Exodus 14:10-11 (CEB)

10 As Pharaoh drew closer, the Israelites looked back and saw the Egyptians marching toward them. The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the LORD. 11 They said to Moses, “Weren’t there enough graves in Egypt that you took us away to die in the desert? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt like this? 


Reflection

Note: This week’s devotions are a series called “Faith Forward” written by Brian Harriett. If you’d like to write for us, please contact Pastor Joe.

Many personal and family challenges this 2020 have started a “back to normal” cry from many who just want things to return to the way they were.  In my case, being separated from two of my daughters, one suffering a bout of COVID in Texas and the other in locked-down New Orleans, caused me to pray for their health and cry for the past when I could nurse them at home.  In Exodus 14, the Habiru (pre-Hebrews held as slaves by Pharaoh) cry out for Egypt. They question Moses about bringing them out of their “normal” into a God-directed new normal (opportunity) for the future.

With Pharaoh’s army closing fast, the desperation of earthly disaster overtakes trust and faith in Moses as God’s prophet, messenger and leader.  That “cling” to the familiar also holds us back.  The future “Land of Milk and Honey” God had planned for the Habiru, is what our NOW God is planning for our future. 

Faith forward, believing in the life God has for us, our motto should become “Don’t Look Back to Our Normal…Look Forward to God’s Normal.” 

By Brian Harriett


For Pondering & Prayer

Think about what PAST familiarity and NOW challenges may be holding you back from a bountiful FUTURE embracing GOD’s NORMAL. What comforts and encourages you about this new normal? What frightens you?

Prayer: I am building my life on the promises of God. Because God’s promises are unbreakable, my world is unshakable. I do not stand on the problems of life or the pain in life. I stand on the great and precious promises of God. Amen. (from Max Lucado’s Unshakable Hope: Building Our Lives on the Promises of God, 2019)