Will you enter your “Promised Land”? 4 Revealing Questions will tell you.

Just like the Israelites in the Old Testament, you have a “promised land” from God. For some, the “promised land” may be a physical location you long to move to; for others, it may be a dream job; for another, it may be a relationship or, another, a breakthrough. It is different for all. But what we all have in common is that we have promises from God we long to see fulfilled. 

But for every promised land, there is a Pharaoh who does not want to let you get there. 

You have a choice, to take a risk and venture out towards the promised land God has for you, or to “play it safe,” stay in Egypt, and submit to the Pharaoh so that he doesn’t get upset. 

Today, rather than points, I have four questions for you that I hope help reveal if you are currently walking in faith towards God’s promise or if you are trying to play it safe and remain in Egypt. 

Question 1: Will we face Pharaoh with God?

Let’s look at Exodus chapter 14. Recently, Moses led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt. God showed up in signs and wonders, overthrew the power of the Pharaoh, and set the Jewish people free. 

Now Moses is leading around 600,000 people through the desert to the promised land. It is at this moment that the Pharaoh has a change of heart. He decides to chase Israel and either re-enslave or kill them.

At this moment, Moses has to decide how to lead the people to escape Pharaoh. Then God speaks to him. 

Exodus 14:1 “Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea.” 

God gives Moses an exact location. Migdol is Egyptian for the word “tower” and was a fortress. Pi-hahiroth was the land right in front of it. 

In other words, God’s divine strategy for defeating the Pharaoh was “turn back” and camp outside the Pharaoh’s stronghold. 

 In other words, “turn back, face Pharaoh.” 

If that wasn’t enough, God told the people to camp “facing Baal-Zephon.” Baal- Zephon was a mountain across the other side of the Red Sea. Baal- Zephon means “the lord Typhon” and was a sacred mountain that supposedly housed the Egyptian god, who was in charge of the ocean, and the winds.

God was saying for the people to trap themselves between the ocean and a military stronghold in Egypt, where the enemy god was supposed to be the strongest!

This seems illogical and dangerous. Why would God tell the people to turn back toward the enemy? 

I believe that one reason was that He wanted to show the people that He was stronger than any enemy god and that the fortress of his arms was safer than any enemy fortress. 

He wanted to show that we can overcome any obstacle with simple faith in Him and obedience to Him. 

Is it a financial stronghold that seems impossible? Is it a relationship that you are convinced will never heal? Is it an addiction you are running from?

Whatever your Pharaoh is, are you willing to face it with God? Or will you run from the pain, never willing to take on your Pharaoh with the Lord?

Our most significant breakthroughs are on the other side of our greatest obstacles. God is asking you today, will you keep running from your fear, or will you turn back and face it with me?

Question 2: What comes out of you when Pharaoh draws near?

Exodus 14: 10 And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.

11 Then they said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us, to bring us up out of Egypt? 12 Is this not the word that we told you in Egypt, saying, ‘Let us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness.”

Notice what happened “when the Pharaoh drew near.” The people turned on Moses. They forgot about all the miracles they saw in Egypt and instead listened to their insecurities of the moment. 

Look at what came out of their mouth. 

Accusation- “Have you taken us away to die…” They accused Moses of purposefully taking them out to the desert. 

I told you so- “Is this not the word that we told you...” We asked you to let us stay in Egypt! We told you this would happen! It’s your fault! 

Would have– “It would have been better…” Things would have been so much better if you didn’t do this, Moses! 

Pharaohs are great revealers of our faith. First, God will give us a promise. Then He will allow Pharoah to appear to challenge the promise, revealing what is actually inside us, faith or fear. 

When stress comes, fear strikes and things start to fall apart, what comes out of your mouth?

Do you start accusing others? Do you begin claiming “I told you so” to people or saying, “I knew this wouldn’t work!” Do you start to create an imaginary “it would have been better if” situation? 

These are all signs that we walk in fear, not faith. 

God knows that if we are to hold on to the promised land He gives us, Pharaoh cannot have a grip on us. One reason He lets Pharaoh draw near is to expose what’s inside of us and break it off of us. 

God took the enslaved people out of Egypt, but they still were enslaved in their hearts to fear of their former master Pharaoh. So the only way to show them that their old master had no power over them anymore was to get them to face him and prove that God was stronger. 

How we act when Pharaoh appears tells more about our faith than anything else. It exposes what we genuinely believe about God and ourselves. 

Notice what came out of Moses when Pharaoh appeared. 

13 And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

When Pharaoh drew near, Moses confessed the promises God gave him. Moses did not allow the moment’s stress to get him but focused on the truth that “the Lord will fight for you,” and he held on to peace.

Question 3:  Do you believe the Lord will fight for you?

When times are good, confessing that God will fight for us is easy. But what do you confess when the battle seems impossible? Even then, when you are at the end of your rope, and Pharoah is about to win, will you proclaim that Pharaoh is too strong, or will you hold on to your peace and confess, “the Lord will fight for me.”

15 And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. 16 But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

God told the people to stop crying and start moving forward. But wait, they were stuck between the ocean and the Egyptian fortress Migdol and surrounded by the Egyptian army. Which way is forward?

Remember how he said to face Baal-Zephon? The mountain across the sea? That means if they were facing the ocean, then moving forward meant to start walking into the sea. 

The dry land only appeared in the water once the people started to walk forward into it. The people had nothing except for a promise. “Walk where I told you, and land will appear.”

Question 4: When all is lost, will you still go forward? 

Do we only move forward when it makes sense? Do we only move forward when the enemy is gone? Or will we trust God, even when surrounded?

Exo 14:21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea,….And as the Egyptians fled into it, the LORD threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

The very obstacle of the enemy became an obstacle for the enemy. The very ocean that trapped them, was used by God to deliver them and trap the enemy.

What if the very thing the enemy wants to use to defeat you is the thing God uses to deliver you?

If you are close to the promise land, chances are there is a Pharaoh trying to stop you. But you can overcome him!

Let these questions help reveal if you are facing your Pharaoh, or running from him.

Question 1: Will we face Pharaoh with God?

Question 2: What comes out of you when Pharaoh draws near?

Question 3:  Do you believe the Lord will fight for you?

Question 4: When all is lost, will you still go forward? 

What do you think? What are some Pharaohs in your life you are overcoming with Jesus?