe that no one there that day could imagine a parting of the waters of the Red Sea. If one was to suggest that a possible solution was that the waters would part, and the people would walk on the dry seabed with two walls of water either side… One would be swiftly told that they have taken leave of their senses. Yet that is what had happened.
Now to my third point for reflection. I have not sailed the Red Sea; however, I have flown over the body of water numerous times. Even from the air it is a formidable body of water. At its narrowest points the sea is 26-29Kms. At its widest point the Red Sea is 306-354Kms wide. The depth of the Red Sea on average is 490m, with the deepest point being 2850m[1]. One more statistic just for the hydrographers listening. The water volume of the Red Sea is approximately 233,000 Km3. I give that last value figure to just consider the water pressure on the two walls of water being held back. We do not really know at which point the Israelites crossed, in many ways it is of minor consequence where the crossing took place. What is of major significance is whilst we are limited by our human embodiment in our solving of problems, the God whom we love, serve, and worship is not constrained so. God the Creator of all is giver and sustainor. God is the one who may redefine the parameters of what we claim to be empirical truths. When we are in trouble, God is the one that we want with us.
The next point that I wish to reflect upon today is, it is my belief that one could reason that when the Israelites saw the waters of the Sea Part, they may have felt fear. Especially when it came to walking into that new created space. Yet under the leadership of Moses, they overcame that fear and went. The simple point is trust in God!
The final point for today’s reflection is an object lesson which the Egyptians had to learn very painfully with deadly consequences. The foolish person will stand with arrogance before God. However, such a stand will end very badly. The Prophet Micha set this out very simply and plainly:
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God? Micha 6:8
Micha would write those words much later in time, but the principle stood then and continues to stand now. We are God’s people, we need to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.
We walk are God’s guided people be it through a barren dry land, or lush green pastures, or through the seemingly impossible. God is with us, and we need to trust in Him.
© CMV 2023
All Scripture refences unless otherwise noted are from the NIV®
[1] About the Red Sea. https://www.sunegypt.com/library/red-sea.aspx
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