DRY LAND
Hebrews 11:29
“By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land;
but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.”
There was a time when I was required to travel to Livonia, MI a couple times a year to attend meetings. On one occasion my flight got into Detroit late and, as a result, the meeting was already underway when I arrived. As I came into the room, there was a discussion going on that centered on the famed incident with Moses, the Israelites, and the Red Sea. They were going around the table and everyone was asked to respond to the question: “What Red Seas are you facing in your ministry?” Most people had already answered, so I didn’t hear their responses. The ones I did hear dealt mostly with finances or family issues.
As I was considering the question later it occurred to me that we all might have been approaching the question incorrectly. Here is what I mean: Everybody was talking about problems they were facing but for Israel the Red Sea wasn’t the problem. It may have looked like a problem, but it was actually God’s solution. The problem was the Egyptian army. They were too big and too strong and too well armed for the Israelites to defeat. And they had to fight because they had no place to run.
It was when things looked most hopeless that God stepped in, parted the waters so His people had a way of escape, and then used those same waters to utterly destroy the Egyptians; horses, chariots, and all!
After some reflection it occurred to me that this story contains a powerful lesson: The very things that seem like obstacles to us may, in fact, be God’s solutions in disguise. God can, and often does, meet our needs – even our desperate ones – in ways that we could never imagine. His solutions are often the very things we fear. Our God is creative. Our God is powerful. But most importantly, our God is faithful. The words that Moses used to encourage the people that day are still applicable for God’s people today: “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.” (Ex. 14:13)
--- Pastor Keith Andrews