red sea - remember your cross(ing)

ya'll know what's funny? the fact that i am here, finally here, at the verses i couldn't wait to uncover in the scripture, and i feel like there's only one post to write. i thought it would be a good three posts, but i feel that God was trying to show me all the other stuff i uncovered in the previous 5 or so blogs on the exodus about how good He is. even as i type this and come to the realization that this post is more about the people than about the Lord, i see how imperative it was to delve into scripture the way i did, the way the Lord asked me to. otherwise, i would've have gotten a pretty tainted and incomplete view of who our Father is but refusing to see who he was. so, alas. we are at the red sea (hallelujah!) and we are going to put ourselves in the sandals of the israelites.

imagine if you will: you are an israelite. you've been wandering in the wilderness for God knows how long, tying to escape pharaoh's reign, when he suddenly changes his mind and heart and readies his 600 chariots to recapture you as servants? Exodus 14:10 tells us that as pharaoh and the egyptians marched after them, the israelites lifted their eyes and cried out to the Lord and they were very afraid. they call to moses, crying that slavery under pharaoh is still a better life than death in the wilderness. here they were, with the egyptians quickly encroaching on one side of them, and the sea blockading the other side. where was their reproach? it seemed like a pretty dire situation.

i can think of countless times that i personally have felt backed into a corner, where I knew the Lord had promised provision and all i see within my state of wilderness is the enemy on one side, and a vast ocean on the other. its usually in these situations and circumstances that i am able to see the Lord fight for me when i let go of my fear and stand still (v. 13-14). He is still faithful in those situations, and just because we can't see the door, doesn't mean that He has not fashioned one for us.

prior to coming to Haiti, i felt like i had just walked up to this vast red sea. welp, i am here God. i have no idea how you are going to get me out of the wilderness. and i have no clue how you are going to get me to cross that sea. its in those moments we have to lay down everything logical, everything we have learned about tangible, tactile knowledge and have faith. i personally believe our faith in moments like that are more precious to the Lord than when we choose to follow His direct path or voice or plan that has been laid out before us. in those moments, we know that the odds are against us, but that "through Christ, nothing is impossible" (Phil. 4:13). that when we put our faith in His provision, His faithfulness, and His steadfast love for us, we choose God. over fear, over doubt, over the enemy, over the easy way, over comfort, over selfish desire, over living as our old selves. we choose Him. i believe the Lord rejoices in that! Zephaniah 3:16-17 tells us we are to not be afraid, "For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs." But He doesn't want the only one to experience the joeux de Dieu (joy of the Lord); no! in John 15: 11 Jesus reminds us to follow His teaching so that "My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full." what great news that God truly does desire us to be full in joy of Him. he doesn't require adhesion to rules, just relationship. we are to live out His teachings as an example of His love for us, and we are to choose Him, in faith.

i know personally in my life and from the lives of people close to me that this is not always an easy thing to live out. even one of apostles, likely the tangible, concrete thinker, Thomas had a hard time with faith. and he was an apostle!!!! we learn in John 20:24 that he wasn't present when Jesus rose from the tomb, so when he found out about it, He boldly said, "Unless i see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." (v. 25). Thomas wanted steadfast proof to know that the Lord had risen. fortunately for Thomas, Jesus returned to the apostles and showed Himself to Thomas, who then declared it was the Lord. but Jesus responded: "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." faith is about, just that: faith. not knowing, seeing, feeling, experiencing. it's about believing in the lack of those things.

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"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.”

right before you, Moses raises his staff at the ocean. what the heck is he doing? you wonder. shaking his stick in fury at the raging sea? then all of the sudden, the waters part. wait ... that wind. that wind was not there before. the sea, the sea! look! it is rising! Praise Him! He's giving us a way out of the wilderness! but how do we know the wind will hold up? what if we become trapped underneath the waves on either side, and drown here in the sea? i know these fleshly thoughts would be consuming my mind, even in the presence of the Lord and something so miraculous. wanna know why? because more often, when God has called us to do something, has shown us His path, it is usually terrifying! God doesn't call us to do small things. When we hear His call, when we let Him take lead, it's usually equatable to crossing the red sea. it is proof that we need Him. that we can not do this on our own. He parted that waters, and we have to trust that He will get us across to the other side.

to me, this image resonates with a bittersweet feeling. its usually in this time that we are stretched, grown, and called in pretty dynamic ways. it takes a ton of faith on our part to even make the first step onto the riverbed, where we know the waters once dwelled. when God parted the waters for me to go to Haiti, i had to trust that He would deliver financially and spiritually to get me here. choosing faith when doubt would be easier (because let's face it, the odds are against us in this world) is a very difficult choice to make. but walking through that sea on dry ground?! can you imagine the testimony?! when we walk through something with the Lord that we never saw coming, nor saw possible, we are bettered tremendously for it! in january, i never thought i was going to get through that still, still waiting period of my life. i didn't know it was possible. but watching as God parted water to the east and the west for me!? while i watched Him get me from one side of the sea to the other?! admittedly, it was such a difficult time in my life, but in those times, we are matured and worked through in the Lord! can I get an amen! "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them." --(Romans 8:28) i know that with the Lord, i have been able to walk through every potentially disastrous situation with a testimony of having been daunted by the seas; but have found victory in Christ!

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once God delivers us to the other side of the sea, however; it becomes a different ball game. after the initial high of rejoicing in what He has done for us and accomplished in us, we are all too quick to forget His provision; what did He just deliver us from!? it wasn't but three days later that the israelites were in the wilderness and unable to find water. the people complained against Moses, saying 'What shall we drink?'

wait a second. God just parted the waters of the sea for you, so you could walk across on dry land; and you're worried you don't have water to drink? okay, so maybe you haven't even been to the red sea; but i guarantee you can relate. i know i can. God raised my finances for four months, in less than two weeks! ALL my expenses taken care of; God did not want me to worry! He has it in control: "therefore do not worry, saying, 'what shall we drink?' or 'what shall we wear?' ... for your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. but seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." (Matt. 6:31-34).

okay, so we know we are not to worry, and that the Lord takes care of us. but then: the unthinkable happens. we come up against opposition, --or doubt, or fear, or circumstances, or a scary situation-- and we forget that our Father, who has taken care of us, clothed us, fed us, led us through the red sea after parting the waters for us, is the same: yesterday. today. and always (Hebrews 13:8). we are so quick to forget what God has done for us, and even question His presence if we don't see Him delivering. if we're not in the midst of His presence in the moment, we doubt His existence, His hand on the situation.

we see all throughout the Gospels instances where the disciples are SO quick to forget who Jesus is, when He is even right in front of their faces!!! i take an odd, and sad, comfort in knowing that even the apostles couldn't get it right. that doesn't excuse us though. Paul charges us in Ephesians to "walk in a manner worthy of the call to which we have been called" (4:1). and i believe that God has definitely called us to faith, a strong and bold faith in Him.

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i know that here in haiti, i have to be very careful to doubt what the Lord is doing. He's so ever-present that I have become super sensitive to the moments I am lacking in fresh revelation of/from Him. which is good, but I have noticed moments of impatience or simply not even wanting to wait to hear what He has for me next. and to be completely honest, i'm scared of what He has for me as the next step; i thought my waiting period was also preparation for haiti, but getting here, i feel like haiti is mad preparation for something even bigger in my life; so i have NO clue what God is going to say and do in my life over the next 3 months. as i day dream and my thoughts meander over the possibilities, i am quick to say, "there is no way God could do that. there's no way i could manage that. etc." limiting the Lord's ability to do what He needs to do to get me to stay or go or return or whatever. how quick am i to forget His saving grace? His mercies new? His healing power? His faithful, financial provision? how he's moved mountains for me to come to Haiti? how I've heard Him speak through His word and other's encouragement? how even in being here, i've heard Him say wait?

i challenge you to not forget what the Lord has done for you. what he has brought you through, out of, into. how He has blessed you; disciplined you. what He has told you: to do, to seek, to wait for. what you've last heard from Him. the desires He's set forth in your heart, the talents He's favored you with. but most of all, don't forget the cross. the life sacrificed so that we would have a life worth living. the gracious gift of a Father for His children. for the undeserving. that His blood was shed for all of us. that He freely went so we could freely live. meditate on that for a moment. if you can't think of one thing that God has done for you, at least know that the Lord-- that loved His people enough to guide them across the wilderness, fight the Egyptians for them, and deliver them across a sea on dry land-- loves you so much, that He died a horrific death through crucifixion just to have an intimate relationship with you; so that you might come to know Him as your Savior and so much more.