Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Why is God Making Life So Hard? | Torah | Exodus 13:17-22

Episode Date: May 31, 2022

How do you react when life doesn't go as planned? What do you do when life gets hard? In today's episode, Tanya looks at Exodus 13:17-22 to discover how Israel reacts to difficult life circumstances and God remains faithful throughout. 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. Passages: Exodus 13:17-22 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 in the time it takes to get to work. I'm Tanya Wilmuth, and right now we're in the book of Exodus. My working title for today's episode was, why is God making my life so hard? I don't think I actually say that precisely in that way, but I do have thoughts that sound like this. I just need one day without interruptions. Or I could just use a week where I can get enough things done,

sleep, have time to eat, and God willing, even have some gas left in the tank to actually connect with the people that live here in my house. I got this pretty cool view of humanity this morning when I was driving in town, and I witnessed a three-car slow-speed pile up on the road next to our busy high school. As we all slowed to a crawl and eventually a stop to wait for the cars to clear, the person in the front of the accident, who got hit by two other cars, got out and ran to the car behind him to check on that person. And then that woman got out of her car and they ran together to the young girl at the rear of the accident to check on her. She was really upset.

I could see her shoulders shaking like she was crying when she got out. And then the first two drivers put their arms around her and consoled her. I didn't see any of them looking at their cars or pointing fingers, at least not at first, just consoling and caring for one another. And for sure, none of them had this plan for their morning. And I'm doubtful any of them had time for it if we looked at their work or their school, their personal calendars. but nonetheless this is where their day and how their day ended up.

On our very best days, we are compassionate, caring, slow to anger people. On our worst days, especially those that don't go as planned, we can be irritable and easily triggered and resentful. One of the most amazing descriptions of who God is all the time is found in the book of Exodus from chapter 34 verses 6 and 7, and he passed in front of Moses proclaiming the Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion, and sin.

This is who he is every day and every moment. There are no interruptions or sidetracks that cause him to act any differently. How we live and respond to him does not change him. This is the Lord who is with us today, and this is the Lord who is with the Israelites in one of their biggest transitions. You're probably familiar with the plagues. You're probably familiar with the Passover feast and then the Red Sea crossing as the Israelites left Egypt and their slavery behind. But between the Passover and the Red Sea crossing, there's a fabulous little section of scripture that describes a few days in the middle where God was with his people and cared for

them in very specific and intimate and important ways. So I'm going to read the text. It's just a few scriptures from chapter 13. And I'll stop and explain the context a little bit as we go through it. And as you're listening, listen for the intimate knowledge of God and the way he uses that in a very real way for these people. And think about how the Lord intimately knows you and cares for you. Exodus 13 starting in verse 17. When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not leave them on the road to the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, if they feel face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt. All right. So the normal route out of Egypt and toward Canaan was a highway that followed the shoreline of the sea fairly closely.

And it was a major path of transportation and it would have taken about 10 days to travel. However, it was also well fortified by Egyptian armies and strongholds. So if the Israelites had taken this route, they would have seen the strength of the Egyptian armies. And they probably would have had to fight in some very unbalanced battles. So from the scripture, we see that the Lord knew this, of course, but he also knew their minds and hearts. He knew they would be afraid. He knew they'd have doubts, and they'd be tempted to turn back to Egypt and slavery, preferring the devil they knew for the one they didn't, so to speak. The next verse. So God let the people around, by the desert road, toward the Red Sea,

the Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle. Now because this path wasn't well known or well-traveled, it's not as easy to see evidence geographically of where it is today. But it obviously would have been a longer, windier, less-traveled way since the verse says he led them around the desert road. It would have taken them longer to get to the Red Sea. They must have wondered why they were taking a harder route. But God knew. He knew it would have kept them out of the view of the Egyptians and the Egyptians out of their view. He also knew it would hem them in.

So by the time they did get to the Red Sea, their doubts and temptations to turn back wouldn't matter because the army would be fully behind them and the sea would be fully before them. And this is what it was like when they were traveling in verse 21. By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light

so that they could travel by day or night. And neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of cloud by day, or the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. God in the cloud and fire is used in other places in the Bible for God to show himself or reveal himself and should key us in that it's a description of the presence of the Lord, felt and known to his creation. Those literal and symbolic, it's an expression of a deeply felt reality and really the only words we have available to describe the indescribable.

Have you ever felt or heard someone say that they felt the Lord or knew the Lord was with them? In our minds and in our bodies, we know what it is to depend on the Lord, but it could be really hard to describe. This chapter sets us up for the Red Sea Crossing and the first steps in the redemption story that will thread through the rest of the Bible. It's not something we can do for ourselves. Only by the presence of God can we take one step across that sea and toward the promised land. But for today, even before they get to the sea, God used his perfect knowledge to guide their journey, and he showed them the reality of his presence that will never leave. He is Emmanuel, God with us.

Put yourself in their shoes. You see the highway, and your leader takes you on an unknown path. You trade in a 10-day, planned-out journey for an obscure one with no true GPS or known timeline. Where the path felt interrupted, disoriented, and difficult, description, tells us God was an intimate and sovereign control. This is how the journey to the promised land is described in Psalm 1077. It says he led them by a straight way until they reached a city to dwell in. Doubtful they felt this way when they were traveling toward the Red Sea.

Doubtful they felt the way was straight while traveling through the wilderness. Doubtful we feel this way most days, though our path to the end of the story has already been written in God's perfect timeline. The Bible is so cool because it describes from a divine perspective what we experience. And also it shows us how God uses our real life to help us know that he is not a concept, but a personal relationship. There's a saying that goes like this. Success leads to complacency.

Complacency leads to failure. Sometimes our most successful moments can be our most embarrassing moments because they are moments of ease, and arrogance. Our struggles, while embarrassing at the time, often grow us into people who actually have something to say about life and about God. David understood this, and David wrote these words in Psalm 73. When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and arrogant. I was a brute before you, yet I am always with you. You hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. So back to the question where we started.

God is leading them to a place, a promised land. He is with them in their doubts and fears, and he never leaves them. And sometimes it probably felt really, really hard. How have you seen God mature you through failures and disappointments before now? As you reflect on those, ask God to help you use those experiences. experiences to help others. Chances are they will like you and learn a lot more from your places of humility than your places of easy success. And if you have time, write down the words from Psalm 73, or read them, or maybe just send yourself a voice memo to look at it later today. God's word,

whether it's heard or read or memorized, teaches us and it grows us and it comforts us, and it makes our perspective bigger. Before you forget, sign up for the the brand new TMBT newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that will help you beat the midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus. Thanks for listening.