Verse of the Month - June 2017
[2] The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. (Exodus 15:2 ESV)
The book of Exodus is the account of God’s people being delivered from slavery to song. Within this narrative, Exodus chapter 15 is the response from the people of God to the victory that God had won for them. In the beginning stages of the book of Exodus, we get the glimpse of the slavery and hopeless situation that God’s people have found themselves in. They are enslaved and being oppressed by a wicked ruler. The picture described by the author is not a picture that we would naturally think that the people of God should be in. But it is in this narrative that we get to see the character of God as rescuer.
Through a mediator named Moses, God proclaims His good intentions for His people so that they might be released from captivity of Pharaoh. Yet, the wicked and evil Pharaoh refuses to bow and submit to God and because of his objection to God’s request, God the rescuer begins to flex. God’s power and might is seen as He sends plagues upon the gods of Egypt and all those who stand in opposition to His purpose and plan for His people. As God’s people are instructed to quickly exit Egypt, they find their backs up against the waters of the Red Sea with the wicked Pharaoh and his army barring down on them. Once again, God the rescuer acts as He splits the waters so that the people might cross over on dry ground. In this scene, all opposition is swallowed up as God releases the waters as one final act of judgement upon Pharaoh and his army. Through this we see that the people of God are drawn out of slavery and into freedom by God’s might and power alone. The response of the people of God is song. They celebrate and proclaim, “The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”
For us today, the story of the Exodus is our story also. We too have been delivered from slavery to song through the power and might of God alone. Jesus Christ, the new mediator and better Moses has split the sea of God’s judgement so that we might cross over on dry ground. Now we join in the song of salvation that God our rescuer has become our salvation.
Written by Pastor Rick Bartek