Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Where Does Fear Lead You? | Torah | Exodus 14

Episode Date: June 1, 2022

What's your biggest fear? Losing power? Being disliked? Death? Should we fear God? What does it mean to fear God? In today's episode, Jensen shares about the Israelites' fear in Exodus 14 and how God responds to it. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Passages: Exodus 14 Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair, and right now we're going through Exodus. In second grade, being called a scaredy cat is a major social setback. We grow up thinking that being afraid of something, the dark, spiders, heights, that that's something that we should be embarrassed by. So we learn to conquer our fears. Although, I have to admit, I haven't done a great job at this. When I turn off the lights in the living room at night, I quickly run as fast as I can back to my bedroom. A couple summers ago when we had a spider problem, I called my husband to take care of the problem each time I found one.

And tall buildings, elevators, and airplanes are still my least favorite things. You might say that being afraid of these things is hampering my ability to live a normal functioning life at times. If you did, you would sound a lot like my husband. And you might be right. But I think that our adverse reaction to being afraid misses the fact that there are good things in life to have a healthy fear of. As a kid, developing fear of things like a hot oven or a busy street can keep us safe. As an adult, fear lets us know when we need to tread lightly. It helps signal that what we're about to encounter is potentially more powerful than us or out of our control.

Our fears change our desires and our actions. At times, fear can keep us safe. But at other times, fear can lead us to make poorer decisions. The problem comes when we fear the wrong things. The Israelites had a tendency to do just this. In chapter 14 of the book of Exodus, the Israelites have left Egypt. Pharaoh has sent them away. And they've been following where God has led them,

even when that path has taken them in an unexpected way. And now God has purposely led them to a place in the wilderness where they're camping by the Red Sea. Now, when Pharaoh learns that the Israelites had fled and were wandering in the wilderness, he has a change of heart. He gathers his chariots, 600 of the best, and then all the others they could find. He gathers his officers and his horses, and he takes off after the Israelites. Imagine this scene with me. Pharaoh and an army barreling towards an encamperelling towards an encase. of men, women, and children, wandering in the desert with all of their belongings. In front of them, a powerful army. Behind them, a sea. Now, when Pharaoh drew near, the people of

Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after him, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. When faced with the might of Pharaoh and what looked like certain death, the Israelites feared greatly. And their fear led them to question God's plan. Verse 11. They said to Moses, is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt? Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians, for it would have been better for us to have served the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. To the people are quick to forget their hardship in Egypt.

They're quick to forget who the God is that they follow. Their fear of Pharaoh and his might has them willing to put themselves back into slavery, back under the rule of a foreign king. Verse 13, and Moses said to the people, fear not. stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. See, Moses implores the people to put away their misplaced fear.

He tells them to remember their God, to remember how he has saved them from slavery, to remember that he has fought for them with mighty plagues, to remember that he has already prevailed over the power and might of Pharaoh's army. Verse 15, The Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it,

that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them. And I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen. And God does just that. Moses raises his arm, the sea splits, the Israelites pass on dry ground, and the Egyptian armies that follow are swallowed up by the crushing weight of the Red Sea.

Verse 30. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord. And they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. God is clear. His people are not to fear anyone but him. Now, this may sound weird that the Israelites feared God. At first, this might sound like they're fearing the wrong thing. We don't want to be afraid of God, right? To hide from God to fear getting near him. And you'd be right, we don't want to do those things. But scripture is clear that we are supposed to fear God. Psalm 147-11 tells us that the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him. Proverbs 9-10 tells us that

the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Here we see that fearing God leads the Israelites to believe in God. That's because fearing the Lord is a good and right and healthy thing. Douglas Stewart explains how this is true, far better than I ever could in his commentary on Exodus. So let me read that now. The fear of the Lord is enjoined through Scripture, demanding that God, people stand always in awe of him, appreciate his supremacy and greatness, fear the consequences of disobeying his will, and not treat lightly any aspect of their covenant relationship with him, lest the consequences be severe or even fatal. Fearing the Lord involves having a right view of who he is. For the Israelites, seeing Yahweh have

the power of life and death over the one they feared, seeing Yahweh have the power over the a natural world, seeing Yahweh triumph over evil and protect them once again, that gave them a right fear of the God that they followed. When we recognize who God truly is, that he has the power to defeat what we find scary, that he has the power to control and change the very laws of nature that we take for granted, we can do nothing but stand in awe of him to tremble at his greatness. And when we rightly fear God, we can no longer allow ourselves to be controlled by the fear of anything else. When we fear the wrong things, we look a lot like the Israelites, crying out to God asking for the wrong things. Fear of losing the approval of others or the loss of political power,

fear of the possibility of war or financial instability, fear of illness or death. Fearing these things can lead us to make unwise choices. When we focus on the fear of what could be, we find ourselves scrambling, questioning God's goodness, asking him to give us things that may not be what's best for us. Do you ever see this happening in your life? What would it look like for you to fear God? To have a right view of who God is and let that affect the way that you live. If your political party isn't in control, instead of fearing what destruction might befall our nation, what if you remembered that you follow a sovereign king, a king who has power over the leaders of nations, a king who is at work no matter who sits on the throne of our world,

a king who is not bound by human nations and wars and laws? Fear him, be in awe of the supremacy and greatness of your king. if doing the right thing means you'll lose out on the approval of friends in your life, instead of allowing the fear of rejection to lead you into sin, remember that you follow a holy God, a God who created this world and set it in a way for human flourishing. Fear him, fear a life outside of his will, outside of his flourishing more than you fear a life outside of the in-crowd.

Where is your fear leading you? you. Who do you fear? God? The creator of the universe? The sovereign, just, good, all-knowing, all-powerful, everlasting king. Fear him. Remember who Yahweh is and direct your fear towards the one who deserves it. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help encourage you in the middle of the work week and bring you deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.