#25. Exodus 10-13 | Specific, Yet Unspecific Directions

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welcome to the Dwelling Place

from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox.

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In yesterday's episode, we talked

about the hardening of Pharaoh's heart.

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Did Pharaoh do it?

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Did God do it?

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And the answer was yes.

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Both occurred.

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I've had multiple opportunities

to take a tour with the founder

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of Epic Archeology, Ted Wright.

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He is phenomenal, and

I'll link his website.

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You should definitely go check him out.

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Whenever you're wondering if

there's archeological evidence

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for certain events in the Bible,

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and he explained that having

a hard heart was absolutely

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awful in the Egyptian culture.

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In the detailed process Egyptians

went through to make a mummy, they

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would take out a person's organs and

weigh them, and they wanted their

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heart to be less than a feather.

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If it wasn't they believed that

person would experience judgment

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in the afterlife, and he commented

that throughout Exodus, it's truly

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evident that the author had a personal

knowledge of the Egyptian culture.

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He said there are hints all over that

revealed that Moses was the author and

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that he was raised in Pharaoh's home.

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Today we're turning the page to

Exodus Chapter 10, through 13, God

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brings another plague of locusts.

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This would've been an attack on

several Egyptian Gods, sapia being

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one of them, and it would've been

something they prayed for protection

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from In chapter 10, verse 15.

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They covered the face of the whole land

so that the land was darkened and they

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ate all the plants in the land and all the

fruit of the trees that the hail had left.

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Not a green thing remained.

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Neither tree nor planted the field

throughout all the land of Egypt.

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Then Pharaoh hastily called Moses and

Aaron and said, I have sinned against

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the Lord your God, and against you.

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Therefore, forgive my sin.

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Please only this once and plead

with the Lord your God, only

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to remove this death from me.

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So he went out from Pharaoh and

pleaded with the Lord, and the Lord

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turned the wind into a very strong

west wind, which lifted the locusts

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and drove them into the Red Sea.

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Not a single locust was left in

the country of Egypt, but the Lord

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heartened Pharaoh's heart and he

did not let the people of Israel go.

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Then the Lord said to Moses, stretch

out your hand toward heaven, that there

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may be darkness over the land of Egypt.

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A darkness to be felt for three days.

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It was so dark that no one even

got up and left their house.

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They couldn't even see each other.

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But again, God made a distinction.

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This doesn't happen to the Israelites.

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They dwell in light.

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Pharaoh again pretends that he's repentant

and willing to let them go, but he

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wants them to go without their animals.

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And Moses says, no.

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God wants us to make sacrifices

to him in the wilderness.

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We have to take our animals.

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But Pharaoh's heart was hardened and

he told them to never come back again.

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And finally comes the 10th plague,

the plague of the firstborn.

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Do you remember how the

Book of Exodus began?

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It began with Pharaoh being insecure

at how much the Israelites were

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being multiplied, and he chose

to kill all the male babies.

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Well, now the Lord is saying for everyone

that does not have faith in me and does

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not apply the blood of the lamb to their

doorposts, I will now take your firstborn.

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This plague is really a judgment on

all of Egypt's Gods, including Pharaoh.

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They believed that Pharaoh's

son would become a God.

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I'm sure that they felt horrible remorse

and regret for not heeding the first nine

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of God's judgments, but before the Lord

performs this act, he tells the Israelites

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to go to their neighbors, the Egyptians

and ask for silver and gold jewelry.

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Though the surrounding verses are

certainly serious, I think that these

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are some of the funniest verses in the

Bible to imagine God gave them favor

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and I just have to giggle

when I think about what this

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exchange might've been like.

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Hi, I'm your neighbor.

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I know it's been rough

around here for a while.

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We're about to go, but before we

do, I was just wondering, do you

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have anything you wanna give me

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On a more serious note, I wonder if

it provided an opportunity at all for

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people to say, I need to understand

what is going on around here.

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And who is this God that you serve as?

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God describes the Passover feast.

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He explains that other nations are

able to be involved in this as long

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as they obey and heed his directions

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we're told the Israelites are going

to leave Egypt with a mixed multitude.

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Some Egyptians are gonna come with, but

not all of them will have pure motives.

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And we'll read more about that later.

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Let's continue with chapter 11

and the plague of the firstborn.

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The Lord said to Moses, yet one

more plague I will bring upon

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Pharaoh and upon Egypt afterward,

he will let you go from here.

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When he lets you go, he will

drive you away completely.

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Speak now in the hearing of the people.

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That they ask every man of his

neighbor and every woman of her

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neighbor for silver and gold jewelry.

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And the Lord gave the people favor

in the sight of the Egyptians.

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Moreover, the man Moses, was very

great in the land of Egypt, in

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the sight of Pharaoh's servants

and in the sight of the people.

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So Moses said, thus says the Lord.

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About midnight, I will go out in the

midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in

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the land of Egypt shall die from the

firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his

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throne, even to the firstborn of the

slave girl who's behind the hand mill

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and all the firstborn of the cattle.

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There shall be a great cry throughout

the land of Egypt, such as there has

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never been nor ever will be again.

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But not a dog shall growl against any of

the people of Israel, either man or beast,

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that you may know that the Lord makes a

distinction between Egypt and Israel and

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all these, your servants shall come down

to me and bow down to me saying, get out

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you and all the people who follow you.

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And after that

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I will go out.

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In chapter 12.

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God reports that this Passover

event is going to be so important.

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He's actually going to

give them a new calendar.

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This month is to be

the beginning of months

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And occurs between March

and April of our months.

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Then they're given very

specific directions about how

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to observe the Passover feast.

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It's to be a lamb without blemish,

and they're to take the blood of the

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lamb and apply it to their doorposts.

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They'll eat it with bitter herbs that

represent the bitterness of slavery

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And with unleavened bread.

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Leaven in scripture often

represents impurity,

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But for all those bread making moms,

you understand that this also means.

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That they have to eat it quickly.

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They don't have time

for their bread to rise.

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They Are ready to leave

at a moment's notice.

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In 12, 12.

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God instructs for I will pass

through the land of Egypt that night

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and I will strike the firstborn.

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All the firstborn in the land

of Egypt, both man and beast

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and on all the gods of Egypt.

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I will execute judgments.

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I am the Lord.

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The blood shall be assigned for you on

the houses where you are, and when I see

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the blood, I will pass over you and no

plague will befall you to destroy you.

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When I strike the land of Egypt, this

day shall be for you a memorial day,

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and you shall keep it as a feast to

the Lord throughout your generations.

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As a statute forever.

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You shall keep it as a feast.

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And in verse 28, then the people of

Israel went out and did so as the

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Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

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So they did.

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At midnight, the Lord struck down all

the firstborn in the land of Egypt.

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When John the Baptist announced Jesus in

the New Testament, he said, behold the

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Lamb of God who takes away the sins of

the world, Jesus is the Passover lamb.

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It was only by faith in God that

the Israelites applied the blood

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of the lamb on their doorposts,

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and the only way that we can

escape the judgment that we deserve

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because of our sin is by trusting

in Jesus Christ is our salvation.

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Pharaoh finally tells them to

go to get out and to take all

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of their livestock with them,

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The end of chapter 12 tells us it was

a night of watching by the Lord to

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bring them out of the land of Egypt.

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So this same night is a night of watching,

kept by the Lord, by all the people of

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Israel throughout their generations.

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And in chapter 13, the Lord explains

that this Passover feast is to

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be continued to be kept forever.

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And certainly when they

reach the Promised Land,

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it's meant to teach their kids about

God's faithfulness and that they would

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never forget that what the mighty hand

God rescued his people from slavery,

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from the mightiest empire in existence.

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But what I'm noticing right now.

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Is that God doesn't tell them how long

it's going to be before they'll be able

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to observe it in the promised land.

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He doesn't tell them that they're

going to rebel against him and wander

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in the desert for 40 years, and that

Moses himself will never observe

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the Passover in the promised land.

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God knows exactly what they

need to know at this moment.

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It seems he's specifically

unspecific at times.

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He gives great detail

for what we need to know.

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But often leaves things unsaid

that we think we need to know or

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that might seem helpful to know.

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He knows what our hearts can handle.

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This is also evident to me in verse 17

when Pharaoh let the people go, God did

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not lead them by the way of the land of

the Philistines, although that was near.

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For God said, lust.

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The people change their minds when

they see war and return to Egypt, but

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God led the people around, by the way

of the wilderness toward the Red Sea.

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God knew what his people were ready for

and they just weren't ready for war.

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He led them into the wilderness

even though it was a longer journey

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because he had to make them unified

as a nation before he could bring

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them into the land of the promise.

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But he doesn't just give

detailed directions.

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He goes with them, and the Lord went

before them by day in a pillar of cloud

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to lead them along the way and by night in

a pillar of fire to give them light that

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they might travel by day and by night.

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The pillar of cloud by day and the

pillar of fire by night did not depart

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from before the people personally,

right now, I'm in a season.

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Of considering some big

changes for my family.

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It seems overwhelming and difficult

and the Lord might be asking us to

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leave something that we have loved

for years, but like Abraham who obeyed

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even when he didn't know where he was

being called to, and just like the

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Israelites leaving Egypt, following

God, not knowing where they're going.

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We can trust in the God who goes with us.

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Our aim and goal should be to be

absolutely surrendered to the will of God.

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And if that's true, then we know he

will reveal it to us when we need it.

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Let's pray.

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Heavenly Father, we thank

you that you go before us.

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We pray that we would walk in

tune with your Holy Spirit, that

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we would discern where you're

leading and follow you fully.

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May we model trust even when the

variables and the unknowns are abundant.

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We thank you that you are a God that does

not allow us to follow after false gods.

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You demolish idols.

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Even painfully at times, and we pray

for this in our own hearts, but also in

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our children's hearts, as they develop

talents and interests and aspire to

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careers, would their goals be surrendered

to you and their plans for their

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lives be built upon the one true God?

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It's in the name of the Spotless Lamb.

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Jesus Christ we pray.

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Amen.