God had supplied His chosen people with material provision as they embarked upon their new journey liberated from slavery to the Egyptians. However, their path to freedom led them to what appeared to be a dead end. In the face of excitement an obstacle appeared. What seemed to be the final answer to their cry for help was quickly interrupted with another apparent setback. And this is how it is with God’s work in the lives of His people. The world is too broken–too riddled with sin–to allow for a king’s x or free pass to not have to trust Him. In every situation, in every circumstance, because sin and evil have contaminated the world, humankind is forced to turn to God for help. Not a day goes by without the experience of this reality; however, most often humans see it as a nuisance for another issue to gripe about and doubt the super abundant and inexorable provision of God for His people. And so we see the Israelites coming out of Egypt, standing at the edge of Red Sea, and turning to see Pharaoh and his army approaching–bent on their destruction–and God’s people succumbed to doubt and fear…
“As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; so the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord. Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
Exodus 14:10-12
Can you relate to this? You’ve seen God provide for you in many and countless ways in one season, but then in difficulty you begin to fear and forget His care for you? Sometimes it seems like we can go from one day of trust and rest and peace in God, to fear, anxiety, and forgetfulness. It is at that point that we need to hear the words of God through Moses…
“…Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.”
Exodus 14:13-14
Moses makes clear to these newly liberated and protected people of God that the Lord will save them–He will fight for them. It is in this that we are reminded of God’s undying, unalterable, and unflinching plan of good for His people.
Are there times when this truth is easy to forget? There are times that the visceral or highly emotional situations that we find ourselves in cause us to jettison our dependence upon God. Here are these Israelites looking forward at the waters of the Red Sea, turning around and seeing the Egyptians quickly approaching them to their slaughter, and then they forget the previous work of God.
And then Moses’ words pierce through the fog… “Do not fear…stand by and see the salvation of the Lord…He will…the Lord will…” And that is how God always works. He moves, and we rest. No doubt the Israelites had to walk through the parted waters of the Red Sea, but it was God who raised both sides up. No doubt they had to carry their material provisions that God had recently supplied, but it was God who brought the sea back upon Pharaoh and his army.
So, yes, we act, but in faith that God has already acted, moved, and fought on our behalf. This is the glorious work of our God, He goes before His people, He stands behind His people, and He surrounds His people with care and love.
Are you resting in His work on your behalf? Are you His child? Do you know His love never ceases?
What if today, you–as a child of God through faith in His Son Jesus Christ–reflected upon His work behind you (the years gone by) and looked ahead with a peace that He will not relent in His provision for you? What if today, you simply trusted that despite this broken world and your broken emotions, God is the unbroken Warrior leading you along?
What if?
— January 6, 2017