Exodus 14

This is a story that many of us have heard if we grew up in the church. The Israelites, being led by Moses, are leaving Egypt. The Lord tells Moses to make the Israelites to turn back so as the confuse the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh then sends his army to pursue the Israelites. In this pursuit, the Israelites cross the Red Sea with walls of water on either side of them, while the Egyptian army is swept away and killed in the sea.One of the most obvious points about this passage is God's incredible power partnered with his heart to fight for His people.

We need to actively try to wrap our minds around the idea that the God of the universe who is capable of literally anything is fighting for us. Too often when things don't go exactly as we think that they should we begin to question God's motives. In reality He knows what is ultimately best for us because He literally knows everything, while we know so little. He also isn't opposed to giving Himself some much deserved glory along the way. Situations like this usually lead to insight that that will affect the way we look at God, the people around us, or ourselves for the rest of our lives.

There are two main characters that we can relate to within this story and they are the Israelites and Moses. In different times of our lives we can relate to one or the other. Moses throughout the story can be seen listening intently to the Lord’s voice and being obedient to His commands. However this is made difficult because of the resistance and questioning by the Israelites. Moses overcomes their resistance and stays faithful and obedient to the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 1:18, Paul describes the gospel as foolishness to those who don’t know it. Often times the Lord is going to lead you into things that people are going to question and push back against.

The key to overcoming this is relying so much on the Lord that He leads all of your steps and brushing off the resistance from others because ultimately they do not know what is best for you and the Kingdom. The next character that I think many of us relate to more often is the Israelites. The Israelites are full of doubt the entire time. It is only until the end, when God sweeps away Pharaoh's army, when their trust is in the Lord and Moses is restored. Naturally as humans we want physical evidence of things. This is a good thing most of the time, but it should not be the way the we use to measure God’s trustworthiness.

The way that God works is rarely going to make sense to us in the moment, but we need to have faith that He is all knowing and all powerful and so freaking good. Until we truly believe this and live in this, we will continue to be like the Israelites placing physical signs on a pedestal in our faith with the Lord.
 
Author | Madeline Current