Exodus 14:1-31

It is easy for us to misinterpret the circumstances in which we find ourselves.  We very often think that we know the best way to do things and we expect God to act in a way that is consistent with our understanding of the situation at hand.  God is very quick to demonstrate that His ways are often very different from how we think they should be.  When this happens we will often doubt God’s goodness, question His abilities and become overwhelmed by fear and doubt.  However, God is gracious to us and patient with us.  Even though we complain and worry He acts in ways that are beyond our ability to comprehend and provides deliverance in ways that we would never dream are possible.  The result of this is that God’s enemies are judged, God’s people are astounded and have no other choice but to fall before God and worship.

GOD’S PLANS CAN SEEM CONFUSING: God leads the children of Israel directly to a place where they are trapped between a rock and a hard spot.  This is the type of place that we would never choose for ourselves.  We like the comfortable and predictable places where we can clearly see an escape route.  God likes to put is in places where we can learn of His greatness and be encouraged to trust Him.  God’s path looks so confusing to Pharaoh that he becomes convinced that Israel is without hope and he regrets allowing his work force to walk off of the job.  How quickly he has forgotten the pain of the death of his own son.  Greed and power can blind us to the danger of our choices and Pharaoh seems to have plenty of both.  He calls the army together and amazingly they too are ready to chase after these people that brought on such destructive plagues from God.  How easy it is for us to forget the pain of the consequences of sin.  How easy it is for us to forget the supernatural ability of God to deliver His own.  We must always remember that God is never confused.  When we find ourselves with our backs against the wall and can see no viable way out; we can rest assured that God has allowed us to be in this situation for reasons that we may never be able to comprehend.  This is a golden opportunity to trust Him.

GOD’S PATH CAN SEEM CONDEMNING: The children of Israel are not very good at trusting God.  They have seen His powerful hand at work, yet as they see the sea in front of them and army of Egypt behind them they realize that they are trapped.  They assume that God has taken them out of Egypt only to abandon them in the wilderness so that they will all die on the shores of the sea.  Since they cannot see a way out they assume that they are condemned.  They have lost all hope because they have lost all confidence in God.  Hope and confidence in God walk hand in hand.  When we feel like we are in a place where we are doomed we must remember to demonstrate confidence in God by not losing hope.  God will often act in spite of our lack of confidence but we will suffer greatly under despair when we fail to trust God.  God has a better plan for our lives.  He wants us to face the adversity of life with a confidence that will allow us to praise and worship Him joyously no matter how difficult our circumstances seem.

GOD’S PROVISION CAN SEEM CONFOUNDING: Just because we cannot see a way out does not mean that there is no way out.  We have a tendency to limit God to our own level of ability.  We assume that we have the answers and we don’t expect the supernatural.  Faith requires that we trust God’s provision when we cannot see how He could possibly provide.  God puts Himself between the enemy and His people and then He opens up the sea to provide a way of escape.  The children of Israel walk through the sea with walls of water on every side and must have thought that they were living in a dream world the entire time.  The army of Egypt decides to follow in hot pursuit instead of admitting defeat and God causes their chariots to fall apart so they are trapped as the waters come rushing over them.  God knows very well how to deliver His children and how to judge His enemies.  He has proven it time and time again, yet we still have such a hard time when we find ourselves in a hard place.  God calls us to trust Him and rest in Him even when we are confused by His path, feel that His plans are condemning us and are confounded by how He could possible provide for us.  During those times we must trust that He has us right where He wants us and do what we were made to do: worship.