PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Exodus 13:17–18
When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.
CONSIDER THIS
We’ve all heard the cliché bandied about that God doesn’t give us anything he knows we can’t handle. I’ve never given it much credence and pretty much filed it in the folder that holds other so-called biblical sayings that aren’t in the Bible—like, “God helps those who help themselves.” I’ve never actually seen this phrase in the Bible about God not giving us more than we can handle—until today.
When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”
I bet they were furious. After all, they had been through with the bricks-without-straw program and the ten plagues ordeal and the bloody lambs and the sudden departure—at night—with all the kids and the sheep and cows and everything else, why on earth would they take the long way around the bend at a time like this? Can you imagine the armchair quarterbacking cycling through the ranks? Did Moses just not know the shortcut? Did he think they couldn’t defeat the Philistines? After all, the text tells us they left Egypt “ready for battle.” To the average Israelite, the whole thing must have felt very questionable. Truth be told, the plan would soon go from questionable to certifiably insane.
God knew. He knew what they could handle and what they could not handle. God knew the mileage differential between the two routes. He knew the soldier count in the Philistine armies, and he knew what the Israelite body count would be on the other side of a battle. He knew they would be ready to turn around and go back to Egypt, settle back into their slavish existence, and count it all as a bad dream. God chose not to give them more than he knew they could handle.
Instead, he would take them by a longer route in a way that felt like lost wandering, only to arrive at a dead end and their impending doom. God knew they could handle this, perhaps because it would put them in the kind of impossible situation from which only God could save them. Isn’t that how it goes?
We can trust God. He engineers our circumstances beyond our knowing. Often, it will not make sense to us at the time. At times, it will seem like the worst possible thing has happened, that we have gone from bad to worse, from lost to hopeless. Our prayers will seem to bounce off the ceiling. God has a higher plan, a better plan, with endless contingencies, and everything can ultimately be worked together for our good and God’s glory. Keep on trusting. Cloud by day. Fire by night. Never give up. Death on Friday. Resurrection on Sunday.
So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.
Though I feel lost and in the valley of the shadow of death, yet I will trust him.
THE PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE
Lord Jesus, you are my Deliverer.
I receive the deliverance of your exodus. You are my Passover—the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world—the Lamb of God who conquered death.
Even still, I confess I wonder at your ways, and I second-guess your plans. The better way seems so clear to me, yet I know your ways are higher and better than mine. You see the end from the beginning. You see the things that are not as though they were. I am so tempted by the shorter route and the easier way. Teach me to trust the long road and to know you will not give me more than I can bear.
Prepare my heart, mind, soul, and strength for the deliverance that comes with exodus. Now let it be as you decree—for my good, for others’ gain, and for your glory.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end, amen! Amen!
THE JOURNAL PROMPTS
Have you witnessed or experienced a situation that didn’t make sense at all but that later worked itself into unforeseeable redemptive outcomes? Are you in such a situation now that has yet to resolve into any form of redemption? How might God be engineering your circumstances to effect maximum deliverance instead of taking the shortcut?
THE HYMN
Today, we will sing “Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us” (hymn 130) from our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise. Get your copy here.
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
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9 Responses
I believe that Jesus said it best when he stated: “How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it “ (Matthew 7:14) God’s ways are not to make our lives easier as we journey our way to our promised land, rather, the Spirit’s role is to form the character of Christ within us. Therefore, God never gives us anything we can’t handle, through the power of the Holy Spirit within us. The key word here is TRUST.
Amen!
Amen
Hurricane Helene will be upon us in hours.
Sower nation, I call upon you to pray for all affected by this storm.
“Sometimes before a great awakening, there is a rude awakening” JDW
“No matter the machinations, God gets us where He wants us” A Trappist Monk somewhere in Kentucky.
Thanks be to God. Thank you, Sower Nation.
Praying that all will be safe, property damage minimal.🙏
We are praying for all of you.
Sharing a prayer from a friend in Tallahassee:
On the Sea of Galilee, even when the disciples began to fear, Jesus showed that he was Lord over the waters by rebuking the storms, so that all would know that even the wind and the waves obey him.
Creator God, we ask you to calm the wind and the waves of the approaching hurricane, and spare those in its path from harm. Help those who are in its way to reach safety. Open our hearts in generosity to all who need help in the coming days. We lift up all the healthcare and emergency workers. Give them comfort, and renew their energy and compassion. Remind them of your never-failing love.
In all things and in all times, help us to remember that even when life seems dark and stormy, you are in the boat with us, guiding us to safety. For the sake of Jesus in whom is our life and our hope. Amen.
My dead end/Red Sea experience:
God led me on a desert road to true deliverance beginning in 2016 with a major move, an addiction, to turmoil, deaths, and destruction on what I perceived to be a wonderful invitation to be a grandma in a new state.
Despair, addiction crash, death of two close loved ones, and three moves later, brought total surrender and consecration to His Plan, His Timing, His Honor and Glory.
A nine year journey to get me where He knew I needed and wanted to be. I am living free in Christ today and thankful for every part of the journey that led me here! Oh what a savior!!!
The long way is often God’s way of getting our attention, humbling our pride, and securing our full heart-surrender to Jesus as our absolute Lord and Master. Following Jesus is a lifetime, not a moment. When you’re weary with more than you can handle, allow Christ to carry you through moment-by-moment and give you rest as you journey with Him! (See Matthew 11:28.)
“ I AM with you always even to the end of the age… come rejoicing bringing in the sheaves.”