Have you ever noticed that God is really funny sometimes? This morning I actually laughed- out loud- at God's response to the Israelites when they come to the Red Sea in Exodus 14. Here's what goes down. Pharoah lets the people go, but then God hardens his heart and he thinks to himself, "well that was dumb, who's going to build my giant monuments now?" So he chases after them with his super scary army. Right about this time the Israelites come to the Red Sea. They see Pharoah coming with his army and they cry out to God and to Moses saying, "You have brought us out of Egypt just so we will die in the wilderness!" God's response is hilarious. In Exodus 14:15 God says to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on."Like, "Duh!"
I can only imagine my response if I were an Israelite. "Move on God? Do you see where I am right now? There is an OCEAN in front of me! I can't move on! Where would I move to?" The funny thing is, God has heard these exact statements from me in the very recent past (like last week, and yesterday... and probably at some point this morning too). I am always sad when I think how alike I am with the Israelites. The Israelites dissapoint me in their lack of faith throughout the old testament, and yet I am in the wilderness with them right now in my life, and instead of trusting God to not let me die out here, I have plopped down on a rock and instead of looking for a miraculous way forward have asked God, why? why am I out here when I could be a slave to my pride and my selfishness, but at least I wouldn't be looking out at this seemingly impossible future.
Luckily in this scenario, God has seen it before. He is not surprised that here I am, a bump on a log looking for my own way out.
Moses' response to the Israelites is amazing too. In verse 14, before God has told them to keep moving and proceeds to tell Moses that he will split the sea, Moses tells the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." (NIV) I like the ESV translation of verse fourteen better. It is much more appropriate for my life, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only be silent." Yup. That sure does sound like my problem. If the Israelites could just stop worrying about their own problems for 2 seconds, and stop asking God why, they would have seen his plan. They just needed to be still and silent for a little bit longer. I often jump the gun in my prayers too, and by then I am worrying so much that I miss the miraculous that God was going to do in that situation. What I need is to have a Moses for those situations that can say, Hey Kristen, sit down (oh wait.. you already are since you've been camped out on that rock for a while) and shut up. God is fighting for you, so you don't need to be fighting your own fight all the time. God is fighting for you, so keep going. You aren't done yet.
