Where Do You Want To Go In 2000?
Part I – Where You Were
Exodus 14th Chapter:
10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel
lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they
were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD. 11
And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast
thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus
with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? 12 Is not this
the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may
serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than
that we should die in the wilderness.
As the new millennium approaches, the question we want to ask you is,
"Where Do You Want To Go In Year 2000?" Many of us will NOT SAY this,
but we will surely feel it: "I want to go back to 1999." Well, that
is impossible. We can’t live in the past; however, many people desire to all
because of a fear of what the future might hold.
To discuss the Godly Destiny we will use three types of people: The Where
You Were, The Where You Are & The Where God Wants You To Be. In this lesson
we will look at the "where you were" group. These people are better
known as the "Good-Ol’ Days" or "Back In The Day" group.
Due to a spirit of fear, they live in past glories and victories. They hold on
to the past with everything, leaving no room to embrace the future. If
we really had to sum up this group in one sentence we would have to say this:
These are the people who do not trust God with shaping and molding their
destiny.
In our text, the children of Israel are at the edge of the sea. They look
up, and notice Pharaoh’s army coming behind them. After seeing this, they
become afraid, and just like people who don’t trust God enough, they begin to
complain. They even ask Moses, "hast thou taken us away to die in the
wilderness?"(11th). You see, because they didn’t trust God, they felt that
God was going to just kill them off in the midst of their trial. And so do
others who don’t trust the Lord. They believe that their life is a
Shakespearian tragedy that ends with them losing everything and dying in the
wilderness (misery).
Out of fear and distrust, the Israelites tell Moses, "For it had been
better for us to serve the Egyptians"(12th). In other words, they wanted
to go back to where they were!! They didn’t want to "stick around"
and see how it ended. All they wanted to do was go "back in the day"
to what they knew, never stretching or growing. We need to realize that many
times the "good ol’ days" weren’t really that good. Now, I am all for
reminiscing about days gone by, but not for setting up residence there. The
Israelites’ deliverance was sooooo close that they didn’t even realize it. In
the 21st verse Moses lifted his hands and the sea parted. Their way
out was right around the corner, but all they were focused on was fear of the
situation rather than fear of (reverence, obedience, respect) the Lord (the
solution).
How can we identify these "Where You Were People" today? Well, one
indicator is this — They fear Y2K!!! Meditate on this for a while. When have
you ever seen so many people have so much fear of one day?!! Many of us have
been tricked into fearing this day when we should be celebrating the blessing
of seeing it. Ecclesiastes 12:13 states, "Let us hear the conclusion of
the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty
of man." God didn’t place you in this time and this season to fear Y2K.
That’s not your purpose! If anybody fears Y2K, let it be those who don’t know
the name above all names — the name of Jesus. Psalms 9:10 states, "And
they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not
forsaken them that seek thee." If you know the name Jesus, you have
NOTHING to fear. He knew Y2K was coming before you did, and He will handle it.
So don’t complain or be afraid like the Israelites who thought their solution
would never be found or experienced!! Jesus is the solution, and if you know
Him as your Saviour, then your solution is closer to you than you could ever
imagine!!