Trusting God in the Storm

I’m studying Exodus now. In Exodus 14 we see that through Moses, God led Israel out of Egypt into what appeared to be an inescapable trap, cornered at the edge of the sea across from a village of Ba’al worshippers known as Ba’al Tsephon.

God led them there with a purpose, to be honored through Pharaoh’s defeat at the hands of God himself. But this was not at all how Israel saw the situation. It appeared to Israel that they would either die at the hands of Pharaoh's army or be forcibly taken back to Egypt and re-enslaved.

The name Ba’al Tsephon is significant. It means Lord of the Storm. The word typhoon is closely related, a violent fearful wind storm. God was going to use this violent wind to bring deliverance to Israel and destruction to the enemy.

There are a couple of lessons to be learned from this episode in the Bible.

First, our deliverance from slavery may begin with trouble. Israel experienced many troubles escaping slavery even before this event. Their work became unbearable, there were plagues all around them, and ultimately they had to assemble in the night to run into a future of great uncertainty. The decision to leave a lost and sinful past can bring this kind of hardship. God intentionally brought Israel to the edge of the sea to destroy the slave masters, and to build their faith.

Second, there is no turning back. When Israel's deliverance was completed there was a stormy sea left behind them, separating the people from their lives of bondage in Egypt. We must cross boundaries to leave our sinful past and these boundaries become barriers to protect us from returning there. Sin can never be sweet again, though it beckons and threatens to take us back. Passing through a storm of deliverance is a cleansing experience, symbolized by baptism when we begin to walk by faith.

Though we pass through many storms in life, we should always remember that God brings us there with a purpose. We must learn to trust him, as better things lie just on the other side.

God's Destroying Army

John the Baptist preached repentance and ate locusts for lunch.

Our God has destroying armies that he has prepared to bring his people to repentance. In the Bible these armies are referred to as "locusts". The locusts are destroyers that take away our earthly possessions and leave us desolated and desperate for help.

Locusts may come in the form of actual armies, or in the form of actual locusts. They may be financial disasters or natural disasters brought upon us by divine appointment. They are intended to strip us of our worldly ambitions and turn our eyes upon Jesus. Locusts are commanded by God because of sin, and are defeated by repentance and cleansing from sin.

The plagues of locusts and darkness were the last two plagues on Egypt before the destroying angel took the firstborn of Egypt, and the precursors to armies in the book of Revelation.

In the book of Exodus, the plagues of hail and locusts each brought Pharaoh to confession of sin and repentance though not for long.

In the prophecy of Nahum the Assyrian armies are compared to an army of locusts.

In II Chronicles 7 God promises Solomon that if He sends drought or locusts or pestilence on the land because of sin, and the people humble themselves and pray and seek His face and turn from their wicked ways, that He would hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land. Forgiveness corresponds to the removal of the destroying locusts.

In the final apostasy described in Revelation 9, the locusts of the destroying angel inflict pain on those who have rejected God. The armies that follow them destroy 1/3 of mankind, but the people who remain still do not repent. This is the last time repentance is offered before the final trumpet blast.

In the prophecy of Joel there are four waves of locusts (destroying armies) that successively destroy the land of Israel. The last destroyer (Rome) leaves Jerusalem completely desolate, but those with understanding find the greatest gift of God written on their hearts.

“Yet even now,” declares the LORD,

            “Return to Me with all your heart,

            And with fasting, weeping and mourning;

      And rend your heart and not your garments.”

            Now return to the LORD your God,

            For He is gracious and compassionate,

            Slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness

            And relenting of evil.

Joel 2:12-13 NASB

Refining Fire

Today I visited a church in Ingram, Texas with a good friend and brother-in-Christ. I was blessed because of what the pastor spoke about - seeking and seeing God's face.

He started with Exodus 33:20:

"But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live."

The pastor asked if that were true, why did Exodus 33:11 say "The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one would speak to a friend?"

I had been studying Exodus 24 just this past week where it says that the elders of Israel "saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank."

As the pastor pointed out, why is the Bible full of admonitions to "seek God's face" if seeing God would bring death? His point was that the verse in Ex 33:11 only applied to that one time. But I saw a larger point.

I also studied the meaning of the word "fire" last week (at a friend's request). I found some interesting things about fire. Fire consumes the sacrifices laid on the altar before God. The Bible says God himself is a "consuming fire". In that same chapter of Exodus 24, "to the eyes of the sons of Israel the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountain top."

Moses and the elders of Israel passed through this consuming fire and returned alive. If this can be the case, why does the Bible say that no man can see God and live? Put another way, what dies in the presence of God?

The Greek word for fire is "PYR" or "PUR". This Greek root is found in English as "pyre" and "pyromania" for example. I believe it is also at the root of the word "purify", as when a refiner purifies metal in a fire.

If it's not obvious by now, being in the presence of God will destroy our flesh and energize our spirits. This is why we are admonished to seek God's face, to allow his intense glory to burn away the dross in our lives and expose the precious mettle of Jesus! Glory to the God of heaven whose burning majesty will consume his enemies! Jesus said "he who loses his life for my sake will find it." Paul said to "offer your bodies as a living sacrifice" to be consumed by the blaze of his glory on the altar of this earthly life. It is a terrible wonderful thing to come into God's presence: terrible if we come in the flesh, but wonderful to know that what separates us from God is dying there in His presence just the same. If we dwell in His presence, one day we will "shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven" when there is no more flesh to burn away.