by Sheila Barnett
Exodus 14:21-22 (NIV) “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, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground with a wall of water on their right and on their left.”
What an amazing experience for the Israelites! They appeared to be in an impossible situation, trapped between a large body of water on one side and Pharaoh’s army on the other. Their circumstances appeared hopeless, but God intervened at the right time and saved His people. The Israelites escaped Pharaoh’s army by walking on a dry path through the Red Sea with walls of water on each side!
What a sight that must have been! (I wonder if fish could be seen swimming inside the walls of water. If so, that may have been the world’s first aquarium!) God displayed his awesome power and performed 2 miracles to save His people. First, he divided the Red Sea. Next, He dried the sea floor to create a path which allowed the Israelites to travel safely to the other side. One could conclude that if God had not dried the sea floor, the path would have been wet with deep layers of mud or silt. In that case, the carts, animals, and even the people would have likely become stuck, making them easy targets for Pharaoh’s army. The Israelites would have been helpless. But these people were anything but helpless with the Lord on their side! He made sure that each one was safely across before sending the water back where it belonged, thus eliminating the threat of Pharaoh’s army. Because God knew exactly what to do and when to act, the Israelites learned to put their trust in Him as they walked along the Red Sea Road.
We all encounter obstacles in our lives; financial hardships, failed relationships, or other situations that might make us doubt God’s love for us. But our God can create a “Red Sea Road” for us, too: a way to get us safely to the other side of our circumstances. Although we don’t know when or how he might do that, the Bible tells us that He can. Matt. 19:26 (NIV) says, “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.” And in Luke 1:37, an angel tells Mary, “For nothing is impossible with God.”
We need faith in the Lord as we walk down our own Red Sea Road. But God can get us safely to the other side. He’s an expert at creating amazing ways to get us through situations that seem impossible!