Double Trouble

You ever noticed how many descriptions we have for being in trouble? Some of our descriptions for being in trouble are drawn from bodily pain like you're in a pinch or you're hard pressed or you're under a heavy load. Some of our expressions for trouble come from the world of food, you're in a jam, you're in a pickle, you're in a pressure cooker. Some of our expressions for being in trouble have to do with the world of architecture. You're in a corner, you're up against the wall, you're at the end of your rope and some of our expressions for being in trouble come from the world of nature, you're up a tree, you're up a creek without a paddle. You are at the end of your rope, you are between a rock and a hard place. Well maybe one of those expressions of trouble fits you this morning. Some of you would probably say, all of them fit me this morning. Well that may be the case and if so then our passage of scripture this morning and the story we will see in God's Word is especially for you. We all face trouble. In fact Job said life is full of trouble as the sparks fly upward, as sure as you throw a new log on the fire and create sparks that fly upward trouble is a part of life. Everyone this morning is either coming out of trouble in the middle of trouble or headed toward trouble. They can tell you that but that's probably the case with all of our lives and so we are all dealing with trouble. We all deal with that constantly. Once our trouble is from our own wrong decisions and unwise decisions in life, sometimes our trouble comes because of the unwise decisions or the failure of others and sometimes trouble just comes because of a combination of circumstances beyond our control. Well today we find the nation of Israel and Moses in a heap of trouble. We find them him to end to use another expression from the sewing world. By trouble in Exodus chapter 13 and 14 we find a story that reminds me of another expression that we sometimes use for trouble between the devil and the deep blue sea. Well if you just change the color you've got this story nailed between the devil and the deep red sea is what we're going to see this morning. Moses and the nation of Israel as we track with Moses through his life we come today to that familiar story that we've all learned from childhood in our Sunday school but maybe one which we have not thought how it deeply applies to our lives. And so that's my goal this morning. I want us to look at Israel's trouble, how they got into it, how they responded to it, how God rescued them from it but I'm more concerned not about the historical story I'm more concerned about what it means for us today and how it applies to us in our times of trouble. So let's look at Israel with the goal of learning something about ourselves and the trouble we find ourselves in. First of all let's look at the road to trouble. This is how they got to where they were at the red sea. What road led them to this trouble? How did they get there? Well I think we're going to be a little bit surprised when we find out how they got to this point of trouble. Look at chapter 13 verse 17 with me if you will please. When they wrote that 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. So God led the people around by the desert road toward the red sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle. Now the first thing you find about their road to trouble is that this was God's leading and that's what's surprising. You mean God leads us into trouble? Yes. He does. He led them into a point where they would face the greatest crisis of their lives. That's interesting how the text describes it. He did not lead them directly east from where Israel was in the northeast corner of Egypt. The most direct route to Canaan would have been straight east basically along the southern rim of the Mediterranean Sea. But God knew that they would run into not only Egyptian fortifications that way but also the strong Philistine armies and he didn't want them marching right out and immediately facing battle that will come after some time but he didn't want them to face that immediately. So he said that's not the way we're going to go. We're not going to go the most direct route. So they start heading toward the desert which is actually south. Some of the places we're going to read about are not real clear. We don't really know where they were so I'm not going to show any maps because people are all over the places to the exact route of the Exodus but it appears that God rather than taking them to east led them actually south toward the desert and toward the Red Sea. But the important thing is that God was leading them. Again, does God lead us into trouble? Yes, he does. Sometimes he allows trouble. He is not morally responsible for our own failures or weaknesses that may cause us trouble. But he allows trouble into our lives and sometimes does lead us into trouble into a position where we are in trouble so that we can learn things we would never learn otherwise. He has reasons for those places in our lives as we shall see. So surprise, surprise, this was God's leading. The road to trouble was God's leading but not only was it God's leading, it was God's direct leading. Not just in some kind of vague way about we hope we're figuring out where God's leading us. This was very direct. There was no question God left no possibility of missing his will. Notice God's direct leading in verses 20 to 22. After leaving Sukkoth, they camped at Eatham on the edge of the desert. By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. Now this is very direct leading. There's no question here as to which way they should go because God puts this vertical cloud pillar. Imagine a pillar of a building going up and down. This is not a horizontal cloud like we see in the heaven. This is an up and down pillar of cloud by day which would turn into a pillar of fire at night. By day if it moved, they moved. When it stood still, they stopped. At night, same way. At night it also provided them light, provided them warmth, protection from animals. There are lots of what, lots of things that God was doing with this, but especially He was providing guidance for them. There would be no question as to when they were to move and where they were to move because this pillar went in front of them and led them step by step every place they were to go. I don't wish God still did that. Don't you wish when you were praying about whether or not to move. God would have this little cloud that would move to a house or to a city and say this is it. This is it. That would be no question. Don't you wish that when you were looking for a job or you were deciding on whether or not you should leave the job you're in that a little vertical pillar of fire would move over the building. But over it to let you know this is the place, this is where you're supposed to apply. You young adults here this morning. Don't you wish that when you're praying about who you should date or maybe who you should marry, you could see this little cloud over that young lady's head or over that young guy's head and you just know. God's pointing him out to you. This is the one. No question. No having to make decisions. This is so clear. But we all kind of wish that were true. God leads us in other ways today. But for the children of Israel, there was no question where they were to go. It was direct leading. But thirdly, it was also purposeful leading. God had a purpose in directly leading them to the place where he led them. It doesn't seem like it's the right place. It doesn't seem like the most direct route. And it will lead them into trouble. But God has a purpose for leading them to that particular place. Now let's dip into chapter 14, verse 1. Then the Lord said to Moses, tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Paihaka roof between Mighdal and the sea. They are to camp by the sea directly opposite Bails of Fah. It's those three names with the possible exception of Mighdal. Some people think they know where that is. The other two, people don't have any clue where they are. You may find them on a Bible map, but people aren't really sure where they are. So we're not exactly sure where they're going here. But the implication is they backtracked. They retraced some of their steps. They had come south and east toward the Red Sea. Now God's telling them to go back up a little ways. And it looks confusing. It looks like Moses doesn't know what he's doing. And I'm confident there were plenty of people in Israel who felt that way. You mean you're supposed to lead us to Canaan and you can't even get us out of Egypt? What's going on here? We can't trust you to lead us to Canaan land. You're wandering around here, backtracking, going back. Oh, we were getting up against the desert. We better go back. I'm sure a lot of people questioned what Moses was doing. But God had told him to do this. And there was a reason for it. And God knows exactly what he's doing. Look at verse 3. God tells Moses what he's doing. Pharaoh will think. These relights are wandering around the land in confusion, him, them, by the desert. Pharaoh is going to think exactly what I just mentioned to you. These people don't know where they're going. They're trying to escape and to keep running up against the desert. They don't know what they're doing. So verse 4. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord. So the Israelites did this. So you see God has a purpose for them being in this position. And by the way, we note generally enough where they were to know that probably to the north there were more Egyptian fortifications and high mountains. To the south there was desert. They had already bumped up against that. So the east is the red sea and to the west eventually will come the armies of Egypt against them. And so they are in a geographical trap. There is no way out. God has put them in a position where they are trapped. But that's not his purpose. His purpose is not to trap the Israelites. His purpose is to set a trap for Pharaoh. Because Pharaoh is going to think these people don't know what they're doing. They're confused. Now they're in a place where they can easily be attacked. We're going to go get them. And Pharaoh did exactly what God knew he would do because it is God's purpose to judge Pharaoh and his armies. Verses 5. On through verse 9. Describe exactly what Pharaoh did. He began to think they don't know what they're doing. We're going to go get them. What do we do? Letting them go. We need to go get them. So he takes all of his army, 600 of his best chariots and the rest of his army and goes to pursue this nation of two million people. God knew that he would do that. It's God's purpose that he do that so that God can judge him. So he see the whole thing was not to put Israel in a bad position but to trap Egypt into a foolish and unwise decision so that God could judge them as was his intent for all that they had done to his people. God always has a purpose for you're being hemmed in with what looks like an impossible situation. And every year facing trouble in your life, God has a purpose for that. You see, he's dealing not only with Egypt, he's also dealing with his people because his people need to understand better who he is and they need to begin forming a deeper relationship with him. That relationship will not become official until they get to Mount Sinai where God actually makes his covenant with them but he is leading them to places where they will get to see him in action, where they will get to see his glory, they will get to see his power and they will come to understand on a deeper level who he is. They need that too. Now, I believe that God's purpose for hardship and trouble and difficulty is very much the same for us because we're a lot like the Israelites. We live in a foreign country, this world. We live with Egyptians, if you will. We work with Egyptians. We read Egyptian newspapers and watch Egyptian telecasts. We deal with Egyptians in the marketplace. We have Egyptian neighbors. We fight in a competitive Egyptian environment in the workplace and so we have a tendency to adopt the mindset and the lifestyle of Egyptians of our world. And so what God is doing is He's also cleansing His people from that mindset, from those influences and helping them to see as He puts them in a tight spot, I'm going to get your attention. I'm going to show you who I am so that you can understand better my glory, my power and I will wean you away from your Egyptian mindset and influence on your lifestyle so that you can become my people. And that's what God's doing with us in tight spots, in hard places when our back is against the wall, when we are himdened, God is working in us to show us His power and His glory so that we wean our minds and hearts away from this world and we come to rest fully on Him, understanding better who He is. Several years ago when Chuck Swindall was pastoring in the Los Angeles area, one of his associate pastors was a man by the name of Gary Richmond. Gary Richmond had come to the staff of Fullerton, first Evangelical Free Church from a position in the Los Angeles Zoo. He was one of the head administrators of the Los Angeles Zoo and so he says that was very good training for him for ministry, I don't want to comment on that but he said that. I'm not sure what he meant by that but anyway, he came to the world of ministry from the marketplace and he wrote an interesting book called A View from the Zoo. It's a really fascinating book about the stories of Annoble Havier and so forth and he drew spiritual principles and lessons from that. One of the stories he tells is about the birth of a giraffe. He says the giraffe makes a very difficult entrance into the world. The mother gives birth standing up and so the giraffe falls 10 feet to the ground, plops on the ground and looks around, this is the world now, this is where I am and as the mother cleans off the remains of the birthing fluid, the giraffe's lying there, little baby giraffe looking around trying to take in its new world. The mother Gary Richmond says does something very different and unusual. The mother positions herself over her little baby with her four legs around that baby, forming a perimeter around the baby and she looks at the baby and watches and waits for it to try to get up and when it doesn't, she takes one of those long, pendulous legs and swings it out and squats that little baby giraffe, it tumbles head over heels and shakes itself and starts to try to get up. When it doesn't quickly get up she does it again and again and again and this violent process continues to happen until baby giraffe finally stumbles to its shaky feet and then you know what mama does? She stands over her little baby and does it again, just sweeps that baby off her feet and knocks her down and the little baby I'm sure is wondering what kind of world did I come into anyway trying to get up but you know what he says there's a reason why giraffes do that. In the wild any baby defenseless animal is the chief object of prey for carnivore any flesh eating animal will look for a weak baby, helpless little baby that can't get up and defend itself and target it and so she is teaching that child that little baby giraffe quickly to get up and then remember how you got up because if we need to move quickly you need to be able to get up and move with us. So there's a reason for that painful process. God always has a purpose and a reason for the painful processes that he puts us through for the trouble that we find ourselves in even if it's of our own doing God can teach us lessons from that. If it's from circumstances beyond our control or because of the wicked behavior of others and we're paying the consequences God has us or has allowed us to be in that place for a purpose to teach us a lesson to strengthen us and make us more ready to face other hardships in light to be more ready to be used of him. God has a purpose. The road to trouble yes God is in it. He's leading directly leading and purposefully leading even in your life. So how are you going to respond? Well it's interesting to look at the nation of Israel how they responded and then how Moses told them to respond to gain some insight here. What we find first is what we typically do first the natural response. The natural response of people to trouble is first of all panic. We panic. Well Israel did. In the end of the year, the first 10 as Israel approach the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. Can you imagine try to put yourself in their position? Here they are kind of himdened the red sea in front of them. Mountains on one side desert on the other and all of a sudden they hear this thundering roar. They're looking up in the sky you know to see if there's any clouds a storm moving in. They realize this is no storm and then they see a cloud of dust moving their way. And then before long they see it they see the Egyptian army and the Egyptian army is coming toward them. I think I probably would panic too. The natural response is to panic to become terrified and to cry out to God in panic. Why? What are we to do now? How are we going to get out of this? panic. Some of you are there this morning. And you're in a panic mode. You don't know what to do or where to turn. Your mind is just racing and things seem to be going around in circles and you are terrified of what's happening in your life. Panic. But then there's a second response and it's another response that we often have as well. After panic we tend to start blaming. The second response is blame. You see it in verse 11. They said to Moses, was it because there were no grays in Egypt that you brought us out to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Wow, sounds like us. The next thing we do after we panic is we start looking around for somebody to blame. Who's responsible for this position I'm in? So that we can blame somebody. We can blame our parents. We can blame our kids. We can blame our spouse. We can blame our neighbors. We can blame somebody. They went after the leader. They went after Moses. Why did you bring us out here anyway? As if it was Moses idea. It was God's idea to deliver them. But why did you bring us out here? What have you done to us? Bringing us out of Egypt. We're looking for someone to blame. And we will blame anybody. We'll blame the government. We'll blame the economic situation. We'll blame anything we can for the trouble we're in rather than seeing. God has led us here, allowed us to be here so that he can do his work. Playing the blame game will not move you one inch toward where God wants you to be. It is absolutely fruitless. Read about a man who was on his deathbed. He called his wife into the room. He said, honey, I just have one last thing to tell you. You've been here with me all through these years. We were married in the Depression. We were poor. We didn't have much. But you were always there. In the forties I got drafted and sent to Europe in the war. But I knew you were always there. In the fifties I got sent to Korea. I got injured there and I had to come home. But you were always there. In the sixties we had our kids and they got kind of crazy in that decade trying to raise kids then. But I always knew you were there. In the seventies we lost all of our money through the recession. I would wake up every morning and you were there. In the eighties I lost my health. No matter what happened to me, you could always count on the fact you were there. So now I realize I don't have much longer to live. And there's just one final thing that I want to tell you. You're bad luck. You ever feel like that? You just want to blame somebody for all the trouble that's happened to you. Certainly not God's fault or maybe you want to blame him. Don't play the blame game. It's absolutely fruitless. It will not move you toward the Lord. For understanding his purpose. Now here's a real tricky one. And I think you'll recognize it. I certainly do something else that we often do in our natural response to trouble is regret. Regret. We begin to regret that we decided to follow the Lord to begin with and the old life starts to look kind of good. Boy, that's a really favorite ploy of Satan to get us off track. But you see it there in verse 12. Didn't we say to you in Egypt, leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert. Now really have they forgotten what it was like to serve the Egyptians? They were literally crying out to God under the oppression of the Egyptians. And so really they're beginning to think now that would be better. You know, sometimes the trouble can look so hard and so difficult that Satan will begin to trick our minds into thinking your old life, the world you left behind. That looks attractive, doesn't it? Remember the old crowd that you used to hang with? Remember those old habits that you used to bring you pleasure? Remember the old lusts of your heart and mind and life? And you may even begin to question your faith and question the Bible and question God. And that's all a part of what Satan wants you to do when you're in trouble. It's to regret that you started following the Lord. The old pastures of the world start to look good again. Be careful, that is very dangerous thinking, but it's very natural to think that way. So God calls us to something else. Rather than a natural response, God calls us to a supernatural response, a response that is above us, beyond us, and we can only attain by the power of God, by His grace and enablement. But I assure you He can enable us to have a supernatural response to trouble, rather than what we typically do by default. And that is to begin to cry out in panic, begin to blame somebody or something, and then regret that we ever started on this path to start with. Rather than that, God wants to move us to a supernatural response. For the children of Israel, it's communicated through the directives that Moses gave them. Notice what He says to them. Verse 13, Moses answered the people, do not be afraid. Okay, that is supernatural. That's beyond us and above us. We cannot naturally respond that way when everything around us is causing fear. So the first response that God calls us to is trust. Trust, that's what it means to not be afraid. It means you have to trust God. What do you mean don't be afraid? Can't you see those Egyptians back there? Are you blind? That's enough to scare anybody. And it is. And what you're struggling with is enough to scare you and to cause you panic as long as you keep your eyes on it. You see, faith is setting our eyes on what we cannot see. Remember the description of faith in Hebrews 11? It's on the screen for you. Now faith is the confidence in what we hope for. And what we hope for in the Bible is what lies ahead that we haven't seen yet. That's all through Hebrews chapter 11. So it's confidence in what we hope for and the assurance about what we do not see. It is being sure of what we can't see. Now faith is the opposite of what you can see. Often it is the direct opposite of our sight. And so when Moses says don't be afraid, he's literally telling them, get your eyes off of the army of Egypt. Put them on the Lord. Trust him. He's not done yet. You need to look to him. Trust. And then secondly, wait. Notice what he says next in verse 13. Do not be afraid. Stand firm. Stand still. In other words, wait. You know what our tendency is in trouble? It's to run, isn't it? You imagine the Israelites, I don't care about the mountains north of us or the desert south of us. Run. Get out of here. That would be our natural response. Run. And Moses says wait. Stand still. Just stand right here. Wait on the Lord. You see, we will never see God work. And we will never see some things about His glory, majesty, power and character. If we run from everything, if we wait on God and let Him work, then we will see some very special things. If you run, you'll miss some special things that God wants to do. So trust. Wait. Then thirdly, watch. Watch. He says stand firm. And you will see the deliverance, the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians use sea today. You will never see again. In other words, watch what God can do. You see, rather than looking at the Egyptian army, watch to see what God can do. And the Egyptians you see right now, you will never see again. Watch. Watch what God can do. See His work, His power. And then fourthly, be quiet. Be quiet. Stand firm. You will see the deliverance, the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today will never, you will never see again. Verse 14, the Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still or literally be quiet. Be quiet. Be silent. Stop crying out in fear. Stop complaining to everybody else. Focus on Him and learn the discipline of silence. The discipline which allows us simply to look to the heavens and look to God and trust Him to work. You know, many of us are really good at talking when things get tough. We talk to everybody else about our problems. We complain to everybody else about what's going on when God is saying, just be quiet. Be quiet. And when you are quiet, then you can begin to hear God speak and you begin to see Him work. Trust, wait, watch, quiet. And then fifthly, now move. Now move. But it's interesting how He tells them to move. Not to run away from the trouble, but to move closer to it, to move right into it. That's what He tells them to do. Look at what He says in verse 14, 15, then the Lord said to Moses, why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them and I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen. You see what He tells them to do? He says, move toward the problem, the Red Sea. Move toward the impossible obstacle. You see, God does not often remove our troubles from us, sometimes chooses to do that, but not often. More often than not, God wants us to move, but to move not away from them, to move through them. Because it is only as we move through them that we, as we are quiet and trusting and being still and looking to Him, letting Him work, that we will see Him in His power. But He were to remove all of our troubles. Then we would never see the miraculous parting of the Red Sea. It is only as we move toward trusting in faith, move on without requiring and demanding He remove our troubles that we begin to see Him really work. So move on, move on, but move through this trouble. You can get bitter at God if He doesn't remove it from your life. Trust Him to move you through it and in so doing, demonstrate His power in His glory. And what will He do? Notice if you will the rescue from trouble. In verses 19 to 31, God does rescue them from trouble, through the trouble. And He does so in several ways. First of all, He protects. He protects them. Look at verse 19. Then the angel of God who had been traveling in front of Israel's army withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night, the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side. So neither went near the other all night long. You see how God's protecting them? This pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, which has been in front of them providing direction as to where they should go, now lifts up and moves behind them and sets down between the Israelites and the Egyptians. And on the Egyptian side, it's the pillar of cloud. It's like a fog. They can't see the Israelites, so they have to wait for this to lift until they can attack. So they wait all night. On the Israelite side, it's the pillar of fire. So it's both this night. On the Israelite side of pillar of fire, which gives them the ability to see in the dark that they are not being attacked and God is protecting them. Amazingly, God protects them, gives them light in the time of their fear. There's an interesting story from Native American history. Native Americans used to take their young men through an elaborate ritual to signal the fact that they would become men at age 13 on their 13th birthday. After already having learned to trap and hunt and fish and navigate their way through the forests, this would be the ritual that would bring them into manhood. A part of that ritual was they would be blindfolded and taken out into the middle of the forest somewhere. Good ways in. They couldn't tell where they were going and they would be placed under a tree blindfolded. And they would be told, you have to wait there until morning. If you come back, if you take the blindfold off, try to find your way back. First of all, it's going to be difficult for you to do that in the dark. If you come back before the appointed time to the village, then you are an outcast. You will not be considered a man in our tribe. So we had to stay there all night. When he could tell that it was becoming morning, he could see glimpses of light on the horizon. He would remove the blindfold and he would begin to look around him. And he would try to discern where he was. He would look at the foliage, the bushes. He might see a path along which he was brought. He would listen for animals. But the night before, in darkness, was absolutely terrifying. Every twig he heard breaking, he thought he would be attacked. Every animal noise he heard, he thought he would be attacked. But now it's morning. He's got the blindfold off and he's getting his bearings. And then off to the side, he sees the figure of a man with a bow and an arrow and it frightens him at first until he looks closer and realizes it was his father who had been there all night unknown to the boy, to protect him from any harm that might come his way. You see, that's what God does for us. He doesn't always remove the things that frighten us and terrify us in the difficulties. We have to go through those to become men and women of God. But he's always there ready to protect. If there should be anything that is too difficult for us to handle, you'll be there. No temptation or trials taken you, but such as his common to man. He is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able, but will with the temptation make a way of escape. He protects. He also delivers, verses 21 and 22, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. And all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind, turned it into dry land. The waters were divided. The Israelites went through the sea on dry ground with a wall of water on their right and on their left. I really want to show you a video clip of that, but I looked at three movies to see the video clips and none of them really treat it like the Bible says they've all got other features in it that are just kind of crazy. And they're all about six minutes anyway at enough time. So just try to imagine if you will. Moses puts the rod over the red sea and it begins to divide. And God sends a wind that all night builds up those waters like walls on each side and dries out the path in between, the large thoroughfare in between for the nation to go through. All night that supernatural wind blows to dry the ground and provide the way for them to cross. And so God delivered miraculously he delivered to move Israel through. But then notice thirdly God also defeats verses 23 to 28. You remember the story. The Egyptians basically said, hey, if they can go through we can go through too. And they start out after them. But the Bible says that God jammed the wheels of their chariots. Now if you've watched the movies, you see the crazy things are happening. They're getting stuck in the mud. There was no mud. God dried up the ground. And so he jammed their wheels to where their chariots would not move. And now they realize that again, once again, just like in the plagues, the God of the Israelites is fighting for them and they panic and try to get out. Before they can, God calls us the walls of the sea to collapse back in on them and the entire Egyptian army is destroyed. That's the story we know so well. God defeats the enemy. But here's the important thing I want you to see. God teaches. When he rescues us through trouble, he teaches us important lessons, verse 29. The Israelites went through the sea on dry ground with a wall of water on their right. They're left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. When the Israelites saw the mighty hand of God, displayed against the Egyptians, here's the lesson. Here's God teaching. The people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses' servant. So they were brought to a place where having seen the miraculous deliverance of God is amazing protection, the fact that he defeated their enemies. Now they have seen who God is and in a powerful, dramatic way. Now they fall before him in awe and reverence and worship. That kind of fear of God, they have a new respect for him. God taught them wonderful lessons. They could not have learned unless they'd gone through this experience. Let me ask you this morning, do you feel cornered? Should back up against the wall? You hard pressed by trouble today? Maybe God has brought you to this point. I'm sure he has brought you to this point for a purpose. If all you do is panic and blame and regret and go back to the old life because it's too hard to follow Christ, if that's what you do, you will never see God at work in the ways he wants to demonstrate himself in your life. Trust him, wait, watch, be still, and then move toward the trouble, trusting him to show his mighty hand. And he will do things like you could never imagine. I love the story of the well-known Polish classical pianist, Jan Potaruski. In his day, Potaruski was considered one of the best musicians in the world. He was about ready to give a concert one night and the auditorium was full. He was behind the curtain waiting to come out. There's a murmur among the people in anticipation of the concert. One lady had brought her young son who had just started taking piano lessons and she was hoping this would inspire him to greater dedication, to practice, and realizing what could become of him if you really wanted to play the piano well. And so she's got this little boy there for that reason. She had turned to talk to a neighbor and didn't realize that her little boy had gotten up and left and he was so fixated on that beautiful grand piano on the stage that he found himself making his way up to the stage. And he actually got on stage and walked over to the piano and sat down and started playing chopsticks. It's about all he knew how to play. Well, obviously when the crowd heard that, they were incensed, murmuring started through the crowd. Get that boy off of the stage. Whose boy is that? Anyway, the mother was absolutely stunned and didn't know what to do. Potaruski hears all of this from off stage and he quickly walks out on stage and walks over to the piano and stops behind the young boy and the little boy by now is becoming kind of scared and wondering what do I do now? Potaruski put his arms around him and rested them on the keyboard and whispered into that little boy's ear. Just keep playing son. Just keep playing. You're doing good. Keep playing. And he began to weave counter melodies and harmonies up and down the keyboard that went along with chopsticks. It was absolutely magnificent. The crowd roared and clapped. It's approval. You feel like that little boy today? You've got yourself in trouble and you don't know how to get out. Things have happened to you. They're happening in your life right now and all you can do is feebly pick out chopsticks and you're about ready to give up on that. My friend God comes to you, comes up behind you, wraps his arms around you and begins to play in your life a beautiful counter melody weave in harmonies to make beauty out of ashes to do in your life what you cannot do on your own. Don't run from the trouble. Move toward it but not in panic. Move toward it in trust quiet still spirit before God and watch him make beautiful music in your life. Would you pray with me please? Father for whatever trouble we face this day, speak, work, accomplish your will in our lives. Oh God encourage that person today who's ready to give up. I pray that you would help them to see that you can do mighty wonderful things in their life if they will rather than panic look to you and trust you and move through this trouble by your grace to see your power. Show yourself strong on their behalf today. Encourage them with their spirits through your word. I ask in Jesus name Amen.