Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“They cried out to the Lord, and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt?”…
“The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”
Exodus 14: 11, 14 (NLT)
I wonder what that day was like as Moses and the Israelites stood there on the banks of the Red Sea waiting for what seemed to be an inevitable and tragic fate to occur. I suspect it was a lot like today—sunny and beautiful with just a touch of breeze in the air, even though maybe a bit sandy, and with storms forecast for later.
Their journey to that day and to that point on the banks of the Red Sea had begun when Moses was led by God to go to the Pharaoh of Egypt and demand that he let God’s people go, to free them from slavery. It didn’t happen, and so one thing led to another and the Lord sent one plague after another—ten plagues in all—upon the Egyptian people until the Pharaoh finally relented and told Moses to take the Israelites and go. Now. Quickly.
And so Moses led approximately two million people (the scripture says there were 600,000 men alone—not including women and children) out of Egypt on an Exodus into the desert and toward the Promised Land. But then Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds and realized what they had done—that by letting the Israelites go they had lost their services as slaves.
And so with all the chariots of Egypt, Pharaoh and his officers pursued Moses and the Israelites to bring them back to Egypt. And as they came upon the Israelites on the bank of the Red Sea, the Israelites, seeing them approaching, began to sing their usual song of dismay—
“Woe is me, Moses why did you do this to us, we’re going to die right here in the desert. Look what’s happening—look who’s right behind us. Let’s go back to Egypt—at least there we know what we have—we’re slaves but we’re alive. It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
God had led them by a cloud in the day and a pillar of fire at night, out of slavery, had fed them and cared for them, but you’d never know it.
Moses stood there; he had done all he could do, and was left with the only thing he had—trust in the Lord.
But then the Lord does what the Lord always does—He reached down to pick His children up out of what they were facing. And the Red Sea parted and His people crossed safely, and as the Egyptians started after them the wind stopped and the waters went back into the sea and Moses and the Israelites were saved.
Here’s the neat thing about all of that—the Lord’s still doing that today. We may not notice it in the dramatic parting of an actual sea or ocean. But I wouldn’t put it past my God to do just that, so maybe we will see it sometime—the actual parting of a sea or an ocean—I just haven’t seen it yet.
But we do see it in events and moments occurring everyday where God continues to lead us, to bring people around us who with Him help us to make a way through whatever is before us.
There we stand—on the banks, facing our own Red Seas—with all the problems of our lives chasing after us and coming down on top of us, and we are reminded in that moment that—
“The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.”
I wonder how many of you feel like that today, or can remember when you felt like Moses must have felt at that moment. With everything caving in around you and nowhere to go. I know that I have been there more times than I can remember, or care to remember.
We’ve all been where Moses was that day. And here’s the news flash for today—his story of over three-thousand years ago is as relevant today for you and me, as it was true for Moses and the Israelite nation way back then. We have all been there, and the truth is, that we will probably find ourselves there again and again.
We’ve all been there—facing a “red sea” of troubles deeper and wider, and with winds and currents stronger than anything we alone can prevail against. “Red seas” that we know we have to get over or through on this journey we call life—if we are to live the life we were meant to live and have the impact we were created to have.
And with the God of the “Red Sea” leading us, we will!
In His Name—Scott
Copyright 2016. Scott L. Whitaker. All rights reserved.
