Deliverance from God often looks different than what we expect.
SCRIPTURE | Exodus14:10-14,21-31
CENTRAL TRUTH
We can trust God to fight for us. His deliverance is better than any false sense of victory we may gain on our own.
Key question
Look at Moses’s Instructions in Verses 13-14. What would it look like for us to allow God to fight our battles—to be quiet? Why do we struggle with this?
Keep in Mind
Many of our students have tried to walk away from sin only to find that they keep returning to it. Scripture compares sin to slavery: It holds us captive. It’s like shackles on our hands and feet. God sent Jesus to set us free from this slavery, but instead of running in that freedom, we often return to the very things that enslaved us. When students read about the Israelites debating on returning to Egypt after God set them free, they might think they’re crazy. Why would they want to return to captivity? But we’re doing the same thing when we look over our shoulders at the sin we left behind to follow Jesus and when we go back to what enslaved us. Jesus miraculously delivered us. He gave us a new home in His kingdom. We can remind our students that our life of sin, our “Egypt,” isn’t home anymore. We weren’t better off there, and we can stop looking back.
APPLICATION
WHAT DOES THIS PASSAGE TEACH YOU ABOUT DELIVERANCE? HOW CAN YOU APPLY IT TO SITUATIONS IN YOUR OWN LIFE?
THE WIN
FOR THE STUDENT: God will sometimes allow our students to walk in difficult circumstances—not to be cruel but to display His mighty hand of deliverance to them and to those around them. God is all-powerful; He often asks us to be still and trust Him instead of fighting on our own. Our students can trust Him. He is with them even in the deep waters (Isa. 43:2). He remains in control even when their circumstances seem impossible.
FOR THE LEADER: Our deliverance isn’t always immediate relief from a difficult situation, but it is God’s presence with us in these circumstances. God can use them to gain glory and to teach us more of His character. He can also use our difficulties to show our students God’s faithfulness.
