January 22, 2022: Day 17 – Exodus 14-18 and Psalm 90

We now get to one of the more memorable parts of the Exodus story, and that is the parting of the Red Sea.  Again, there are details to this story that potentially we did not see previously.  Did you know that the Egyptians had already caught up to them and they were in a bit of a stalemate before the Israelites crossed over to the other side.  The cloud, or as the Scripture states, the angel of the Lord, left its position in front of the caravan and moved to the back and plunged the Egyptians into darkness so that they could not overcome the Israelites.  Once they Israelites started moving across the dry land of the sea, then the Egyptians pursued them once again.

The death of the army of Pharaoh is classic and you would think that it would be enough to convince the people on this journey that maybe, just maybe, after 10 plagues, the parting of the sea, and other factors that seem to be obvious, God is in control and we are going to make it.  But repeatedly throughout these verses they complain about water, about food, about the desert and almost pine for the glory days when we had it good back in Egypt.  They seemed to have forgotten that they were slaves and here God is present in a visible, tangible way.

We end these chapters with Moses’ father in law setting up a circuit of judges who would decide minor matters and so thereby relieving Moses the pressure of having to decide everything by himself.  A pretty good idea which we have used in our government to make decisions.  We find ourselves at the doorstep of Mt. Sinai where Moses will meet God face to face.

Psalm 90 is a powerful Psalm which reminds us of the sin that we have committed and the forgiveness that comes when we confess our sin and recognize our shortcomings before the Lord.