YEA Lesson Library

The Lesson

Every year thousands of young athletes from all over the world come together for the Special Olympics. It's a festive time with celebrities, music, and excitement second only to the International Olympics. These young athletes understand what it means to give their best. They want to win. So they train for months and even years.

Not many years ago, five handicapped finalists were on the starting line. Each athlete wanted to win. Their hearts were pounding as they crouched in the starting position and readied themselves for the race. The gun fired and these five finalists started running with all their hearts. The crowd quickly came to their feet shouting and cheering.

Only a few yards out, a runner stumbled and fell on his face. He tried hard to get up, but couldn't make it. A dead silence fell over the stadium. But suddenly another child stopped running and reached down and helped the fallen runner back to his feet. The two of them finished the race together.

Under the same big, round full moon you see on the Night to Be Much Remembered, the children of Israel walked out of Egypt as a free people. After all these people had been through, many must have been exhausted. It would have been easy to stumble and fall on their way out. But, you know, one very interesting thing about these people is that there was not one feeble person among them - a healthy crowd numbering more than a million people (Psalm 105:37).

God led the Israelites with a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire gave them light to travel at night.

God instructed Moses to have the people turn toward Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, and camp there. He did this so Pharaoh would think the Israelites were trapped between the desert and the sea. Again, Pharaoh's heart would become hardened and he and his armies would chase after God's people. This was all in God's plan. Why? So that He would gain great honor and glory over Pharaoh and all his armies. Then the Egyptians would know that He is God. Why was this important? Because He is the True God, the Creator of this universe who has the power to make man's life work. God could do for them what their gods couldn't.

How do you think word got to Pharaoh about where the Israelites were camped? Communication has advanced so much over the past ten years. When Pharaoh walked this earth, there were no cell phones, not even line phones, no radios, no e-mail, no faxes, nor televisions. Yet somehow, word reached Pharaoh that the children of Israel were not planning to return to Egypt after the three-day feast Moses had asked that they attend in the desert.

When Pharaoh learned that he would not have his slaves back to shore up his economy and do the hard labor, his mourning for his firstborn son turned to anger. His anger surpassed his grief for his firstborn son who was killed the night the Destroyer passed over. But then his grief somehow turned to arrogance which made him bolder than ever. "What is this we have done, letting all these slaves get away?" he asked.

Pharaoh felt a strong urgency to act. He selected 600 chariots from his corns and instructed his officers to get aboard them fast! He was determined to chase down the Israelites. These people had been at the core of his economy - cheap, hardworking slaves. But now they had fled with most of his nation's wealth - gold, silver, and expensive clothing.

The sound of 600 chariots chasing toward the Red Sea must have made a deafening noise. The Israelites probably heard them before they saw them in the distance racing toward them. The noise of Pharaoh's chariots and the thought of them coming after the Israelites was very disturbing. The Israelites did cry out to God, and that was in their favor. But their faith must have been rather weak. They turned against Moses, the man God called to lead them out of Egypt. They whined, "Have you brought us out here to die in the desert because there were not enough graves for us in Egypt? Isn't this what we told you, while we were slaves, to leave us alone? We said it would be better to be slaves to the Egyptians than dead in the wilderness."

At this point God the Father must have felt very much like Jesus felt when He saw Peter walk on water and then saw him begin to sink. Jesus said to Peter, "You of little faith. . . why did you doubt?" The Israelites had seen miracle after miracle to free them from slavery and deliver them to freedom. But just the sight and sound of the Egyptian chariots caused the Israelites to doubt and turn against Moses.

Moses, being the strong leader that he was, reassured the Israelites by saying, "Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you, you need only to be still. (Exodus 14:13-14 NIV).

Think about it. The gods of Egypt were useless. Puny man is so limited, but God is all powerful. When God fights your battles, you don't have to be afraid. You may not even have to lift a finger. When trials come, it is such a waste of effort to start whining, finger pointing, and blaming someone else. Oh, it's so human, but so wrong. If you will only ask and put your faith in God, He will fight your battles for you.