Exodus Chapter 14 Verses 10-14

:10 “And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD. 11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? 12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness. 13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will show to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. 14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” 

To the above passage we make the following observations: 

    1.  When the children of Israel got sight of the approaching army of Pharaoh marching after them, they became sore afraid.  When we are young in the faith we often look at the trying circumstances of our lives and thing we are in an impossible situation.  We are prone to forget the promises of God and the presence of God in our lives and the timely deliverances we already witnessed along with the demonstration of the power of God.  We tend to only look at the present circumstances.  This was the case with the children of Israel.  They had forgotten the promises of God that he had made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  They also forgot the promises of the LORD that Moses had delivered unto them and how the LORD would deliver them out of Egyptian bondage.  They only thought of their current circumstance and they saw the mighty host of the approaching army of Egypt and the fact that they had no standing army and no horses and no chariots and no weapons in which to withstand Pharaoh and his host. 

    2.  Knowing their helpless situation, the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD, however, they doubted the LORD could help them.  And because they doubted the LORD could help them, they took their doubts and fears out on the LORD’s servant, Moses: “And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? 12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.”  Are God’s children any different today?  No, we have all been in circumstances where we have doubted and yet cried out unto the Lord but not believing the Lord would help us or deliver us.  I know by experience that when adverse circumstances arise in the church that the preacher is often blamed for the situation. 

    3.  Moses, the LORD’s servant, however, had grown in his faith unto God and had witnessed the LORD’s deliverances both in his life and for the children of Israel and could encourage the people to trust in the LORD who would deliver them: “And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will show to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. 14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”  Sometimes we have circumstances in which we are often helpless and unable to help ourselves.  In these circumstances, it is often that we are called on to be still and see the salvation of the LORD.  This deliverance for Israel would not be accomplished by Israel fighting against the mighty Egyptian army.  The LORD by himself would deliver the children of Israel and destroy the host of the Egyptians.