concerned with my reputation that I would rather not step out and see what the King will do. I recognize the King may come through, but what if He does not? It is often a gamble I am not willing to take.
Moses responded to 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. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still”( Exodus 14:13 – 14).
The message was simple: This is not about you or your power. This is about what your King will do for you.
Moses was clearly having his own doubts, because immediately after putting on a brave face for the people, he cried out to God. Moses saw the same thing the people did— they were going to be defeated. He had enough faith to put on a brave face, but not enough to believe in the deliverance that had been promised. God’ s response to Moses is blunt and direct:“ Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.” My paraphrase is:“ I already told you what to do and that I would protect you. Now quit crying and just do it!”
You see, God wanted to create space in which He could work. He wanted to demonstrate His power in such a way that there would be no disputing Who had accomplished the victory. He wanted the Israelites to fail in their escape so that He could succeed in accomplishing it for them!
When I am not willing to step out in faith for things I am unable to accomplish on my own, I am closing the door on the best opportunities for the King to come through for me. If I am not deliberately creating space that I am insufficient to fill, I am limiting the amount of the King’ s power that can be put on display. If I am only stepping into tasks and ideas that I can handle, the world will see me when those things are accomplished. But when I step into a task that is bigger than me, and when I do so while admitting that it will take the intervention of the King to succeed, the sky is the limit! Or maybe I should say that the Red Sea is not the limit! Because when Moses agreed to walk in God’ s plan for the Israelites’ seemingly futile predicament, the sea could not hold them. The mighty King took control and made a way through the water where there had been no way before.
Moses was afraid of failing. But
when God’ s call to service extended into
a place beyond his human ability— and
into a place that risked failure— Moses answered the call. Moses chose service to the King even when he was convinced he would fail. ink of the victory that would have been forfeited had Moses chosen not to risk failure!
Before we move on, let us not miss the numerous miracles on display here. The parting of the Red Sea generally demands our attention, and understandably so. But Exodus 14 outlines several miracles working together to provide this escape:
• The angel of God and the pillar of cloud that had been leading the Israelites moved behind them and served as a physical separation from their enemies.
• The Israelites were given light all night long while the Egyptians were cast into darkness, ensuring the two armies would not come together.
Solutions 37