13:17-14:31- Sin may be ‘near’, but God never leads His people into it (13:17, James 1:13). Following Christ means walking a narrow road (Matthew 7:13-14). We are surrounded by many temptations. Pray that your feet will not slip (Psalm 37:31; 17:5; 44:18). Sometimes, the Lord leads us ‘by way of the wilderness’- a way of apparent fruitlessness. Why? - So that ‘equipped for battle’, we might learn to serve Him better (13:18). The Lord does not leave His people in the wilderness. Pursued by their enemies (the Egyptians), they were guided by the ‘cloud’and ‘fire’(13:21-22). God was with them, and He was about to reveal His saving power in a mighty way (13-14). There is judgment as well as salvation (30). Looking to neither the ‘right’nor the ‘left’, we must look to the Lord (14:21-22). Rejoicing in ‘the great work’He has done, our faith ‘in the Lord’grows strong (31).

Exodus 13:17-22 and Exodus 14:1-31