Saturday Morning Promises – Great Stories

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. (Exodus 14:21-22)

Walking On Dirt In The Middle Of The Sea

This is a great story! You stand before a large sea without any means to cross the water and the full force of the Egyptian army is behind you. The Lord has protected you with His Angel but fear still strikes your heart because you cannot see how to be saved. Moses cries out for everyone to take heart and see the deliverance of the Lord. Yet before you ripple the expansive waters of the Red Sea and no hope is coming in the form of boats and no path is given to be delivered from the destruction of Pharaoh.

Then you hear it. At first it seems like a soft breeze cooling the night air. The wind begins to pick up. Coming from the east it bears the heat of the desert sands as it burns against your face. And then a deafening noise breaks forth as the wind turns into a strong torrent pushing against the waters of the sea. At first it is undiscernible but then a form takes shape. Before your eyes the waters of the sea begin to part. As the wind increases so the chasm in the sea divides the waters as a wall on the right hand and left. All night the wind blows and everyone stares in disbelief as the Red Sea is parted in two and dry land appears before your feet.

Exhorted by Moses and others you plunge into the sea but not as a muddy blog across the depths of the sea but dry land. You walk in the middle of the sea on dry land. You turn to the right and witness a huge wall of water held back by a force only understood as the power of God. To the left another huge wall of water braces itself against a power unyielding. Everyone begins to hurriedly escape through the sea as they are delivered across the sea to safety. You hear the cries of little boys who mothers scolded for sticking their fingers in the wall of water (you know they did).

After all have crossed you stand in awe of a sight never seen by man before and never to be seen again. The Red Sea with a road of dry dirt down its middle. A wall of water is an amazing sight to see but here it is erect and solid as it stands to deliver the children of Abraham. Frightened you see the Egyptian army also following but then another unbelievable thing happens. The wall of waters break forth destroying all of the army of Pharaoh. In the morning dead bodies line the bank of the sea. Wow. Now that is a great story.

But there is a greater story. We stood on the banks of hopelessness and Satan came raging at us with his minions of evil. There was no hope and we could find no escape. God sent His Son to part the waters showing us His power and His grace to deliver us. We could not have saved ourselves. Only God saved us. The dividing of the waters was the dividing shadow of Jesus’ cross that led the way to our redemption. Thank God for His power, His might, His dominion – and allowing us to walk across on dry land. Redeemed. How I love to proclaim it.

The spiritual history of man, as seen by God, is not one of progress but of recovery, or redemption. (Aelred Graham, Christian Thought and Action, 1951)