July 3, 2022
You’ve probably been on a road trip. Maybe a trip to the beach or another vacation. Maybe to visit friends or family. It happens sometimes, that you have trouble along the way. When I was a kid, I was going to girl scout camp with my troop for the weekend. It was about a 2-hour drive. My dad volunteered as a driver. Part-way there, we had car trouble. So the whole girl scout troop spent a few hours at a garage, waiting for the car to be fixed, instead of enjoying their first few hours at girl scout camp! My friends were pretty nice about it, though.
When you will be going on a road trip, you might make sure you do what you can to prevent car problems. But there’s no guarantee. Sometimes the unexpected happens. Something you might not think about that makes for a better road trip is to tune up your mind! In a good state of mind, you won’t crumble when trouble happens like you get stuck in a two-hour traffic jam, or your car breaks down, or you realize you forgot your wallet and have to turn around and go home to get it!
Today’s story from the Scripture is about an epic road trip. The Israelites have been slaves in Egypt for 400 years. God through Moses has sent plagues to Egypt, which finally convince Pharoah to let the Israelites go. So, the Israelites hurry to get ready. The tradition is, they didn’t have time for their bread to rise, so they brought flat bread for their journey. That’s why there are matzah crackers at the seder service.
The Israelites start on their road trip, using the desert road to go toward the Sea of Reeds. They’re on a road trip and it’s the exodus, a great exit from Egypt and slavery. That’s why the book of the Bible is called “Exodus.” There is potential for great danger. But the Lord goes ahead in a pillar of cloud to guide them. At night, God is a pillar of fire, so they have light and can see to travel.
What the Israelites worried would happen does: in chapter 14 verse 5 it says, “When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” So he got six hundred of his best chariots, and this is technology the Israelites didn’t have. The Israelites have zero chariots. Plus, the Egyptians have more chariots, and horses, troops, officers, and they pursued the Israelites.
When the Israelites saw the Egyptians pursuing them, they were terrified! They cried out to God! Then they said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians that to die in the desert!”
That’s an understandable thing to say! They’re terrified, they’re panicking. Plus it always feels good to say: “I told you so!”
It’s an understandable thing to say. But is it helpful? No! There’s an army of charioteers barreling toward them! Moses tells the people Don’t be afraid, just stand still. The Lord will take care of this. But then God says, “Don’t just stand there, get moving!”
If the Israelites stand there and complain, that means the Egyptians will catch up sooner! The Israelites standing there complaining shows that our lives are always moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts. The Israelites thoughts are, we should be back in Egypt, in slavery. Those thoughts will take them right back to the Egyptians, who will be happy to make them them slaves again!
But God is pointing the Israelites to a different destination: get moving forward to the promised land. It takes a different thought to escape slavery. It takes a thought like, “I won’t be afraid, God is with us, he’s the pillar of cloud. I trust God will take care of me.”
Next God tells Moses to raise his staff and divide the water so the Israelites can pass through the sea on dry ground. He raises his staff, and they pass through. Then night comes. At daybreak, the Lord tells Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea so the waters will come back into place. He does, and the water covers the Egyptians. The Israelites are finally done with their slavery and free from the Egyptians!
That was a very dramatic road trip! I hope you don’t have a road trip with an army in pursuit of you! The Israelites experience shows us that thoughts of faith and peace are helpful when difficulty comes up as you travel through life. Those thoughts help you get to the destination you hope for. Our lives are always moving in the direction of our strongest thoughts.
In college I studies languages and linguistics. I had a linguistic class where I did a project studying expletives, which are curse words. I think it’s funny because, of course you have to go to college to study curse words! How else would you understand them? In this project, I asked people questions like, “You accidentally hit your finger with a hammer. What do you say?” I learned some things about curse words from this survey. Like that women curse as much as men! There was one guy who had a really different answer from everyone else to the question, “Your car breaks down as you and your friend are on the way to a concert you have really been looking forward to. You won’t be able to make it to the concert. What do you say?” This guy answered, “Oh good, now I have more time to spend talking with and getting to know my friend.” There was no curse word in his answer. It turned out, he was a priest! I suspect he must have done some work on his thoughts to find gratitude in every moment. He could see a road trip where you never made it to your planned destination was still a good trip.
In our reading from 2 Corinthians 10 v. 5, the Apostle Paul says, “we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” It’s understandable to think negative thoughts in times of difficulty. It’s understandable, but it’s not helpful. We can change our thoughts e over time when we work on them. You can rewire your brain. The apostle Paul would say you renew your mind. He said, don’t be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. So, to renew your mind you pick just one negative thought that you have often. What is an inner dialogue that recurs in your head that takes you away from God? Maybe your negative thought is, “I’m no good at this, I don’t’ have what it takes!” If you tend to think you can’t, you probably won’t. Because our lives move in the direction of our strongest thoughts. But if you believe, if you have faith, you’re find some solutions! You’ll have even more faith!
Let’s say you have this thought, “I don’t have enough money.” Replace that thought with a more positive one: “I’m grateful. I thank God for what I have.” You say that to yourself. Pretty soon you start looking around at all the things you have to be grateful for. And then you feel gratitude. You see blessings everywhere! And you feel more blessed than ever!
So, the process is: you capture one negative thought. Work on that thought for maybe a year. This is a thought you want to be done with! What thought is holding you back? Is there a worry that pops into your head all the time? A thought that is focused too much on worldly things? A negative thought? You capture it.
The next step is to name a truth that will crush it: You replace, “I’m no good at my job,” with, “God has given me everything I need, every power, to accomplish this. God is with me; God is for me. He gives me the strength to do what he calls me to do. He has given me all the time I need to do what he calls me to do. I am who God says I am!” You capture that negative thought, and whenever you think it, you replace it with God’s truth. You don’t stay a prisoner to your thoughts. You are an overcomer through the power of God.
That’s what your homework is this week, to capture a negative thought and replace it with God’s truth. Do that over and over, every time that negative thought pops up in your head. Over time, you’re more positive, peaceful, and trusting in God.
Road trips can be an adventure! Life is too. You don’t know what trouble might arise. So, tune up your mind. God loves you more than you could ever imagine. The road ahead can be a different road, a little easier, when you say no to the “I was better off in slavery” thought. Life is better when you say no to the “Nothing good ever happens to me” thought. Be transformed. Take captive a negative thought and replace it with God’s truth. Find a new thought, to move your life in a new direction. Amen.
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