Through the Sea on Dry land or on Dryland through the sea?
Exodus 14: 19-31
Through the Sea on Dry land or on Dryland through the sea?
A pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night… If the clouds moved, they knew they had to move. Even if it was inconvenient, they trusted that it was best for them. As they were on the move, they only had to look up to be assured that God is with them and they are on the right track. I think most grateful of all for these pillars was Moses. What great help it must have been to him in his leadership to Israel.
So, in this story something happens that is extremely dramatic. The column or pillar cease to be in front of the Israelites. Disconcerting because what were in front of them now was an ocean and given the arid climate in Egypt it is safe to assume that most Israelites could not even swim. If ever they needed guidance from up front, it was now. But it came in a way different way than they were used to.
There are some things in our life that we experience as guidance from God. To most people I think, it is a sense of calling and self that shows you what to pursue, how to best make a living and what kinds of people to reach out to. To most then, it is a sense of identity and purpose from God that guides us. Our calling can sometimes compel us to move at a time others want us to stay. It can sometimes convince us to stay even when others would like us to move because we know we must finish what we are called for.
But then we all come to those Pharaoh-on-the-one-side-the-ocean-on-the-other side moments. We get so sucked in by the immediate and real threat, that we lose the cloud, it seem to have disappeared. We are then suddenly unsure of who we are and what we should do. The Christian mystic Simone Weil referred to this as affliction. Affliction is more than just daily challenges and suffering. It is the kind of suffering that gets hold of your soul and makes you question the meaning of life and the existence of God. You don’t see the sense of it. Like the Israelites calling out to Moses that it seems to them they have been led out of Egypt to die in the dessert. Simone says the following about this kind of affliction:
Affliction is the infinite distance
between self and God. Affliction is an
awareness that the world was not made for the human being and has not become
more human. Affliction is the feeling
that we are strangers in this world.
Affliction can only be experienced when we are subject to an immense force,
blind, brutal, and cold, that separates us from all that is human and divine:
the rape victim, the subject of a ravaging disease, the victim of extreme
social injustice. All this and more
constitute the type of force that first makes affliction knowable as the
infinite distance between God and man, between ourselves and others.
The main message of today’s passage when it comes to affliction, is that God does not depart from us in affliction. God was actually super present amidst the affliction, the impossible situation Israel faced with the ocean on one side and the Egyptian army to the other. Perception plays a huge part in this story. The angry ones are actually the vulnerable ones. The strong are weak and the weak are strong in God. Egypt is in darkness and Israel in the light. One is stays dry, the other drowns. Let us see what God did unbeknownst to the terrified and complaining Israelites.
God keeps different people together (and separate) with perspectives.
So the pillar of clouds usually in front of the Israelites, moves in behind them. And the effect of this is stated. The Israelites get light during darkness from it. The Egyptians get darkness and confusion from it. Now the ones in the difficult situation, the ones with the most to fear and feel vulnerable about is the Israelites. They are being chased by a vengeful and powerful army. They have their backs against the wall. But it is they, the more afflicted ones that sees the light, that gets a clearer view. The powerful and vengeful Egyptian army are the ones who stay in the darkness.
The result of this was two-fold. The Israelites were held together by their perspective. Nobody is going to wander off into the darkness when there is light. But it also separated them from their enemies. It kept them and their enemies apart. Two different people groups facing the same pillar. The one sees light, the other darkness.
When life throws you a curve ball, when you get afflicted unexpectedly, it will serve you so well to keep in mind that the reality that you face can be viewed from different angles. It could be viewed in a way that keeps you in the darkness and it could be viewed in a way that gives light and perspective. You know you are with God on the right side if amidst all the dangers and fears and chaos, you still feel that there is light and hope. When you feel your hope is what distinguishes you from the others facing this and who see only darkness, that is a sign that you are on the right side and that God is right there with you.
Maybe the first thing you and I need to pray for during affliction is not deliverance but perspective. The ability to see hope and light even in darkness. It worries me that some of the biggest fear mongering farmers during Covid with conspiracy theories and the like are Christians. That people who would point to the light are fixated on the worst possible news and scenario’s and eager to spread it rather than to spread hope. It is not what we are called for! If you have hope in the midst of all this, thank God for it!
God gives faith before he gives receding water levels (to some).
It is clear that this water receding was a gradual process. It happened quickly but not instantly. It happened gradually. Now there is a very fine nuance in the Hebrew that even most translations missed. The King James got it right so I will read the two relevant verses to you from the King James version:
22: And the children of Israel
went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground…
29: But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea…
Verse 22 says that Israel went into the sea upon dry land. Verse 29 says that Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea. Lewis Jacobs, considered to be England’s top Hebrew Scholar pointed out that this seemingly slight difference pointed to a difference in perspective between different groups or people walking through the ocean at different stages. The first group were on the cutting edge. They had to walk into the ocean, trusting in God before the water receded. Psalm 69 is attributed as written from the perspective of Moses during this ordeal and in it he states that the water came up to his neck! Can you imagine walking into the ocean with the water coming up to your neck, in the hope that God will pull through?! Those that followed had more of an experience of walking on dry land even though they were in the midst of the ocean, hence the difference in emphasis.
I can come over very moralistically and tell you all to be the people that goes in faith, the cutting-edge people. But that is not a human achievement. It is God who appointed and equipped the leaders who managed that. I think different people get called and equipped on different times to be cutting edge people and pioneers. If God calls you to be one, go for it. If not, respect and pray for those who are. Also follow them. Discerning and following the right people is sometimes as much a God honoring act as leading people.
I realize that when it comes to matters of racial justice, I cannot quite be on the cutting edge. Because I was never on the bleeding edge being white myself. But that is no excuse to turn away from the realities of racial injustice and the efforts being put into place to eradicate and rectify them. There were Moses’s before me Martin Luther’s and Nelson Mandela’s who went into an ocean, so the least I can do is to head into the same direction on the dry land they made possible!
And when it comes to Covid and all it’s unknowns, I think it is pretty safe to say that Bonnie Hendry and even Bill Gates have a better track record of scientific integrity and discovery than Stan with his YouTube conspiracy channel.
It could also be worthwhile to ask ourselves what “water” do we need to step into so that those that come after us could have “dry land” aka more security and an easier way. It is a great question to reflect on as we baptize little Reagan today, who will be here long after we are gone. Us walking in faith, could unlock an even better life for him. Will his generation of Christians look on us with the same admiration and gratitude we look to some Christians before us/ Or will they say of us that we were a generation to afraid to get our feet wet, too afraid to risk our reputation to speak for justice, too afraid to go into the unknown with God even when it just required following good leaders.
This never means that we should rush in like fools where angels fear to treat. Moses and his people did prepare the best they could. We should never mistake impulsivity for faith or courage. Did you know that even the Wright brothers never flew in the same aeroplane together? Even though they took great risks, they were well prepared and took caution.
God gives a promise; God makes the first move
Brave as it was for the leaders to enter the ocean and for Moses to raise his rod trusting that God will deliver, one shouldn’t be misled into thinking this is a story about human bravery, pioneering and victory. God gave the first step, not Moses. In the bareness of a dessert towards a forgotten man. God gave the promise, the Israelites just had to act on it. In Exodus 14:14, God even orders Moses just to stand still so that He can do His work!
As we baptize little Reagan today, it is also what Baptism reminds us off. This is not us saying that because Reagan have Christian parents he will be saved without faith and acting in faith even though we wish he would. This is not us being superstitious and honoring tradition. This is us holding on to a promise. The promise of Jesus that said, whoever turns to Him in faith will be saved. Today is an acknowledgement that in a potential redeeming relationship between God and Reagan, God already gave the first enormous leap to be accessible to Reagan. He is invited to respond to it as soon as his heart is ready.
Millions of cells, processes, vessels and developmental conditions had to come into a perfect combination to make Reagan’s biological life possible. That in itself is a miracle that brings us and especially Ricardo and Trudy great joy. But also in a deeper, physical and spiritual sense great things had to be done for Reagan’s way to God to be opened. A Red Sea of sorts. And Jesus did that. Surely this is one of the most important things we want to tell Reagan about as he gets older! Surely, we want him to be raised with that enormously good news deeply planted into his mind and heart. That is not brainwashing him. That is rooting him.
Let today inspire in us, not only a desire for Reagan to one day embrace in faith what is destined for him, but also for ourselves to become ever more what we are already in Christ-God’s very own. Let us be the people who in a storm like Covid have the perspective of light, not darkness. Let us be the people that sometimes risk getting our feet wet before we see God coming through. Let us remain the people in awe and adoration for the God who gave the first step and who gave us the faith to respond to that in a way that unlocks life and gets rid of that that wants to steal life from us.
Amen