APRIL 13-19: INTO THE WILDERNESS
Come Follow Me “Stand Still, and See the Salvation of the Lord” Exodus 14–18
Why would God direct His children to a place where they would be trapped? Packed up quickly and unleavened, the children of Israel were liberated from Egypt to camp along the western shore of the Red Sea. Pharaoh, hardened yet again, saw this as his advantage to battle against them with 600 of his best chariots of warriors.
Imagine the terror of seeing the approach of an enemy army as you’re bundled with your family, with no way to defend yourselves nor to move forward. How often have you been on that shore?
“Fear ye not. … The Lord shall fight for you” (Exodus 14:13–14). This is the message given, when we must seek faith, courage, and hope. ’Where He leads us to go, There’s a Red Sea road. When we can’t see the way, He will part the waves, And we’ll never walk alone down a Red Sea road.’
Red Sea Road - Ellie Holcomb
Why were these people then stuck traveling through the wilderness for forty years? John Bytheway likes to say that “It only took days to get the people out of Egypt, but it took forty years to get Egypt out of the people.”
That is a road that is well traveled today: time to get clean from addictions and addictive thoughts and behaviors is a slow process, hungering for the tastes we must leave behind. What are we offered through this cleansing to freely feed on? Daily bread from the divine.
“What is it?”: The name ‘Manna’ comes from the Hebrew phrase ‘man hu’, meaning “what is it?” because the Israelites did not recognize it. I suspect we often don’t recognize the Manna that is given to us, nor understand how nourishing it is.
Holy Manna - Canaan’s Crossing
A friend invited us to his Synagogue’s Passover program. In remembering such a sacred event, the program was surprisingly not as somber as what I imagined it would be. Afterward we remarked that the most memorable song was “I am a Matzah”. “Yeah,” our friend answered, “We don’t really have good Passover songs.” I suppose you just need to know where to look, because there are many.
In short, Passover can be celebrated as a joyous time of gathering, feasting with our children and family, and perhaps get silly in the storytelling. So, in that spirit - Ahoy maties, and find ye the treasures deep in this yo ho ho: ‘Soon may our freedom come to bring us liberty, peace and fun.’ Arrr!
The Red Sea Shanty: A Pirate Passover - Six13
Seriously?! Oy vey!
‘Our shadow by day and our pillar by night’, our LORD continues with us throughout our journeys in the wilderness. He guides our way, protecting and strengthening us. Looking both forward and behind, in spite of our tripping and missteps, we can find He’s there all along.
Redeemer of Israel - Gentri
He is gathering us, His sheep, lovingly leading us to Zion - His Kingdom.