Exodus 14

Exodus 14:13-15

Playing The Game Stand still. … Go forward.—Exodus 14:13; Exodus 14:15.The other Sunday I asked a class of school boys what sort of boy they admired most. Immediately came the answer—“A fellow who plays the game.” I asked what they meant, and one replied, “Please, it means being straight.”“Being straight” takes in a great deal, but not all that “playing the game” implies. A boy who was a great favorite at school failed in an examination. He was very down-hearted, for he had hoped to come out well. His teacher felt sorry for him.

He did not say, “Cheer up: you’ll do better next time,” however; he just looked and said, “Play the game, son.” You have an idea what he meant, haven’t you?In today’s text Moses is telling the children of Israel to “play the game.” The Israelites had set out from Egypt believing that God would help them when they met with difficulties. But when they actually did come across the difficulties, they immediately forgot their faith.

They lost heart and upbraided Moses, crying, “It would have been better for us to have gone on serving the Egyptians than to die in this wilderness. Why did you not leave us alone?”You think the children of Israel were stupid and cowardly, don’t you? You must remember that for many generations they had been just poor downtrodden slaves in Egypt. And slaves have no spirit.It takes a free man to have true courage. Moses knew all this; he was sorry for the frightened and perplexed men and women.In a very gentle way the great leader said, “Play the game.” “Fear ye not, stand still. . . . The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” He knew how much God had already been to the children of Israel: and he knew what it was to play the game by standing still.

He had learned to do that at the back of the wilderness, when he had fled from the king of Egypt.But God let Moses know that in this case he must be something else than gentle. “Why do you keep praying?” “Wherefore criest thou unto me?” were God’s words. “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward”Do you think it is possible to “play the game” by standing still? Do you think a soldier in war time could do it?

He could. During World War I when rations had to be conveyed to the men at the front, no light had to be shown: to strike even a match might have meant death. A non-commissioned officer said to his men engaged in this hazardous task: “Whenever a searchlight is turned on you, or the country is lit up by a flare or a star shell, stand perfectly still. It’s movement that gives the show away. Keep still, and they’ll think you’re a bush, or a tree. But as sure as you move, you’re a deader.”But it is by going forward that a real soldier generally has to play the game. “What does it feel like to be in a charge?” someone asked a Gordon Highlander. “I just put my hand over my eyes,” he answered, “and asked God to help me to do my duty like a man.

We rose up and ran forward a little way, and then fell flat while the bullets and shrapnel flew over us like hail: then on again.”This is what someone has written about “playing the game” on the cricket field, on the battlefield, and on the greater field of life.There’s a breathless hush in the Close tonight—Ten to make and the match to win—A bumping pitch and a blinding light,An hour to play and the last man in.And it’s not for the sake of a ribboned coat,Or the selfish hope of a season’s fame,But his Captain’s hand on his shoulder smote—“Play up! play up! and play the game!”The sand of the desert is sodden red,—Red with the wreck of a square that broke;—The Gatling’s jammed and the Colonel dead,And the regiment blind with dust and smoke.The river of death has brimmed his banks,And England’s far, and Honor a name,But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the ranks:“Play up! play up! and play the game!”This is the word that year by year,While in her place the School is set,Every one ïf her sons must hear,And none that hears it dare forget.This they all with a joyful mindBear through life like a torch in flame,And falling fling to the host behind—“Play up! play up! and play the game!”(Henry Newbolt, Poems New and Old, p. 78.)That is like the game of life. You have just started on it, boys and girls, and you were not made for failure.

Someone wants to be your Captain. He is the greatest leader that ever was in the world. With His hand on the shoulder of each one of you He is saying, “Play the game.” If you yield yourselves to His leadership, you are sure of “getting there” in the end.He may tell you to “stand still.” If so, ask Him to help you to do that bravely. To most of you He will say, “Go forward.” I like best to think of you doing that, and, at the last, calling to those coming up behind—“Play up! play up! and play the game!”

Exodus 14:21

Children Of The East Wind A strong east wind.—Exodus 14:21.Today it is the turn of the children of the East wind.Now, I wonder if you have noticed that when you mention the East wind people have very little good to say about it? “That nasty, biting wind!” they exclaim. “It chills you through and through; it makes all your bones ache; it brings colds and all sorts of horrid troubles with it!”Well, there are two sides to every question—a good side, and a bad side; and we are going to look at both sides of the East wind. It has its faults, and we are ready to admit them, but we are going to try and find out its good points also.

1. The thing that strikes one first about this wind is its blighting power. In Palestine the East wind is dry and scorching. It blows from the desert and it withers the corn, and destroys the fruit. The Bible often speaks of this blighting power of the East wind. You remember, for instance, how Pharaoh in his dream saw seven thin ears of corn “blasted by the east wind.” It seems rather odd to think of an East wind being hot, does it not? We are accustomed to regard it as a bitterly cold wind. But the reason why it is cold here is that it comes to us chiefly in Spring, and it comes across the frozen plains of Russia.But here is a strange thing. Although the East wind in Palestine is burning hot, and the East wind in Britain is bitterly cold, in both places it has very much the same effect—it blights and destroys young plants. Last Spring I planted out some sweet-peas. For a week or two they looked strong and sturdy.

Then came a few days of wind blowing from the East, and when I went to look at the sweet-peas their poor leaves were all yellow and shriveled by the cruel blast. You would have thought some creature had got at their roots and had been gnawing their life away.Some people are very like the East wind.

They blight and destroy a great deal of happiness in the world by their tempers and their tongues. There are those who say cutting things with intent to wound; there are those who say biting things in an attempt to be clever; and there are those who insist upon telling unpleasant truths in the most unpleasant way.Now I want to say this to the East-wind people. I don’t think you mean half you say. I think very often you speak in the heat of the moment, and you don’t realize the harm you are doing. But remember your unkind words may rankle and wound long after you have forgotten them. The tongue is a terrible weapon. It can inflict mortal injuries. It can separate lifelong friends, and cause problems in the family.

Some day you may wake to find that by your bitter words you have blighted the happiness of someone you love very dearly.Now St. James tells us that “the tongue can no man tame.” He says that “every kind of beasts and birds, of creeping things and things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed by mankind: but the tongue can no man tame.” Well, it is true that no other man can tame your tongue for you, but you can tame it for yourself. You will have a hard fight, and sometimes it will seem as if this wild beast were conquering you instead of your conquering it, but if Jesus is on your side you are sure to win in the end, for He has won the victory over all our enemies.2. Perhaps you think I have been rather hard on the East wind, so now I am going to say something nice about it. Have you noticed that the East wind often brings us bright sunshine? We have got so used to discussing its faults that we sometimes forget the good things it does.

It comes to us when the ground is sodden with the winter snow and rain, and it dries the soil so that the farmer can get his seed sown. It helps us to forget its own bitterness by the bright sunshine it brings.Do you know, East-wind people, you have a great power in you to bring sunshine into the world?

Your tongues have been employed in saying cutting, cruel things. Why not use them in being witty in a kind way? Why not employ them to defend the right in the face of evil? Why not train them to say kind things that will warm people’s hearts?Once a famous clergyman—the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher—came across a little ragged newsboy standing shivering at the edge of the pavement. He went up to him and said, “Poor little fellow! Aren’t you very cold?” And the boy replied, “I was, sir, before you spoke to me.” The kind words had made him feel almost warm again.Try to put the sunshine of a smile into all you say and do.

It will make things easier, and it will make the world brighter.Sometimes along our East coasts the East wind brings a thick mist. If you go inland a few miles you will find the sun shining brightly, but the people along the coast cannot see the sunshine for the mist.

East-wind people often hide their own good qualities behind a cold mist. Get rid of the mist, dear East- wind people! Let us see the glorious Spring sunshine which you bring! For the world has need of all its sunshine. (The texts of the other sermons in this series are Exodus 10:19 Ezekiel 1:4, Acts 27:13.)