"Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea." (Exodus 14:1 NASB 1995)
Our Puerto-Rican Italian friends took us to church on Sunday morning. Their faith community is facing a transition; their pastors have finished their civilian assignment and are returning to the States shortly. In his wisdom, he preached out of Exodus 14: the Israelites up against the Red Sea. He shared how we can wind up on the shores of the water with the enemy at our back and it though feels like checkmate, but God’s not done.
It hit home for me. We’ve been out of pulpit and pew for six months now; spiritual exiles without a church home. We keep finding closed doors and it’s beginning to feel futile. I’m embarrassed to admit how much time I’ve spent looking back, scrutinizing our choices and wondering where we missed God if we wound up here.
My son sent me this tattoo idea this week. His timing was impeccable.
The international pastor’s preaching reminded me: the Israelites wound up at the Red Sea on purpose. They hadn’t missed God. They weren’t stranded outside of His will. Quite the opposite: they’d been following Him all along. Turn by turn obedience had led them to the shoreline of impossibility and advancing destruction. Compliance had placed them in a position of utter dependence; an opportune time for God to get the glory because no one else could take credit for the parting of seas.
Uncomfortable, even impossible circumstances might just be God’s will unfolding. Our goal amidst it remains the same: obedience every step of the way. 1 John 3 reminds me again: obedience is the way we abide. We remain tabernacled in God’s presence when we follow through on His instructions.
"The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us." (1 John 3:24 NASB 1995)
The Israelites took small steps of obedience, so must we. More on that tomorrow. 🙂
Lord, we don’t like being penned in by sea and enemy. It’s unnerving, to say the least. But like the Israelites, we’ve been following Your lead. We continue to trust You to part the waters and wash away the enemy. Please continue to give us courage as we wait on You. Amen.