Passing Through the River

Imagine for a minute that you are running for your life with your enemy chasing you (and I am talking “big” enemy!). When you look up ahead for an escape route all you see are mountains that seem as tall as Mount Everest and a river that looks to be very deep and very wide. At that moment fear sets in as you have nowhere to turn. Ever have one of those moments? Maybe you are in one right now.

Be honest, there are just some things we face that seem too big to handle. The mountain looks too high to climb. The river looks more like an raging sea than it does a river. The hole is simply too big to climb out of. All you see around you are walls closing in on you. There just seems to be no way out. Where do you turn for help?    

You probably know the story of the parting of the Red Sea found in Exodus 13:17-14:31. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, agreed to let the Hebrew people go as Moses had asked. Moses is leading the people of Israel out of slavery into the land of Canaan. After the Hebrews left Egypt, Pharaoh changed his mind and was angry that he had lost his slave laborers, so he ordered his army to chase after the Israelites in their chariots. Soon the army caught up to them and the Israelites were trapped in by the mountains on both sides and the Red Sea that was in front of them. As Pharaoh’s army got closer the Hebrew people were terrified and angry – “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert” (14:12).

When the pressure was on, the Israelites had forgotten all that God had done for them in the past. Can you relate to that? I sure can.  

But God was faithful despite the lack of faith of the people. God told Moses to “raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground” (14:16).The river turned into dry land and the Israelites safely crossed it (14:21-22). Then God told Moses to “stretch out your hand over the seas so the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen” (14:26). The waters rolled back in, killing all the soldiers and their horses (14:27-28).

“But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left” (14:29).

So, what did the Israelites think of what had just happened? A few verses later we read this – “And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant” (14:31).

(Fear of the Lord is not a “scared” fear but a “positive” fear; one of reverence and respect, not wanting to disappoint God, a unique mix of awe and trembling that we feel in His presence. To dig deeper, click here to read one of my previous posts.)

Years later, the writer of Psalm 66 remembers how God showed his power in bringing Israel through both the Red Sea and later, through the Jordan River (Joshua 3). Here is what we read – “He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the river on foot. There did we rejoice in him” (Psalm 66:6).

What God did for the Israelites He will do for you! In your moment of fear, will you trust God to protect you? Will you trust God to turn the raging sea into dry land so you can safely pass through?

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