Show Me the Exit - 13 Prayers

I found the exit.

I’m retired – so I guess that’s one form of an exit. It wasn’t slavery, but it was hard work. I’m writing this in May, during Teacher Appreciation Week, and I posted my teaching stats:

🍎 39 years
🍎 6 districts, 1 twice
🍎 3 school levels (Elementary, Middle, High School)
🍎 Teacher (grades 1,3,4,5,6,7,8 and counselor K-12)
🍎 more classrooms than I can count
🍎 Subjects taught: self-contained 1, 3; English and Reading 6-8; English, Reading, and Geography 5-6; Music 4-8
🍎 Highest degree: Masters
🍎 States taught: Oklahoma
🍎 Certified: Elementary; K-12 Counselor; Music, English, and History K-8
🍎 Approximate number of students (fairly accurate): 7,238. 🍎In 2018-2019 I had over 500 students. I was counselor in 2 buildings.
🍎 I also worked with the Oklahoma Education Consortium on Mentoring with OEA for a few years.

All I had to do was put in the right paperwork and make my exit. Not so the Jewish people as they left Egypt.

There’s the Door

After the first 9 plagues ravaged Egypt, Pharaoh was still holding firm. But #10 changed his mind, and he told them to leave in a hurry. (Read about the 10 plagues here.)

Passover was God’s means of deliverance for His people: the blood of the lamb. Bloodshed means freedom from death. (God’s mercy) We, too, are sheltered by the blood of our Lamb, Jesus Christ.

Exit with the 1st GPS

God’s Pillar System (GPS) guided the 2 million people. He sent a Pillar of Cloud by day to guide and provide shade from the desert sun. And a Pillar of Fire that would light their path or their camp by night. Whenever the pillar moved, the people followed. Wherever it stopped, they stopped. And, when they eventually reached the Promised Land, they no longer needed the GPS, and the pillar disappeared.

This holy GPS did not take them on the most direct path, however. That would have taken these freshly-freed slaves through the land of the very war-like Philistines (Ex. 13:1) God knew that, if the Jews had been attacked, they might have decided to turn back to Egypt. (Ex. 13:17)

And the GPS led them to camp by the Red Sea.

OOPS!

Just after the Jews’ exit, Pharaoh realized that all his slaves were gone. Oops! So He and 600 of his finest chariots plus all other chariots of Egypt, PLUS captains and his army made their own exit from Egypt, thinking their gods would finally triumph.

2nd Exit

Camped between the sea the approaching army of trained soldiers, the Jewish people freaked out, crying to God that they would have been better off to have died in captivity. They should have had faith – even a tiny bit – after seeing all God’s miracles that led to their release. But they couldn’t imagine a way out of their current situation. It would take a God-sized solution. And, of course, God delivered in another supernatural stack of miracles:

Pillar – This time God’s GPS kept the army at bay. The pillar is now clearly identified as The Angel of the LORD. He moved BEHIND the Jewish people. It became darkness for the army, BUT light for God’s people all night for their extraordinary walk.
Sea & Wind – God sent a mighty wind to blow all night to divide the waters and dry out the seabed. He lifted the waters into walls on either side of this new path. Considering the sea is 6,000 feet at its deepest, this shows the power of God over His Creation. These tall water walls served as protection as the millions took the exit through the sea.
Feet – Again, Creator God somehow enabled the 2 million people to cross the sea, which is several miles across at its narrowest, in a single-night hurry. Meaning: this wasn’t a single-file path!
Wheels – When Pharaoh had the chance, he and his army followed on God’s Riverwalk. But God saw through the Pillar in the morning, coming to take HIS people back to Egypt. So He caused the army to panic. He made their chariot wheels fall off. And they were recently found at the bottom of the Red Sea!
No Lifeguards – Then God made an unexpected exit for the army. He caused the walls of water to collapse! (Remember that for a later post) All the army drowned – all of Pharaoh’s men! And Israel saw them dead on the shore.

This miracle stack left such an impression that it is remembered time and again in Scripture. There are 24 times where it calls the sea BY NAME and others – even in the New Testament – without the name (ex. 1 Corinthians 10:1-2). Yet time and again, God’s people forgot what He had done for them and turned away from Him.

What it means for me:

Since God created a nature, He is also in control of it. So I should respect the power of the Oklahoma storms without panic.
God doesn’t send a visible pillar to guide me, but He will lead if I will look for Him and follow in faith.
God will always provide an exit from trouble. Granted, it may not look like anything I would have come up with on my own! But it will be there.
God’s Word is being proved! Doesn’t this look like a chariot wheel? Definitely NOT a naturally occurring shape! This is a story to grow my faith in God!
Mirror – The fact that Israel saw this exit, walked through the waters, and is still talking about it 3,000+ years later, yet repeatedly turned away from the God who brought them THROUGH, becomes a mirror where I, sadly, see myself. I have seen God at work in my life and have experienced His blessings. And then, I turn away and rely on myself to do the next big thing. BUT God still chases after me. After all, He loved me enough to sacrifice His only Son for me. And you.