Author Archives: Karla Jo Wasion

The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” (v. 5-7)

They were thirsty, feeling desperate again. So again, they turned on Moses and I just have to say, somebody give that man a raise, right?

Here’s what they said as they complained: “Is the Lord among us or not?”

And I start counting how many times I’ve thrown my head back and asked “where are You, God?” when desperation has set in and I’m wondering if this circumstance is gonna kill me. When my thirst for relief has become so great and I fear He won’t come through. As though there has ever been a time when He did not come through.

But true to form, God gave them what they needed, and He did it with flair. Water from a rock. I bet they never considered that as a possibility. I wouldn’t have. Part of our desperation and doubt come from seeing no logical way that God can come through for us. Logic and faith are not friends.

God doesn’t work within our boundary of what is possible. He provides what is needed in ways we would never have considered, and this is why we cannot trust ourselves when our mind is telling us that nothing can meet our desperation. God can always meet it.

But now let’s talk about the Amalekites. It’s the first time since leaving Egypt that the Israelites have come under attack. Can you imagine how that felt? Having never experienced people coming, unprovoked, to kill you – all of you. I think of the fear that hundreds of thousands must have felt that day, especially the women and children.

Amalek was Esau’s grandson (through a concubine). The Amalekites in the scriptures are his descendants. They lived in the desert Negev, the area we know today as Palestine.

This is a quote from a critical essay written for The Christian Century: “Amalek is Israel’s persistent enemy. The Amalekites provide an explanation for the irrational and intense hatred for Jews that echoes through human history. In Jewish history the Amalekites—a tribe with genocidal intentions against God’s people—came to symbolize all those who sought to eradicate the Jewish people, from Titus to Hadrian, Khmelnitsky to Hitler. ”

As far as I can tell, this battle is the beginning of the war against the Jewish people that has continued to this day. Believe it or not, I took from it a couple of things that apply to our lives today, because you and I also have an enemy that has been bent on our destruction since the beginning of time.

“The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.”

The Amalekites came for them and the devil comes for us. I once heard a man make this statement – “I don’t bother the devil, so he doesn’t bother me.” He couldn’t be more wrong. When we ignore the devil, he still comes. When we act like he’s not a big deal, or even worse, that he doesn’t exist, he still comes. The question is not whether he comes, but what will we do when he does.

We learn a few more details about this particular battle in the book of Deuteronomy.

“Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God.” (25:17-18) 

They first attacked the weak, the ones weary from the journey. I dare say, oh that we would feel protective of our own weak and weary ones. This includes our children, our sick, our addicted, and our overwhelmed. We need the strong ones among us to circle up sometimes so that our brothers and sisters who are struggling don’t become prey to the enemy, who has no integrity in war.

One last point, and then I think we’ll call it a day on this chapter.

Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”

The staff. A symbol of God’s power and authority given to Moses. He lifted up the authority of God over the battle and when he grew too tired, he had people to hold his arms up for him. Notice that they did not take the staff and hold it up themselves, they simply held the arms of the one who carried the staff. I find that interesting, don’t you?

{I wonder if a leader’s weariness is not the time to step in and take the staff from them. Maybe that’s when we come alongside them and hold their arms up.}

The authority and power of God, held out over that battle, is why the battle was won. Not because the Israelites were stronger. Man, that’s something I could chew on for days.

I’ve loved sitting in this chapter with you, seeing what God might want to show us. I’ll see you in the next one.

Chapter 3: “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.”

They cried out in their slavery and God saw it and heard it and He set them free.

Chapter 14: “As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?“

They cried out in their fear and questioned why they had been taken out of Egypt… the land of their slavery… where they had cried out for deliverance. But still, God parted the Red Sea and delivered them from their fear.

Chapter 15: “So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”

They crossed the sea God parted and they sang and danced, until they got thirsty. So God gave them an oasis.

Chapter 16: “In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

After having their fill of water, they were hungry. But rather than trust that the same God who rescued them from the Egyptians (twice) and led them to water for their thirst would also feed them, they did what they do. They complained, and believed what fear was telling them rather than remembering what God had done for them. But God responded with bread in the morning and meat in the evening.

More and more I am convinced that we are no different from the Israelites. We too tend to listen to fear lie to us despite evidence of God’s faithfulness to us.

We rejoice in God’s deliverance, until we see the enemy coming.

We sing and dance when He parts the sea for us, until we get thirsty.

We gladly drink from still waters, until we get hungry.

We will see, as we continue reading, that God eventually came to call their fear and grumbling unbelief. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

And just like then, the price of unbelief today is just as steep.

From what I can tell, God is not opposed to laying down a track record of faithfulness for us, but having done so, He will expect us to trust that record.

Lord, help us choose faith every single time. Help us put a stake in the ground right where we’re at, as the place we will discard our fear and trust Your track record of faithfulness to us.

They left the Red Sea and the lingering melodies of their songs and followed Moses into the desert, where they encountered bitter waters in a place called Marah (which means bitter).

They had been three days without water and when they finally found what they were looking for, it was too bitter to drink.

{When, at last, we find what we were sure we needed, only to discover that it isn’t what it appeared to be, what flows from us becomes bitter as well. But God knew what His people needed so He turned the bitter waters sweet and it’s important that we know that He’s the only one who can do that for us. Turn our bitterness to contentment. Give us peace when we thirst. Lead us out of our wilderness.}

This is what we want, isn’t it? To drink deeply from a place of trusting God. To know that He is good and that He saved us because He is loving, and that He is so very able to lead us to what He has promised us.

We don’t want to be bitter. We don’t want every disappointment to feel as though that’s all we’ll ever know. Like every valley means there will never be another mountain and every year will bring more hope deferred. But many Christians are living bitter lives right now. Some of them walk away, some keep doing the routine of religion while they slowly stop missing Him. Bitter people become hopeless people.

But there is no hope like the hope I know. Because those who hope in Him will never be disappointed, and valleys strengthen me like no mountaintop can and my thirst is meant to drive me to Him so that He can satisfy it.

Whether it shows up the way I want it to nor not, I know He is good. I’ve tasted of it too many times in too many ways to believe otherwise. I’ve learned that there is no place that can bear the weight of my expectations other than Him. No other person, place, or thing can be my hope.

My disappointment can be turned into contentment, my thirst can be satisfied, my pain can find comfort, and bitters waters can be made sweet.

By Him. Only Him.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the Old Testament is full of songs. The Hebrew people naturally went to song to celebrate or lament. Their enemies had just been destroyed, so of course there was a song for that.

First, Moses and the rest of the people began to sing and, me being me, my first thought was “how did they learn a whole song so fast!?” I mean. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Moving on.

The first part of the song declares what God has done, with words like “Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.”, and “In the greatness of your majesty you threw down those who opposed you. You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble.”

{Maybe some other day we can talk about why we don’t sing classic songs like that anymore. j/k}

The last portion of the song speaks of what God will do.

“The chiefs of Edom will be terrified, the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling, the people of Canaan will melt away; terror and dread will fall on them.”

“You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance—the place, Lord, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, Lord, your hands established.”

It was a victory song, filled with imagery that came from holy imaginations, and emotion that came from people who watched God do something so big, so miraculous, that the only thing they could do with it was sing about it.

Today I’m wondering why I have no song. I sing the songs that others have written (nothing wrong with that), but I have no song of my own. Not because God has not done mighty things in my life, but because I choose not to sing. Instead, I let words that others have written suffice as my song.

Today, in the middle of the fifteenth chapter of Exodus, I found a longing to sing my own song to the Lord.

And that’s why I just can’t get enough of the Word of God.

Good heavens what an interesting chapter! Let’s break it down. (Oh wow. I just heard “it’s hammer time”, complete with the music, in my head. You? No? Just me. That’s cool.)

“Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea.” (emphasis mine)

Suddenly they had to change directions. And just so we have a clear picture of what that meant, there were over 600,000 men, plus women and children, and they were being told to turn around and go in a different direction, back the way they had come. Can you even imagine?

We want a straight line and continual forward movement. But God is the one in control of our journey, which means sometimes we turn back, go a different way, return to an old road.

Because efficiently getting us from point A to point B is rarely the objective.

“I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.” 

{Fun fact, or nerd alert, whichever shoe fits – the phrase “know that I am the Lord” appears over 70 times in scripture, depending on the translation, with roughly 24 of them in the book of Ezekiel.}

The Egyptians had a god for everything, worshipping over 2,000 deities, and it has never, neither then nor now, been God’s intent to be just another god in a pantheon of gods. In His mercy, He showed them that there was only one God over the heavens and the earth. The starting point for all of us is that there is only one God who can save us; only one God worthy of worship.

“The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly.”

(Again, I  recommend this article by Tim Mackie, Chief Education Officer for the BibleProject about the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart.)

They went out boldly, marching away from their oppression like a boss. But let’s hold our applause for a beat, because…

“As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.”

They went from boldness to fear rather quickly, swayed by circumstance, just like some of us today. Bold at the upturn, terrified in the downturn. Sooner or later, we’re going to have to make a choice about our own belief.

“Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.”

Moses stretched out his hand in obedience to God. That’s all. The rest was the power of God. All night long God drove the sea back, because that’s how long it took to get them all from oppression to freedom. He never tired of parting that sea for them. Never stopped until every last one of them was free.

Ours is obedience. His is outcome, and always and forever that will be the way it is. And His power does not wear out. He will not grow weary of getting you to freedom. But one of the wildest things I see in this part of the story is this:

It was the obedience of Moses, not the people, that brought the response of God’s power. The obedience of our leaders matters. If you are a leader, let that fall on you, not like a hammer, but like a weighted blanket. Leadership is a weighty thing and your obedience to God is perhaps the weightiest part of all. (have I said “weight” enough times?)

“And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.”

They put their trust in Him and in Moses. Those of us who know this story know that it won’t last long. But for now, on the other side of the Red Sea, they cannot deny the power of God, and I think it’s that way for us today. When the undeniable power of God is seen in our lives or in His Church, we all become believers. But it’s when the waters are calm again that the authenticity of our faith is revealed. We will see in the coming chapters that the trust many of them placed in God was fleeting.

My heart aches for those today who follow that same path, and I know some of them personally. The dust has settled and life is hard and trust levels fall fast. Because faith that endures must be built on who God is more than on what He can do.

And so I pray that the Church will know who God is – His heart and His character – more than they know His power to part the sea on their behalf.

“When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” (v. 17)

Call me intrigued. I remember the first time I read this story and discovered a God who uses strategy in dealing with His people.

A God who rarely uses shortcuts.

The short-cut took them to the Philistines, and the long way took them to the Red Sea. Had they known all of this, my guess is they would have turned around and headed right back to Egypt because frankly, both of the ways in front of them looked like bad ideas.

And that right there just might be why God doesn’t tell us everything we want to know.

He took them the long way, where they saw the undeniable power of God on their behalf. The long way was how their full rescue was carried out, because the fullness of our salvation comes when the one who held us captive is eliminated.

Swallowed up in a sea that God parted on our behalf through the outstretched arms of His Son. {I felt a bit of dramatic flourish trying to come through there, so I went ahead and let it fly.}

Let’s face it. We all want the shortcut, the quickest way from point A to point B. It’s why we have microwaves and instant pots. It’s why we want quick fixes, quick money, and fast food. Because why take the long way to something when there’s a shortcut?

But God knows. He knows the landscape we travel in and all that lies ahead of us. Every fork in the road, every enticing path. He knows the way that we travel and we do not. And He knows the places that will best teach us His ways, show us His glory, and conform us to the image of His Son, and He continues to be our cloud by day and fire by night. Before us and behind us, always between us and the enemy who wants us back.

Slow down. Wait. Trust. Go where He leads even if it’s long.

This is how we get to the promised land.