Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Words of Encouragement


That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. 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. – Exodus 14:30-31

Can God be Trusted? Seeing is Believing. The Israelites find themselves being pursued by Pharaoh, 600 of his best chariots, along with the other chariots and the men over them. When the people see Pharaoh and those after them, they become afraid and begin to complain. The Israelites have a flare for the dramatic. They say to Moses, have you brought us out here because there are no graves in Egypt? We told you to leave us alone. Yet they forget Moses was there not by his own choice, but because God had heard their moaning about being rescued. Have you noticed we become whiny when things come against us that we don’t know how to handle or seem too hard? We forget, like the Israelites did that we asked God to come and help us and when he does, we begin to become doubtful if things are not going the way we think.

So Moses tells the people, don’t be afraid, because God is going to take care of us. He tells them to stand still and watch the salvation of the Lord. The scripture shows how God quickly moves this situation. The pillar of smoke moves from in front to behind them, coming between them and the army. It says also that the angel of God moved from in front to the back of them. There was darkness on one side and light on the other, so that they were separated all night long. See God can put a hedge of protection up for that will keep the enemy at bay. So while the enemy is confused on the one side (in darkness), we are able to see clearly on the other (in the light of God).

We know the rest of the story, Moses parts the waters with his rod and God keeps the waters held in place until every one of the Israelites crossed over. Then when the Egyptians were left in the water, confused, the waters were allowed to go back into place and the Egyptians were drowned. I read once were someone stated, it was impossible for the water to be high enough to drown an Army. With that I say, then it really shows how powerful God is, if he can drown an entire army in shallow water!

The Israelites are no different from us today. We know of God’s goodness, but when faced with situations that seem insurmountable, we begin to complain and become doubtful. It was not until they saw, that they believed. It is so wonderful to know that God will at times show us his attributes to help us even in our unbelief and times of weakness. He does not have to do it, but he will do it to help us along the way.

Today I pray for us. If there is any unbelief within our hearts for what God can do, then Lord help us to know you can be trusted. We can trust you because of what you have done in the past and what we can trust you to do in the future. Your love for your children has not changed.