The Roundabout Way

Fierce God: Knowing the God of Exodus  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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God often leads us on a way out that feels roundabout, hard, or more difficult than necessary.

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The Train

It was around 7am and I had about 45 minutes to make a 8am breakfast in Orland. Plenty of time. I am driving south on Central around Richards High School when I hear this rumbling sound. Can anyone guess?
On this morning I chose to wait - I was feeling particularly patient that day and I was going to embrace the waiting. Well - it wasn’t just the one train, it was the second train, that was particularly slow - I was waiting for almost 20 minutes. Now, whenever I see a train I have to decide, do i make the quick decision to turn around over the treacherous median), face the neighborhood speed bumps, winding traffic, more stop signs, triple the distance. If i say yes this roundabout way enables me to avoid carts of steel traveling anywhere between 10 and 60 mph.
On this morning I chose to wait - I was feeling particularly patient that day and I was going to embrace the waiting. Well - it wasn’t just the one train, it was the second train, that was particularly slow - I was waiting for almost 20 minutes. Now, whenever I see a train I have to decide, do i make the quick decision one light ahead near Richards, (or a treacherous trip over the median), neighborhood speed bumps, winding traffic, more stop signs, triple the distance. But this roundabout way enables me to avoid carts of steel traveling anywhere between 10 and 60 mph.
Train tracks on Central - round about way - speed bumps - traffic - more stop signs - triple the distance.
Connection: This is a small example how a roundabout way can help us - but most of us experience the roundabout way as disappointing, frustrating, or heart breaking.
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I bet all of you could imagine when you were driving to a goal or destination and you hit a train and on that alternate way, you found hardship but you also found the love or passion of your life.
I believe we meet God on the roundabout way, the roundabout way is where we discover our true selves. The roundabout way is where we discover who God is. Let’s look at the roundabout way that the Israelites faced when they were delivered from Egypt after the 10th plague and the first Passover meal.
Transition: Turn to page 70 of the pew Bible beg. in Exodus 13:17. As you turn there, we will see how God has a purpose on the roundabout way, and how God is present on the roundabout way. Read ; ;
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The Roundabout Way (13:17-18)

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b. Equipped for battle 13:18
God has a Purpose for the Roundabout way - God leads out in military formation; equipped for battle (12:41;13:18) - to avoid the Philistines (Philistines have done nothing at this point to oppose God; God was not done with Egypt)
A worker from Chick Fil A understands the roundabout way to generally be her fault and running from his way. She always ends up where God wants her because of His
c. God didn’t want the people facing the Philistines to run back to the Egyptians.
God is very tender with me - he’s patient even when she’s defiant.
Kathy went to nursing school in college - BS in Nursing - and when she got out and she was doing general nursing and she didn’t want to be a nurse!
She minored in psych and then went into alcohol treatment and loved it and then created a alcoholism unit in melrose park (28 day recovery program) - but she eventually left (80s).
d. Led by a pillar of cloud and fire.
Purpose Roundabout way to avoid the Philistines (Philistines have done nothing at this point to oppose God; God was not done with Egypt)
She then got married and pregnant and has a down syndrome son and she believes she went to nursing school to take care of her son. At 9 months her husband abused her and she left and she moved in with her mother. He’s 32 years old and takes care of the laundry at his apartment complex. In this roundabout way, God used this training in a roundabout way.
Started as a telemarketer for Jackson Hewitt. Then she worked for Jackson-Hewitt - went to tax school and loved it.
The roundabout way is to prepare us for something in the future.
i. Critique – Where is the Pillar of cloud? I can’t see the cloud – there are people around you who can see the cloud. And the miracle of the cloud doesn’t make everything easy.
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God is Present on the Roundabout Way - Led by a pillar of cloud and fire (13:21)- did God need to do this for his presence to be felt? No - the pillar of cloud and fire was for the people God was leading - they weren’t just symbols but his presence before them (13:21).
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Nice for them - what about our pillar of cloud and fire? So tough nothing but black clouds.
Not just a sign from Yahweh, but it was Yahweh (13:21).
Turn around 14:1; camp with your back to the sea (no escape.
God’s presence is with us today in very real ways - the cloud of God’s presence is here - He’s just leading us away from the familiar and into the unknown. It may even feel like he’s leading you on the roundabout way.
1. The pillar of cloud was not just a sign from Yahweh, but it was Yahweh 13:21. The presence of God is here with us today in very real ways through His Spirit.
4. Turn around 14:1; camp with your back to the sea (no escape).
What about our pillar of cloud and fire? So tough nothing but black clouds.
Not just a sign from Yahweh, but it was Yahweh (13:21).
God’s presence is with us today in very real ways - the cloud of God’s presence is here - He’s just leading us away from the familiar and into the unknown. It may even feel like he’s leading you on the roundabout way.
Turn around 14:1; camp with your back to the sea (no escape.
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God is very tender with me - he’s patient even when she’s defiant.
Kathy went to nursing school in college - BS in Nursing - and when she got out and she was doing general nursing and she didn’t want to be a nurse!
She minored in psych and then went into alcohol treatment and loved it and then created a alcoholism unit in melrose park (28 day recovery program) - but she eventually left (80s).
She then got married and pregnant and has a down syndrome son and she believes she went to nursing school to take care of her son. At 9 months her husband abused her and she left and she moved in with her mother. He’s 32 years old and takes care of the laundry at his apartment complex. In this roundabout way, God used this training in a roundabout way.
Started as a telemarketer for Jackson Hewitt. Then she worked for Jackson-Hewitt - went to tax school and loved it.
The roundabout way is to prepare us for something in the future.
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Odell Beckham Jr. Catch
Remarkable catch that got OBJ on the map and maybe the most popular / controversial receiver in the league.
What made this catch so incredible? Pass interference - and it was slightly under thrown. Game scenario? It would be an even more remarkable catch if it was the last play of the game to win right? Beggining of 2nd Qtr 1&10, they were down 3 to 7 against the Cowboys. Not an incredible situation.
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Our response to God’s roundabout way isn’t always pretty. We often Complain on the round about way, but even still we are called to faith and commanded to move. Let’s see this in our passage.

Complaints (14:10-12)

Read When the people lifted their eyes, they saw the Egyptian army marching after them, “they feared greatly.” And they cried out to the LORD. Then they did the next best thing - blame Moses.
vs 11 : Were the graveyards not big enough in Egypt so you brought us out here to die?
Irony - God wanted them to avoid fighting the Philistines and instead had them face the far superior Egyptians with their backs against the wall.
People reveal that they didn’t want this change to begin with. It was better to serve in Egypt as slaves than die in the wilderness.
QUOTE: when hardship is encountered, the miserable past suddenly looks like the good old days. The Israelites were simply thinking the way most people think of the past when the present seems unbearable. - D. Stuart
Let’s think about our situation at Calvary Oak Lawn. We’ve made some significant changes and at times this journey may feel like a roundabout way. We will be tempted to complain if we don’t see the growth or the response that we want from the community.
When our backs are against the wall , you may have to remind me - of the following verses.
Transition: In the midst of the people complaining to Moses - this is how Moses responds. Read Exodus 14:13-14

Fear Not, Be silent, He will fight for you.

Faith on the roundabout way.
This may be the finest hour of Moses’ leadership - he does not fear, he knows that God has led them this far, he will do it again.
He gives them three commands:
1) Fear not, 2) stand firm, and 3) see the salvation of the Lord. (14:13)
The roundabout way is never the easiest, but the is one thing certain - God is about one thing - and it’s the greatest thing. The glory of God.
Fear not,
The roundabout way is never the easiest, but the is one thing certain - God is about one thing - and it’s the greatest thing. The glory of God.
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The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent. Exodus 14:14
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Then the Lord speaks to Moses (14:15)
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Stop Crying and Move (14:15)

Moving Forward on the roundabout way.
God says that now is not the time to be crying out - start moving. Prayer necessitates our response to the LORD.
Through the waters - rescue through the sea of reeds - much like Moses was rescued as a baby.
God rescued them when their backs were against the wall. It wasn’t what they expected.
God’s power was demonstrated when their backs were against the wall.

Who is your Moses?

God could have split the sea apart from a human agent. But instead, at the heart of the book of Exodus is that God is the deliverer but “he would not act except through a human agent.” Why? Maybe God’s purpose in creation is to share with his creatures that self-giving, self-denying love he knows in his triune nature. Mere deliverance that did not involve human fellowship would hardly contribute to or exemplify that purpose.”
Ross, A., & Oswalt, J. N. (2008). Cornerstone biblical commentary: Genesis, Exodus (Vol. 1, p. 390). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
Do you have someone in your life that believes that the seas can be parted? Do you journey with them through the wilderness and connect with them both in the light times and the heavy times? Who is your Moses in the roundabout way? This is a picture of Christian discipleship. We all need someone in our life that has the faith we don’t have that we can follow through the sea.

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God hardens the hearts of people? (14:17)

And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen.
Though it literally means harden it translates in normal English to be/make stubborn. What is going on here?
The New American Commentary: Exodus Excursus: The Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart

The Egyptian Pharaoh was supposed to be a pure person, a divine manifestation of the gods, and one whose sovereignty over the people was credentialized in part by the purity of his ʾib. The idea that Yahweh could do whatever he wanted with Pharaoh’s heart, and specifically could “harden” it, therefore, was both an evidence of Yahweh’s control of all things including the mightiest monarch of the day and also evidence that Yahweh had done what the Egyptians thought the “gods” would usually do—weigh the heart and decide whether its owner was worthy of eternal life or not.

All I know is that God is glorified in and through rescuing his people and bringing justice on the very people who supported the subjugation, enslavement, and genocide of other people.
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Just as Pharaoh once threw the children of Israelites in the Nile, which is lined by reeds, now God is using the way they tried to crush Israel on themselves -

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God could have split the sea apart from a human agent. But instead, at the heart of the book of Exodus is that God is the deliverer but “he would not act except through a human agent.” Why? Maybe God’s purpose in creation is to share with his creatures that self-giving, self-denying love he knows in his triune nature. Mere deliverance that did not involve human fellowship would hardly contribute to or exemplify that purpose.”
​
Ross, A., & Oswalt, J. N. (2008). Cornerstone biblical commentary: Genesis, Exodus (Vol. 1, p. 390). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
Do you have someone in your life that believes that the seas can be parted? Do you journey with them through the wilderness and connect with them both in the light times and the heavy times? Who is your Moses in the roundabout way? This is a picture of Christian discipleship. We all need someone in our life that has the faith we don’t have that we can follow through the sea.
We may be on the Roundabout way when
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Odell Beckham Jr. Catch

Easier options are available (redirected)
Remarkable catch that got OBJ on the map and maybe the most popular / controversial receiver in the league.
​
We are tempted to complain
Easier options are available
What made this catch so incredible? Pass interference - and it was slightly underthrown. Game scenario? It would be an evne more remarkable catch if it was the last play of the game to win right? Beggining of 2nd Qtr 1&10, they were down 3 to 7 against the Cowboys. Not an incredible situation.
We need God to fight for us
Some of us have had to face far bigger obstacles than a train delaying us 20 minutes. Some of us have taken the most direct way but you’ve now found yourself on the roundabout way.
For some of you, to become a real Christian, one who fears not, one who stands firm, one who sees the salvation of the LORD - there are some serious seas that need to be parted.
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God’s glory on the roundabout way.

God hardens the hearts of people? (14:17)

And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen.
Though it literally means harden it translates in normal English to be/make stubborn. What is going on here?
The New American Commentary: Exodus Excursus: The Hardening of Pharaoh’s Heart

The Egyptian Pharaoh was supposed to be a pure person, a divine manifestation of the gods, and one whose sovereignty over the people was credentialized in part by the purity of his ʾib. The idea that Yahweh could do whatever he wanted with Pharaoh’s heart, and specifically could “harden” it, therefore, was both an evidence of Yahweh’s control of all things including the mightiest monarch of the day and also evidence that Yahweh had done what the Egyptians thought the “gods” would usually do—weigh the heart and decide whether its owner was worthy of eternal life or not.

All I know is that God is glorified in and through rescuing his people and bringing justice on the very people who supported the subjugation, enslavement, and genocide of other people.
Just as Pharaoh once threw the children of Israelites in the Nile, which is lined by reeds, now God is using the way they tried to crush Israel on themselves.

Conclusion: My roundabout way to know Jesus

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Accepted the gospel as truth when I was 17 with a youth pastor at a church I visited. But it hadn’t cost me much at that point. But God had a roundabout way for me to actually confront the truths of this gospel in my life. It wouldn’t be until my family would fall apart and our skeletons of abuse and manipulation would come bearing down my life like the hoofs of the Egyptian army - lobbying every fear, every doubt, every complaint i could think of. It was in that place that I remembered the gospel and had to actually believe that God is even bigger than the problems in my family.
In some ways my story of coming to know Jesus
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Accepted the gospel as truth when I was 17 with a youth pastor at a church I visited. But God had a roundabout way for me to actually confront the truths of this gospel in my life. It wouldn’t be until my family would fall apart and our skeletons of abuse and manipulation would come much like the hoofs of the Egyptian army - lobbying every fear, every doubt, every complaint i could think of. It was in that place that I remembered the gospel and had to actually believe that God is even bigger than the problems in my family.
God gave me the strength to face my dad - to fear not, to stand firm - and though my family is not fully mended or united - i see the salvation of the LORD in my love for Nora - how my one of the lines of my family’s generational abuse ends with me.
So that the world may know that Jesus is LORD - and he has gotten glory over the schemes of the enemy. Amen.
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