Exodus 15 is celebration time. Moses has just led the people through the Red Sea. Their enemy and captors are now dead. So they stop to celebrate. And they “sang this song… I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea”. That was a popular tune in my early days and says it well. God took care of things. Moses and the people make a list of their God and how they will relate to Him:
- “my strength
- my song
- my salvation
- my God
- I will praise him
- I will exalt him
- the Lord is his name”
There is no question who won this battle. There is no question how they were saved from pending doom. They know it and they sing it.
They go on to recount all that God did along the way. Check out how they describe Him:
- “Your right hand….shatters the enemy
- you overthrow your adversaries
- you send out your fury
- You blew with your wind
- You stretched out your right
- You have led
- you have guided”
It’s all God. They see that clearly. They understand this was His battle and He is with them.
The celebration continues as they proclaim “The Lord will reign forever and ever”. Life is good for the Israelites. They continue to party with “tambourines and dancing”. You know it wasn’t some of the churches we attend – my goodness we can’t show our appreciation for God like that can we? But then it happens. Moses leads the people on their journey toward the Promised Land. “They went three days in the wilderness and found no water….the people grumbled against Moses”. Three whole days after crossing through the Red Sea on dry land fleeing certain capture and maybe death – and the people are grumbling against the man who saved their hide. If you want a case of ‘what have you done for me lately’, here it is. Can you imagine this? You should because most of us would have been right there with them. We quickly forget. Even Moses did….
“And he cried to the Lord” and God was there and gave Moses the answer – just throw that log into the bitter water – he did and all was good. But how come it took Moses three days to finally get around to asking God? How does that happen to us? We have a little success and our spiritual brain goes dead. We all of a sudden think we can handle things on our own. Does that happen to you? It does to me. So God makes a rule. “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer”. You listen – I’ll be God. That is pretty much what He says. We need to get that right. God alone is in control. He alone makes it rain. He is the only One in charge. We need to listen and obey. That is our part of the deal. He will take care of the rest!
