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Exodus 14 – Praying through the Bible #27 – A Prayer of Forgetfulness
Do you ever look back at your prayers in shame? An advantage to having a “good forgetter” is periodically I get surprised when reading the Bible. Forgetting what I know, the story becomes “new” again. What did I forget this time? That Israel forgot.
The 10 Plagues are over, devastating Egypt economically and emotionally. Israel marches out in glory (Ex 12.37,51), into freedom after 430 years of slavery, “to the day” (12.41). As amazing as any plague, their Savior appears in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night guiding them to the Red Sea (13.21). God’s presence is everywhere!
The Hebrew’s God is not yet finished with Egypt and her gods. What God has planned for Egypt to bring Him glory, Satan (the unnamed, present adversary) uses to tempt Israel to forget to their shame. The hard-hearted, “divine” Pharaoh forgets he can’t win and hunts down his slaves to his destruction. As the Egyptian warriors pursue (14.7), the Israelites look up: “Then the Israelites were terrified and cried out to the LORD for help” (12.10). And I think, “Finally, Israel is relying upon God, full of faith, confident in His power to deliver.” But I forgot that Israel forgot. What did they forget?
First, they forget God’s power. They are full of fear because their eyes see and their minds forget. If at the stroke of midnight, their God had mysteriously killed the first born in every household, from the throne to the prisons; then they should know better than to doubt God’s power against Pharaoh’s (12.29-30). Second, they forget God’s love. Being terrified fills them with doubt. After 10 diseases, devastations, scourges; after miraculously being protected from these blights (8.22-23; 10.21; 11.7); how could Israel doubt God’s love that He would finish what He started? Doubt is not only the lack of belief; it is the substitution of an opposing belief. Israel doubted God’s continued protection and therefore believed in their doom. Third, they forget Moses is just a servant. Blaming him they expose their hearts: “Are there no graves in Egypt?” – “What have you done to us?” – “Isn’t this what we told you…Leave us alone?” – “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians.” (14.11-12). How shameful is their ingratitude.
How Moses answers them, and calms them, should have been their prayer. Let me rewrite it for us: “Almighty Yahweh, I are not afraid. Remembering your power and love, I stand firm and wait to see Your salvation knowing You will provide for me today, that You will fight for me. In faith I will wait and remain silent” (14.13-14).
Despite their hard-hearted forgetfulness, Israel walks on dry land through a sea, which then swallows their enemies; and “the people feared the LORD and believed in Him and in His servant Moses” (14.31). Shamefully Israel will forget. That I remember.
Prayer Challenge: Remember times when you should have not forgotten God’s power and love. Now look at today and pray the above rewritten prayer personalizing it.
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