A new glorious relationship with God has begun! Let’s recap what God has done so far for His people.  God provided a son to be born of a Hebrew woman at a time when all Hebrew sons born to them must be killed.  But this mom hid her son in the buses by the Nile to escape death.  The infant son was watched over by his older sister from a safe distance.  Now, it “just so happened” that the daughter of Pharaoh came to that very spot to bathe.  She discovered the infant in the basket and loved him instantly, giving him the name, Moses.  The watchful and clever sister suggests that a Hebrew woman nurse the child for her until he is weaned.  The princess loved the idea and even paid the real mom to sustain the life of God’s chosen leader.  Then Moses moved into the palace, right into the enemy’s camp!  Moses knew who he was and how the Hebrews were mistreated as slaves.  As a young man, he sees the abuse with a desire and with a knee-jerk response to rectify the situation; Moses murders to defend the Hebrew slaves and then runs from the scene of the crime.  But God had other plans and would prepare his heart and mind to love, trust, and obey Him in a new relationship of trust in God.  This new relationship with God is what God wanted from the beginning. 

Who else but God can orchestrate such an elaborate plan to bring His people back to Him?  Only God!  God created a unique way to bring them out from under the oppressive slavery to Pharaoh to a new found freedom with God.  This freedom comes with a brand new relationship with God who will amaze them at every step of their journey as they let God lead!

The Hebrews have been told for centuries who to be and what to do, where to live, how to behave, with unrealistically work goals.  They were not allowed to think or question.  It’s been so long they have lost the ability to think for themselves because that ability was beaten out of them as they served the one who abused them.  But God heard their cries for mercy and decided His people had enough. Not only that; God, who desires a new relationship with His people, will display His glory at work in ways that all will see GOD IS LORD and his working on their behalf—they need “only to be still”! 

Exodus 14

Then the Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. ³ Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ ⁴ And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this.

⁵ When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” ⁶ So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. ⁷ He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. ⁸ The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. ⁹ The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.

¹⁰ As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. ¹¹ They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”

¹³ Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. ¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. ¹⁶ Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷ I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. ¹⁸ The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”

¹⁹ Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, ²⁰ coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.

²¹ Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, ²² and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

²³ The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. ²⁴ During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. ²⁵ He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”

²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” ²⁷ Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. ²⁸ The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.

²⁹ But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. ³⁰ That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. ³¹ And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

These verses introduce the disappointing pattern of Israel’s behavior during their march from Egypt to Canaan. As long as everything was going well, they usually obeyed the Lord and Moses and made progress. But if there was any trial or discomfort in their circumstances, they immediately began to complain to Moses and to the Lord and asked to go back to Egypt. However, before we criticize the Israelites, perhaps we’d better examine our own hearts. How much disappointment or discomfort does it take to make us unhappy with the Lord’s will, so that we stop believing and start complaining? “For we live by faith and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

The honeymoon period of any new relationship is one of complete loving trust until something unexpected happens that brings sudden fear, with circumstances that could dismantle our faith unless we stand firm.  All humans experience it.  But believers in God, who have a trusting relationship with God through Jesus, are given power to rise above it, walk through high waters, on solid ground knowing that God goes before us, behind us, while walking right beside us!  When in doubt?  Don’t move until we hear from God.  Be still and let God do what He does best in His way with His timing.

Indeed, our faith falters briefly at the unexpected.  Our trust in God is tested often.  Signs of trouble are posted regularly and trials are endured in our imperfect world. Most often, trials and roadblocks are prompted by the Enemy of God, who we cannot see.  Sometimes our troubles are a result of our own making.  But God is still God.  God is always there, fighting for us, working on our behalf in ways that declare His glory and might.  But we learn through the testing just how precious we are to God!  We are His and He is ours.  He watches over by day and by night!

We often focus on the army behind us instead of the path ahead that God has paved for us.  When we seek God first, humble ourselves before Him, give of ourselves to Him; God shows and tell us how much we are loved and cared for daily!  We need only to look up, thank Him with acknowledgement and praise, as we watch His spectacular glory at work in all the details of our lives!  God is always at work!  He never sleeps!  “My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.” Psalm 121:1

Even when I don’t see it, You’re working
Even when I can’t feel it, You’re working
You never stop, You never stop working
You never stop, You never stop working
Even when I can’t see it, You’re working
Even when I can’t feel it, You’re working
You never stop, You never stop working…

Waymaker, miracle worker
Promise keeper, light in the darkness
My God, that is who You are!

(Way Maker; Songwriters: Osinachi Kalu Okoro / Michael Anthony Oluwole)

“When we have faith in God’s promises, we have peace in our hearts. “Why are you so fearful?” Jesus asked His disciples after he had calmed a storm. “How is it that you have no faith?” (Mark 4:40). Faith and fear can’t live together in the same heart, for one will destroy the other. True faith depends on what God says, not on what we see or how we feel. It has well been said that faith is not believing in spite of evidence—that’s superstition—but obeying in spite of consequence.” –Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Study Bible

Why does God do what He does?  So, the world may know. “And the Egyptians will know that “I am the LORD.”  God is God. We are not.  God works so we will know who He is—Lord of all!  Be still, let go, and know that He is God.  (Psalm 46:10)

Lord,

Thank you, thank you, thank you for knowledge of the display of your power for your people all because of your great love for us.  Thank you for your power, the resurrection power the brought you, dear Jesus, from death to life. Thank you for making your power continually available to us today!  Lead us, Lord, building our faith as we walk on your solid ground through the high waters.  You’re still doing it, again and again!  Oh, what a Savior!

In Jesus Name, Amen

Christ is my firm foundation
The Rock on which I stand
When everything around me is shaking
I’ve never been more glad
That I put my faith in Jesus
‘Cause He’s never let me down
He’s faithful through generations
So why would He fail now?
He won’t
He won’t!