Follow the Leader

Exodus 13:17-22

Last summer Jess and I drove down to Florida to take the kids to Disney World. That is a long drive with two kids. In fact we took two nights to do it, one night in North Carolina, and one nigh in Savannah, GA. On the way back we decided to try and do it with only one night on the road. So we drove for hours straight through the day and late into the night. Sometime around midnight I believe we tried to find a hotel to stay in. What we didn’t know was that it was college football season in the Virginia area, and that virtually every hotel would be booked. So we kept driving and tried calling hotel after hotel trying to find a vacancy for miles, nothing. Finally it turns to around 2am. As you can imagine we are both extremely tired, the kids are sound asleep, and it is pitch black outside. I could barely keep my eyes open. Something needed to be done. I turn to Jess and say, ‘Here is the plan. We find a Starbucks at a rest stop and get a large caffeinated ice coffee. You drive for an hour and let me get a short nap. After that, I’m going to go ahead and just drive straight through the night. It may not sound very good, but we have no other choice. But before we do that, let’s pray and call one more hotel.”

So we pray, we are both tired and upset, and we try one last place. You guessed it, vacancy. We had called dozens of places before that. Thank God. Something became evident to me on that ride back. God was leading us the whole way. He allowed us to sweat a little, just to test how we would act. Just to see if we really trusted him throughout this journey. But the whole time, he was going before us.

Friends, How does God lead us, his people? How does he guide and direct his people? Turn with me if you will in your Bibles to Exodus 13:17-22.

Let us examine together how God’s leads us.

I. God sometimes leads his people by surprising detours (17-18)

Consider where “God did not lead them…” We read that God specifically did not lead them through the Philistine country. Now if you are trying to get to Israel from Egypt, that would be the road to take. Or so you would think. It was a whole lot shorter, 4 or 5 days. Instead God takes them around by the desert toward the Red Sea. So instead of taking them 4 or 5 days to get to where they are going, it takes them 40 years! So imagine you are trying to get from Boston to Los Angeles. You have two choices, you can take the shortcut, and drive down to Logan Airport, and fly out there in a matter of hours. Or you can take the scenic route and walk there wandering around the US for the next 40 years. You would think that was a no brainer, but God had different plans.

Consider with me for a moment where God has not lead you. Look back on your life and think for a moment. Think about the person you almost married but didn’t. God did not lead you there. Think about jobs you almost took but eventually felt lead not to. God did not lead you there. Think about the number of bad decisions you just about made but by God’s grace didn’t. God did not lead you there. Isn’t it amazing that decisions we made 10 or 20 years ago have shaped who we are today? Consider where God does not lead you. Step by step God has directed you in certain ways to shape who you are.

The reason why he lead Israel away from the short road is that direction would lead them into sin. If they went the short road they would face war, and would return as slaves back to Egypt. So, instead he takes them the long way to mold and shape them on the journey. For 40 years in the desert God was molding Israel. Sometimes that is why God has us take the long road. To protect us and mold us. God is not just interested merely in where we are trying to go. God is also interested in how we get there. He is also interested in the process.

This is true of us individually. And this is true of us as a church. Thinking about when we face big decisions, like with the building for example. God is not just interested in the outcome. He is interested in the process, whether we will seek first the kingdom; whether we will genuine seek him in prayer; whether or not we will be faithful even through difficulties; whether or not we will work together and be the church.

When you think about it, we will never really be at our final destination. Even when Israel returned to their land, they still had new challenges, new problems, and new adventures to go through. The same is true of us, even if we had a surplus budget, a perfectly restored building, a growing congregation, we will still not have arrived. We will still have new challenges, new problems, and new adventures. The question is how are we doing on the journey? How is God shaping and molding us through it all? God leads us sometimes through surprising detours.


II. God leads his people by His Promises (19)

God not only leads his people by his surprising detours, he leads them by his promises. Look at verse 19.

Why is this little section about carrying Joseph’s bones in here? Does that throw you off? Is that sort of like a useless aside? Doesn’t have anything to do with God leading Israel, but Moses wanted to throw it in.

It demonstrates a trust in God’s promises. God promised that Israel would eventually leave Egypt and come back to their land. So that even Joseph 400 years before they left Egypt, asked that his body be brought back when God fulfills his promise. He knew he could trust God’s promise. He could stake on that promise. God knew the end from the beginning and promised Israel that they will return. Think about Israel looking at the box of Joseph’s bones year after year for 400 years knowing that God would eventually bring them home. He gave his word. He made a promise.

It also shows the Israelites trust in the promise of the resurrection. The people of Israel took extreme care for the physical body even after death. The reason why is, they knew God will raise the dead. Now, they weren’t stupid, they know that the body decays, and eventually it will turn to dust, even the bones in time. God can raise his people from the dead, even from dust. He made us from dust once, he can do it again. But even still because God is the creator of the body, and the body will eventually be raised, the greatest respect should be given to the body even after death because the promise of resurrection.


God’s promises are always trustworthy. You and I make and break promises all the time. God doesn’t. Ever. If you want to know how God leads, look to his promises. They are like stakes in the ground that you can hold on to. They don’t move.

We need to know what God promises and what he does not promise. God does not promise health and wealth and prosperity. He does not promise a wonderful marriage and a great job, a big house with a dog and a cat in the yard. Search the Scriptures from beginning to end, and you will never see that promise.

Sometimes you will hear someone say “I can’t trust God, because he let my down. I lost my job and my marriage is falling apart.” That has nothing to do with trusting God. God may give you those things. It may be his leading for you to be married and to have a job you love. But never does he promise them. In fact God clearly says there will be trials and struggles and suffering. God’s sovereign over the journey, he’s in control of the global mapping system, but he never said it was going to be an easy go-lucky journey.

What does God promise? He promises grace and forgiveness for our sins through faith in Christ. He promises the Holy Spirit to comfort and sanctify us. He promises eternal life and resurrection. He promises that there can be joy in the midst of suffering and hope in the midst of trials. Those are promises that you can stake your life on. Study the Scriptures to know what God promises.

But friends, how amazing it is that we do have God’s promises to trust in. God sees the whole picture, he sees the end from the beginning, he knows where we are going before we even know we are going. His promises are trustworthy. He is leading us in a very specific direction to a very specific destination. Follow his leading by knowing his promises.


III. God leads his people by his Presence (20-22)

There used to be this old bumper sticker that said, “God is my co-pilot.” Then they came out with another bumper sticker that said, “If God is your co-pilot, switch seats.”

Look at verses 20-22. The pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire were physical representations of God’s presence. There is a big word used to describe this, it is called a theophany. There are times in Scripture where God reveals himself using some temporary image (Burning Bush, Ark of Covenant, Dove, etc)

Why the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire? Because they show God’s care. The cloud would block the hot desert sun during the day, and the fire would give light and warmth to the cool dark night.

But notice how God leads. The cloud and fire never leave them: while they ate, slept, or walked. God’s presence never leaves his people. He leads them by his own presence with his people. He’s not sitting in the control room up in Heaven somewhere, he’s the pilot. He is present with his people. He leads by his presence. To lead by presence is different and more powerful than leading merely by directions.

If you go flying on a Boeing 747, you are going to want to have a pilot with you. Or to take another example, if you go trekking through the Amazon jungle, you are going to want a guide with you. That is how God leads his people, with his own presence.

There are few leaders that people trust more than doctors. I can remember when Jess and I had Isaac, I was only 22 years old, and Jess and I had only been married for 1 year. We arrived at the hospital and they induced her into labor. I don’t know about you, but that is a pretty intense situation. I didn’t know anything about having a baby. I went through that short little class with Jessica, and we had those videos in High School that made everyone feel uncomfortable, but that’s about it. As we waited hour after hour for the time to come, things get a bit crazy. And the doctor doesn’t come until your pretty close to ready. Instead, you get a nurse assigned to you. Now the way it worked with our nurses is we ended up having three of them over the 14 hours or so of labor. For us, they got progressively better. The last nurse was great. The first one was new, and not the most friendly, and she didn’t seem very competent. So as time goes on Jess’ labor is getting stronger and stronger. She is in more and more pain. I’m trying to stay calm. And the nurse doesn’t seem to know what she is doing.

Finally the Doctor comes in. Doctor Weiner. He yells out a couple of orders to the nurse, does a couple of medical things to Jess, and says a couple of humorous words to me. And wow, what a feeling of relief. The Doctor is here. And as some of you know we ended up with some complications and we had an emergency C-section. But the Doctor was there to lead us through the whole process.

Now, I’m sure that the nurses were probably more competent than I gave them credit for. But there was something about having the doctor present. The one who knows what’s going on, the one who has done this hundreds of times, the one who is skilled, trained, gifted, to do this very thing. That was leadership.

That is how God lead Israel in the desert. Now, what does this have to do with today? I mean we don’t have a pillar of cloud directing us, or a pillar of fire telling us what to do next? How is God present with us today?

The cloud and the fire were just a shadow of God’s most stunning theophany to come. God’s presence was shown in Christ and his incarnation as the ultimate theophany! Christ was the image of the invisible God, the actual presence of God with us in human flesh. And as Christ died for us and rose from the dead, his promise is that he would be with us, by His Spirit forever.

You know what the goal of a church is? To follow the leader. It’s not to get complicated with numerous strategies and methods. It is not to rely on specific programs and unique ministries. It is not to try and be as attractive and appealing as we can to the culture. It is much simpler than that. It’s to follow the leader. Where is God leading us? What is God calling us to? What is God doing among us? What detour is he calling us to? What does he promise in his Word?



God leads his people by surprising detours. God leads his people by global mapping. God leads his people as the pilot. God leads his people.

I started getting into rock-climbing. One thing I learned is that if you are going on a serious climb, let’s say 400 feet in the air on steep rock wall. Perhaps the most important thing is to follow the leader. The leader is going to be the one with the experience. He is the one with the right tools. He is the one who has you in mind as you go. As the leader climbs, he will decide the path that everyone should take. It may be that he will take you on a detour that you don’t understand. Maybe he is trying to avoid a section of rock wall that is impossible to climb. Maybe he is trying to take you in a direction that has a ledge to take break. But he knows something you don’t.

He is the one who has studied the mountain and knows where to wedge stakes in the mountain. Stakes that you will need to trust in. If you fall it is those stakes that will need to hold your rope. Without them you will not only fall but will take everyone with you.

And finally he is the one who you have to trust. He will tell you what you need to do. You can ask him questions, let him know if your stuck. Let him figure things out for you. Because he’s the leader and he is right there with you.

We as Christians need to follow the leader. We need to recognize the detours God may be calling us to. I don’t have any in mind. But it may happen. Even when a certain direction seems to be the shorter direction, God may still be calling us to another direction. He is more interested in the process than merely the destination.

It means we need to trust promises. God is sovereign. He knows everything. He is in control. Look to his promises and stake in them. Study the Scriptures with an eye to God’s promises. Know where to stake your life. What does he actually promise, and what are things that he may or may not give.

And finally we need to look to his Presence. He is present with us. His Spirit is real and truly with us. The church a congregation lead by God’s Spirit. He has given us His Word, he has given us pastors and elders, but he Himself is also present with us. Let us faithfully follow the leader.