[Exodus Experience Series] Exodus Experience DevotionsChikamu

Glory Hallelujah

So we find ourselves right where God wants us… in our Exodus Experience. The Israelites’ situation brings to mind a hurricane. Great chaos of wind and rain surrounding the eye of the storm where there is peace and calm. In verse 3, Pharaoh looks down upon Israel, camped out between the rock and the hard place, and states that they are bewildered by the land and closed in. In other words, the hurricane of the Egyptian army is about to descend upon God’s people. Have you ever felt this way? Lost, overwhelmed, closed in, in the midst of chaos? Welcome to an Exodus Experience.

Our natural instinct is to run to comfort and safety, to get out of this mess we are in. In fact, our prayers at this time are most often prayers asking God to get us out as quickly as possible. The question we should be asking is, “Will I allow God to bring me through this Exodus Experience HIS WAY, or will I try for the quickest fix?”

Notice in verse 4 how God reacts to Pharaoh. First, He will harden Pharaoh’s heart. This hardening comes after Pharaoh had hardened his own heart against God and Israel six times previously. The word “hardened” in Hebrew can also be translated “twisting.” When you twist a sponge, what gets squeezed out is what was in it already. When God twists Pharaoh’s heart, what comes out is his hatred of God and Israel, which was already there, thus confirming Pharaoh’s defiant, willful obstinance toward God. In our Exodus Experience, are we waiting upon God to bring us through it in His way, in His time? Or will our hearts be hardened toward Him?

Perhaps the most significant lesson to be learned in this second day is seen in two phrases in verse 4: God says, “I will gain honor over Pharaoh and his army,” and says He will do this in order “that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.” God does not say that He will rescue Israel first. What He does say is that first and foremost He will gain honor. Psalm 136 declares the honor due God in this very circumstance. It begs a final question: “Will I ask God to bring me through an Exodus Experience for HIS GLORY? Or will I seek for my comfort?” He has put us in the right place and time to bring about His glory and our good. Glory Hallelujah indeed!