A Wake-Up Call
A Wake-Up Call
Exodus 14:30-31
Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the LORD, and they believed in the LORD and in His servant Moses.
As the waves subside again into gentle ripples, and as the tempestuous winds soften to a lull, an unsettled haze still hovers over the waters. Not because hundreds of godless fools lie motionless on the shoreline, but because many of these Hebrews are only now beginning to fear the Lord and recognize His power. Tragically, many of their stories will end in a similar fashion to Pharaoh’s. Many of them won’t make it past their own obstinacy, despite countless invitations to believe and obey and walk with God through life. “The fool says in his heart, ‘there is no God,’” writes David in Psalm 14:1; but the greater fool is the one who sees God’s work clearly and still rejects Him.
Moses, in contrast, has walked with God all along. His faith hasn’t been perfect by any means—we’ve seen him argue for God to send someone else, blame God for bringing evil on the people, and storm out of Pharaoh’s palace in boiling fury—but he hasn’t missed God along the way. In fact, he’s arrived on the other side of the Red Sea because of his fear of the Lord, because He’s chosen to be a servant in the image of His Deliverer, right? For nearly fourteen chapters, he’s been right in the thick of the action, in the midst of the dense cloud as it were, speaking hard words to kings and soft words to slaves. For him, this journey through the Red Sea hasn’t been a seismic leap by any stretch. It’s just been the next step in His daily pursuit of the Almighty.
Friend, what will it take for us to recognize God at work in our own lives this week? What will it take for us to trust Him fully, to obey Him humbly? If it takes seas parting and armies being swallowed up by the waves for us wake up to His presence, it might be too late.