Where are you taking me???

Warning... this is a long blog... but I pray it will encourage you...

I love reading Exodus when I am going through a trial. I always seem to pick on the Israelites for their lack of faith, yet time and time again I prove that I am also an Israelite.

One of my favorite passages is Exodus 14: 1-5 which reads: Then the LORD said to Moses, "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. Pharaoh will think, 'The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.' 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. Here is a picture I found of where Moses was taking them...

Notice that they were walking through the mountains feeling closed in. Can you imagine as they are getting near the opening seeing the water in front of them? I would have been saying, "Moses, I think you should have stopped and asked for directions, because I know this isn't right..."


But if you think that is bad, look at this next picture... (The black at the bottom of the picture is the water).
They come through the mountains and there is nothing there but a small patch of land and then the water. Why are we surprised when the Israelites say 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? 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!"

I am not sure how confident I would have been when Moses started to say, "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."

Can you hear the Israelites saying, "I hope the Lord will fight for me because all I can do is stand still. There isn't much else I can do... we are sitting ducks here. I don't see how we are getting out of this one".

I love what God tells Moses next: Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. " God will do the work, but we need to stop our complaining and take a step of faith and walk in the direction he leads us... even when that direction looks impassable.

Exodus continues the story... The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 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. 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." 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." 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. 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.

This is a picture of a chariot wheel found at the bottom of the Red Sea where the Israelites crossed. They have also found human bones and other parts of chariots in the same location. I also found some interesting information about the location of where the Israelites crossed. The Lord didn't lead Moses to any location, but a very specific one. A location that looked the most hopeless, but where He would show His greatness to all.

Here is what was said about the exact location where they crossed:

Perhaps most amazing of all, is the presence of an under water pathway. Along the length of the Gulf of Aquaba, depths reach to an average of one mile and the Egyptian shoreline drops steeply under water at a slope of about 45 degrees. If the Israelites had tried to have crossed anywhere else along the Gulf of Aquaba they would have been faced with an extremely steep drop to about one mile. With all of their animals and wagons, the task would have been practically impossible. Only here, on the shores of Nuweiba, does the 'pathway' drop off at a gradual slope of one in fourteen, to a depth of just over 850 meters. On the Saudi side the slope climbs again at a slope of one in ten. The Bible describes it as, "Away in the sea and a " path in the mighty waters" (Isaiah 43:16, 17) The distance from Nuweiba to Saudi Arabia is about 9.6 miles. And the width of the under water bridge is estimated to be 900 meters.

I love to read Exodus when I am in a trial because usually when I am in a trial I feel there is no way out and I don't see the end in sight.

The Lord showed how He can take the most hopeless situation and turn it into an amazing demonstration of His love for us.

Trust Him for the impossible.