There are rumors of a new war brewing; our country faces a political divide that deepens each day, and the rhetoric of hate fills the air waves. Moreover, we are part of a Church that seems to be in retreat as the forces of secularism try to wipe it off the map. How do we deal with this army of hatred, division, and unbelief that chases us and threatens to destroy us? Is naïve optimism all we need?
We continue to read about Moses and the Israelites. Was the Passover victory the end of their story or was it the first step in a long faith walk?
The day after Israel left, Pharaoh awakened to realize what happened. Egypt had just lost its entire work force—six hundred thousand of their best workers walked out on the job. His advisers probably pushed him to reverse his decision—to send out his entire army to recapture them.
We can imagine how fear must have overtaken the Israelites. How could they, on foot, outrun an army mounted on strong and swift horses? Moreover how could they deal with an even greater obstacle, the Red Sea. They were hemmed in on both sides.
Then God intervened through his servant Moses (Exodus 14:21-15:1).
“Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord swept the sea with a strong east wind throughout the night and so turned it into dry land. When the water was thus divided, the children of Israel marched into the midst of the sea on dry land.”
God’s plan is always to move forward, defying whatever Red Seas seem to be blocking our paths. When we hit a wall and the enemy seems to be gaining ground, God calls us to keep moving forward with Jesus.
“The Egyptians followed in pursuit; all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots…went right after them into the midst of the sea. In the night watch just before dawn, the Lord cast…upon the Egyptian force a glance that threw them into a panic…With that the Egyptians sounded the retreat before Israel, because the Lord was fighting for them against the Egyptians.”
The confident Egyptians suddenly realized they were fighting against something much greater than six hundred thousand slaves. A mere “glance” from the Lord “threw them into a panic.” We read that the wheels of their heavy chariots got stuck in the mud, the waters of the sea began to flow again, and they were drowned.
“When Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore and beheld the great power that the Lord had shown against the Egyptians, they feared the Lord and believed in him and his servant Moses.”
They knew that they were doomed if left to themselves and the power of positive thinking. It was the Lord who was doing the fighting, and the entire army of Egypt was as nothing when confronted with his glance.
What is our call today? It is the same—to fear and believe in the Lord more than ever before, and in his servant, and only Son, Jesus Christ.
As Christians we stand by the simple belief that there is only one way through the darkness of our times, only one truth and solution to what ails the world, and only one source of inner peace and happiness—the “new Moses” Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior! Once again we profess with confidence, that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life.”
“When your wind blew, the sea covered them and they sank in the mighty waters” (Exodus 15:5).
