GET YOUR WALK ON!
HOW MUCH DO YOU LIKE WALKING? HOW LONG WOULD YOU WALK BEFORE YOU WANTED A REST?
Moses and the Israelites started walking.
In Exodus chapter 12 it tells us there were about 600,000 Israelite men as well as women and children who left Egypt that night.
It would be like all the people of Auckland deciding to leave ……. walking,
but even more chaotic than that, because they also took their sheep, goats and cows!
Can you just imagine it?
They didn’t have google maps, but the Lord went ahead of them to show them where to go. He guided them during the day with a pillar of cloud, and he provided light at night with a pillar of fire. This allowed them to travel by day or by night. (Genesis chapter 13 verse 21)
Back in Egypt, the king realised that he no longer had any slaves to do all the hard, dirty work! He regretted BIG TIME letting the Israelites leave! So he called up his army and they all got in their chariots and started chasing after Moses and the Israelites.
Meanwhile, the Israelites were camped on the shores of the Red Sea. They saw, in the distance, the Egyptian king and his army approaching and they started panicking. They said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die? Why did you make us leave Egypt? It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!”
But Moses told the people, “Just keep calm. The Lord’s going to rescue you.”
Moses didn’t know HOW God was going to rescue them but he knew that he could, and that he would. We can trust God to rescue us too.
Then God told Moses the plan.
The Israelites’ job was to pack up and get moving.
Moses’ job was to hold his stick out over the sea.
God’s job was to push the water back on each side to make a dry path for the people to walk on to get to the other side.
The pillar of cloud’s job was to move behind the Israelites to hide them from the Egyptians.
The Egyptian’s job was to ………….. die!
Moses did his job and God did his job. He sent a strong wind to blow on the water so that by the next morning there was a path through the sea. The Israelites did their job and they walked through the middle of the sea to the other side. Then the Egyptians realised what was happening, so they started chasing after the Israelites. When all the Israelites reached the other side safely, God told Moses to hold his hand over the sea. Moses obeyed. God sent the water back. And the king and all the Egyptian army were drowned.
(Genesis chapter 14 especially verses 21 - 29)
The Israelites were in awe of God when they saw just how powerful he is!
This is where we are going to leave the story of Moses but you are welcome to read more in the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy!
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
God helps us every day if we are his followers. It might be in response to our prayers, or it might not be things we have prayed about but he has helped us anyway because he LOVES us! Last week’s memory verse (did you learn it?) reminds us to say 'thank you’ to God. Do you do this? If not, you could start today.
FUN STUFF!
Get a tray and put some water in it. See if you can blow a path through the middle.
(Don’t do this inside your house or your mum might get a bit grumpy!)
And don’t forget to clean and put away the tray afterwards!