Day 7: Faith Over Fear
Exodus 13 | NIV Bible | YouVersion
God used Moses to return to Egypt and, eventually, after forcing Egypt to its knees through ten terrible plagues that brought Egypt to complete and utter ruin, lead the Israelites out of the land of their 400-year bondage into a new-found freedom. What a procession that must have been! Can you imagine the joy of being set free after generations of enslavement?
And God graced them with a physical manifestation of His presence, leading them as a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire at night. If ever they should doubt that God’s hand was in all this, all they had to do was look up to that clear assurance of His constant presence. While today we don’t have the pillar of cloud or fire, God still provides His children with the constant assurance of His presence with us. He’s given us His Word, in which we can find an abiding source of comfort, wisdom, and assurance. And He’s placed inside each and every follower of Christ His Holy Spirit to guide us each day, helping us along our journey of life.
But Pharaoh could not quite bring himself to release his slave labor force, and the Israelites soon found themselves trapped between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army. The people couldn’t believe it! Would God really free them from slavery only to see them destroyed in the wilderness?
What the Israelites had not yet realized is that God doesn’t always work in ways that seem best to us. God sees the bigger picture, and has an infinitely better plan in mind than any that our infinitely more limited intellect could ever hope to devise.
God hadn’t made a mistake. He hadn’t forgotten that the Red Sea was there, or failed to realize that Pharaoh’s army was in hot pursuit. No, God had a plan, a demonstration of His mighty power that would once and for all release the Hebrews from Pharaoh’s clutches. He allowed the Israelites to recognize and acknowledge their utter helplessness in this situation. In their minds, these were their masters chasing down the runaway slaves.
Despite the mighty miracles they had witnessed with the ten plagues, the Israelites still had not learned to trust God’s plans and His power. They cried out to Moses in fear, whining and complaining. They forgot about all that God had already done for them thus far.
I think we can all relate to this to some extent, can’t we? There are times when we look at the sea of trouble in front of us and we whine and complain to God in fear and despair. Instead, we should focus on God’s faithfulness that He has shown to us in the past, and then we can face any crisis with confidence in God’s ability and willingness to bring us through in victory.
Moses encouraged the people to just be still and to watch how God would rescue them. Then God told Moses to get moving. As Moses stretched out his shepherd’s staff over the sea in front of them, a wind began to blow that opened up a dry path right through the middle of the sea! As the people made their way through the path, the Egyptian army followed. But the going was not so easy for them. God threw the army into total confusion, crippling their chariots and slowing their pursuit. And once the last Israelite was out of the path of the waters, God sent the waters rushing back over the entire Egyptian army, drowning them. Not a single one survived.
And Scripture tells us that the people of Israel were filled with awe and wonder at the incredible power of God that they had just witnessed. And then, we are told, they put their faith in God and in Moses.
Are you able to stand firm in faith when you see seemingly
overwhelming problems surrounding you?
God wants us to have faith in Him.
Perhaps one way you can build your faith to stand firm in the middle of
a crisis is to create a list of remembrances of those times in your life when
God has shown Himself faithful and provided for you. Take some time for this faith-building
exercise and create a list of ways God has proven Himself faithful. Tuck it in your Bible, or place it on your
desk or beside your bed, someplace where you can review it and remind yourself of
God’s great faithfulness the next time you face a Red Sea obstacle in your
path. Thank God for His great
faithfulness that never fails us!
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