There are points in the Christian life where God deliberately places us in situations that feel impossible. Places where our resources are not enough, where our wisdom is not enough, where our strength is not enough. Places where we come to the end of ourselves. And often our first instinct is panic. We think God has abandoned us, or that we have misheard him, or that something has gone horribly wrong. But again and again in Scripture we see that those places are not signs of God’s absence. They are signs of his intention. They are the places where God shows us who he is, and what he can do, so that our faith rests not on ourselves but on him. And Exodus 14 brings us right into one of those moments. Let’s read it together.
Exodus 14 (ESV)
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out defiantly. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea.
When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it, that the people may go through the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh.”
Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. Coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness, and it lit up the night, without one coming near the other all night.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right and on their left.
The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw them into panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course. As the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw them into the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen. Not one of them remained.
But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.”
The first thing we have to see here is that God deliberately leads Israel into a corner. They are hemmed in by mountains on one side, the sea on the other, and the most powerful army in the world behind them. From a human perspective, it is madness. But God tells us exactly why he does it. He is going to get glory over Pharaoh. He is going to show both Israel and Egypt who he is.
And just like so many of us, Israel panics the moment things turn hard. They accuse Moses. They complain. They grumble. They say it would have been better to have remained slaves. And before we judge them, we need to recognise how quickly our own hearts go there. The moment God places us in a situation we cannot control, our hearts often run back to old sins, old comforts, old idols. We say, I knew this obedience thing would cost me. I knew God would let me down. We are not that different.
But Moses answers them with words we need to hear. Fear not. Stand firm. See the salvation of the Lord. You do not save yourselves. You do not fight this battle. You do not deliver yourselves by your strength. God will fight for you, and you need only be still.
Friends this is the heart of faith. At the moment of greatest fear, the temptation is to run, to panic, to grasp at control. But God often brings us to the sea so that we will finally stop trusting ourselves. He brings us to the place where the only possible explanation for our survival is his power.
The rest of the chapter is God doing exactly what he promised. The pillar moves behind them, blocking the Egyptians. God opens the sea. Israel walks through on dry ground, and the waters stand like walls beside them. Egypt charges in behind them, and God collapses the sea on their heads. Not one enemy remains. And Israel sees, with their own eyes, the strong hand of the Lord.
This is not a cute story. This is not children’s-book theology. This is the God of the universe saving his people by destroying their enemies. And friends, this is a picture of the gospel. The cross is God opening the sea. Jesus walks the path before us. He stands between us and judgement. And our enemies—sin, death, Satan—are drowned behind us, defeated by the power of God.
But notice how the chapter ends. Israel feared the Lord, and they believed him. That is the point. God saves so that his people will trust him. He works in power so that our faith will rest not on ourselves, but on him alone.
Let’s pray.
Father, thank you that you are the God who fights for your people. Help us trust you when you lead us into places that feel impossible. Keep us from fear, keep us from running back to old chains, and teach us to stand firm and see your salvation. Strengthen our faith so that we walk forward with confidence in your power and in your care. Amen.