Opening Questions and Prayer
What’s your favorite worship song and why?
How do songs help us connect emotionally to situations?
What song best describes your life right now?
Thank God for giving us music and songs to connect with Him. Ask Him to guide your time together as you study His Word.
Read Exodus 15:1-5 NLT
1 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord:
“I will sing to the Lord,
for he has triumphed gloriously;
he has hurled both horse and rider
into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has given me victory.
This is my God, and I will praise him—
my father’s God, and I will exalt him!
3 The Lord is a warrior;
Yahweh is his name!
4 Pharaoh’s chariots and army
he has hurled into the sea.
The finest of Pharaoh’s officers
are drowned in the Red Sea.
5 The deep waters gushed over them;
they sank to the bottom like a stone.
What caused the Israelites to burst into song?
What are some characteristics of God they are worshipping in this song?
When is it easiest for you to worship the Lord?
What are some things that make it difficult for you to worship God at times?
Read Exodus 15:6-10
6 “Your right hand, O Lord,
is glorious in power.
Your right hand, O Lord,
smashes the enemy.
7 In the greatness of your majesty,
you overthrow those who rise against you.
You unleash your blazing fury;
it consumes them like straw.
8 At the blast of your breath,
the waters piled up!
The surging waters stood straight like a wall;
in the heart of the sea the deep waters became hard.
9 “The enemy boasted, ‘I will chase them
and catch up with them.
I will plunder them
and consume them.
I will flash my sword;
my powerful hand will destroy them.’
10 But you blew with your breath,
and the sea covered them.
They sank like lead
in the mighty waters.
How do the lyrics of this song describe the Lord?
How had the Lord rescued the Israelites from their enemies and adversity?
What are some things the Lord has rescued you from?
What do you do to remember how He rescued while moving forward in your relationship with Him?
Read Exodus 15:11-19
11 “Who is like you among the gods, O Lord—
glorious in holiness,
awesome in splendor,
performing great wonders?
12 You raised your right hand,
and the earth swallowed our enemies.
13 “With your unfailing love you lead
the people you have redeemed.
In your might, you guide them
to your sacred home.
14 The peoples hear and tremble;
anguish grips those who live in Philistia.
15 The leaders of Edom are terrified;
the nobles of Moab tremble.
All who live in Canaan melt away;
16 terror and dread fall upon them.
The power of your arm
makes them lifeless as stone
until your people pass by, O Lord,
until the people you purchased pass by.
17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain—
the place, O Lord, reserved for your own dwelling,
the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.
18 The Lord will reign forever and ever!”
19 When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and charioteers rushed into the sea, the Lord brought the water crashing down on them. But the people of Israel had walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground!
Through the miracle that the Israelites just witnessed, what aspects of God do they now see that they didn’t see before?
Looking back in your own life, when were some moments of great spiritual triumph that showed you a different aspect of who the Lord is?
When we worship the Lord how can emotions impact our worship positively?
Negatively?
Read Exodus 15:20-21
20 Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine and led all the women as they played their tambourines and danced. 21 And Miriam sang this song:
“Sing to the Lord,
for he has triumphed gloriously;
he has hurled both horse and rider
into the sea.”
How did Miriam step up and lead in this moment of worship?
Who is the Lord calling you to lead into worship?
What holds you back from leading others into the presence of Jesus?
What is God calling you to do this week to throw off that stuff that holds you back?
Read Exodus 15:22-27
22 Then Moses led the people of Israel away from the Red Sea, and they moved out into the desert of Shur. They traveled in this desert for three days without finding any water. 23 When they came to the oasis of Marah, the water was too bitter to drink. So they called the place Marah (which means “bitter”).
24 Then the people complained and turned against Moses. “What are we going to drink?” they demanded. 25 So Moses cried out to the Lord for help, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. Moses threw it into the water, and this made the water good to drink.
It was there at Marah that the Lord set before them the following decree as a standard to test their faithfulness to him. 26 He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.”
27 After leaving Marah, the Israelites traveled on to the oasis of Elim, where they found twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there beside the water.
After this great moment of worship, how was the Israelites faith tested?
How did they respond to that test?
Even in their complaining, how did the Lord provide for the Israelites?
How has the Lord provided for you recently, even when you may have grumbled and complained?
When you worship the Lord, how can you make sure that it’s not based solely on feelings and emotions, but also on a deep trust and faith of who the Lord truly is?
How does what we see around us, sometimes get in the way of our worship of the Lord?
See 2 Corinthians 5:7: For we live by believing and not by seeing.
What is one way you can live by believing in the Lord’s truth this week, and not just by what you see happening in the world around you?
Memorize it!
Exodus 15:11- “Who is like you among the gods, O Lord— glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, performing great wonders?
Closing thoughts and Prayer
Often, just like the Israelites, how we feel in the moment affects how we feel towards and worship the Lord. In today’s reading we see the Israelites having an awesome moment of bursting into song and worshipping the Lord for rescuing them and saving them from the hands of their enemies. Then three days later they are thirsty and now they are frustrated with Moses because God hasn’t helped them. If we worship solely based on emotions, our spiritual life will be very inconsistent. Jesus wants us to worship in spirit (emotions, feelings) and truth (the stability of a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever). The Lord has given us emotions and feelings in order to enter into a deeper worship of who He is.
Pray that the Lord would show you some areas of your life that you are allowing emotions and feelings to control the situation, instead of relying on Him. Spend time thanking the Lord for emotions and feelings.
End your time praying for our country, the leaders, and for the leaders in the church.