FBT Daily Devotional: Exodus 15

FBT Daily Devotional

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

And let's start this now. Uh, we are looking at Exodus chapter 15, okay? Um, and I'm gonna kind of group some scriptures together, kind of skimming through it, because it is pretty much uh most mostly a song and praise. And even with that, we're looking at the song and praise. Um, the way that they would do it, you know. Y'all ever notice how it doesn't rhyme like we generally want it to? But um maybe in their original language it was in, it was flowing. But however, um as we go through it, we want to remember that God's deliverance deserves our praise, and that's gonna be our focus. Um, so God's deliverance deserves our praise. Um, his deliverance reveals his power to the nation and leads us into places of refreshing after testing. All right. So we know verse 14, they had just came out of um the other side of the Red Sea. And so Exodus 15 captures a powerful moment, a powerful moment right after God delivers Israel through the Red Sea. So, what we're essentially seeing is not just celebration, but it's revelation. When God brings you out of something, it's not just for your freedom, it's for his glory to be seen, it's for his glory to be heard, it's for his glory to be remembered. So, this chapter shows us three movements that we'll touch on going through, and that's praise after deliverance, as I mentioned, um, fear among the nations, and then testing before refreshing. When we're looking at verses one through three, like I said, kind of grouping them together to pick out certain points as we're walking through the whole chapter, but not um verbatim reading every single thing. So um, where it mentions, I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously. It also says, The Lord is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation. So one thing to notice is that there's a shift that Israel can't, or there's a there's a shift overall where Israel, I guess I wouldn't say can't, but isn't crying anymore. They're singing, they're rejoicing. So the same place of fear becomes a place of worship, and so God didn't just help them, he became their salvation, um, which is powerful. Uh, when we go look at verses four through ten, one thing that stuck out was Pharaoh's army is overthrown into the sea, and so with that being part of the song, it exemplifies that what was once um pursued. Um I like how uh Tiffany has said it, um, where she said, Um the you know it was something about being pursued and uh them being dismantled, obliterated. Um so that's that what pursues you uh he dismantles. I think it was like that. Um but it's in the same sense, it's now buried. Um in this case it was buried underwater, but buried is still the key. Um when God delivers, he doesn't halfway do it, he finishes it. He's a God who does things in completion. Wouldn't we agree? I think we all do. When we're looking at um 11 through 13, it says, Who is like you? Oh Lord, you in your mercy have led forth the people. And a song came to mind. Um, I was thinking there's a song by Triple E uh called Who Is Like Him. Um, it says, Nobody, who else you know? Nobody. Uh, it's a song that isn't our song of today. I'll share our song of the day at the very end. Um, however, I thought about it, and it just reminded me uh of that song in totality. But this portion, deliverance, it shows that it isn't just power, it's mercy plus guidance. So God saves and leads. When we look at a little more focus on verses 14 through 16, it says, the people will hear and be afraid, right? And then it says, sorrow will take hold of the inhabitants of Philistia, and then it also says, All the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away. And so, what this shows is uh Israel isn't um just delivered for themselves, their testimony is often traveling ahead of them because before they even arrived to the promised land, their enemies was already shaken, and that's a good thing because it shows that fear was already planted, that victory was already being prepared. Um, when God fights battles for you in places you haven't seen him, well, you when God fights battles for you in places, is generally places that you haven't even stepped into yet, where you're looking at your testimony, it's gonna shift hearts before you arrive, it's gonna speak into the rooms you haven't entered yet. Um, just as we were just reflecting on where their enemies were shaken were already shaken, and and your testimony also creates divine advantage. When we look at verses 17 through 18, where it says, You will bring them in and plant them. So if we pause right there, we see that God doesn't just bring you out, he brings you into something that is stable. When we focus a little more on verse 20, um, when it says, Then Miriam, the prophetess, uh, it shows she took the uh timbrel um instrument, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. Now, quick little pause when we look at um Miriam. Miriam is the sister of Moses and Aaron, right? So all three of siblings. Uh Miriam is actually the older sister, while Aaron is the older brother and Moses is the youngest. And you can actually even see her role earlier on when we're in Exodus like two, uh, where she's watching over baby Moses in the basket, it helped arranges it, um, just for the mother to end up taking care of him after Pharaoh's daughter had found him. Um, and so now when we get to Exodus uh 15, 20, when she's leading worship, she's not just any woman, she's a leader amongst the women of Israel. That's how she's recognized. She's recognized as a prophetess and the older sister who witnessed God's hand from the very beginning. So there's like a little history with that and a testimony combined to it. And so that adds even more weight to the praise when she saw the process from the now, even down to the Red Sea. So um, when we're looking back at um why is this as powerful? It's because praise became contagious and it spread to others. So Miriam didn't just wait, she responded immediately. She led others into worship. So this shows worship isn't just personal, it's influential. Your praise can pull others into breakthroughs as well. And we can see that. Um, and I know there was a song. Um, was it Maverick City? It was Praise is a breakthrough. No, that's uh was it Tasha Khan? Uh don't quote me on that. However, one of them, but praise is a breakthrough. Um, when we look at Miriam, how she is called a prophetess, it's just meaning her praise was not just celebration, it was spirit-led expression. Okay. Um, so we can say prophetic praise. Uh, when we look at verses 22 through 25 and just focusing on the fact where it says, they come tomorrow where the waters are bitter. Um, so when they came tomorrow and they have bitter waters, you know, generally the people start complaining. But right after victory, it comes a testing, is what really happened. And this is real life. That's how it generally seems to happen all the time, right? Um, but notice that God shows Moses a tree, and so the bitter water becomes sweet when he tosses the wood into there. Um, so God can take bitter seasons and make them beneficial, and that's good. When we look at verse 27, this is the last verse inside chapter 15, and we'll focus here where it mentions then they came to Elam, where there were 12 wells of water and 70 palm trees. So they camped there by the waters. So the reason this is huge and significant is because after it was deliverance, it was praise, it was the testing, right? But then God brings them to Elam, which is a place of abundant water. It had 12 wells there. Um, when we look at um when he brings them to Elam, it's also a place of covering and rest. When we look at the 70 palm trees, to be able to give them covering, we can think of the shade. And um, you know, oftentimes you're gonna rest up under the shade. Um, but and then I look at the palm trees as people think of vacation anyways, but God doesn't just test you, he refreshes you. It's what this shows. And Elam represents the divine provision, uh strategic rest, restoration, uh after pressure, and God knew that they would face Mara, which we'll get into Mara in a second, but so he already prepared um them for Elam, or prepared Elam for them, what do you have to say? But he knew that they would face Mara. So it as an example, it's like going through an intense workout, and then you're pushing through the burn and the burnout, but then essentially, you know, they say no pain, no gain, your muscles are tested, but afterwards there's hydration, um you're recovering, and essentially that's what causes growth. So Mara would be the burn, and Elam is the recovery. So God doesn't leave you in the hard place, He actually leaves you through it into refreshing. Um, and as I get ready to wrap up, one of the things um when I think of leading you through it, um it's almost like how we talk about uh Yeah, I walked through the valleys of shadows of death, and we say through, we don't stay in it, we actually walk through it. I look at it was a valley of water that they end up walking through and they did not stay in it. So um, yeah, so I like I had thought of that um comparison earlier today that God had downloaded it to me. But um just a few questions in the closing statement is um think about this. Am I praising God after he brings me through it? Or do I move too quickly? Do I even realize my testimony is impacting others, even people I haven't met yet? Um, and am I expecting Elam, or do I think the struggle is permanent? As I like to say, uh the struggle is real, but God is real. Um, so the takeaways is your praise matter, your testimony travels, your testing is temporary, your refreshing is coming, and God didn't bring you out just to leave you in the wilderness, he brought you out to be a witness, to walk in victory and experience his provision. And Mara is not your final destination. Elam is ahead. And lastly, the song that I would like to recommend is Blessing on Blessings, Anthony Brown and Therapy Group. Um, and it's because it carries the same energy of celebrating um God's goodness after the breakthrough, um, just like uh Exodus 15 does. So, with that being said, uh we are able to go to breakout rooms.