SUNDAY SERMON: Between a rock & a hard place

By Rev. Stephen Baldwin,

OT: Exodus 14.19-31

NT: Matthew 18.21-35

Picture it with me. The Egyptian Army had finally caught up with Moses and the Israelites, who had been on the run in the desert for too long. They were stuck, with nowhere to go. Stuck between the wilderness filled with soldiers on one side and the sea on the other.

It had come to this after years of struggle, with the new pharaoh trying every method possible to ensnare the Israelites. He tried forced labor, killing the infants, and now brute military force. They had been on the run, while God reigned down plague after plague on Egypt–plagues of locusts, hail, and flies. The most ironic plague was the frogs. 

In Egypt, frogs were sacred creatures. One of the Egyptian gods bore the head of a frog, and Egyptians treated frogs with more respect than they treated the Israelite slaves. So God said, “You love frogs? Fine. Have a whole city full.” And reigned down frogs from the skies, covering every surface. This happened plague after plague. And it took a toll on the Egyptians. They were tired of fighting. 

So Moses took the people on the exodus out of Egypt. Exodus simply means “a way out.” They finally found a way out from underneath pharaoh’s thumb. 

At least they thought.  They left Egypt, following Moses into the wilderness.  They were no longer slaves, but they soon discovered they weren’t exactly free. Rustling in the bushes. Phantom footsteps. Egyptian troops followed them wherever they went, always lurking in the distance, always threatening to do them harm.  As they came closer to the sea, the troops also drew nearer. Until they cornered them with the sea on one side and the wilderness full of troops on the other side. It was check-mate. They had nowhere to go. 

We all know what happened next. Moses parted the sea. The Israelites escaped, and the waves crashed back down on the Egyptian soldiers as they chased behind. 

Lots of folks like to hypothesize about exactly what happened. Did Moses really part the sea, or was it actually a marshland that allowed people but not military chariots to pass through?  Did the water really make huge walls on each side of the people passing through, or did a random tsunami cause the water to briefly recede before returning to crush the soldiers?  

That matters less to me than the lesson we learn: At every turn when the journey to freedom seemed too far, God’s people were able to find a way out of no way.  

This is one of the lessons parents try each day to teach our children: That even when things don’t go your way, if you remain calm, you can find a solution. You can do hard things. You can think it through and find a way out of no way. Few lessons are any more important to teach children, a lesson God teaches his children as well. 

The Israelites were stuck between a rock and a hard place. They had to go somewhere, and yet they had nowhere to go on either side.

Between a rock and a hard place. Quite literally. 

In 2003, Aron Ralston was rock-climbing at Bluejohn Canyon in Utah. It was the kind of thing he did regularly as a 27-year old outdoor adventurist. But on this particular day, things went wrong. Terribly wrong. 

While climbing down a narrow passage in the rock face, he slipped. At the same time, an 800-pound boulder shifted. Aron’s wrist was pinched in between the boulder and the rock face. It trapped him there for the next five days. All he had was a water bottle, two burritos, and a dull knife. Between a rock and a hard place. 

What would you do in that situation? I would lose my ever-living mind. Seriously. I think I would die of a panic attack. But Aron kept calm and found a way out of no way. 

He broke his own arm, amputated it, repelled down a 65-foot wall, and hiked 6 miles back towards his car, before running into a family from the Netherlands that fed him and helped him to safety. I spared you many of the details of his story, but you can read his book or watch the movie 127 Hours if you’d like to learn the full story. 

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, he found a way out of no way. This is the lesson of the parting of the Red Sea. Many scholars argue that this story is the foundational story of the Old Testament. 

God hears the cries of those in need. God cares about everyone made in his image. God gets involved in the world. God makes a way out of no way. 

The story of the exodus and the parting of the Red Sea is a story about the nature of God. While that may have an affect on us, this story isn’t really about us. It’s about God. God will make things right. God will be active. God will make a way out of no way. 

Remember that when you are between a rock and a hard place. You are not alone. You are not out of options. God will make a way out of no way! Amen.