Hope you enjoy this blast from the past – 2013 as we kick off fearless Fridays devotions for the month of October.
Our fathers understood not Thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of Thy mercies; but provoked Him at the sea,
Even at the Red Sea. –Ps. 106:7 KJV
Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt while Pharaoh pursued them. Feeling trapped by the Red Sea when the Israelites saw the Egyptians approaching, they were afraid. They provoked God by crying out that they should have stayed in Egypt rather than journey to the Promise Land. They were confident that they were going to die. Then God parted the Red Sea, and they crossed over on dry ground. Once all the Israelites had crossed, God caused the Red Sea to return to normal, and all the Egyptians were drowned. “Then they believed His words; they sang His praise.” (Ps. 106:12 NKJV).
Now don’t be so hard on those Israelites. We have done the same thing. We have been serving God faithfully, and then something happens. You get that dreaded phone call. The doctor says the word, “cancer”. Something has caused you great fear. We may not cry out to God as the Israelites did, but God knows our thoughts, and we are thinking, “God, why are you allowing this to happen to me?”
How much glorious would it have been if the Israelites had reacted with praise rather than complaining? Why did they wait for God’s deliverance before they believed His words and praised Him? They simply did not trust God, and sometimes we don’t trust Him either.
When we face our Red Seas, we need to turn our faces from the problem and look at God. We need to remember His promises, and most importantly, we need to believe them. We should praise Him before He makes a way through our sea of trouble because we believe His words. His grace is sufficient for any trial. We must believe that we can do all things through His strength. We need to trust that we are in the Potter’s hand and that He is molding us into someone more like Christ.
God delivered the Israelites in spite of their complaining. Let Him deliver us with praise on our lips.
Copyright 2013 Carolyn Dale Newell.
Originally posted on October 5, 2023 @ 8:00 pm
Grumbling comes too easy for us. The fear of the unknown adds to our grumbling. Our flesh does not like change and then add a huge obstacle like an entire sea to face. I know I would have reacted the same way the Israelites did. I know because I do react that way today. Fear over faith is what satan dangles in front of me far too often.
Yes