“15 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” Exodus 14:15-18 (NASB)
Let’s back up a bit and go Exodus 14:10-14, “10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Now let’s read verse 15, “15 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.” This text reviles an underlying truth about mankind's character which I find some what comical but oh so true!!!! I love how Moses encourages the Israelites and then God turns and reviles Moses true colors! Ya!
I can’t imagine what Moses felt! Pharaoh army approaching! The Israelites yelling at him! The water’s before them.... .... the chaos, the stress, the weight of leadership!!! At times I’ve tried to visualize myself in Moses shoes, but have a very difficult time grasping the magnitude of the event - physically, mentally, and emotionally. Other times I’ve questioned, ‘was this a mere fantasy or was this really possible?’
A researcher Carl Drews of the National Center for Atmospheric Research found that a steady 63-mile-per-hour (100-kilometer-per-hour) wind over a digitally reconstructed east-west running lake at the Mediterranean end of the Nile, near today's Port Said, would push the water west to the far end of the lake, as well as south, up the river. The model showed that this would expose wide mud flats where the river entered the lake and leave a land bridge high and dry for four hours. (*Drews has been studying the Red Sea story for years as a student and now has published a paper on the matter, which was his master's thesis, in the journal PloS One.)
APPLICATION =A:
A-When I hit a dead end, help me turn to YOU!
A-God, YOUR ways are far beyond mine.
A-Help me learn to hear and respond to YOUR voice.
Let’s wrap things up and go Exodus 14:19-25
19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He jammed[b] the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.”
“8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:5-9.
Thank YOU for giving me the faith to believe - please help me where my faith is lacking so that YOU my be glorified and honored through me. - Trevor
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