June 10 – Exodus 13

June 10 – Exodus 13

Dear Father, we come before You in praise and with thanksgiving for You give us our, ‘But God’ moments. You orchestrate our lives for Your glory. May we in our quiet time recognize You for who You are: our Lord God, the God of Israel.

First, do your own quiet time and 4R journaling.  When you are completed, come back here for the lesson.

Request God’s help

Read  Exodus 13

Record a verse that stands out to you

Respond to God

But God leads

When we go where God leads, we are going on faith and submission.  And He WILL equip us with what we need for any battle or difficulty we face. Our travels may look an odd road when a way that is shorter and more convenient is there and yet, here we are traveling a road that makes no sense.  But like the people of Israel, to go that route would not be wise. The longer route was advisable and allowed them to experience God in a new way.

God doesn’t just lead us sometimes and in only one way.  Nope. Even in the desert He led the Israelites by a pillar of clouds so He could be seen.  What a sight that must have been! Not only did they see the pillar, but the enemies must have too and shuddered at the sight!  And during the night time, He went before them as a pillar of fire.

This always gives me pause. Why? It reminds me of my navy days.  Yup, another navy story for you!  When out in the middle of the ocean, especially in areas not so friendly to us, we were required to go all dark.  Meaning, no visible lights, even when people were smoking. Not just for navigation purposes, but because we don’t want to be seen. And even the embers from some cigarettes could give us away. The lights inside the ship are turned to red or blue, and any door that leads outside was required to have another shielding door inside to ensure no light from passageway would seep out of the door.  We needed to stay invisible.  And yet there in the desert, at night, God went before them as a towering pillar of fire.  Which meant that eeeevveryone could see they were there.  But no matter!  It was THE one God… He was their protector, it didn’t matter what huge strong army saw them!

No matter the time of day, God tailored how He appeared to them to meet their needs, to meet them where they were at.  Did He neeeeeed to be so visible like that?  Of course not, He could have just drawn them a map and shuffled them on their way. But what did He show them in how He did do it?  What did they learn about Him?  What did they learn about themselves!?  Sometimes our small faith means that God needs to show up in bigger ways so that our wee faith can more easily follow Him.

But God

But God leads us even when we can’t see the way out clearly.  But God equips us for battle. But God never tires. But God never slumbers.  But God!

When has God been a towering cloud or pillar of fire for you?  What was your ‘But God’ moment in that?  Today, as we close, stop and think and ponder on that/those moment(s) and thank Him for showing up in such a big way!

“Behold, He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.”

Psalm 121:4-5

(Further Reading: Psalm 121; Isaiah 27)

Oh Ye who never slumbers, we praise You for Your eyes are wide open always and they are upon us, Your children.

What’s next?

As the Spirit leads, in the comment section below, share what He has laid on your heart.

Then join us again tomorrow for the next commentary.

My Verse: Exodus 13:18, “But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.”