“Remember” (Exodus 15:22-27)

Crossing the Red Sea

Israel won the great victory. They boldly crossed the Red Sea on dry land; their enemies were thrown into the sea. The Bible says, “Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great work that the LORD did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the LORD and believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.” (Ex 14:30-31) They sang, they danced, they rejoiced.

 

Red Sea to Marah

From there, they traveled for 3 days through the wilderness without finding any water. And they began to grumble… In three days! How quickly they forget the great work of God! How quickly they turn away from God! Sadly, that was Israel’s spiritual life pattern/ cycle.

1.     They have gone their own way. (apostasy)

2.     They were in trouble, cried out to God. (discipline)

3.     God delivered them. (deliverance)

4.     They forgot, grumbled, turned away from God again. (repetition)

Israel grumbles from beginning to end.

o   Before crossing the Red Sea, when they were surrounded by troubled, they grumbled, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?” (God parted the Red Sea!)

o   After crossing the Red Sea, in three days they grumbled about water. (God gave them water!)

o   After this, more grumbling. They grumbled about food, saying, “If only we died in Egypt!” (God gave them Manna and quail)

o   But they continued to grumble, “There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this horrible manna!”

o   12 spies were sent into Canaan. After hearing the 10 bad reports, they grumbled, “If only we died in Egypt. Did I tell you, ‘Leave us alone’?

o   After this, they were led back to the wilderness, wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. They never entered God’s rest (cf. Heb 3:11).

 

Deuteronomy

What should we do in order not to repeat this history? What should we do to break this vicious cycle of complaining? “Deuteronomy” is the answer to this question. The first generation of the Israelites failed to obey God and died in the wilderness. Now the second generation was about to enter the Promised Land. Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell sermon for them. If we sum up Deuteronomy in one word, it would be “Remember.”

o   Remember what God has done for you.

o   Remember his law/ his word.

(1) Keep God’s words in your heart. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them at home and on the road, day and night. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house! (6:7-9). The second half of the book (Moses’ sermon) is (2) Keep the festivals of the Lord (Passover, unleavened bread, first fruits, Pentecost, trumpets, Day of atonement, Tabernacles) – all year around. 24/7/365 – Remember your God.

Let us pause for a second here, and ask ourselves the following question:

“What great things God has done for you this year?”

 I don’t know about you, but for me – how easily, how quickly I forget! So for me, Journaling is a great way to remember what God has done for me. As I was reading this year’s journal, two words came to my mind: reconciled and reconnected. First, I realized how much Joyce and I were struggling and praying for reconciliation within our families in Korea. While we were in Korea this summer, there was relationship breakthrough. There was healing. There was reconciliation. Second, reconnected with our old and new friends. The wife of Joyce’s high school friend reached out to meet us. It was right after I had a nasal surgery and we just heard the news that Joyce has thyroid cancer. We had many bigger fish to fry, including hospital appointments. In addition, we have never met her. But she was persistent. She didn’t know our situations and never drove on the highway. She came anyway, listening to our story and weeping with us. In fact, she came to give us a special offering, though she is not rich and her two children have health issues. After her visit, Joyce and I realized that though wilderness is hard, it is a classroom to learn to trust God. Wilderness is love. “It is good for me that I was humbled, so that I might learn your statutes.” (Ps 119:71, NRSV)

 

Ebenezer and Jehovah Jireh

Hudson Taylor, missionary to China, had a plaque in every home he ever lived, reading, “Ebenezer, Jehovah-Jireh.” Two names of God.

The name Ebenezer is from 1 Samuel 7:12; when God saved Israel from the Philistines. Samuel set up a stone "and named it Ebenezer, meaning 'thus far the Lord has helped us.' We find the name Jehovah-Jireh in the story of Isaac (Genesis 22:14). This is when God provided a ram for Abraham to sacrifice instead of his son Isaac. Abraham declared "Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord will provide".

Hudson Taylor went through a lot of trials and tribulations in China. At that time all the mission works were done along the coast. No one dared to go inland. But he founded the China Inland Mission (CIM), and by faith he preached the good news to those who lived inland. Travel was dangerous, and foreigners and missionaries were forbidden, feared, and hated. In one of the letters to his mother Hudson Taylor shares his constant pain this way:

“[The need for your prayer] has never been greater than at present. Envied by some, despised by many, hated by others, often blamed for things I never heard of or had nothing to do with, an innovator on what have become established rules of missionary practice, an opponent of mighty systems of heathen error and superstition, working without precedent in many respects and with few experienced helpers, often sick in body as well as perplexed in mind and embarrassed by circumstances –

had not the Lord been specially gracious to me, had not my mind been sustained by the conviction that the work is His and that He is with me, . . . I must have fainted or broken down. But the battle is the Lord’s, and He will conquer. We may fail — do fail continually — but He never fails…”[i]

His wife Maria died when she was 33. Four of their eight children died before reaching age 10. He was often suffering from illness or injury. As an elderly man, he had to go through the Boxer Rebellion in his area. 58 of his missionaries had been killed, along with 30,000 Chinese Christians. At the lowest point of his life a few years before his death, he heard another sad news that some of the missionaries and converts were martyred. His response was this: “I cannot read, I cannot think; I cannot even pray; but I can trust.”

Hudson Taylor trusted God – trusted who God is – Ebenezer and Jehovah-Jireh. He trusted in God who had helped him thus far would see to it.

Are you worried? Are you afraid? Are you tired? Our God is able. Our God is Ebenezer. Our God is Jehovah-Jireh. Let us remember what God has done for us in our lives and in the life of the church. Thus far the Lord has helped us, and he will provide. Amen.

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[i] Dr. Taylor and Mrs. Howard, Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret (p. 141). Kindle Edition.