Hope and Forgiveness: God With Us in Wilderness

Sep 13, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When Walls of Water Whisper Possibility

The sea splits, chariots sink, and freedom dawns—yet liberation is never clean. Deliverance requires both divine intervention and human courage to step into chaos. Dry ground appears only when we move forward, trusting the path God opens through what seems impassable. This story isn’t about explaining miracles but recognizing God’s presence in the "impossible." What barriers feel insurmountable to you? Where might God be asking you to walk while still afraid? [34:52]

Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. (Exodus 14:21-22, ESV)

Reflection: What “sea” are you facing today where God might be asking you to take one step forward before the waters part? How does trusting God’s presence change your posture toward impossibility?

Day 2: Heaven’s Silence Over Shattered Waves

Celebration and grief collide when enemies perish. The rabbis teach that heaven mourns even as earth rejoices—a tension for those who follow a God who loves both oppressor and oppressed. True deliverance isn’t about vengeance but God’s sorrow over brokenness. How do we sing songs of freedom without dehumanizing others? Where does our worship still carry the residue of old hatreds? [33:28]

Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. (Ezekiel 33:11, ESV)

Reflection: Is there a situation where you’ve unconsciously celebrated another’s downfall? How might God be inviting you to hold both justice and grief in your prayers?

Day 3: Stretching Into the Miracle

Moses’ arm extended over water—a small human gesture unleashing cosmic change. God rarely works without our participation. The miracle begins when we reach beyond safety, resources, or prejudice. What must you stretch toward—relationships, risks, repentance—to partner with God’s liberation? What clenched fists keep you from receiving new possibilities? [40:49]

The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.” (Exodus 14:15-16, ESV)

Reflection: What “staff” has God already placed in your hand that you’re being asked to raise? Where does obedience feel more vulnerable than staying still?

Day 4: Unclenching the Fist of Old Wounds

Forgiveness means opening cramped hands—releasing what poisons us, even if reconciliation remains impossible. Like the Israelites fleeing Egypt, we carry invisible chains of bitterness. Letting go isn’t excusing harm but refusing to let it define us. What calcified anger have you mistaken for strength? What might freedom feel like if you stopped counting debts? [50:31]

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:21-22, ESV)

Reflection: What relationship or memory feels like a clenched fist in your soul? How might uncurling one finger today begin a journey toward peace?

Day 5: Wilderness Wanderers With a Promise

The far shore wasn’t the finish line—it was mile one of a forty-year trek. Miracles sustain us for the long haul of discipleship, not just dramatic rescues. God’s presence shifts from pillars of fire to daily manna, from parted seas to shared bread. Where are you mistaking a wilderness season for abandonment? How does community become your new “pillar of cloud”? [36:19]

The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place. (Deuteronomy 1:30-31, ESV)

Reflection: What wilderness weariness makes you nostalgic for Egypt’s false comforts? How can you lean into the “carrying” love of God today?

Sermon Summary

The Exodus story comes to the Sea of Reeds two days after September 11, carrying a hard question: how can God’s people sing and dance over the destruction of an enemy? The rabbinic image refuses easy celebration. God asks the angels, “Why do you rejoice when my children have drowned in the sea?” Liberation is not painless, and freedom threatens the status quo. Blood is shed in struggles for transformation, but God’s people do not ask for an easy road. God’s people ask God to go with them.

God goes before and God follows behind. The pillar of cloud becomes both a buffer from the Egyptians and perhaps a push from behind, because sometimes leaning does not get the job done. Sometimes God’s people need an angelic tornado at their backs. The wilderness journey begins on the far shore, not at its end. Discipleship remains a wandering toward the promised land, moving forward when lying down and giving up seems more logical.

The miracle of the sea is not finally about figuring out wind, shallow water, mud, or chariots. The Exodus story says that God’s people were sunk on their own, and with God freedom became possible. Moses stretches out his hand, and that human effort matters. God rarely says, “Sit back. I’ve got this.” God says, “I will save my people. You go.” The stretched-out hand becomes a question about resources, security, and worldview. God’s transforming work may change the one reaching out as much as the people supposedly “out there.”

The language of conquest needs care because reality is never as clean as a movie where the bad guy falls from the tower. Revelation names conquerors not as people who vanquish enemies, but as people who hold on to faith through trial and suffering until light shines again. Moses’ song gives more attention to God’s deliverance than to the awfulness of the enemy. Praise belongs to God’s saving work, while grief still belongs near the death of God’s children.

Forgiveness then becomes part of following God into freedom. The Greek word means opening the hand and dropping what it clutches. Jesus refuses Peter’s desire for a forgiveness rule, because seventy-seven or seventy times seven makes counting beside the point. Forgiveness is an embrace of the other, a relinquishment of power, and a miracle in the soul. Forgiveness does not call abuse acceptable, cancel justice, or require reconciliation where reconciliation cannot happen. Forgiveness lets go of fear, rage, and hatred so that they do not destroy the one holding them. Justice, mercy, humility, stretching, and forward movement remain the way into deliverance.

Key Takeaways

1. God’s freedom is never painless [34:00] Liberation unsettles systems that depend on bondage, exclusion, and fear. God’s presence does not promise a struggle without loss or danger. God’s people are called to seek God’s companionship in the costly work of transformation rather than demanding a safe and painless road. [34:00]
2. God goes before and behind [34:34] The pillar of cloud protects God’s people from what pursues them, but it also presses them toward the sea. God’s presence can feel like comfort and like holy pressure. The wilderness journey requires both assurance that God is near and courage to keep moving. [34:34]
3. Stretch out what God can use [40:32] Moses’ hand reminds God’s people that divine deliverance does not make human effort unnecessary. Resources, security, assumptions, and narrow loyalties can all become clenched fists. God’s transforming work often begins when an open hand risks more than it can control. [40:32]
4. Conquering means holding onto faith [43:38] Revelation redefines conquest as endurance rather than domination. Faithfulness through suffering is different from celebrating another person’s defeat. God’s victory forms people who keep trusting when fear, anger, and darkness seem stronger than hope. [43:38]
5. Forgiveness opens the clenched hand [45:57] Forgiveness does not declare evil acceptable, nor does it force reconciliation where safety and truth are absent. Forgiveness releases the grip of resentment so that hatred cannot consume the wounded person from within. Justice can still be pursued with a heart no longer ruled by the injury.

## [45:57]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[32:41] - The Hard Question of Exodus
[34:00] - Liberation Is Not Painless
[34:34] - God Goes Before and Behind
[35:43] - The Wilderness Journey Continues
[36:19] - More Than a Sea-Parting Miracle
[38:30] - Enter the Sea as Free People
[39:21] - The Cloud That Protects and Pushes
[40:32] - Stretch Out Your Hand
[42:16] - What Real Conquering Means
[44:48] - God’s Grief Over the Egyptians
[45:40] - Forgiveness and Letting Go
[48:13] - Jesus Refuses to Count Forgiveness
[49:46] - Forgiveness Is Not Accepting Abuse
[51:14] - Justice, Mercy, and Deliverance

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Exodus 14:21–31
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the LORD threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses.
[34:36] [39:21] [40:27] [40:32]

Matthew 18:21–22
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.”
[48:13] [48:16]

Revelation 2:7
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”
[43:38]

Micah 6:8
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
[51:37] [51:39] [51:42] [51:43]

Observation questions

In Exodus 14, what actions belong to God, and what action is Moses specifically told to take?
What does the pillar of cloud do in relation to both Israel and the pursuing Egyptians? How could it be understood as both protection and pressure to move forward? [39:21]
What words does Exodus use to describe Israel’s response after crossing the sea, and how is “fear of the LORD” understood as awe rather than simple terror? [39:59]
What contrast does Jesus create between Peter’s desire for a number or limit on forgiveness and Jesus’ answer of seventy-seven times? [48:13]

Interpretation questions

Exodus says that God saved Israel, yet Moses still had to stretch out his hand. What does this suggest about the way God invites people to participate in freedom and transformation? [40:43]
The Egyptians are clearly pursuing an unjust cause, yet the loss of life at the sea remains painful. How can believers give thanks for deliverance without treating the suffering or death of enemies as entertainment? [44:37]
Revelation describes conquering as holding onto faith through trial and suffering rather than defeating another person. How might this reshape the way a believer thinks about victory in a conflict, disappointment, or season of hardship? [43:47]
If forgiveness means opening the hand and releasing what it clutches, how can forgiveness be different from calling wrongdoing acceptable or requiring reconciliation with an unsafe person? [49:53]

Application questions

Where do you currently feel like Israel at the edge of the sea—facing a barrier that seems impossible to cross? What would it look like to ask not merely for an easy road, but for God to go with you? [34:09]
God goes before and behind God’s people. When have you experienced God’s presence as comfort, and when has God’s presence felt more like a push to take the next faithful step? [39:37]
Moses stretched out his hand without having every detail explained. Is there a resource, security, habit, or assumption that you may be holding too tightly? What small act of trust might look like “stretching out your hand” this week? [41:12]
The wilderness begins after the sea is crossed; deliverance is not the end of the journey. What part of your life requires steady faithfulness after a recent change, answer to prayer, or hard-won step forward? [35:49]
Is there a person or group you have begun to see mainly as an enemy, a problem, or “the other side”? How can you pursue truth and justice while remembering that every person is one of God’s children? [45:07]
What fear, anger, resentment, or desire to be proved right are you clutching that may be harming your spiritual, emotional, or physical well-being? What might it mean to begin releasing it to God, even if reconciliation is not possible? [50:59]
Micah calls God’s people to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. What is one concrete way you can put energy into justice and mercy this week without being ruled by rage or hatred? [51:22]

Sermon Clips

43s

#FaithIsEndurance

“Maybe here we can understand better what conquering really means. In those letters, the conqueror isn't the one who vanquishes the foe, whoever that foe may be. But rather, the conqueror is the one who holds on to faith to the end. The one who holds on to faith through trial, holds on to faith through suffering, holds on to faith until the light begins to shine once more. It isn't about who is defeated. It is about who endures.”

35s

#ForgivenessIsNotApproval

“We have to talk about it constantly. And to clarify, forgiveness isn't putting up with abuse forever. Often, as a pastor, I talk to someone who says they can't forgive. And many times it is because they believe that forgiving means accepting that whatever happened was actually okay. And really whatever it is wasn't okay. It wasn't okay in the past and is not now. And never will be okay.”

45s

#StretchBeyondComfort

“what are you willing to stretch out so that God can work with you and from you? Stretch out your hand. Sure. But what about stretch out your resources? Stretch out your security and stretch out your worldview, the belief that only people who look like and sound like you and believe like you can be followers of God. What are you willing to stretch out so that God can bless your effort with transformation that just might be your own transformation and not just of those folk out there?”

42s

#FreedomRequiresCourage

“But we can be aware of the implications of our celebrations and our praise. We can be aware that praying for freedom is threatening to the status quo and unsettling for many. Some will be hurt in the struggle for liberation. Blood will be shed. It is happening around us all the time. We cannot ask for an easy road. We cannot ask for painless transformation. But we can, and we should, indeed we must, ask for God to go with us.”

58s

#AweAndAction

“No wonder the text says when all this is done, the people feared the Lord. Special language note. The word feared, of course, there actually means were in awe of. The people were in awe of the Lord. Here's another thought, a sort of secondary theme in this story. Second only to the power and presence of God in the midst of this journey through the wilderness. Moses stretched out his hand. you get that? with the angelic tornado, even with the walls of water on either side, even with a dry seabed under the feet, human effort is required. God rarely says, sit back. I've got this.”

54s

#ForgiveByLettingGo

“And so now, I come to the forgiveness part of this sermon, the Matthew part. In learning of the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt, is it important to talk about forgiveness? Well, in order to follow God to freedom, in order to be disciples, we have to let go of those things that hold us back. And here is something that I loved learning. The Greek word for forgive, means simply to open your hand and drop what it is clutching.”

35s

#HelpMakesFreedomPossible

“But, you know, that removes the core, the whole point of the story of the event. And, the core is not this miracle of Cecil b de Mill's scale. It isn't the miracle in and of itself at all. Rather, the core, the point of this, is that the people on their own were sunk. Okay. Pun intended. with the help of God, freedom is a possibility.”

44s

#GodWithUsInStruggle

“To spend too much time on the walking through the sea event, whether to say it didn't happen like it says or it definitely did, is really a distraction from the good news that is to be proclaimed here. That God is with us when we face insurmountable barriers to hope or the daily impossibilities of even living in the world. God is with us when we can feel that hand in our back and and when we can't. God is with us when it seems that every step is through deep and clinging mud or when we dance across dry ground.”

35s

#TrustAndStretch

“Did Moses know what was going to happen when he reached out his hand? Well, it's hard to tell. The text isn't clear, but he did it. And God made a way where there was no way because Moses trusted enough to stretch out. The result was no doubt more than he had ever imagined, which is often what happens when we stretch out, when we take a risk. We might even become conquerors.”

46s

#DivinePushNotJustProtection

“Our text begins with the note that the angel, which looked like a pillar of cloud, moves to the front of the pack and then to the back. The second verse says it was to provide a buffer between the Israelites and the pursuing Egyptians. But just think about this. Maybe that buffer was actually there to push. Sometimes leaning doesn't achieve the desired results. Sometimes you've got to get behind and push. Which is worse? An army running after you or an angelic tornado at your back?”

53s

#ChooseHealingNotBeingRight

“Right now, with so much tragedy, anger, and hate, forgiveness doesn't give much play. But forgiveness has been the heart of our faith forever. We are rightly wary of the manipulation and shaming that clings to forgiveness like magnets. Plus, in our culture of blame, of rights, of self fulfillment, many people don't even feel the need for forgiveness. Mostly, they just want to be right. They want to cling to things that reinforce their own viewpoints and their own fears, mistakenly thinking that that will give them power. Instead, it gives them brokenness and broken relationships.”

66s

#LetGoForYourHealth

“So what to do? As a pastor, I point out that same meaning that I told you about a few moments ago. The Greek word for for to to forgive, to open our hand and to drop what we're clutching. If I'm in an in person session, which I can't do very much right now, I drop something onto the floor like I did with you a few minutes ago, and I don't even try to pick it up. And I tell them, if reconciliation can't happen, let it go. It's theologically on point. Even more on point is this. We let go for our own mental and spiritual and emotional health. Holding on to fear and anger and rage will simply destroy us from the inside. It even hurts us physically. So don't let anyone do that to you. Instead, let go.”

44s

#GodIsOurWayAndHope

“Not a celebration over enemies, but a recognition that in the difficult times and in the comfortable ones, God is with us. God goes before, and God follows behind. So like the people of God on the shore of the sea of reeds, let us rejoice that God is with us. When there seemed to be no way, God makes a way. When there seems to be no hope, God is our hope. And God continues to be our hope. The hope we live out in our moving forward, even when lying down and giving up, seems like the logical thing to do.”

32s

#CelebrateGodNotEnemies

“In the Exodus story, it is certainly true that the song that Moses sings and then Miriam takes up the chorus and dances rebels and those who were wiped out. The horse and rider are thrown into the sea, but looking carefully at the song that Moses sings, it is more about God and what God has done for God's people than it is about how awful the enemy is. Maybe that should be our focus too.”

40s

#SingFaithTogetherApart

“Our songs today are songs of assurance and of the presence, the hope, the deliverance of God. It may not be a cloud that leads or an angel that follows, but it is the confidence and support of the community of faith. We may not yet be able to sing together in a building as one congregation, but we can lean into the faith of our songs and be reminded that we are not alone. We can sing together even when physically apart.”

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