I Know that I Know that I Know

GETTING STARTED

There is a difference between knowing and KNOWING. We can know intellectually that something is true, but it is often not until we experience reality that we really KNOW it. Today’s passage is the outward expression of praise and declaration of God’s people following the work of God on their behalf. It is a picture of what can happen in the heart of God’s children when they move from knowing to KNOWING.

  • In what ways have you seen or experienced the work of God in your life? How has it changed your life and relationship to God?

READ THE WORD: EXODUS 15:1-21 (ESV)

15:1 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying,
“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation;
this is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3 The Lord is a man of war;
the Lord is his name.
4  “Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea,
and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
5 The floods covered them;
they went down into the depths like a stone.
6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power,
your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.
7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries;
you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.
8 At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up;
the floods stood up in a heap;
the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.
I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’
10 You blew with your wind; the sea covered them;
they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
11  “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
12 You stretched out your right hand;
the earth swallowed them.
13 “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed;
you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
14 The peoples have heard; they tremble;
pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
15 Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed;
trembling seizes the leaders of Moab;
all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
16 Terror and dread fall upon them;
because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone,
till your people, O Lord, pass by,
till the people pass by whom you have purchased.
17 You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain,
the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode,
the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.
18 The Lord will reign forever and ever.”

19 For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them:
“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”

English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

DIGGING DEEPER

  1. Identify all the works attributed to God in this passage.
  2. What are the character traits of God mentioned in this passage?
  3. What did the people experience of God’s relationship toward them? What was their response, and what was their outlook about the future?
  4. In what ways has your knowledge of God become KNOWING God? How does that change your experience of life?

RESPOND TO GOD

“The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea” (vss. 1, 21). This refrain serves as a testimony to Israel that God is powerful, good, majestic, eternal, and full of steadfast love. And more importantly, the people have now experienced that God is on their side. They are the people that the LORD has chosen and redeemed. This one event teaches the people an enormous amount about the character and nature of their God. They had heard about it, and saw it from afar, but now they KNOW.

  • Ask God to help your relationship with him grow deeper, from knowing about him to experiencing him.
  • Pray that God will give you the ability to understand his greatness and character.