“But the Israelites walked on dry ground in the middle of the sea, the water forming a wall for them on their right and on their left,”
– Exodus 14:29.
God parted a sea! GOD PARTED A SEA! He rescued the Israelites in an astounding and miraculous way. Any basic manner of escape would have sufficed. But God chose to do the unimaginable. Walls of water on both sides, dry ground below. A path THROUGH the sea—not across or around it. He made a way where there was no way, exerting His power and might in the most awe-inspiring display. Yet just before doing the impossible, God allowed the Israelites to be trapped in a seemingly impossible position. They found themselves surrounded by Pharaoh’s army on one side and the Red Sea on the other. There was no way out.
But let’s back up a bit to see how they got out of Egypt and into this position. For over four hundred years, the Israelites lived as slaves in Egypt. They endured grueling labor and horrible conditions. The Egyptians were excessively harsh toward them, even beating and whipping them. Exodus 2:23–25 says that the Israelites “cried out, and their desperate cry because of their slave labor went up to God. God heard their groaning; God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the Israelites, and God understood.”
God heard. God remembered. God saw. God understood.
The Israelites weren’t alone even in a foreign land under abusive masters. God was with them. But let’s take note of the fact that God didn’t act until the Israelites “cried out.” Four hundred years is a long time to wait for rescue. I wonder, did they ever cry out to God before? Or had they become so comfortable in their destitute state that they lost even the fortitude to cry out.
The natural response would be to say, “Of course they cried out! Of course they hated their slavery and wanted to be rescued!” Maybe. Maybe not. We do know that after they cried out and God heard, He took action. God sent Moses to rescue them from Pharaoh.
Yet, as they were leaving, and after they had just witnessed miracle after miracle with the plagues and had plundered the Egyptians at God’s command, they found themselves in the impossible situation between Pharaoh and the Red Sea.
What was their response? “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!” Even though God had just done many miracles for them, they didn’t believe He would do them again. They were terrified and begging to return to slavery rather than pursue freedom. Why?
Egypt was unbearable, but it was familiar and predictable. The desert was potential freedom, but more likely sure death. Sometimes the scariest path isn’t the rough one we’ve already tread, but the unknown one that lies ahead. Stepping into something new and unfamiliar brings new fears and new concerns.
This was true for the Israelites and it’s true for us. We all have our own “Egypts” and our own “deserts”. Is your “Egypt” a bad habit that you can’t escape and that enslaves you daily. You want to stop but know that it will require change and self control that you just don’t have. Or is your “Egypt” an inability to forgive. Do you dwell on a hurt from the past so much so that it consumes your mind and robs your joy? In your wrestling, do you cry out to God to rescue you? Then when He leads you out, do you follow? Or do you succumb to the temptation to remain stuck, enslaved by your flesh once again?
The only way out of slavery, out of our personal “Egypts,” is to walk forward trusting the character of God. The Israelites were so shortsighted. They experienced the power and care of God over and over, yet they doubted God would do it again.
We do the same thing. Jesus died for us and rose from the dead, conquering sin and death so that we can be free. But we doubt He can handle the trials and tribulations of our individual lives. We cannot have full freedom until we surrender to the One who broke our chains of sin. We will not walk into a great unknown unless we trust the One who knows all.
God can do immeasurable more than we could think or imagine. But He won’t do it in our lives if we don’t cry out to Him and walk in trust and obedience. Sometimes God allows us to find ourselves in circumstances that have no way out so we can realize He is our only way out. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And He is the Waymaker through every circumstance in our lives!
