Tactical Errors

When I was in college, I wrote all of my papers with three other girls in the history department, and we quickly earned the nickname, "The Four Horsemen." I was War (which probably doesn't surprise anyone who knows me), because I talked a lot about tactics and plans of attack, etc. Reading my Bible today, I saw some interesting things.

God did not want His people traveling through the Philistine country, because they were not ready for battle; war would only encourage them to return to Egypt, where at least people weren't openly fighting them. God's alternative was to lead them into a clear trap--a strategically terrible physical layout.

Ex. 13:20-14:4 After leaving Succoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or by night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. Pharaoh will think, 'The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.' And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for Myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians wil know that I am the LORD." So the Israelites did this.

This is so interesting. God trumps all the gods of Egypt--absolutely slaughters them--with the ten plagues. God leads His people out with plunder from the land of Egypt; they are the richest escaped slaves ever. He stays with them day and night, with an obvious sign of His presence and care, and then He says, "Turn back. Put yourselves in danger. Back into a position from which there is no retreat and no escape, where the Egyptians can see you, and they will surely come to kill you. I intend to glorify Myself here." In any military situation, what the Israelites did would only be the last-ditch effort of an amateur strategist who had, quite frankly, lost it. Who, when given a chance to escape, turns back and intentionally puts himself into an impossible position? Tactically, this is the worst move ever. This is General Custer at the Little Bighorn. It's an invitation to hopeless slaughter. And many of the Israelites recognize this when they see Pharaoh's army drawn up in bristling array at the only possible exit from the area: "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 than to die in the desert!"

What I love here is that the LORD has a plan, even though He doesn't immediately articulate it for His people. He intends to turn the thing that makes escape impossible into the perfect escape route; the sea will become a highway, and the highway will become a grave for the Egyptian army. God put His people into an impossible situation because He wanted to do something impossible. What kinds of impossible things does God want to do in our lives? Are we willing to be put into a position of no retreat and no escape? "The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is His name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army He has hurled into the sea" (15:3-4a). What battles does our great Warrior God want to win in our lives? Are we willing to face certain failure to watch Him win miraculously?

O Father, I want to trust You like Moses.