The Journey to Christmas: "Our God Will Fight For Us"
One of the biggest influences on my personality is where I grew up. The fact that I was raised in the city is something that has defined me. I love city skylines. I enjoy spending time with friends at Starbucks on a busy street corner. I even take pleasure in city traffic at times. When I am out of that element, it feels like a part of my personality is missing. I feel lonely, not because of a lack of friends but I am away from where I belong. When I’m home in Dallas, there is a part of me that just comes alive again. I am in my comfort zone and living in a culture that is familiar.
This tension between big city and small town life has never been greater than the summer following my sophomore year. While looking for summer ministry positions around the Dallas area, I received a call from an old friend who was pastoring a church in Saint Jo, TX. He wanted me to come lead their youth group for the summer. Originally an intersection of two major cattle trails in the 19th century, Saint Jo is a town of under 1,000 people along an old U.S. highway. You can still find places to tie up your horse in the town square!
Amazingly, this is where God called me to work that summer and needless to say, it was difficult. Not only was I leading a ministry for the first time in my life, but I was doing it in a culture I did not understand. Despite the amazing support I had from my pastor and the church, there were still days I felt I would never make it through. But through this learning experience, I found that by simply being where God had called me to be and doing the job he had called me to do, all of my needs were met. The details of camp, the mission trip, the Bible studies, and all the rest just seemed to come together. The lonely moments often became sweet times with God. Over time, I came to understand that I needed only to be available and God would do his work through me.
This principle is one that the Israelites grow to understand very well in the early parts of their history. After generations of oppression and slavery under Egyptian rule, God intervenes. He hears their cry and calls out Moses, a murderer and an outcast. Moses isn’t a likely first choice to lead an exodus. He is a terrible speaker and ran from his last encounter with danger. Nonetheless, Moses is God’s man. The Lord leads him before Pharaoh, where he and his brother Aaron protest the injustice carried out on God’s people. But it isn’t Moses who drives Pharaoh to let the people go. The Israelites aren’t the ones who incite the plagues. Throughout the text, the narrator makes it clear that God is orchestrating the entire situation for his own good.
After being released, the people reach the Red Sea only to see the Egyptians coming down after them, trapped between their oppressors and an impassible body of water. This is when Moses shares the secret to Israel’s success. In their moment of greatest fear, he declares to them, “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still. (Ex. 14:14)” With that, Moses’ staff enters the water and the Israelites cross on dry ground.
It’s a theme that continues throughout Israel’s story. When the Israelites later reach the edge of the Promised Land, they fail to remember this concept and end up wandering in the desert until the current generation completely dies off.
God fighting for his people is seen a third time when Joshua leads the Israelites into the Promised Land and conquers Jericho. Rather than attacking the city at the crack of dawn while the Canaanites are off-guard, they surround the city for seven days, blasting the trumpet. On the seventh day, the walls supernaturally fall and the people take the city. This is no brilliant military strategy; it’s an act of God. In the first recorded act of liberation, God does the work. The people simply stand still. In the story of Christmas, we find the same story repeating itself. When the time is right, our God sends the rescuer. The only role any human plays is receiving the little gift who will soon enter our broken world.
Respond to one or more of the following questions. Also, feel free to add your own insights into the text. The more interaction, the better!
How does this concept of God fighting for his people relate to the Christmas story?
What other parallels do you find in the exodus story and the Christmas story?
How can you apply this concept in your daily challenges?
How does this passage relate to Matthew 6:28-34?
This tension between big city and small town life has never been greater than the summer following my sophomore year. While looking for summer ministry positions around the Dallas area, I received a call from an old friend who was pastoring a church in Saint Jo, TX. He wanted me to come lead their youth group for the summer. Originally an intersection of two major cattle trails in the 19th century, Saint Jo is a town of under 1,000 people along an old U.S. highway. You can still find places to tie up your horse in the town square!
Amazingly, this is where God called me to work that summer and needless to say, it was difficult. Not only was I leading a ministry for the first time in my life, but I was doing it in a culture I did not understand. Despite the amazing support I had from my pastor and the church, there were still days I felt I would never make it through. But through this learning experience, I found that by simply being where God had called me to be and doing the job he had called me to do, all of my needs were met. The details of camp, the mission trip, the Bible studies, and all the rest just seemed to come together. The lonely moments often became sweet times with God. Over time, I came to understand that I needed only to be available and God would do his work through me.
This principle is one that the Israelites grow to understand very well in the early parts of their history. After generations of oppression and slavery under Egyptian rule, God intervenes. He hears their cry and calls out Moses, a murderer and an outcast. Moses isn’t a likely first choice to lead an exodus. He is a terrible speaker and ran from his last encounter with danger. Nonetheless, Moses is God’s man. The Lord leads him before Pharaoh, where he and his brother Aaron protest the injustice carried out on God’s people. But it isn’t Moses who drives Pharaoh to let the people go. The Israelites aren’t the ones who incite the plagues. Throughout the text, the narrator makes it clear that God is orchestrating the entire situation for his own good.
After being released, the people reach the Red Sea only to see the Egyptians coming down after them, trapped between their oppressors and an impassible body of water. This is when Moses shares the secret to Israel’s success. In their moment of greatest fear, he declares to them, “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still. (Ex. 14:14)” With that, Moses’ staff enters the water and the Israelites cross on dry ground.
It’s a theme that continues throughout Israel’s story. When the Israelites later reach the edge of the Promised Land, they fail to remember this concept and end up wandering in the desert until the current generation completely dies off.
God fighting for his people is seen a third time when Joshua leads the Israelites into the Promised Land and conquers Jericho. Rather than attacking the city at the crack of dawn while the Canaanites are off-guard, they surround the city for seven days, blasting the trumpet. On the seventh day, the walls supernaturally fall and the people take the city. This is no brilliant military strategy; it’s an act of God. In the first recorded act of liberation, God does the work. The people simply stand still. In the story of Christmas, we find the same story repeating itself. When the time is right, our God sends the rescuer. The only role any human plays is receiving the little gift who will soon enter our broken world.
Respond to one or more of the following questions. Also, feel free to add your own insights into the text. The more interaction, the better!
How does this concept of God fighting for his people relate to the Christmas story?
What other parallels do you find in the exodus story and the Christmas story?
How can you apply this concept in your daily challenges?
How does this passage relate to Matthew 6:28-34?
posted by Matt Morrison | 12:36 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home