Exodus 15:1 – Let us willingly and freely exalt our Lord

In Exodus 14, Moses described the mighty deliverance of God. How He took them out of the clutches of Pharaoh was indeed marvellous. No man could have done that. After 400 some years of hard, painful labour, the Israelites were free at last. The last verse of Exodus 14 said, “When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses.” They could see that the God who had delivered them was not an ordinary God. How could the people stay still and remain unmoved in such a great moment? Of course not! So, Moses burst out into a song telling of God’s greatness and the people responded.  

Singing had always been a key activity of the creation of God. It was a common practice to sing praises to Him. Throughout the Bible, we could see that both angels and saints would sing to our glorious God in grateful response to His greatness. For example, Job 28:7 implied that the angels of God, described as the morning stars and the sons of God, shouted for joy. Yes, the angels of God sang and are still singing in the presence of God. In Revelations 15, there was a scene in heaven that John saw and he put it this way in verses 2-4: “And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,

“Great and marvellous are Your works,
O Lord God, the Almighty;
Righteous and true are Your ways,
King of the nations!
“Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy;
For all the nations will come and worship before You,
For Your righteous acts have been revealed.””

Over in the New Testament, we can see that angels, who first appeared to announce the birth of Christ, also sang. In Luke 1:46-53 Mary, the earthly mother of our Lord, recognising her supernatural conception, burst out singing exuberantly of the Lord in the great Magnificat. These and others in the Bible left us in no doubt that the God we worship deserved to be praised. And the singing of His greatness is one of the best ways to ascribe praises to this glorious God.

The song Moses and the people of Israel sang is captured in Exodus 15. It describes the great things God had done. Like Mary’s Magnificat, this poetical song leaves no doubt of God’s greatness and the great things that He had done for the children of Israel. It was the Lord who had done marvellously. How? By hurling the enemy into the sea. The song Moses and the Israelites sang summarises the whole experience of the rescue operation God had carried out to take them out of the clutches of Pharaoh. As it shall require time to slowly digest this song, we will dwell on just the first verse today. It says, “I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; the horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea.” Throughout life, we will soon learn that the destruction of the enemy in our life is always at God’s initiation. But the praise we offer to Him must be a matter of our will and willing response. It must be out of our free will that we offer our praise. Let us never forget to respond to God in gratitude, and respond to Him freely and sing of His praise. As we consider His love and how He through Christ has lavished His love and rescued us, let us forever willingly sing of the praises of our Exalted LORD, and of His love and greatness!