One of the great stories from the bible is the parting of the red sea. The entire story is covered in detail in the bible in Exodus 14. Moses leads the Israelites through the desert to the promised land after convincing the Pharoah to set them free. After several days they reach the banks of the Red Sea where they see in the distance the Egyptians pursuing them on chariots after having a change of heart. When the Israelites see the Egyptians drawing near to them they get scared and cry out to Moses for help. Some even start yelling saying that it was better for them to die in Egypt than die in the desert. Moses asks them to trust in the Living God and tells them “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today”
Moses asks God to help him. God asks Moses to lift up his rod and stretch out his hand over the red sea to divide it. What happens next is one of the greatest miracles of the bible. When Moses stretched out his hand over the sea the Lord caused the sea to go back and the waters were divided and the Israelites were able to cross on dry land. We learn that when the Egyptians tried to follow them God closed the waters of the red sea killing all of them in the process.
What is amazing about this story is that God could have easily parted the red sea ahead of time and let the Israelites pass through without them ever knowing that the Egyptians were even following them. In this story timing was everything. God waited until the Israelites could see the Egyptians from afar. He wanted to see how they would react when faced with danger and what they would say. Would they put their trust in him? Would they forget that God was in control? Of course true to human nature they panic and start blaming Moses. They never had faith that their God who had freed them from the hands of the Egyptians and kept them safe from all the deadly plagues in Egypt would come to their rescue.
In spite of their unbelief, God delivered all the Israelites without a single scratch and He did so by literally splitting the red sea in half. This was a reminder to all the Israelites that no obstacle was too big for their God to move. The story ends in Exodus 30-31 with all the Israelites believing in the Lord “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.”
What we learn from this story is that sometimes with God it is all about timing. He wants you to put his trust in him when you have your backs against the fall. He wants to see how you react in these situations. Do you panic and start cursing everyone around you when things go wrong or do you put your trust in your God. When you feel like the Egyptians are pursuing you from far away with the red sea in front of you, do you ask your God to help you or do you turn away and forget everything that he has done for you in the past?
Psalm 46 says, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” God is always there for you especially when you are in trouble. He has the power to take away any obstacle you are facing and make it go away. He can part any sea, move any mountain, stop any army. You never know what sea He is going to split or what other miracle He is going to perform to get you out of trouble. He is always there to help you so remember to always put your trust in him. The most important lesson that we all learn from the parting of the Red Sea is that nothing is too difficult for our God. So put your trust in him.