Cross the Red Sea

Exodus 14:11-16
(11) They said to Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?
(12) Is not this what we said to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."
(13) And Moses said to the people, "Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.
(14) The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent."
(15) The LORD said to Moses, "Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.
(16) Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.

This account of the crossing of the Red Sea is so descriptive of our lives today. So many people answer to the call of God in their lives in a certain area and as they believe Him and start walking it out they get trapped against the Red Sea. For each one the Red Sea is different, but it represents a place of impossibility. You go in the direction God leads you and reach this place where things just does not want to work out for you, and to top it off you are being chased by Pharaoh. Pharaoh could be your creditors or other enemies that mock you for taking the steps of faith.

When you hit that wall those enemies will come charging and you will be tempted to submit and surrender to the Egyptians again. If you do you will go back to the slavery which you fled from and you will now be under more pressure as they are going to treat you even worse than before. Sometimes Pharaoh needs you so much that he will offer you a better salary or incentive to keep you working as his slave and because you hit that wall of impossibility you decide that it is better to eat the meat of the Egyptians than to starve in the desert in the face of your enemies.

No way, you need to go on my friend. Rather die in the desert fighting for freedom than submit to the Egyptians. This word could have a physical or spiritual meaning for you. For us it is the non-negotiable calling of the Lord upon our lives. Both my wife and I have been called by God to preach the gospel, Good News, to the nations. We also have businesses and sometimes when the money is slow in coming in we are tempted to just leave the ministry a bit on the back burner and rather pursue money making opportunities. The wonderful thing is that the calling upon our lives is so strong that we cannot get away from it for long and then we just experience this deep sense of urgency to return to the original call. The Egyptians will stand and accuse us, or put pressure on us to perform in a certain way and we have often been intimidated by this. We have come to a place where we are not intimidated anymore. We have decided that we will serve the Lord where He calls us. That includes the business world where we stand as ambassadors of the Kingdom of God.

Have you felt that you are not where God wants you and you wanted to get to the place of God’s will for your life and you just hit a wall? Have you returned and stopped fighting for your freedom? I believe this is the season where we have to pick up our staffs and point them at that Red Sea and walk in faith. God will open the Red Sea if you will just walk in faith. You might not know what it will hold in store for you, but you can know that God’s plans are always for you to prosper. So, as God said to Moses, “Stop crying and break up camp. Pick up and walk. Stop pitying yourself and stop worrying about Pharaoh and his soldiers. God is bigger than your enemy.”

Schalk Steyn
www.koinoniaoutreach.co.za