By. F. D. Adkins
I love to go to the beach and look at the ocean. However, I do not care so much for swimming in the ocean. See, I can swim, but I am not a confident swimmer. The ocean has too many unknowns such as that ginormous wave that seems to pop up when you least expect it and that sudden strong undertow that wants to pull you out to sea just after that ginormous wave has just knocked you to the sandy ocean bottom. That being said, I prefer to admire the beauty of the ocean and enjoy the sound of the breaking waves from a beach chair situated a safe distance from the water.
Sometimes, well maybe more often than sometimes, life is like my description of swimming in the ocean. A wave knocks you down and before you can get your footing, some other obstacle comes along dragging you further off course. That’s when the enemy swoops in and tries to convince us that our situation is hopeless.
The children of Israel were being pursued by the Egyptian army. They thought their situation was hopeless. They thought they were going to die.
“And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?” Exodus 14:10-11 KJV.
But, of course, with God, a situation is never hopeless. As we know, God parted the Red Sea, and the children of Israel passed through the water on dry land. Can you imagine what it must have looked like? A humongous wall of water standing at attention on both sides. I imagine walking between two tsunami-sized walls of water must have been kind of scary.
Two points stand out to me as I ponder on this story. One is that with God, no situation is hopeless because nothing is impossible with God. The children of Israel were trapped between an approaching army and a huge body of water. It seemed there was no way out.
- “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” Luke 1:37 KJV.
The problem did not disappear. God made a way through the problem.
And two, sometimes God’s answer to our problem requires us to take a step of faith.
- “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5 KJV
Even with an army chasing them, that first step between those giant walls of water was probably a bit tough. But we have to remember that we do not know what tomorrow holds. God does. So, if we want Him to help us, we have to trust Him completely.
“Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.” Jeremiah 32:17 KJV
