“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.”
~ Exodus 14:31
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you ever become really scared? If you have become really scared, what made you really scared? Do you become really scared when you are all alone? Do you become really scared when you are in a pitch black room? Do you become really scared when there is a lot of lightning and thunder during a thunderstorm? When there was when your grandpaa was a kid a lot of lightning and thundering in a thunderstorm that would show up in the middle of a night, your grandpaa’s dad and ma would have their kids come downstairs from their upstairs bedrooms where they all slept. Your grandpaa likes to watch a thunderstorm mushrooming bigger and bigger and getting closer and closer. Your grandpaa likes to watch lightning flashing in a thunderstorm. Your grandpaa likes to hear thunder clapping and rumbling as a thunderstorm arrives and passes. One night though while a strong thunderstorm with a lot of wind was passing over the house where your grandpaa grew up as a kid, it began to hail. The windblown hail busted out the living room window on the west side of the house where your dad’s grandpa and grandma lived. One moment your grandpaa was sitting in the living room – with his ma and dad and with your grandpaa’s bros and sisters, listening to hailstones hammering away on the roof and against the side of the house where your dad’s grandpa and grandma lived and then the next moment, glass from the living room’s west window came crashing in all over the living room rug, the living room’s west window’s curtains began flapping and snapping in the air and driving rain and hail tore through the broken window. Your grandpaa at that moment had become really scared of what might happen next.
1446 years before Jesus was born – or 3448 years ago, God caused an Egyptian Pharaoh to want to let His specially chosen guys, gals and kids – the Israelite people group guys, gals and kids, leave Egypt. In God’s perfect plan – which He made before He had created planet Earth, the time had arrived for His specially chosen guys, gals and kids – the Israelite people group guys, gals and kids, to begin an exodus to the land area that He had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that their extended families would always have to live as their very own land. God plagued Egypt with ten plagues before the Egyptian Pharaoh would allow God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids leave his country. Egyptian guys were enslaving God’s specially chosen guys to do work for them that they did not like to do. Because the Egyptian guys were enslaving God’s specially chosen guys, the Egyptian Pharaoh really did not want to let God’s specially chosen guys leave. Between all the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids, there were a lot of Israelite people group guys, gals and kids living by this time in Goshen, Egypt – like possibly around three million Israelite people group guys, gals and kids. Ask your dad to tell you how many guys, gals and kids are living in Delaware. There were 3448 years ago more of God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids who were living in Goshen, Egypt than there are the number of guys, gals and kids who are living right now in Delaware. It was at least a 200 mile hike from where God’s specially chosen guys and gals were living in Goshen, Egypt to the land that God had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that He would always have their extended families live in as their very own land. Can you picture in your minds around three million guys, gals and kids walking over 200 miles from a place where they had been okay with calling home – even though they were being enslaved by Egyptian guys, to another place that they would always have as their very own land to live in if . . .
Pretend that you are a kid who is living 3448 years ago. Pretend that you have just left the house where you were born. Pretend that you are beginning a long walk with your friends and with about three million other guys, gals and kids to a place that you do know very little about. Pretend that you are carrying all your own clothes. Pretend that you are helping your dad and ma with all the animals that they have. Pretend that you have heard your dad and ma talking about the ten plagues that the guys, gals and kids who were living in Egypt had to suffer before your dad and ma were given permission by the Egyptian Pharaoh for them and for you to leave your homes in Goshen, Egypt. Pretend that your dad and ma had not really wanted to leave Goshen, Egypt but . . . now you and your dad and ma are on your way to a new place to live. Exodus 14 is the story of what happened right after God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids left Egypt. God wanted to teach His specially chosen guys and gals to trust in Him so . . . verse 31 says “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.” God would make the heart of the Egyptian Pharaoh to really want to keep the Israelite guys and gals in Egypt. God made the Egyptian Pharaoh really want to catch up with the Israelite people group guys and gals – to take them back to Egypt. God always does things for a reason. As His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, were leaving Egypt, God led His specially chosen guys and gals with a cloud during the day. When the Egyptian army began to close in on the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids, God put the cloud between His specially chosen guys, gals and kids and the Egyptian army. When the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids got to the Red Sea and could not go further, God opened up a path through the Red Sea and . . . when the Egyptian army began to follow the Israelite people group’s guys, gals, and kids through the path that God had opened up in the Red Sea, God closed the path drowning the Egyptian army’s soldiers. God has the power to help every guy, gal and kid who trusts in Him so . . .
Exodus 14 (268)