The Journey of Faith
The journey of faith will be worth it, but it won’t always be easy.
1 Peter 5:8
Be sober-minded, be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.
It is a song of joy in response to God’s deliverance and salvation.
The Song of Joy:
A.) Recognized who God is and what he had done for the people.
B.) Recognized who God is to us, personally.
Exodus 15:2-3
The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.
C.) Understood that nobody and nothing compares to our God.
TEST OF FAITH ON THE JOURNEY
Exodus 15:22-27
Then Moses led Israel on from the Red Sea, and they went out to the Wilderness of Shur. They journeyed for three days in the wilderness without finding water. 23 They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water at Marah because it was bitter—that is why it was named Marah. 24 The people grumbled to Moses, “What are we going to drink?” 25 So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he threw it into the water, the water became drinkable.
The Lord made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah, and he tested them there. 26 He said, “If you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in his sight, pay attention to his commands, and keep all his statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.”27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy date palms, and they camped there by the water.
God has a plan for his people, and is leading them.
Sometimes God’s purpose in the long/difficult journey to grow us, develop us, and prepare us for what is to come.
As we journey through life there will be serious problems in which we need help.
Exodus 15:24
The people grumbled to Moses, “What are we going to drink?”
The Hebrew people doubted the Lord could or would provide.
God said: remember what I did for you, and tell your children.
And when we forget what he has done in the past, then we lose faith and lose hope during the difficulties and hardship of today.
Lyrics to new song: Faithful Now
And I will speak to my fear, I will preach to my doubt
That You were faithful then, You’ll be faithful now
My father’s God (Ex. 15:2) – he is faithful to keep his promises and fulfill his covenant.
Exodus 15:25
So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he threw it into the water, the water became drinkable.
When we are struggling or facing problems we should turn to the Lord and cry out to him in prayer.
Exodus 15:25b
The Lord made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah, and he tested them there.
Exodus 15:26
He said, “If you will carefully obey the Lord your God, do what is right in his sight, pay attention to his commands, and keep all his statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.”
In the difficulty of the journey God reminds the people that they are to obey him.
Pastor Mike’s prayer for Soma in 2021
Father, help us to see you clearly, trust you fully, seek you diligently, obey you completely, and reject all idolatry as we worship you alone.
Exodus 15:25b
The Lord made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah, and he tested them there.
The Lord was testing their faith on the journey.
Psalm 66:10
For you, God, tested us; you refined us as silver is refined.
Isaiah 48:10
Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
James 1:2-4
Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.
The word ‘trial’ is the Greek word peirasmos which is translated trials, tests, or temptations.
Followers of Jesus can consider it a joy to go through trials and tests because we know that it is developing our faith.
1 Peter 1:6-7
You rejoice in this, even though now for a short time, if necessary, you suffer grief in various trials 7 so that the proven character of your faith—more valuable than gold which, though perishable, is refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.