Do you remember what the one vulture
said to the other vulture as they were sitting on the branch of a tree in the
middle of nowhere in the desert? Well,
the one vulture looked over at the other vulture and said, “Patience my rear
end . . . I want to kill something now!”
The human race is not very
patient. The human race is not very
trusting either.
Pharaoh has set the Israelites free
because he has had enough of the plagues that God has unleashed upon the
Egyptians . . . tired of the whole mess especially when God takes away all of
the first born of Egypt. Pharaoh sets
them free and the Israelites hightail it out of there as fast as they can. Now, mind you, it is not easy to hightail it
out of anywhere when the hightailing involves close to an estimated million
people . . . but the people flee Egypt and captivity.
Off they go . . . slowly, but surely .
. . they make their way to freedom . . . until they reach their first
obstacle. Before the people lies the Red
Sea . . . a body of water between them and their freedom. Not the best of places to get stuck
especially since the Pharaoh—having had time to steam a little—decides that he
changed his mind. He either wants the
Israelite slaves back or he would kill them all. He mounts the army to chase after them and
begins to think that he has them cornered . . . has their backs against the
wall. Things are not looking good for
God’s people
Of course this was just the beginning
of what would become a central theme to the exodus story . . . what biblical
scholars like to call “lamenting”, and what we would probably call moaning,
groaning, and whining. Who wouldn’t be
having second thoughts . . . the God of the Israelites had made the Egyptians
angry—vengeful angry. Now the Israelites
had their backs against the wall, the Egyptian army right on their tails and
they had nowhere to go. I imagine that
more than one or two Israelites were anxious as they watched the army’s dust
coming towards them. They wanted out and
they wanted out right then and there . . . patience was a virtue and they sure
were not too trusting of a God who would lead them right into a trap.
But everything worked out. The Lord told Moses to spread his arms out
across the sea. Moses did as he was
instructed and then the most magnificent thing happened . . . the water parted
. . . the ground dried up . . . and, suddenly there was a route for the people
to escape through. The people did not
hesitate to get to the other side. Once
on the other side, God instructed Moses to do the same thing over the water and
the water rushed back to its original place.
The pursuing army of the Egyptians was washed away . . .wiped out. The problem was solved and the exodus
remained intact.
Then the writer of this passage tells
us: “And
when the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the
Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses
his servant.” The people
“feared” the Lord . . . often that word—“feared”—translates into faith . . .
the people discovered faith in the Lord.
They “trusted” the Lord. At least
for a little while they did.
Unlike my wife, I am not much of an
ocean person. Oceans are kind of boring
to me . . . give me the mountains and I will be happy. At the ocean there is not a whole lot to do
but lie there, catch a few rays, and watch the tide come in and out. Yet, there are those who find great pleasure
and adventure at the ocean . . . they are patient . . . they are trusting . . .
it is just a matter of time. It is just
a matter of time before these patient beach dwellers hear the cry, “Surf’s
up!” It is a call to action.
Suddenly the peaceful and passive
beach dwellers begin to move. They grab
their surf boards and head for the water.
“Surf’s up” is a call to action in order to take advantage of the newly
acquired waves . . . grab the surf boards and hit the waves. It is one of those opportunities that either
has to be taken or missed . . . it might not come around for a couple days,
weeks, or even months.
With the grumbling going through the
people who were facing extinction or a certain return to slavery, when Moses
lifted his arms and the sea split in two . . . the surf was up. It was a now or never opportunity . . . life
or death situation. The people had to
decide . . . cross that corridor through the sea that hinged on whether or not
Moses could keep his arms up long enough for everyone to get through, or stick
around and see whether or not the Egyptians would show a little mercy or kill
them. The people were confronted with
“surf’s up” . . . what were they to do?
They crossed the sea.
God watched over them.
God took care of them.
God did it all despite the people and
their “lamenting” . . . despite their disbelief . . . despite their lack of
trust. I guess they decided that one way
or another they were going to die, so they chose to go the route of
drowning. But, God took care of
them! The result was that the people
“feared” the Lord and trusted in God.
Patience and trust . . . as a people
of faith these two seem to be a big key to whether or not we are truly a people
who live in the presence of God with complete belief in what we proclaim with
our mouths. As a pastor I have witnessed
those situations in the lives of those I have served that felt and seemed as
big as that of the Israelites with their backs up against the sea and the army
rushing down upon them. I have witnessed
the difficulties that seem to have no way out in the lives of those I have
served over the years. I have seen how
quickly the patience has evaporated in the heat of the moment . . . seen how
quickly the trust has left the heart . . . and, seen how scary it is to think
that there is no way anyone can survive.
Of course, the thing that any good
pastor does is to remind the people that no matter how difficult or scary any
situation is in life . . . God is with us.
God is always with us no matter how bleak life looks. And, I have had more than one person over the
years just laugh at me and tell me I am number one with the wrong finger . . .
there is no way, in their minds, that even God will get them through what is
about to happen. Yet, those words are
true . . . God is always with us.
It is all a matter of how we respond
to “surf’s up!”
Are we going to pick up our surf
boards and hit the waves, or are we just going to sit it out? The Israelites had a choice to make: cross
the sea or stay there and hope for the best.
Would the Egyptians be merciful?
Would they drown in the water?
Well, a person never knows until he or she takes action and does
something.
Whether it was out of fear or trust
that the Israelites crossed that sea does not matter. What matters is that they decided to do
something . . . they decided to move.
God provided. God was with
them. So it is for us. God will provide . . . God will be with us. But, we have to move when the call is given.
It is a tough lesson to learn as the
children of God . . . to trust in God’s presence through thick and thin . . .
through good and bad . . . through the scary.
As the exodus story continues we will witness that this trust and
patience comes and goes among the faithful for the Israelites . . . and, so it
is with us today. Belief comes and
goes. “Surf’s up” is called and we
hesitate . . . hesitate whether or not we will grab our boards and go with the
waves to see where we end up, or whether or not we stay on the beach and feel
the safety of the moment where we are.
The choice is always ours. What
will you do? Amen.
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