Real Hope: Discovering Hope in the Life of MosesSampel

Lift Up Your Staff

The crossing of the Red Sea reminds us that God makes a way, where there is no way. Finally, the Israelite children were free from the slavery that had lasted for 400 years. But shortly after they departed, Pharaoh once again changed his mind. He could not let them go. He ordered his army to round them up and bring them back into slavery. As the army drew near, the Hebrews assumed the army came not to round them up, but to exterminate them. The sea trapped them from the front and the army from behind. Panicked, they blamed Moses. They said to Moses, ‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?… it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness’ (Exodus 14:11–12 NASB). When God heard the people complaining and saw them turn on Moses, He asked Moses, ‘Why do they cry out?’ Didn’t they see those wonders?

Moses could have lifted his hands in surrender to his circumstances. In front of him was the Red Sea. Behind him, complaining people and Pharaoh’s chariots thundering towards them. But just when all seemed lost, Moses followed God’s command and instead lifted up his hand in obedient surrender to God, and the waters parted. I think at some points on the faith journey, we all have moments where we feel like one step forwards, three steps back. But God didn’t bring you this far to abandon you. He never leads you out of something, not to take you somewhere! You may feel like there is no solution to your problem. You can’t see a way forwards. When you feel overwhelmed, pause. Remember that God cares for you, surrender the problem to the One who makes a way where there is no way, and then step forward in faith.

Written by HEIDI WYSMAN