freedom

Good afternoon brothers and sisters,
Blessings on the day as we celebrate and give thanks for the freedoms we enjoy in the United States and the courage of those who have sacrificed to secure those freedoms for us. I pray we would always use our freedom to serve others and to support peace and justice in the world. Our story today is appropriate as it continues the story of God bringing the people of Israel out of slaved into freedom. After the Israelites left slavery in Egypt the Egyptian elite decided they had made a mistake in letting their slaves go. The army pursued the Israelites and thought they had them trapped at the Red Sea. Our story reminds us that God can make a way where there seems to be no way. For that reason we can always be people of hope. I cling to that hope in the midst of the joys and sorrows of General Assembly and all of life.

God bless,
Sam

Exodus 14:21-31

²¹Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. ²²The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. ²³The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. 

²⁴At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. ²⁵He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” ²⁶Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” ²⁷So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea.

²⁸The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. ²⁹But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. ³⁰Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. ³¹Israel 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.