WednesdayReflection
25th October 2023
James Tissot offers
The Waters Are Divided
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Crossing the Red Sea: Seven Lessons God Has For Us
When Moses took the Israelites out of Egypt, he could have made it to Canaan in a little more than a week, even though he was shepherding over two million men, women and children.
Instead, he took them on a route that began a 40-year journey and involved the need for God to perform yet another miracle: the parting of the Red Sea.
Moses did not choose this route because he was confused and lost.
Moses did not act on his own either; he was guided by the God of Israel every step of the way.
Let us consider some possible reasons why the shortest route may not be the best route for us, and why it was not the best route for the Israelites:
The shortest route would have taken the Israelites through hostile Philistine country.
They were not prepared to encounter such hostility.
To reach Canaan, they would have to fight the Moabites, the Amalekites, and several other nations before actually having to confront the cities and tribes of Canaan itself.
God sometimes brings us the long way because we are mentally, emotionally, and spiritually unprepared to face what awaits us along the short route or at the end of our journey.
God planned to show His People His might one more time through the parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of Pharaoh and his army.
This forever settled in their minds that they were rid of their Egyptian taskmasters - never again would they be capable of dragging the Israelites back into slavery.
The Israelites were free to worship and serve their Deliverer.
God sometimes brings us through Red Sea experiences so that we will have a deep and lasting revelation of just how free we are in Messiah.
When Believers are brought into a place of new life in the Messiah but are not yet living as a new creation, we need to learn to depend on the LORD daily, and resist the temptation to fondly reminisce about former lives lived in sin.
Life often doesn't follow our carefully planned itinerary.
Consequently, we may feel that we are wandering in a wilderness of our own, moving in a different direction than we had planned.
God knows us better than we know ourselves (or are willing to admit) and there can be many reasons that God takes us the long way through the wilderness.
For one, attaining our goals without proper spiritual growth can drive us further from God.
For example, some who have achieved their goals think that it is due to their hard work, wisdom, skill, education or talent.
They think that God had nothing to do with it. They might be on a successful track in life, but they do not know that they are spiritually lost.
In the wilderness, we might feel that God is unnecessarily holding back from answering our prayers.
We ask Him, "Why, Lord. Why?"
He answers by leading us to the parable of the widow who never gave up seeking justice (Luke 18:1-5).
He seems to be telling us to be persistent.
As we celebrate the Passover, we are told in the Haggadah (the Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder or ritual meal) to believe that we, too, were freed from Egypt.
The God who performed all those miracles, who led His children through the wilderness, is the same One leading us today.
If God does not bring us on the shortest path to His goals - to the place that He has promised to bring us - then He has His reasons, and it is for our good.
It is our job to keep moving forward on His path, not ours.
So, as you journey, do not be anxious about tomorrow, but engage in what God is doing in your life today.
Yeshua (Jesus) promises:
"Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?"
(Matthew 6:25)
God has in mind His best for us, and we should not lose faith at the sight of obstacles like the Red Sea or the battles we must engage in to reach our destiny.
Do not give up on what God has promised you, even though it seems slow in coming.
And though it may be the long, dry way, don't cry to God about it - go forward.
This is an edited version. The full article is avaiable, on request
Bibles For Israel ministry
Located in the Holy Land, the Bibles For Israel ministry is producing the first-ever Messianic Prophecy Bible.
We educate Jewish people on the prophecies about the Messiah in the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures), showing the truths by defining the Messianic and rabbinical points of view.
