He Took Not Away...

This past Sunday, in the morning sermon, a passage of scripture was brought to our attention, but as I turned to the passage in Exodus 13, four little words literally jumped off the page at me!

“He took not away...”

Now, why would these 4 insignificant sounding words, so grab my attention, that I began to scribble notes down faster than my pen would allow me to?

I'd like to share some thoughts with you, to encourage you, to pass on some of the things I learned, and to share some insights that were expounded this past Sunday. Most of this is what I gleaned from the message and I know that God sometimes has a specific message for a specific person, but I believe that in this passage, we can all find something to take away from it and think on.

Exodus 13:17-22

And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:

But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up 

harnessed out of the land of Egypt.

And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.

And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham,

in the edge of the wilderness.

And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:

He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day,

nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

The reason these words so captivated me, was that God was so faithful to such a faithless people. I know, that at this stage, the people had only just begun their journey after their Exodus from Egypt and as yet, had not faced many of the trials to come or begun to doubt God and His power.

But we, who know the end of the story, and have read of the Israelites lack of faith, and the daily struggles they faced and the fears they experienced, we hear the whispers of discontentment begin to spread throughout the camp.

After their dramatic Exodus, we read in the very next chapter, of the plight of the Israelites as the Egyptians

 pursued them towards the Red Sea.

Exodus 14:10-12

And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid:

and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.

And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us,

to carry us forth out of Egypt?

Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians,

than that we should die in the wilderness.

And it is here the murmuring begins.

God delivered them mightily from the power of their captors, freed them from slavery, and yet they were discontent.

And so, when I read those four little words in Exodus 13, I marvel at how a God so great and so powerful, reaches down, and hovers his hand of protection over his people,

 however undeserving they may be.

God was faithful, despite their faithless, doubting hearts. He lead them every step of the way. He sent a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. He didn't take it away. It was there, just as faithful and sure as the sun rising each morning, the cloud and the fire were there. Day after day, night after night.

The cloud brought shade and the fire brought warmth.

In thinking over this passage, I see so many similarities to the Israelites story and our day to day Christian walk. The Israelites so often get a bad rap for all their murmuring and complaining, but are we really any different 2000 years on? Do we not murmur and complain despite the blessings God showers upon our lives?

God sent the cloud and the fire in the good and the bad times. God's faithfulness didn't depend on the Israelites faithfulness. And neither does it today. God sends enough light for each step we take. Not too much, and not too little. Just enough. We don't need to see far off into the future, we only need to trust that God knows what's best for us, and is all-knowing and will lead us each 

and every step we take.

We really only need to see that next step, and only as we take it, by faith, stepping out, clinging to his promises and putting our foot firmly down in

calm assurance of his watch care over us, do we really grasp hold

of the extent of his providence and protection.

I imagine that cloud being just far enough ahead to cast shade on the people, but not so close that they were walking in the cloud. Just far enough ahead that the whole 2.5 million people (or thereabouts), could see it from wherever they stood.

And the same with the fire.

God is our guide. If we keep our eyes fixed on him, we have direction. He is always there. It is us that take our eyes off him and wander away. We drift away, not God. We're the ones who put distance between us and him. Just like the old hymn says, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love” .

We are the wanderers.

And yet, 'he took not away the pillar'. Amazing! He doesn't take his light away from us. The only reason the light grows dim, is because we have wandered far from God. The only reason we don't feel his hand of protection, is because we have removed ourselves out from under his umbrella of safety and wandered away in our own wisdom, thinking we can make it on our own.

Exodus 14:19-20

And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face,

and stood behind them:

And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that

the one came not near the other all the night.

I love that when the Israelites came to the Red Sea, they were hedged about on all sides, with nowhere to go, but forward, and God was right there. Their predicament looked hopeless. They were trapped. But God knew all along where they would end up. He actually orchestrated the whole thing, so that they would

witness his almighty power.

We read that God made the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud to go around behind the Israelites. Instead of being the direction they sought, it was now the protection they needed. The protection between them and the enemy.

It was darkness to the Egyptians and light to the Israelites. A wall of protection. An impenetrable wall of protection. 

Held there by the mighty power of God.

Coming up to the Red Sea and being seemingly backed into a corner didn't make any sense. But praise God, His plans always make sense. Maybe not to us, at the time, but often in hindsight, 

we see the hand of God.

It doesn't always make sense to us to follow the path

 God has set before us.

But our ways and our thoughts are not the same as

 God's ways and God's thoughts.

The plan doesn't have to make sense to us. 

It just has to be followed.

Sometimes God would have us to wait on him to shew us the path. To be patient. God might change the direction of the wind as he did that night for the Israelites. The wind blew in a

 different direction, for God's purposes.

I feel like sometimes the path ahead 

suddenly takes a turn, an unexpected turn.

It doesn't seem right, it's not the way we want to go,

but if we are walking close to the Lord, we need only

change direction according to where he would have us go,

stepping one foot in front of the other, in faith, and in time,

we will see God's hand working and understand

his change of direction in our lives.

Exodus 14:21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

All night, the people would have heard the wind howling and blowing, causing the waters to stand upright, on either side, with dry land in between. What an amazing display of the power of God! Forget your modern oceanariums, this one was fantastic, with no glass walls, only walls of water!

But, the people were afraid, and I don't blame them. I would have been afraid in their position too. The people began to moan and wish they were back in Egypt. In slavery, of all things! Unbelievable! But Moses, trusted God, although I do think

his knees might have been shaking too.

Exodus 14:13-15

And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, 

ye shall see them again no more for ever.

The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:

God was to get the glory this day. The people were about to see the salvation of the Lord. Moses told the people to

 stand still and hold their peace.

A nice way of saying, sit down and shut up!

I wonder, how many times do we need to just sit down and shut up? I know that sounds coarse, but if we just think about it, we'll see that that's just what we need to do. The plan to cross the Red Sea, without a boat or a bridge in sight, was preposterous! But God always makes a way where there is no way.

A path where there is no path.

John 14:6 tells us that he is the Way, the Truth and the Life. The way! The only way. Why do we try and make our own way? God is there, with his pillars of cloud and fire, always in the right place and always at the right time,

and yet we doubt his ability to protect us.

I keep coming back to the fact that he didn't take away the pillars! We constantly fail God, we often takes our eyes off him, we wander away, we sin against him, and yet he remains faithful. He fights against our enemies. God makes a way while the enemy pursues. He takes the wheels off our enemy's chariots. He drives them into the dust. We are held in the power of God's hand.

If we will just stand still when it's time to be still, and hold our peace, when it's time to be quiet and go forward when it's time to press on, God will be our guide. He will not take our pillar away. He will be our light, our warmth,

our direction, our protection, our way.

Exodus 13:22

And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:

He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day,

nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.