Hi. Welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host of the daily challenges.

Yesterday I shared a story about mountain biking, and ending up in the wilderness where my group wanted to cross a river, and I doubted if this was a good idea.

Today is Tuesday, the day we study the Bible together. This week we’re going to study how God saved his people from attack by crossing the Red Sea. Here’s what happened:

When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”  (Exodus 14:5-14 ESV)

See the parallels with my story yesterday?  The doubt and fear – where are these people leading me?  Will we make it safely, or should we turn around and go back to the bridge, even though it’s a long way back?

These things were all going through the Israelites’ minds as they’d left slavery in Egypt, just to take a non-standard, even dangerous route through the wilderness.  This left them vulnerable in case Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, decided to recapture his lost slaves, which is exactly what he did.

Love that command from Moses – to simply fear not, stand firm, and be quiet.  Hard to do, when you know you’re in danger!  Our tendency is to react – do something – protect ourselves.  But Moses wants them to sit back and watch the show.

Question: What do you think this command was meant to accomplish?   Would you find this easy to do, or would you want to do something?