Seeing Jesus When You’re Crippled by Fear and Anxiety
Well, welcome to Week Five of Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament. I’m Dr. Joel Muddamalle, and this is my dear friend, Lysa TerKeurst. And this week we re talking about Protections — Lysa TerKeurst: That s right. JM: — about the protection of God. But more specifically, we’re going to also look at seeing Jesus in the midst of our fears and anxieties.
Lysa, there are so many moments that we have in life that are riddled with fear and riddled with anxiety. And one of the things that gives me such great comfort in Scripture is that God was so good that He didn’t hide those from us. He’s so honest, you know, and He gives us pictures and examples, all throughout the Scripture, of the people of God that have experienced the very same thing.
One of the most important, I think I say this a lot, about a lot of stories. But, I think one of the most important stories, specifically about the people of Israel, is the story of Israel and the Red Sea. It is a moment–if there is a descriptor, of fear and anxiety for the Israelites– this is one of them, and I want to point out a few details.
So, let’s turn to Exodus, Chapter 14. One, I want us to see that there’s nothing random that takes place when it comes to God and His purposes. And so, in verse 17, Exodus 13 actually, verse 17, this is what we find, “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near.
For God said, Lest the people change their minds when they see war, and they’ll return to Egypt. But God led the people around, by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea.” Now this goes on, we re gonna look at chapter 14 in more detail. But ultimately, what’s taking place is, God intentionally leads the people of Israel all the way to the Red Sea, knowing that Pharaoh is going to be close behind them.
