What if God split the sea for you?
Would you walk across?
Would you do it willingly? Enthusiastically, even?
Or would you require some pushing?
Are you sure?
Lots of people know about God parting the Red Sea to save His people from Pharaoh. What if you were having problems? And what if God offered to part the figurative “Red Sea” in your life – the thing or person causing those problems?
The thing is – God really does that, as we read in 1 Corinthians –
1Co 10:13 … And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
In case you don’t remember the details from Exodus, here is what happened –
Crossing the Sea
Ex 13:17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.
Ex 13:19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.”
Ex 13:20 After leaving Succoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert. 21 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
Ex 14:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon. 3 Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’ 4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” So the Israelites did this.
Ex 14:5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!” 6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him. 7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. 8 The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly. 9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.
Ex 14:10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
Ex 14:13 Moses answered 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. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Ex 14:15 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”
Ex 14:19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
Ex 14:21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
Ex 14:23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.”
Ex 14:26 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” 27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the LORD swept them into the sea. 28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
Ex 14:29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. 30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
In the passage above, you probably noticed this paragraph –
Ex 14:10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
If someone read only this paragraph – or remembered only this part – they would come away with the impression that God wasn’t taking care of His people. That God was setting them up – getting revenge for what they did earlier – that He was mean.
That’s why I asked at the top if you thought you’d willingly, or even enthusiastically, walk through the “Red Sea” in your life if God parted it for you. Most of us would say yes. I dare say – most of us would be wrong.
When we ask for the “Red Sea” to be parted …
For the Israelites, we need to remember they turned away from God, became slaves to the Egyptians, and then cried out to God to save them. We see the request / crying out to God –
Ex 3:7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
God is going to rescue His people, after they turn back to Him and cry out to Him. Not only is He going to save them, God’s going to bring them to an amazing place – a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
But God knows His people. He knows that even though they are in horrible conditions – and even though they want out of there – that the actual process of rescuing them isn’t going to be easy. It’s going to be difficult – not because the actions from God to accomplish the task are difficult for Him – but because God gives us free will. The problem is because, as much as the Israelites want to be rescued – and as much as they want God to do it and as much as they say they’ll follow God again – it’s just not true. These things are in their minds – they come out of their mouths – but they aren’t in their hearts.
And let’s be honest – are we any different? But we’ll get to that shortly.
Back to Exodus. Remember the way the passage above started off –
Ex 13:17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.
The people were ready to follow God – or so they thought.
The people were also ready for battle – or so they thought.
But God knew better. And so He begins to take them on a journey – a journey to prepare them for real salvation from their problems. And one which – in spite of everything they said – was a journey on which they were kicking, screaming, and complaining much of the way.
In the end, only two of the men over twenty years old actually entered the promised land –
Nu 14:26 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 27 “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. 28 So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you say: 29 In this desert your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. 30 Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. 31 As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. 32 But you—your bodies will fall in this desert. 33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the desert. 34 For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ 35 I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this whole wicked community, which has banded together against me. They will meet their end in this desert; here they will die.”
Of the entire group alive at the time – only these two men twenty or older – old enough to know what they were doing and understand the consequences – entered the promised land.
All the Israelites thought they were ready. But when things got tough – they complained.
Then God rescues them (again and again) from the things they were complaining about.
And yet, each time something new comes up (or even an old thing comes up again) they claim God isn’t faithful.
That passage from Numbers is another one pointed to by some people to say that God is mean, or even evil. But what about the people? Each of them – just as each of us – has a choice in how to respond to things. Yes – too often our first reaction is to forget everything from the past and then to complain. To blame God. I’ve been there – I know.
… do we know any better …
What we’ve looked at so far is from the first four books of the Bible. The fifth book, Deuteronomy, is also about that period of time. The other 61 books were written after that. So we actually have even more reason to remember God’s faithfulness to His people, Including this – the full passage from which the opening verse was taken.
Warnings From Israel’s History
1Co 10:1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
1Co 10:6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.” 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
1Co 10:11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
And there’s that “way out” –
And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
… when things get bad enough that we ask God for help?
The thing is – by the time we get around to asking God for help, often-times it’s after we’ve walked away from Him – after things have gotten really bad – and after we’ve forgotten that we used to trust Him.
And that means things are probably very bad. Like the image at the top – we’re looking at a stormy sea, not a tranquil, clear, calm sea like we’d go snorkeling in. Trust isn’t so hard to come by when things are good. But – trust is a lot harder to come by in the stormy times. It’s like when swimming turns into staying alive when we’re in the water.
Another thing we need to remember from what we just read, when we ask God for help – He’s not going to just return us to where we used to be. He wants something better for us. And if we’re not ready for that better thing – which we probably aren’t – He’s going to prepare us for it.
The Shepherd and His Flock
Jn 10:1 “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep. 3 The watchman opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was telling them.
Jn 10:7 Therefore Jesus said again, “I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
The thief – Satan – wants to kill and destroy, not just our life but also our soul.
Steal and kill – those are pretty obvious words, and mean the same thing today that they did when Jesus said them.
However – here’s the definition of destroy, from the time when Jesus said it –
622 ἀπόλλυμι [apollumi /ap·ol·loo·mee/] v. From 575 and the base of 3639; TDNT 1:394; TDNTA 67; GK 660; 92 occurrences; AV translates as “perish” 33 times, “destroy” 26 times, “lose” 22 times, “be lost” five times, “lost” four times, and translated miscellaneously twice. 1 to destroy. 1A to put out of the way entirely, abolish, put an end to ruin. 1B render useless. 1C to kill. 1D to declare that one must be put to death. 1E metaph. to devote or give over to eternal misery in hell. 1F to perish, to be lost, ruined, destroyed. 2 to destroy. 2A to lose. 1Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
Note the permanence involved in destroying – entirely out of the way / put to an end / made useless. All the way to what Jesus meant – eternal misery in Hell.
Jesus wan’t us to have life – not just any life, but a full life. What’s fascinating here is how the meanings of the words has changed since then.
Let’s start by looking at what Jesus meant when he spoke the word “life” –
2222 ζωή [zoe /dzo·ay/] n f. From 2198; TDNT 2:832; TDNTA 290; GK 2437; 134 occurrences; AV translates as “life” 133 times, and “lifetime” once. 1 life. 1A the state of one who is possessed of vitality or is animate. 1B every living soul. 2 life. 2A of the absolute fullness of life, both essential and ethical, which belongs to God, and through him both to the hypostatic “logos” and to Christ in whom the “logos” put on human nature. 2B life real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ, but after the resurrection to be consummated by new accessions (among them a more perfect body), and to last for ever. Additional Information: For synonyms see entry 979, bios.See entry 5821 for comparison of synonyms. 2Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
Look at that definition. This isn’t even “life to the full” – but just the word “life”, all by itself. When Jesus talked about life, He already included things like ethics, belonging to God, knowing truth (logos), and devoted to God. When Jesus talked about “life”, even before “have it to the full” – He already meant a life that belonged to God – not one that was stolen by the devil.
That was Jesus’ baseline for life. Now, let’s see what He meant by “have it to the full” –
4053 περισσός [perissos /per·is·sos/] adj. From 4012 (in the sense of beyond); TDNT 6:61; TDNTA 828; GK 4356; 10 occurrences; AV translates as “more” twice, “beyond measure” once, “vehemently + 1537” once, “more abundantly” once, “advantage” once, “superfluous” once, “very highly + 5228 + 1537” once, “exceeding abundantly above + 5228 + 1537” once, and “exceeding + 5228 + 1537” once. 1 exceeding some number or measure or rank or need. 1A over and above, more than is necessary, superadded. 1A1 exceeding abundantly, supremely. 1A2 something further, more, much more than all, more plainly. 1B superior, extraordinary, surpassing, uncommon. 1B1 pre-eminence, superiority, advantage, more eminent, more remarkable, more excellent. 3Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
Check that out. Not just abundant, but exceedingly abundant. Superior, extraordinary, surpassing, more excellent.
Conclusion
Maybe the most important word to keep in mind from the last definition above is this – “uncommon”.
When we looked at the exodus, two men were able to actually enter the promised land. At the time of the census taken during the second year of the exodus, there were more than 600,000 men over the age of twenty. Those two men – Joshua and Caleb – were truly uncommon. But it was such a small percentage of the total number of men – 0.00033333333%. There was nearly a total lack of faith in God by the people, even though it was God that was saving them.
Jesus gives us a different example –
Ten Healed of Leprosy
Lk 17:11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
Lk 17:14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.
Lk 17:15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.
Lk 17:17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”
One out of ten. 10%. Much better than with the exodus – but still not good. Ten were healed – had direct evidence of Jesus’ power. And yet of that ten, only one was saved. The other nine had the same experience – saw the same evidence – and didn’t believe. Ten people asked Jesus for help – He healed every one of them – but only one was willing to follow through with Jesus. And this is when Jesus was alive and talking to the people. I can’t help but wonder how low the number would be today.
No wonder Jesus said –
The Narrow and Wide Gates
Mt 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
That gate isn’t narrow because God wants us to wait in line to get into Heaven. It’s narrow because it only needs to be narrow. The gate into Heaven is narrow because only the people who had the kind of “life” Jesus talked about will find it.
So – when you’re having problems – problems bad enough that you call out to God – and He “splits your sea of trouble” – will you walk through? And even if you do – will you give God the credit and the glory, and continue to follow Jesus? Or will you walk away? Will you walk away from Jesus and end up at the wide gate? Or will you stay with Jesus and find the narrow gate?
Footnotes
- 1Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
- 2Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.
- 3Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.