Are you staring at an impossible situation? One that seems impossible to overcome? A loss or separation from someone, that leaves you with a broken heart? Repair of that broken place seems distant or even impossible. Perhaps a debt without the funds to pay it? Or is it a relationship that seems completely broken? A workplace that brings nothing but chaos and stress? Lifestyle changes and health issues that you seem powerless to change? A home, wrecked with constant turmoil and strife?
I venture a guess that at sometime in your life you have had or will have, experiences that seem to put you up against a wall or in a corner, with no way out.
They had to pack up and leave immediately, in the night. They were free to go. Old and young grabbed as much as they could carry, brought their families, their pots and pans, their animals and began walking away from captivity in Egypt. They were on their way to the land, promised to them by God. Moses was confident in God’s ability to do what He promised. Their journey began.
Then they reached the wall. The end of the road. A dead end! No way out! I imagine that the stress level soared as they had no way to move 600,000 men (Exodus 12:37) plus wives, children and livestock across the Red Sea. It was between ten and twelve miles across. You can imagine their frame of mind. They left in the middle of the night, walking, leading their families and livestock on the way to a new life. Pharaoh is in pursuit with a mighty army approaching. It was eminent that they were going to be pushed into the sea and drown or die on the shores at the hands of the enemy.
Have you ever stood looking at a wall before you? Illness, death, poverty, depression and so many other situations I could list? My experince is much like yours. I watched my birth family slowly pass from me, much too young. I have experienced financial difficulty, relationships once thought secure, dissolved. I have had workplace worries, disappointing behavior in people. They were all my “Red Sea Moments.” Can’t you recall some of your own? Helpless and hopeless and full of fear with no way out.
Israel with the promise of a new nation in their future, stood staring at what appeared to be the end of not only a dream, but their lives, from a vicious and rapidly approaching army. God had a different plan. A plan to prosper them and give them hope. A plan to help them and not hurt them. A way through the problem.
Keyword is “through” the problem. We are all going to experience difficult days. That choice was made by Adam and Eve. I say often, “It all started in the garden.” One moment of disobedience brings us to today with all of its issues. That one choice to eat what was forbidden, brought illness, death, poverty, families at odds with one another, workplaces full of discord and stress. Desperation, worry, fear, stress and a conscience of failure were born. It started us running to hide from God. Trouble, trouble and more trouble.
I can testify that God will heal the wounds of loss. He will resolve the pain that you journey through. The path through financial and relational problems will open before you. You will walk through on the road God provides for safe passage. You will survive. You will be stronger. You will be a living testimony that there is truth to the statement, that what doesn’t take you to be with the Lord, will make you stronger. Either way you will overcome.
God is available to make a way through. He cannot look upon sin. How do we fix that? Receive Christ as our Savior. His sacrifice for sin covers what we cannot, before God. His blood brings us into a relationship with God. He requires obedience to the reading of His word, communicating with Him in prayer, fellowship with believers and spreading the good news that Jesus has overcome the sins of the world. That and only that will bring us into the presence of a mighty God, who sees the walls before us. Sees our “Red Sea Moments” and opens them for passage through.
~Scripture For Today~
Psalms 77:19-20
19 Your way was in the sea And Your paths in the mighty waters, And Your footprints may not be known. 20 You led Your people like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron. (NASB)
Psalms 37:23-24
23 The steps of a man are established by the Lord, And He delights in his way. 24 When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand. (NASB)
Hebrews 4:14-16
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
~Prayer For Today~
Hello Father! Thank You for standing with us in times of trouble. For opening the paths through our troubles. We praise You for sending Jesus to open the communication between us and You, our mighty God. We pray for Your guidance and Your protection through the stormy waters of life. Forgive us of our sin. In Jesus’ name. Amen.