Celebrating deliverance: what to do when the waiting is over
By Dean Collins
What do you do when suddenly what you have waited for, longed for, and prayed for finally arrives? Maybe it is a job offer after months or years of unemployment. Maybe it is the birth of a child that you thought you would never be able to have. Maybe it is a mortgage fully paid off when at one time you could not even imagine home ownership. Maybe it is a successful procedure when the odds were slim. There are seasons of life when it is not simply days or weeks but months, years, and decades of waiting, and then it happens.
Entering the unknown
Consider the emotional and mental roller coaster of the Israelites in Exodus 13—15. The moment of deliverance had arrived. God’s chosen had followed the instructions Moses passed on from God. They had celebrated the Passover, they had eaten their meal in urgency as God had instructed them to do. They had asked for and received clothes and gold and other precious items from the Egyptians. And they walked into the wilderness not knowing what would happen next.
How many times have you walked into a wilderness not knowing what you would encounter and if you would one day walk out on the other side? I have had my share of those moments. There is often both anxiety and adrenaline flowing that makes us nervous, tired, and at times unable to sleep. That was the case with the Israelites. As they began their journey, I am sure they wondered if this was really happening. 400 years of bondage and suddenly in one night a shift to deliverance. Could it be real? Was it sustainable?
Experiencing the miracle
God had them stop for the night (Exodus 14:2). Pharaoh heard where they were and changed his mind and gathered his army to pursue God’s people. Yes, there was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, but there was also the sound of chariots, horses, and soldiers in pursuit. But God had a plan. It was invisible to the masses and unknown to Moses until the moment when God told him to raise his staff so that the Israelites could pass through the sea on dry ground.
I don’t think we can really imagine the mental rush in the minds of the Israelites as they walked through the sea. Now on the other side, they saw the Egyptians about to reach the clear, dry path when God once again told Moses to raise his hands. This time the water came crashing down on the Egyptians. There must have been lots of noise as the water consumed men and horses struggling to escape. And then came silence. The battle was over.
Celebrating the victory
What do you do in moments like that? I imagine sometimes we shout. Sometimes we weep. Sometimes we laugh. Sometimes we run wildly and celebrate. Sometimes we cry out with prayers of gratitude. On that day, Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord: “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; he has hurled both horse and rider into the sea.”
It seems this declaration of God’s victory was a call-and-response song, because just a few verses later the prophet Miriam has all of the women sing the exact same phrase. The men sang and then the women sang. We don’t know, but it is easy to imagine that this might have gone on and on.
Many of us have been to football games where cheers do the very same thing. When there is victory there is a need for an audible and visible response to the good news: 400 years of bondage, a sudden and chaotic deliverance, and then pure praise to God for what he had accomplished. It was not great strategy and military victory that brought deliverance. This was all God and only God. It had been longed for, waited for, and prayed for, and this night it happened.
Sharing our deliverance
Do we always react with such passion and joy when God answers our prayers? I suspect God might sometimes wonder why he gets a tepid response when he does amazing, even miraculous things to help us.
I have a few things I am waiting for, longing for, and praying for. It wouldn’t surprise me to find out you do as well. It might happen for all of us at the same time, but unless it is the Lord’s return, then I doubt it. But I bet we could really help each other out by sharing the victories with each other when they come. Maybe we might even try a call-and-response the next time we experience a moment or season of deliverance. Moses didn’t copyright his lyrics, so we could even borrow them and sing about whatever it is that God threw into the sea to bring about our moment of deliverance.
Whenever it happens you can go ahead and cry, laugh, run around wildly, and shout it out. But whatever we do, let’s commit to not forgetting to sing praise to God for his victory. Just as was the case for the Israelites, it will be God’s unfailing love that leads us to our moment of deliverance. He has redeemed us and one day he will take us home to glory. And I know there will be singing there!
Your time with God’s Word
Exodus 15:1-8, 11-21 NLT
Photo by Edwin Andrade on Unsplash
