Starting Right
Starting Right is a 5 minute Day Starter to help keep you motivated, encouraged, and focused throughout your day. DannyMac is a pastor, teacher, motivational speaker, husband, and father. His years of leading and training people have given him vast experience in helping individuals to accomplish change in their lives and meet their goals. He can help you set the course for your day by offering practical advice from God's Word in a positive and fun way. There is no better way to begin your day than by Starting Right with DannyMac.
Starting Right
Moses Had a Staff, You Have This Podcast
We've all seen those ubiquitous "Keep Calm" signs that have evolved from the original wartime message into countless variations. But long before this modern phenomenon, Moses delivered the ultimate "keep calm" message at the shores of the Red Sea. As Pharaoh's army closed in and escape seemed impossible, Moses told the terrified Israelites: "Do not be afraid, just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today... The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm."
Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with Danny Mac. I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great five-minute start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back, relax and let me help you start your day right. I'm sure you've all seen the keep calm signs that are out there. You know the ones I'm talking about. The original one was keep calm and carry on, but now there are all kinds of these keep calm instructions, everything from keep calm and enjoy camping to keep calm and cook on. One of my favorites is keep calm and watch Duck Dynasty. And then there's ones that go we don't keep calm, it's football season. Whatever the case, there's this whole keep calm sort of culture that is telling us, no matter what we're facing, no matter what we're going through, just keep calm and it will all work out right in the end.
Speaker 1:One of the greatest keep calm stories in the Bible is one that the Israelites faced as they were leaving Egypt. Israel had been slaves to the Egyptians for a very long time and God called Moses to come and lead the people out of Egypt to their freedom and to the promised land On their trip out, with Egypt now chasing them as they're escaping. They came to the Red Sea and in the 14th chapter of Exodus, god tells the people to do some unique things. The first thing God told them to do was to stop and make camp, and then the cloud that was leading them, that turned into a pillar of fire at night, moved from in front of them to behind them, and then the Egyptians. When they came along, they were separated from the people of Israel by this pillar of fire that was protecting them. God then gave Moses a very specific instruction about the Red Sea. He said, moses, go there with your staff in one hand and raise your hands into the air and I will separate the Red Sea for you. I will pull it back and you will cross on dry land. So Moses did that. This is the place where some of the storyline changes between what it actually says in Scripture and what we've seen in the movies. In the movies we see Charlton Heston raising his hands with a staff in one. The Red Sea parts majestically in front of him and immediately the people of Israel began to cross. But that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says that when Moses raised his hands and the staff, the Red Sea started to part and the wind blew all night long. It wasn't until the next day that the people of Israel crossed.
Speaker 1:I find these instructions that God gave to Moses actually very interesting, because God asked Moses to do something miraculous, but God didn't give him anything more than what Moses already had. He said Moses, raise your staff and raise your hands, and then I will do the work for you. I will do this miraculous thing in front of you. So God was able to do something powerful through Moses' obedience, without actually having to give him anything special to do it.
Speaker 1:Exodus, chapter 14, verses 13 and 14. It says Moses told the people do not be afraid, just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm. I guess in modern terms it would be stay calm and trust God. Well, there's three lessons, really quickly, I want to give you this morning from this and this whole process of stay calm and trust God.
Speaker 1:The first thing I want us to be reminded of from this story is that God's people are never trapped. When the people of Israel got to the Red Sea and the water was in front of them and the army of Egypt was behind them. They felt trapped, but God would not lead them that far to abandon them. He had a plan already worked out. They didn't know what the plan was, but the words that Moses had already spoken to them were just stay calm. Had already spoken to them, were just stay calm because God already had a plan.
Speaker 1:The second lesson we can gain from this is that God always has our back. When the people of Israel had to stop at the Red Sea, the pillar of fire that had been leading them moved behind them to protect them from the attack of the Egyptians. If we are doing what God tells us to do, if we are in God's plan and purpose and being obedient to him, he will have our back. He will not only lead us, he will protect us from what's coming behind us. And the third thing to remember is that it took all night for that Red Sea to part.
Speaker 1:We often want the instantaneous answers from God, but sometimes those answers take time and we need to trust Him with it. If we are able to stay calm and trust God, we are going to be able to move forward in the direction he wants us to go and leave behind us the things that have enslaved us and are trying to destroy us. He can move us to the place of freedom and strength, to live the life that he has for us, which, according to the words of Jesus, is life to the full. Have a great day, my friends. We'll talk again tomorrow. Thank you for listening today and I invite you to join me Monday to Friday, right here on, starting Right with Danny Mac.
