The Red Sea

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

Audio version at http://tinyurl.com/ys98ws

In our culture heroes are praised. Some even receive parades or medals of honor. But after some time passes most heroes and their heroic acts are diminished in our minds or forgotten altogether. Can you imagine what it would be like to be a hero who saved a few dozen people from death and later find out that no one remembered or cared about what you had done?

One of the great miracles of the Old Testament is found in the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egyptian captivity. You recall how Moses and Aaron approached Pharaoh and demanded that he let the people go. Ten plagues were caused to come upon the people before he finally said, “go.”

The crossing of the Red Sea has been one of my favorite stories for many years. Yet many people today doubt that it actually happened. This body of water is located between Egypt and Arabia and is also called the Sea of Reeds due to the reed marshes found on its shores. Some speculate that the Israelites crossed this body of water when it was only inches deep. They say this to try to explain away the fact that God separated the waters and the people went through on dry land.

Of course, what this argument lacks is a proper explanation of how God could then have drowned the entire Egyptian army in only inches of water!

Notice this reading from Exodus 14:21-31.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the LORD looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. And He took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.” And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

So the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work which the LORD had done in Egypt; so the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD and His servant Moses.

Now the unfortunate thing about this account is that the hero status of God soon fell as the Israelites began to complain and actually wish that they were back in Egypt as slaves. How soon we forget those events which free us from our bondage!

Friends, is it possible that we also may forget God at times? Do we sometimes forget the tremendous blessing we have to be free from the consequences of our sins?

Sometimes people actually withdraw their worship from God when things go badly. We forget the blessings of grace, mercy, forgiveness and love. Instead, we ought to praise God as Moses did in Exodus 15:1, 11, when he was singing of the deliverance of the people. “I will sing to the Lord, For He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!” “Who is like You O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?” No one is like God. Only God is.

On Our Daily Walk today, may we reflect deeply upon the miracles that God has provided so that we may believe on Him. May we dedicate our lives to never forgetting that God is our hero. He has rescued us from being eternally lost.

Our thought for the day: “God has promised forgiveness for your repentance, but he has not promised tomorrow for your procrastination.”

May God bless you on your daily walk.

© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.