Mon.’s Devo - The Mighty Hand of God

Read: Exodus 13:17-15:18; Matthew 21:23-46; Psalm 26:1-12; Proverbs 6:16-19 When the Israelites were leaving Egypt, God led Moses through the wilderness instead of through the land of the Philistines because a war with them might have discouraged the people. Instead he lead them through the wilderness to the Red Sea. Moses took Joseph’s bones with him to bury them with his family in Canaan. God led them during the day with a pillar of cloud which became a pillar of fire at night. God told Moses to camp the people to camp by Pi-hahiroth across from Baal-zephon. Baal-zephon was the last Egyptian god that God had not dealt with. It is the storm god of Baal. God wanted to deal with him also. When the Pharaoh realized that the Israelites had fled, he went after them with 600 chariots. The people complained. They were mad at Moses for setting them up for failure. But Moses just told them to not be afraid but to just watch what God will do to rescue them. Then God asked Moses why he was standing there praying when he should be marching. God told Moses to pick up his staff and raise his hand over the sea. He told Moses to divide the sea so they could walk through it on dry ground. (Reminds me of when Jesus told the disciples to feed the people. I’m sure he was bewildered as to how he was suppose to divide the sea!) The cloud that was before them moved behind them and formed a wall so the Egyptians couldn’t get to them. Moses lifted up his staff over the sea and God opened a path with a strong east wind. It blew all night and parted the sea making the ground dry. Then the people walked across. When the Egyptians chased them, the Lord threw their forces into total confusion. The Egyptians realized that God was fighting against them. When the Israelites had all crossed, God told Moses to stretch his staff over the sea again and the waters rushed back and covered the Egyptians and their chariots. They were swept into the sea and not one of them survived. The Israelites saw the bodies of the Egyptians that washed up on the shore and realized that the Lord had saved them. Moses led the people in a song of victory. Jesus returned to the Temple and began to preach but the priests and elders came to him and demanded, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?” Instead of answering their question, he asked them if John’s authority to baptize came from heaven or was it just human.” Jesus knew he had caught them. They would make the people mad if they said it was human and they would have to recognize he came from God if they said it came from God. So they played dumb and said they didn’t know. So Jesus told them that he wouldn’t tell them where he got his authority either. Jesus told the leaders of the law a parable about obeying not just saying you would. He told them another parable about themselves. The jest of the parable was that they had killed the prophets that God had sent because they convicted them and pointed out their sins. God had sent his own son and now they would do the same to him. Lord, thank you for sending your son to die for us. Thank you for salvation and deliverance from evil. Thank you for your mighty hand upon our nation to save us.